Friday, June 16, 2023

Individual and Institution

 



              THE ANATOMY OF A SUICIDE HAUNTS OXFORD

 

  • By Jon dernton - Reproduced from my notes of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta 1994 on the "Management by human values."

 

The sentence could have been written by Edgar Allen Pope or Fyodor Dostoyevsky the way it summons the unspeakable in a coldly confessional tone “ But it was clear to me by now that Trevor and the college must somehow be separated. My problem was one which I feel compelled to define with brutal candour: how to kill him without getting into trouble"

 

              The words were not written by a poet trawling the depth of the subconscious and they are not fiction. They are from a newly published autobiography of Sir Kenneth Dover, one of the world’s most renowned classicists. And they describe a series of events that preceded the suicide of a troublesome colleague of Oxford nine years ago

 

How much responsibility - if any- Sir Kenneth bears for the death of Trevor Aston, a brilliant but erratic historian, is a matter of public debate now that Sir Kenneth’s unconventional autobiography. Marginal Comment has hit the books stores. Excerpts were carried recently in British newspapers.

 

The chapter dealing with Aston’s suicide from pills and alcohol in October 1985 at the age of 60 stands as a modern morality tale. Some see it as the story of  Sir, Kenneth, who was the president of  Corpus Christi College, Oxford, defending his ancient and beloved institution by dealing firmly with a don who had become unmanageable because of alcoholism and seeming mental illness.

 

              Others see it as a case in which the president – fed up with all the problems and aware of the dean’s despondency and a recent suicide attempt – pushed him to the brink by writing a letter expressing the college’s disapproval of Aston’s conduct at a time when his marriage was collapsing and he was particularly vulnerable.

 

              Even those closely involved in the problems Aston was causing admit to being shocked by the icy detachment of the language and, apparently, the feelings of Sir, Kenneth, a scholar whose works on ancient Greece are read by students throughout the work. He has retired and is now 74, and lives in Fife, Scotland.

                                   

              “ The intellectual normally values reason above all”, said James Howard- Johnston, lecturer in Byzantine studies at Corpus Christi. “ Dover demonstrates that reason divorced from emotion becomes cold, clinical, and ahuman”.

 

              The author admits to being aware of Aston’s long and troubled psychiatric history. He admits to fantasizing about Aston’s death, consulting a lawyer to see if he would be legally at risk if he ignored a suicide call, and not going to investigate Aston’s room at the college after a colleague expressed concern the night Aston died. Sir Kenneth also admits to a disturbing sense of relish the day afterward.

 

               Aston’s fellow of the college who began teaching there in 1952, showed promise for a distinguished career. He was a college librarian, university archivist, and editor of the official history of a journal, Past and Present.

 

              “He was a central figure in the life of the college through the “70s and 80”, said Howard-Johnston. “ He didn’t publish enough to be a great historian, but he could match any of them in conversation. He was a strong personality, a daunting figure. But then the problem began with mood swings and with drinking.

 

              To Sir Kenneth, who was President of Corpus Christi for 10 years beginning in 1976, and to others there- Aston was a pest and an embarrassment. There were squabbles over his housing threats of lawsuits, disrupted meetings, and drunk scenes at “high table”, the nightly dining ritual of Oxford colleges,” We could not have him lurching around the quad in front of the undergraduates or using violent language in the hearing of guests or visitors” Sir Kenneth wrote.

 

              “ I am 100 percent behind Kenneth”, said Brian Harrison, a history fellow, and tutor at the college. “ It’s astonishing he bore it all those years. Even knowing that Aston was a manic depressive, you can’t hold up the operations of a college with 300 people in it. For Dover to say he wanted Trevor dead - well it’s like Henry II with Beckett. You say “Goodness, will no one rid me of this man? and the knights went off and did it.

 

              In his account of his behavior toward Aston, Sir Kenneth uses the word “conscience” only when he is fantasizing about what would happen if he rejected a plea for help from Aston in the throes of an overdose and in wondering what he would tell the authorities.

 

              “ I had no qualms about causing the death of a fellow from whose non-existence the college would benefit, but balked at the prospect of misleading a coroner’s jury”, he wrote.

 

              Sir Kenneth sent Aston a chiding letter, and, in a final confrontation, informed him that a decision sometime earlier to renew his seven-year fellowship was not unanimous but head squeaked through by a slim margin. Aston was upset and shouted: “You are trying to push me out of the college”. Sir Kenneth wrote that he did not deny it.

 

              A few days later, on the night of  October 15, Sir Kenneth was telephoned by a friend who was concerned by Aston’s behaviors and warned that he might be contemplating suicide. The college president telephoned Aston’s doctor, but the two of them decided to take no action.

 

              In a telephone interview, Sir Kenneth contended that it was a notice of impending divorce proceedings from his second wife that drove Aston to suicide, not any thing Sir Kenneth had done. “ It wasn’t  I who resolved it”, he insisted. “What I said in the book was that I contemplated the possibility of causing this death by an act of omission. But that wasn’t in fact how things turned out”.

 

              The moral, he said, is that “ there is a dilemma when one is weighing the duty of compassion to an individual with the well-being of an institution”

 

              And he said he was surprised at “ all the fuss” the book has created. “ The whole point of an autobiography is, to tell the truth, as far as I’m concerned”.

 

 

The Times of India, New Delhi

Tuesday, December 6, 1994

Received from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.


A Story of a good Brahmin


 STORY OF A GOOD BRAHMIN

 by

 Voltaire

 

 On my travel, I met an old Brahmin, a very wise man, of marked intellect and great learning. Furthermore,  he was rich and, consequently, all the wiser, because, lacked nothing. He needed to deceive nobody. His household was very well managed by three handsome women who met themselves out to please him. When he was not amusing himself with his women, he passed the time in philosophizing. Near his house, which was beautifully decorated and had charming gardens attached, there lived a narrow-mined old Indian woman: she was a  simpleton, and rather poor.

 

Said the Brahmin to me one day: I wish I had never been born? On my asking why, he answered:  I have been studying forty years, and that is forty years wasted. I teach others and I am ignorant of everything. Such a state of affairs fills my soul with so much humiliation and disgust that my life is intolerable.  I was born in Time, I live in Time, and yet I do not know what Time is. I am at a point between two eternities, as our wise men say, and I have no conception of eternity. I am composed of the matter: I think, but I have never been able to learn what producers my thought. I d not know whether or not any understanding is a simple faculty inside me, such as those of walking and digesting, and whether or not I think with my head as I grip with my hands, Not only is the cause of my thought unknown to me: the cause of my actions is equally mysterious. I do not know why I exist, and yet every day people ask me questions on all these points.  I have to reply, and as  I  have nothing really worth saying I talk a great deal and am ashamed of myself afterward for having talked.

 

It is worse still when I am asked if Brahma was born of Vishnu or if they are both eternal. God is my witness that I have not the remotest ideas, and my ignorance shows itself in my replies. “Ah, Holy One”. People say to me, “Tell us why evil pervades the earth”. I am in as great a difficulty as those who ask me this question. Sometimes, I tell them that everything is as well as can be, but those who have been ruined and broken in the wars do not believe a  word of it and do more. I retire to my home stricken at my own curiosity and ignorance. I read out ancient books, and they double my darkness. I talk to my companions some answer me that we must enjoy life and make a game of mankind others think they know a lot and loss themselves in a maze of wild ideas. Everything increases my anguish. I am ready sometimes to despair when I think that after all my seeking I do not know whence I came,  whither I go, what I am nor what I shall become.

 

The good man’s condition really worried me. Nobody was more rational or more sincere than he. I perceived that his unhappiness increased in proportion as his understanding developed and his insight grew.

 

The same day I saw the old woman who lived near him. I asked her if she had ever been troubled by the thought that she was ignorant of the nature of her soul. She did not even understand my question. Never in all her life had she reflected for one single moment on one single point of all those which tormented the Brahmin. She believed with all her heart in the metamorphoses of Vishnu and provided she could obtain a little Ganges water where to wash herself, thought herself the happiest of women.

 

Struck with this mean creature’s happiness. I returned to my wretched philosopher, “Are you not ashamed’, said I, to be unhappy when at your very door there lives an old automation who thinks about nothing, and yet lives contentedly?

 

“You are right, he replied. I have told myself a hundred times that I should be happy. If I were as brainless as my neighbor, and yet I did not desire such happiness."

 

My Brahmin's answer impressed me more than all the rest. I set to examining myself, and I saw that in truth I would not care to be happy at the price of being a simpleton.

 

I put the matter before some philosophers, and they were of my opinion. ‘nevertheless’, said I, there is a tremendous contradiction in this mode of thought, for, after all, the problem is – how to be happy. What does it matter whether one has a brain or not?. Further, those who are contented with their lot are certain of their contentment whereas those who reasons are not certain that they reason correctly. It is quite clear, therefore, I continued.  That we must choose not to have common sense, however little common sense may contribute to our discomfort, everyone agreed with me, but I found nobody, notwithstanding, who was willing to accept the bargain of becoming a simpleton in order to become contented.  From this, I conclude that if we consider the question of happiness we must consider still more the question of reason.

 

But on reflection, it seems that to prefer reason to felicity is to be very senseless. How can this contradiction be explained? Like all the other contradictions. It is a matter of much talk.

 


A Tryst With Truth

 

A TRYST WITH TRUTH

 National Engineering is a large public sector company manufacturing electrical goods, equipments, and accessories. Its corporate office is located in the industrial suburb of  Bombay and it has fifteen regional sales and distribution units throughout the country. Each Regional Unit is headed by a Regional Director who reports to Shri R. Bhatia, the Chairman of  National Engineering.

 

Recently, the grapevine in National is abuzz with a rumour that Mr.Swaminathan, the Regional Director of the Company’s Bhopal Unit has been found involved in a financial irregularity and has been charged with misappropriation of the company’s money. The staff union of  National, sensing this to be a provocative anti-Management issue, has lost no time in littering the office wall with posters denouncing corruption within the organization and demanding the punishment of the guilty. The Officers Association of the Company has maintained “diplomatic silence” in this matter. However, some senior officers of the Corporate Office who were not particularly well disposed towards Swaminathan have been openly critical of his misdemeanour. Meanwhile, Swaminathan has been advised by the Corporate Personnel Director to proceed on leave as an enquiry is to be conducted against him on the basis of prima facie evidence.

 

Prior to all these incidents, Swaminathan had approved the sale of a large quantity of transformer laminations to AKW Company, a private sector firm, also based in Bombay. Immediately before the sales deal was struck, Swaminathan’s son-in-law, who was working at Bhopal, had joined AKW Company as Marketing Manager in Bombay. The government Auditor, on a visit to the National Unit in Bhopal, made out a case that Swaminathan had shown undue favor to AKW in the above sale transaction.

 

The case now came for examination to Mr. Gopal who was the Chief Auditor of the Bhopal Unit. On close scrutiny,  Gopal found that Swaminathan had not in fact flouted any rule or norm in this case and that it was a clean deal. Besides, there was a precedence of  National having purchased similar laminations.

  

from AKW earlier when they were in desperate need to stick to the delivery

schedule. It was fairly well known that AKW and National worked almost like

sister companies and often helped each other in crisis situations.

  

The personal equations between Gopal and Swaminathan were, however, far from cordial. Thanks to Swaminathan’s adverse reports, Gopal missed his much-deserved promotion the previous year. For some inexplicable reason, Swaminathan frequently took a hostile stand against Gopal and although Gopal was known to be an upright and trustworthy officer, his detractors in the  Internal Audit Department invariably found a sympathetic ear in Swaminathan. Only a fortnight back, the Regional Director made a note that one of Gopal's tour bills was rather inflated although there was nothing in the bill to suggest so. It was time for Gopal to pay Swaminathan back in his own coin.

 

 

In another development, the Deputy  Regional Director, Mr. Prasad, to whom Gopal reported, wanted to make use of this case to upstage Swaminathan.  Prasad sent feelers to Gopal that his promotion and posting will be taken care of if he ‘manufactured’ adverse comments on the Swaminathan case. It was true that Gopal’s comments as the chief Internal Auditor were crucial in this case as any adverse remarks by him, would mean the sealing of Swaminathan’s fate. Ram Kumar, a colleague of Gopal who also worked in the Internal Auditor Department whispered to him :

 

“ Gopal,  You know the auditor’s subtle art that can fix Swami. Let him lose his sleep.  After all, you also lost a year’s Promotion.”

 

 Gopal observed that the same Ramkumar fawned on Swaminathan when the latter was in power but was now beginning to demonstrate this allegiance to Mr. Prasad. Gopal then sighed to himself: “How things change? “  But he refused to be carried away by his colleague’s insinuations and said :

 

 “ I am no coward to fight shadows. I trust my professional competence and integrity. I shall not stab Swaminathan in the back “.

  

Thus, he wrote his fair comments, exonerating Swaminathan, and came home that evening happy and content at what he had done.

 

              This case subsequently traveled through various stages including the Parliamentary Sub-Committee and reached the Cabinet Minister for Industries. The minister referred the case back to National  Electricals once again. The Finance Director of the National, especially landed in Bhopal to know Gopal’s personal view on the case. Gopal stuck to his earlier ground and said :

 

“ I have already given my comments. I have no doubt that

   ‘S’ is innocent in this case”

 

The  Finance Director went back and the case was closed. Gopal’s boss Prasad became furious at the former’s Stubborn attitude and spoiled his confidential Report.  As a result , Gopal lost promotion for yet another year. He was extremely disappointed, and wrote a letter to the Chairman which ended with an  angry outburst :

 

“Is this the way you reward your honest employees?”

 

The Chairman acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Gopal’s letter but sent no reply.

  

A few months passed by without any further development in the Swaminathan episode. Gopal continued to work as the chief Auditor. Sometimes, taking a break from his hectic schedule, he would spend a few minutes all by himself to reflect on his life and carrier.

 

“ I have never opted for any undue advantage in my twenty years of service. I do not remember having spoken a lie nor did I harbour any ill will against any of my colleagues. I had to raise a family of three children, look after my old parents and marry off two of my sisters and managed to do all these by honest means…..”. he muttered to himself and the train of thought continued in his mind ………

 

 “ By God’s grace, all my three children have turned out to the brilliant. They have done very well in their professions and each one of them has inherited the qualities of honesty and hard work that my father and  I stood for. In  Neela,  I have found a caring and supportive wife.  What more could I have asked for in this life?  How much does the loss of a couple of promotions matter in comparison to a life lived for an ideal”.

 

As these words continued to buzz in his mind,  Gopal’s eyes fell on the glass top of his table where he had tucked in a piece of printed paper. It read:

  

“Success is not the aim of life. Perfection is."

 “That’s what my father would always tell me”, he whispered to himself and proceed to clear the next file on his table.

 

I add "Success is not the aim of life. Working for your aim is." The aim should be to serve others and create one welfare world without any major conflicts.

  

  • Case prepared by Mr. Debashis Chatterjee, Research Fellow, Management Centre for Human Values, Indian Institute of  Management

Calcutta. It is meant for MML discussion only.

 

      *      The material for this case was supplied by Mr. V.S. Charlu.

                         **************************

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Honey

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Nutrition Information




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Nutrition information average quantity per 100gm 
                       Manuka Honey   Manuka Honey                       Manuka Honey
                                    Comvita               Active Honey Capilano          beevital
Energy                           1370KJ                1416 KJ                                 1416KJ    

Protein                             <1gm                   0.3gm                                   0.3gm

Fat Total                           <1gm                    0gm

Cholestrol                         <1gm                    0gm

Carbohydrate                     80                       83.1gm
Sugars natutrally                78                       82.5gm
Ocurring in honey
Sodium                               12                             15







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MGO: Methylglyoxal 
NPA: Non Peroxide Activity : Higher the number the more potent the honey's activity
UMF  Unique Manuka Factor

Friday, March 13, 2015

Art of Living

Teach your children the art of living. Do not teach lessons of mad race.

Five Undeniable Facts of Life:
1. Don't educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be Happy. So when they grow up they will know the value of things, not the price.
2. Best awarded words in London ... "Eat your food as your medicines. Otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food".
3. The One who loves you will never leave you because even if there are 100 reasons
to give up he will find one reason to hold on.
4. There is a lot of difference between human being and being human. A Few understand it.
5. You are loved when you are born. You will be loved when you die. In between You have to manage...!
Nice line from Ratan Tata's Lecture-
If u want to Walk Fast, Walk Alone..! But if u want to Walk Far, Walk Together...!
Six Best Doctors in the World-

1. Sunlight          2. Rest         3. Exercise       4. Diet       5. Self Confidence & 6.Friends

Maintain them in all stages of Life and enjoy healthy life.
If you see the moon ..... You see the beauty of God ..... If you see the Sun ..... You see the power of God ..... And .... If you see the Mirror ..... You see the best Creation of GOD .... So Believe in YOURSELF..... smile emoticon smile emoticon smile emoticon.
We all are tourists & God is our travel agent who already fixed all our Routes Reservations & Destinations So!  Trust him & Enjoy the "Trip" called LIFE.. children.

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Management

Performance of Indian Managers can be seen on the roadside and in most of the Industries in India. I have many photos and recorded evidence of corrupt managers as well as government officers.

We are living in a society where corruption has reached the bones of many individuals. Politicians, teachers, parents, and society as a whole have become mentally sick. Parents are teaching their children to earn money by any means. Children are learning what they see in their homes. Baby girl is killed before birth. Girls are raped. We make hue and cry, and we all behave the same.

We can not change society all of a sudden. All young people want money to purchase new phones, new cars, new restaurants and show off their wealth. We are living in a sick society.
 
Sardar Shyam Singh, Managing Agent of Sugar Factory with his team, can be seen in a photo taken in 1954. He was an example of simple living and high thinking.
Earlier rich Indians were with human values.

Society is suffering because of the failure of management. We should accept that we as Indians failed to perform our duties as parents to guide younger children.

                                    Jaipal Datta showing Solidarity to remove corruption in a society.



A Tryst with Truth

The Anatomy of suicide haunts Oxford.

Story of a good Brahmin

Friday, September 07, 2012

Politics in India and USA




                                                      Jaipal Singh Datta 
 I never liked politics. But I know no organization or nation can implement its decisions without a team or without a group. As soon as we create a group to achieve the aim and target, we get opposition from hurt or affected persons. So I learned with time that we can not survive, or I should say humanity can not survive without a political party, a group of people determined to bring change to society for the good of all.
                                                            Jaipal Datta
Each human thinks differently. Each human has the right to think so. So there shall always be opposition.
Democracy means that we can try to counsel others with words, advertisements, and any other means. We must try to convince others.

The result of the poll shall indicate that what people want. We should respect the decision of voting polls. Fairness of voting is important. Change is the law of Nature. We all are living at different times. The time of ancestors was different. We must find a solution under new circumstances. We must understand that we create society or Industry. Industry or Society do not create humanity. Industry or business is a tool for progress and not means for exploitation.

Medical care, education, food, shelter, and clothing are requirements of humanity. Therefore, we must try to provide these facilities to younger generations and old generations.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Management by human values

                         Management by human values
                   Dharma or religion in Management
                   by Jaipal Singh Datta

This site is dedicated to the self-less managers who are work alcoholics, who work without any rewards for the welfare of humanity. Yet, these managers change the destiny of society, nations, and united nations.

"This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others; the rest are more dead than alive."

Management by Human Values


People working in a society can be broadly categorized into three groups. The first group is the performers. These are the people who perform in whatever position they are put. They believe that work is worship. Therefore, they can be called Work Alcoholics.

There is another group of people who always talk about money ( Jaisa Daam, vaisa Kaam ). They are ready to work provided they get "adequate" compensation for the work. They are ready to put in more effort if they are rewarded tangibly. These are Workable.

There is a third group of people who do not want to work. They will do the minimum. These are passengers. They want to avoid work as much as they can.

Believe it or not, everyone works for society. Everyone has the right to live. Management by human values teaches managers methods to effectively take work from second and third groups and motivates them to perform efficiently. My experience shows that Management by Human Values is an "in-born" quality of individuals, and everyone can not manage by human values. Only managers with strong leadership qualities, love for human beings, and self-discipline can motivate others for the Industry or Society. Family, society, or community is part of a Nation. The nation is part of the World. The world is part of the universe, and the Universe is part of the Cosmos. Very few individuals work for others without any selfish interest. I see so many people exploiting others. To deliver results for society, one must exploit and get exploited also.

We should never forget that target of any living organization is to earn profit and pay taxes for the welfare of society. The industry is part of society and not vice versa. Greed, ego, pride, jealousy, hatred, selfish interests, and other vices create problems for Industry or capital accumulation or Management by Human Values. The selfless worker can produce better, more efficient results. Why? Because he may be transparent or without any ego. Although sometimes in management, one has to exploit the feeling of the individual ego.

One should understand the basic law of nature. One takes birth to help others and work for the society or nation. The society shall progress as per the rules of nature. Someone may become rich-poor, educated - uneducated; good-bad; selfish -selfless; leader-follower; saint -criminal, etc. Death is the ultimate reality in life. And there is life beyond death. Scientists shall prove within 50 years or, say, 2060.

With this, we request you to study our lessons and enjoy them.

Human Values in Management - a new concept

"It is unfortunate that the United Nations failed to stress the fundamental duties of human beings while putting due stress on their fundamental rights or human rights. A complete philosophy of life will be a happy balance between rights and privileges, on the one hand, and duties and responsibilities, on the other."

This shall be the basic principle of the global family or unity of the world. So please manage my world with human values. Do not fight for money and wealth. Money may temporarily satisfy desire, greed, ego, and jealousy. Hunger for the stomach, desires for sex, and wealth can never be satisfied. So read Bhagwat Gita and  Management by Human Values by Jaipal Singh Datta. Kindly contact me for any assistance.

jaipaldatta@hotmail.com

My Family Tree