The futility of arrangements

You guessed it right, this post is not about some “arrangements” that you get to make in your life. It is about the most significant of all, which is your marriage!

During my time in the past, arranged marriages were the norm. Parents get to decide who you would marry, or at least they would introduce someone to you in the hope that you would choose her or him as your life partner. You would have to generate very strong reasons to reject their recommendation!

Whatever one says, marriage is a rather risky gamble, may be the riskiest of any venture you would undertake. If the bet goes wrong, you are done for. If the bet works out, everything else in life would take care of itself.

I am not saying anything wrong here. Let us say you marry a total stranger with not even a basic introduction, just because your parents insist on the marriage alliance. You must understand that their motive may not always be in your interest. It could be for business-to-business growth purposes as both families are business families, looking to expand via an alliance. And what alliance could be stronger than a successful business-oriented marriage?

But there is always the huge risk of not syncing up with your partner – there could be many reasons starting with personality, psychology of relationship, attitude, mutual respect, belief systems, religious orientation, and so on. For sure, it is not possible to sync up on such factors even in a love marriage. There is no perfect marriage union in any case.

During my time, it was considered that the best manner in which a marriage could work out was when the potential bridegroom and bride at least get to spend a bit of time talking to each other (mostly in front of the parents!), so that there was no possibility of instant likes or dislikes. The girl was always watched closely by her anxious parents who were always desirous of getting her married at the earliest possible opportunity, so that their responsibility would go away. The guy was also watched closely, but it always appeared to me that he had more leverage in the transaction (!), his acceptance of the proposal was seemingly “more” valued. Of course, the girl could firmly reject and walk away. In this description of a potential alliance, I am elaborating on civilised and educated folks on either side, not those from a village environment bound by strict traditional practices where there was always zero chance of saying “no” to a marriage proposal. In the context of cities with modernising population, there was always a chance one could say “no” and walk away from any proposal, though such occurrences should have been rare in my opinion. The key reason for proceeding with a proposal was always the families matching on either side in terms of status in society.

The practice of “dowry” which is a financial gift from the girl’s side to the boy’s side has been a despicable system for hundreds of years, and has not disappeared still even when the girl is as educated with a good employment as the boy. Look at the recent case (there are many such cases), where a highly educated and intelligent bride was allegedly murdered in a high class family in North India for lack of dowry related performance, wherein the mother-in-law was an ex-Judge in a court of law. Amazing to note how the dowry system has deep roots in the Indian society, and has persisted all these years.

However, in these modern times, dowry is losing its importance. Further, the way in which people interact on social media and dating apps leads to a possibly better understanding of a potential relationship, whether it results in a marriage or not. Increasingly, the practice of a marriage alliance which does not involve one’s parents from the start (as was the usual practice), is becoming a de facto method of finding life partners. In “advanced” cases, the partners get married and inform their parents on their successful marriage!

There should be no obligation on anyone’s part to pay dowry money to the other side. Though there are laws on the statute book, these are rarely implemented. Tightening of the dowry laws with exemplary punishment is highly warranted.

Marriage as an institution has already come under investigation because of the money involved in a traditional marriage, most of which is unaccounted for. If “black” money is deployed in paying off the service providers involved in executing a big wedding, the tax sleuths should have been very busy. But unfortunately, that is not the case even today.

The fundamental issue in “marriage corruption” is the mindset of the people (even the civilised, educated ones) which is refusing to accept the new societal norms. If the bridegroom’s parents demand dowry or jewels, there is hardly anything that a willing bride’s family can do, except to accede. If they don’t they lose the alliance, and the possible sync between the two life partners would be torn to shreds.

Let me conclude by saying that the enormous money spent on conducting a wedding by both parties could be spent better in establishing a home and kickstarting the family journey. Is that not more important for the two partners to proceed with their life together?

How about a simple, least expensive “reception” instead of a whole load of ceremonies and functions driven by event planners with budgets to spend? How about getting the whole marriage function executed in a temple or a church, and donating food to the homeless?

Such notions would be anathema to most parents, at least in the Indian context. I am raising these views just so that people would think differently when the next opportunity arises. I know that this is a super-sensitive subject matter which could ruffle feathers.

Whatever it is, the peaceful and successful union of two willing souls cannot be predicated on customs, practices, ceremonies and dowries.

The “arrangement” to agree to live together is not decided by any of these, whether you agree or not as a parent. You are not going to live the lives of the new life partners, right?

Cheers,
Vijay Srinivasan
5th September 2026

The Eternal Debate

Many a time, I have thought about being born in a totally homogeneous society – one single race, one single identity via one common language, one single colour, and one single religion. Of course, not comprising of just one gender!

I thought, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone looks the same and speak the same tongue?” and “wouldn’t it be very helpful if everyone thinks the same way, and do things in life in the same manner?”. “Would I be more patriotic?” is another question on my mind.

You are probably thinking of Japan, and you are right. More than 98% of the residents of Japan were of Japanese ethnicity some time ago, I have not checked the recent figure. If there were a “homogeneous” country on this planet, it could not be any different from Japan. Some other similar nations include South and North Korea, Egypt, Morocco, Bangladesh, etc.,

How would I be if I were a Japanese or Korean?

Most likely, I would behave as one.

But I was born in India, a diverse country with multiple religions, races, languages and skin colours. There are many such nations around the world such as Canada, the U.S., Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda, etc.,

How do people from these countries behave?

It is fascinating to see that the behavioural patterns of people from highly diverse, secular countries are very different from those of the same flock (here I mean “homogeneous” countries). There is more acceptance and tolerance from the diverse set of people rather than the conformance demands of the homogeneous people.

I am not framing the “eternal debate” topic of this post as competing visions of the world. I would definitely feel very different and very constrained depending on where my origins are located. I am not for or against any one set of peoples, I am just thinking how I would take it personally.

Of course, we now see that even large, democratic, and well-diversified countries are having huge impactful debates raging on with regard to diversity vs. majoritarian views. Diversity automatically means that there are a number of minorities in the population who are being treated equally in a democratic setup. They do not feel discriminated against or subjugated simply because they look different, or profess different religions as compared to the majoritarian group of the society. They would feel so in a homogeneous society especially when they cannot speak the language or if their living practices vastly differ from those of the homogeneous people.

Why are these debates critical for preserving a secular society?

It is very important to voice opinions or views in a democratic society, but where the Constitution of the country specifically prohibits discrimination, there has to be respectful discussions, nothing more than that. Secularism is a critical tenet of modern democratic societies. A majoritarian religion, or race, or identity, cannot be allowed to take over the reins of the government. Unfortunately, the so-called defender of global freedom, the U.S. government, is now trying to hew to religious and “colour” pressures from its own society, while berating other nations about their similar tendencies. It is not a helpful development, and if left unchecked can lead to domination of the majority over all the rest of the minorities.

What will be the repercussions?

The minorities will grow more fearful of their lives and livelihood. They will continue to be scared of discrimination which might become official with the silent endorsement of the government. They would not wish to profess their religion or religious practices openly in the public square. They would not voice any opinion which could be misconstrued as unpatriotic or anti-government or anti-national. The majority folks – the extremist sections, not everyone – might exert pressures of various kinds on the minorities, making the already bad situation worse.

Such societies have existed in the past, and that is the reason why secularism should not be dispensed with. It is the one huge pillar on which each and every society should stand.

Diversity is the source of many strengths in society. People who think differently are needed in every facet of the society and government. People who think in the same way and follow the same practices can continue to do what they want to do, or what they have always done, there is no problem with such behaviour. But their condescension towards minorities need to be curbed.

A society which has done this successfully over the past 6 decades is Singapore. I cannot think of a more diverse society with over 200 nationalities represented in just a city-state of some 700 Sq Kms. Where large nations are failing, Singapore has been successful by institutionalizing its Constitution in a practical manner for the benefit of all residents.

Debates will happen on these issues constantly. However, it is hugely important that the educated sections of any society pay attention to the need for diversity, and to the need to respect the views and practices of the minorities. When the majority population expects to be respected, the same applies to the minorities. Religious differences will always exist even amongst the majority population, but that has not stopped from any kind of collaboration. Similarly, the bond between minorities and the majority need to be tightened and shepherded by the government in power in any democratic nation.

Governments who do not ensure societal integration are bound to face big challenges as the equality of the citizens, once disturbed, cannot be restored easily by fiat. This is why people in power should belabour the idea of integration instead of enacting divisive policies which disturb and eradicate the equanimity of the society.

I am not propagating the idea that the majority views should be squashed in favour of the minorities. What is important is to listen to the views of the minorities and address their grievances, especially when they are equal citizens of a country. How the distribution of majorities and minorities came about is not a subject for discussion. Why a religion or identity is more dominant in a society is also not subject for discussion. It is what it is – the key thing is to learn to live together without acrimony.

Cheers,
Vijay Srinivasan
30th August 2026

Daily Chores

Business productivity for the employees of an enterprise or any business has significantly improved over the past couple of years.

The secret sauce, though not secret anymore?

AI tools.

Yes, Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc., are being used in businesses all across to ensure quick analysis of options that are available for any kind of business decision-making. Or, even for inventing new options, new mechanisms, or new ways of doing or achieving some stated business goal.

Initially I thought all these tools are glorified Google Search engines. They are not. They are transforming the manner in which we conduct business analysis and make business decisions.

I have used Claude and ChatGPT extensively for my personal work. Examples would be as follows: “make a quick comparison of front-loading washing machines of 9 Kgs capacity available in the Singapore market, which come from brands with excellent reputation and high service quality, and which have user reviews not less than four stars, and which also offer extended warranty of additional 2 years minimum over and beyond the manufacturer’s standard 2-year warranty” followed by various additional queries on this one single subject. It might take, let us say, 30 minutes overall, but at the end of this exercise I would have a table of comparison amongst the short-listed three makes of washing machines along with their features, functions, prices, and all the other aspects that I had raised during the conversation with the AI tools. I do not depend on one tool, I open multiple AI tool apps and compare the results offering a second layer of comparison to facilitate my decision-making.

And that is how I bought my washing machine recently to replace the faulty and unrepairable previous machine.

I have many such examples, and I have generally been good in creating detailed prompts and guardrails so that the AI tool does not take to hallucinations, or does not just compliment me for the “quality” and “insight” of my queries. I issue a warning to the AI tool to stay neutral and not to take my side or stand, if I had communicated my position in the prompt itself.

But this blog post is not about such AI tools and their role in improving business or personal productivity in areas such as the above.

I am looking for a robotic AI system (similar to autonomous car driving), which would help me to execute physical chores around my home. These are not just AI tools, these are systems which incorporate advanced bio-mechanics and AI capabilities to figure out what needs to be done around the house, and then go about executing the same. I think such systems are going to transform the home in ways we cannot even imagine, and my prognostication is that would take not less than the next 5 years or so.

Let us say we do have such a humanoid robot (from China, where else) available to me, which I can instruct via an app or a display console on the robot to do some ironing work. I would like my washed and dried clothes to be ironed, and then folded and kept in my section of the wardrobe in the master bed room. I have seen some YouTube videos of “ironing” robots and “clothes folding” robots, but not sure of the same – the videos could have been fake ones generated again, by AI tools!

I would like the humanoid robot to then go around the house and clean up all the floors, may be mop the floors after “dry” cleaning the floors. I would like the robot to then dump all the waste into the dust bin. Then come back and inspect all areas of the house and give me a report via its app.

To go even beyond, how about a humanoid cook? I feed my recipes, and then the robot goes to the fridge and takes the fresh veggies for cutting and preparing the dish. The fridge would then place order for refilling the veggies (such fridges are already available). The robot would follow my recipe and prepare my favourite dal or veggie dishes. It would instruct the hotpot to cook rice of pre-specified quantity. Whenever it has any doubts, it will send a message to me via its app, and wait till I respond.

What else would I need around the house? Dishwashing for example. Sorting clothes for the washing machine. Identify clothes which need to be dried in the dryer. And so on.

Benefits to me? Less physical work around the house, more time to pursue my hobbies, less worries about home cleaning (!) specifically. May be I would go ahead and create a new start up!!

Would I be willing to pay for the humanoid robot?

You bet.

The total cost for hiring and operating a maid service at home is in excess of S$ 1,200 – 1,300 per month. It depends on securing the service of a good maid who meets my specifications and requirements, and would stay at our home for at least 2 years. Every time we change the maid, beyond the usual replacement warranty time, we would incur placement fee of at least S$ 1,800 as well.

If the humanoid robot is available to me on a subscription basis, say at S$ 300 per month even, then it is a no-brainer decision. Even if the capital cost is S$ 20,000 it would still be worth with a warranty coverage of 5 years. China will keep dropping the prices while constantly enhancing the capabilities of humanoid robots. No other nation on earth would be able to match China, not even the U.S.

The consumer market for such robots is going to be huge, so you can expect all kinds of robots coming to the market. How about just a cleaning robot for just S$ 100 per month? Hey, there will be an enormous market even for such a single-use product.

What about the implications for the affected humans who would be losing their jobs? Their livelihood has depended on such “human” jobs available in the marketplace, especially in developed countries such as Singapore.

Would governments step in to protect their jobs, or let the private humanoid companies dictate the marketplace?

We are going to find out soon. Watch this space!

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
Singapore
29th August 2026

Trying to prove a point

I was winding down this Sunday morning with nothing to write about. No topic clicked in my head. Neither did I think about anything unique during this past week. I was tied up with the family.

Just as I was signing off, a thought came into my mind. Why not write about stubborn folks (like me), not willing to give up on their arguments, always trying to prove a point which is embedded in their brain?

I don’t think I wrote specifically about this topic in the past though I might be wrong given the long history of running this blog.

There are always intellectual arguments, competing viewpoints, plain disagreements on certain issues in society, or politics, et al. There will always be such arguments. I am quite well known amongst my network for taking a contrarian position and trying to defend it. Sometimes it is just to provoke a widespread discussion on a substantive matter of importance. May be it is designed to pull in folks who tend to be either silent or stay guarded about their personal opinions, not willing to reveal their mind. But I have always enjoyed such discussions which tend to be open and transparent, notwithstanding any negative ideas that my position might have conveyed to the participants. Basically I was not bothered on what views others hold about me (though in the past some twenty or thirty years ago, I used to be very bothered!).

Now I examine myself on my viewpoints, and what do I discover? My stubbornness, my ego, my pride, my urge to hold and defend my viewpoint, my couldn’t-care-less attitude towards others, and so on. Why did I not give up and subscribe to others’ views even on non-critical issues? Why should I be so obstinate? Why should I always try to win my argument? Why could I have not been nicer in my approach? I have many such questions but no answers (as usual!).

Unfortunately, such disagreements span not just my network of friends but also across my family. If such strong arguments span across generations, then there would be serious repercussions. I have witnessed some such encroachments when I have been politely ignored, except to laugh it off. The younger generation is much too different for these serious deliberations. They have their own views on how things have to be done, only it is not in my way. Can I do anything about that? Nope. You have to let them manage their affairs in the manner that they think would be best.

Another thought dawned on me this morning: should I always be right about everything, or should I be happy about my existence today? Serious question, right? My derivation today is to focus on happiness rather than on being “right”, not even knowing what is right. Happiness is more critical for mental well-being, rather than feeling that I have done something right by arguing my case very well!

My partner often points out that I always argue about everything, even small matters that she brought up for a conclusion. Why should I take the view that something as mundane as the cleaning efficiency of a cleaning robot is NOT as good as my physical cleaning work? Especially when she can easily refute my point. This extends to almost anything – which bread is better, or which brand of washing detergent is better? There is no end to such arguments. She always points out to me that I seem to be having a position on everything under the sun, which according to her is not a necessary condition for a better life experience.

Now, I agree with her, after all these years.

May be I wanted control over everything in my life, however insignificant it is…not surprising given the control freak I was (not any more). May be I wanted recognition for my views. May be I wanted to be respected for my “right” kind of views.

As time went on, I realised that being right is not the same as being wise. I might be factually right in my views, but not really wise enough to steer the discussion towards my point of view without offending any one.

Why have disagreements become such hot topics in today’s world?

Not surprising to figure out the answer.

It is because of social media which provide an instant platform to offer views, contest views, and disagree vehemently with others’ views. For instance, I don’t wish to admit defeat in a social public square, while I might concede my defeat in a private conversation. When hundreds or thousands of people are witnessing what is happening, you become extremely sensitive and cautious about the impression you wish to convey. It cannot be defeat or demeaning, it has to be positive and it better be a winning argument.

The key thing to realise is that it is not necessary to argue publicly with anyone on social media about the views you hold dear. What is the point? Who are we trying to convince? Is anything going to change if you win an argument on social media?

No, nothing at all.

Then why bother to be even on social media?

Many a time we have to concede – we may not know the answer to a question. It would be better to concede and say that you don’t know, rather than engage in a fake argument in which no one is likely to win. Ultimately, you go home with a heavy heart since you really did not have the answer and you wasted everyone’s time in arguing from a fake position.

Nowadays, I am less interested in proposing or winning an argument. I don’t wish to be right even in an argument thrown at me by someone else. I will think of course, but I do not need to be right. Trying to be right creates a feeling of uncertainty in me as I really do not know if I am going to be right at the end. Better stay uncertain and listen to arguments from all sides.

Have a good week ahead folks,

Cheers,
Vijay Srinivasan
23rd August 2026

Has writing changed my thinking?

This is a topic I have often wondered about, but could never bring myself to write about.

It has always been the case that I think about a topic of interest and high personal relevance, and then set out to write about it in my blog. I always enjoyed the thinking process as it strains my mind to all of its corners to extract my thoughts, past happenings, positive and negative memories, experiences, learning, etc., If I do not carry out such a tough thinking process, I won’t be able to formulate my thoughts and then to eventually write about a specific topic.

But what about the reverse process? That is not about writing something on a topic. It is about how my various topical writings have influenced me (!) to change my own outlook, orientation, and future behaviour. It puzzled me for quite a while, and even now I don’t have a complete answer. But I decided to convert this reverse thought into a new blog post!

It is fascinating to probe deep into this aspect of writing and thinking. I am now thinking as I write out this post (!), yes it keeps me totally engaged and my mind completely focused.

Have I become more opinionated, or more willing to change my mind, because of what I wrote in the past? Or, because one of my readers expressed his / her opinion which changed my mind on the topic? Or, have I become less willing to change my mind and much more rigid in my views? Have I become more analytical as I pursue my current and future blog posts? Possible, yes. Have I now become more questioning of myself and the world around me? Have I become more intelligent? Not really!

You see, these are rather puzzling and interesting queries on my own mind as I have been able to analyze my own writings over the past two decades when I was engaged in preparing my eBook Volumes. I was sometimes taken aback on reading what I had written several years ago. I found that I had expressed contrary opinions on the same or similar topic. I had changed my opinions on something that I strongly felt about. And, now I wish to change some of my old posts! Obviously, I am not going to do that, but I could feel the push on my back and on my mind to do so.

Things around me have changed substantially. I have formed new bonds and new relationships. I have had the opportunity to re-examine some of the old relationships. I have made decisions which I would not have dared to do many years ago. And so on.

But the critical question is that has my writing changed me irrevocably and made me take decisions which I wouldn’t have taken sometime in the past?

This is a rather difficult examination.

Before I come to an answer for the above question, let me say something. I started writing because I had something to say to me, I wanted to express my own thoughts to myself. Sounds strange, but true. I never had any audience in my mind even after the past twenty years of writing. In other words, I was justifying my opinions to my own incredulous and investigative mind. At the end of the day, we have to answer to our conscience and our mind, right? I have struggled with this process, as many a time I was not able to provide a detailed explanation of why I wrote out something the way I did. Dealing with one’s own conscience ought to be the most challenging exercise one could undertake.

When I write something, it is always because I believed in my ideas or opinions. Once I write it out and publish the same, the piece becomes a sort of commitment from me on my views. I found that there are some issues with my approach: I write based on my instinct (like what I am doing right now in a word-rolling fashion), and I rarely look for hard evidence. Not that I am an accomplished author who needs to justify each and every one of his words or thoughts – on the contrary, I believe that my freshest thoughts have brimmed up on my mind because I have always been a free bird with no constraints whatsoever.

But one thing has come about now – I am not always willing to defend my views, but more willing to re-examine the same. This is one significant output for me. I have always considered my thoughts to be precious to me at least, so before committing to paper I do give myself the benefit of a decent topic analysis. One thing I can surely state is that I have become much more self-aware, simply because I have written a lot about myself and my experiences. You could potentially form a character portrayal based on what I had written about myself.

I also discovered something unique in myself – I do not trust established institutions, and I make assumptions on certain people which may not be justifiable. I have biases and some inherent prejudices that I have still not addressed.

Another area which requires deep examination would be “why I think what I wrote makes a defensible case, and why I think I am always right about my opinions?”. Interesting, makes me think that many of my views should be subject to analysis on their premise, whether based on strong ground or on a weak personalized hypothesis.

As I have mentioned in the introduction and/or epilogue of my eBook Volumes, I am not sure of any conclusions on the topics I have written about. There is always an open query in my mind when I finish a blog post, like this one. I do not have the answers. Not sure. Requires much more thought and analysis. And so on.

At the end, I am arguing with myself on my own past ideas, opinions and views. There is no and never will be a conclusion on any of the topics. And that is the fascinating conclusion that I am getting to!

Have a good weekend,

Cheers,
Vijay Srinivasan
22nd August 2026

What is right for us

Who knows what is right for me? Or, you?

We often look to others for advice, suggestions and recommendations. Many a time, we do not know or understand the qualifications of the person we are seeking advice from – whether he or she is qualified enough or experienced enough. We just want to have a short cut, and an ability to blame that advice giver if things do not turn out well. We rarely blame ourselves.

But, what is right for us is known only to our heart.

I should say that I have followed my heart in most of the key things in my life. The choice was always in my hands, and I decided to make the appropriate choice on my own. I rarely took advice from others, and to be honest, I was ill-positioned to accept other peoples’ advice in my own matters. This is just to state the obvious in my case – I am not well disposed to think that others could even think about my problems in the same manner as I did. I also knew that a total understanding is not possible by anyone outside of myself.

The only complication arose when my brain interfered with my heart. It is our brain that often complicates things in our life. You may challenge me on this assertion, and I welcome it. My point is simple: most often in our life a determination of the suitable resolution of a problem comes about because our heart is very clear in informing us of the right way to proceed. And the heart combines our feelings, emotions and a righteous approach. I cannot say the same thing about my brain.

The brain is mostly algorithmic in executing its thought processes. Its thinking and analysis focus only on a problem, without consideration of the other parameters which could possibly impact the action plan. The problem with intelligence in general is that it assumes a level of superiority over our being, and it often exerts control over how we execute things. It is difficult to ascertain which dominates our being – whether it is the heart or the brain. But in my experience, they do not coordinate well, often leading to delays in decision making.

I would not hazard a guess that one organ is better than the other. The more we get to think, the more time we take to think through, the more we can “feel” the power of the brain. But the more we feel, the more we tackle our emotions, the more we can “feel” the power of our heart. At the end of the day, it is a combination as we all know.

People who let their hearts rule their lives happen to be more creative in their pursuits and responsive (not necessarily so however) to others, because they listen keenly to their hearts. That makes them listen to emotions and feelings, and they can sense that even in others! This does not mean that such folks are always right in everything that they do, it just exhibits a behavioural pattern that is more sensitive to human needs and emotions.

In MBA school, we did not learn anything about such behavioural patterns even in the Human Resources Management sessions. May be things are different today, and students may indeed be learning to pay more attention to how emotional factors play a crucial role in decision making.

On the contrary, we were taught the hard sciences both in Engineering and MBA schools (there were couple of soft courses such as Economics but even that had equations!). So the conditioning of our minds were orientated towards maximum use of the brain. While there were many students who relied only on their brains (and nothing else), there were a few who could argue their case study in a multi-dimensional manner, encompassing non-brain aspects as well. They always proved to be interesting characters, and knowing some of their career trajectories, I can attest to the fact that they were hugely successful.

Well, life tells us what is right and what is wrong anyway. We learn from each and every one of our experiences as we navigate our life. That’s for sure. But paying attention to what your heart says is enormously important as well. The heart rarely ever goes wrong, especially if you are a perceptive individual with a humane approach to life.

Unfortunately, only brilliance and super intelligence are appreciated even in today’s world. If you are in the “average” bracket, then life does not tend to treat you well – it would also treat you in an average manner. I would specifically add communication capability to the set of characteristics which define a successful individual. If we cannot communicate, it does not matter whether we are intelligent or not. I am sure you agree with me on this angle.

Apart from all of the above, it is imperative in my view to develop a human sensitivity dictated by your heart. I am not asking you to be emotional, that is not a necessary pre-requisite. However, in order to appreciate the feelings of others, it is critical you understand human emotions. How do people make decisions while handling their emotional distress? How do people view life when money is not the only criterion? How do people handle mediocrity and meritocracy? Can people deal with others in a calm manner with a sense of equanimity? Or, is one forced to demonstrate brilliance by being arrogant?

Think along these lines: does intelligence have to be always divorced from common sense derivation of potential solutions for a problem? Does one need to be condescending with his/her brilliance before arriving at a mutual resolution? And, so on.

Life is not always decided by the super intelligent people. History abounds with examples of ordinary people who had gone on to achieve extraordinary feats.

So, let us listen to our hearts first, and then to our brains, not to the exclusion of each other. Both are very critical in developing a human nature which gets to be successful overall.

Have a good week ahead,

Cheers,
Vijay Srinivasan
16th August 2026
Singapore

White Goods

I have to warn you at the outset: this is going to be a rather mundane topic of coverage based on some personal experiences with “white goods” at my home. Nothing philosophical or praiseworthy. But I needed to get this stuff out of my chest, and so there you go.

I had long been a staunch believer of German engineering and quality, irrespective of where a specific manufacturer produces the goods (most likely China, Malaysia or Vietnam). I thought that the German manufacturer would strongly enforce his quality standards on the final product which the consumer receives and uses.

The other expectation that I had (proved wrong) was that the German products would withstand continued daily usage and still function at good efficiency without breaking down.

Both were my considered assumptions and both have failed over the past several years.

The specific German manufacturer is BOSCH. I have no problem in naming the company as I had paid for their goods, this is not a slanderous post anyway. This is not just a passing remark. I carefully selected BOSCH white goods for my new home some seven years ago, and I truly expected the equipment to last for at least ten years. Not a lofty expectation as previously such equipment have lasted for some fifteen years or so. As is my usual practice, I bought “extended” warranty coverage which means that on top of the manufacturer’s typical two year warrantly, I paid for an additional two years coverage to the retailer who would then use BOSCH certified repair companies to fix any problems that I might face, with no questions asked.

The dish washer and the washing machine broke down multiple times in the fourth year (!), and I got the equipment serviced free of cost, of course. However, I wondered “what happened to the much vaunted German engineering and quality”, when the repairer told me that he almost entirely replaced all the internals of the washing machine including the drum! This was unusual to say the least, I have not heard of such extent of repair work – this was a big loss to the retailer’s servicing arm. I also wondered what BOSCH would think about such big failures.

Now, in its 7th year, the BOSCH washing machine completely failed some two weeks ago. I was really annoyed as it is such an integral component of a home operation. I called the repairer and after an inspection he said that it would cost around S$ 500, he also mentioned that a new machine of the exactly same model would cost around S$ 900. I decided then and there that I was not going to repair the machine and further I made the decision not to go for BOSCH ever again. The longevity and ease / cost of serviceability are really important questions for consumers, notwithstanding the brand’s reputation. The track record of the specific BOSCH equipment raised questions in my mind.

To add salt to the wound, the BOSCH gas stove started giving troubles on mains-operated ignition. For a couple of days I used the external ignition device which is commonly found in Indian homes, but that was not my preference. I called the repair company which specialised in BOSCH (apart from other brands of gas stoves), and the repair man advised me to replace the stove. Not surprising, given the track record of the other equipment at home. As we all know, replacement with a new equipment is the preferred option in developed countries, while repair is the preferred option in developing countries due to big cost differentials. Repair work is cheaper in developing countries and replacement parts are also much cheaper. The opposite is true in developed countries.

So, I made decisions against my original preferred brand. I chose RINNAI from Japan for the gas stove, LG from Korea for the washing machine, and so on. The point here is that any brand’s equipment can fail at any time. So, the selection amongst the most reputed brands is not going to change much. What is more important in my mind is the user rating, not of the top 5 stars or 4 stars variety, but the 3 stars and 2 stars variety which tells the true story of performance, serviceability and longevity of a specific choice. Cost should not be a consideration at all, though prices are similar amongst the top brands (there are some wild outliers such MIELE however which costs three times). What people say negatively about a particular model and brand is more critical while making a decision. But whatever we do, whatever recommendations we can get from AI tools, whatever feedback others provide, all that fade into insignificance when problems hit home. When I had to transport garments to an automated laundry when the washing machine failed told me the story of a failed brand and a failed decision making.

When the LG washing machine demo person told me not to expect a life of more than around 5 years from any of today’s home equipment, was I surprised? No, I was not. I was already expecting that kind of conclusion. He said that any further years of use that we could get should be considered as bonus!

In the middle of all this chaos, I tried to heat my coffee couple of days ago in the SAMSUNG microwave oven which was also 7 years old. Can you believe this – it also conked off. I was denied the pleasure of having my coffee due to the potential magnetron failure of the microwave oven which was thus far serving us well.

For the replacement, I went for PANASONIC inverter model this time around. While I would not single out BOSCH as other brands also fail, I need to make an exception as the investment on BOSCH was much higher collectively. This lesson taught me not to put many of my eggs in one basket, but distribute according to a brand’s strengths.

Easier said than done!

Now I can be a white goods equipment consultant if anyone wishes to learn something new!

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
15th August 2026
Singapore

Reflections on Modern Society: Volumes I to IV all live now

For twenty years, my blog writing has been a regular weekend habit — a place to work out an idea, get my opinions together, or just get something off my chest before the week started again. Somewhere along the way, that habit turned into an archive of more than 2,350 posts as on July 2026. Then I decided to convert parts of the blog archive into thematic eBooks, while the blogging journey still continues non-stop.

I’m glad to announce today that my “Reflections on Modern Society” series of 4 Volumes is now available as eBooks, wherever you prefer to read:
● Amazon Kindle
● Apple Books
● Kobo
and also Pothi publishing portal from India.
(Google Play Books is in progress — I’ll share that link the moment it’s live.)

My eBook series so far comprises of:

“Reflections on Modern Society: Volume I” which is “A Personal Philosophy of Life, Society, Technology, and Human Evolution.”

“Reflections on Modern Society: Volume II” turns to “Ageing, Work, the World, and the Way we Live and Travel.”

“Reflections on Modern Society: Volume III” covers “A Personal Journey across My Faith, Belief Systems, Values and Spirituality.”

“Reflections on Modern Society: Volume IV” examines “Uncommon Thoughts: Twenty Years, Distilled.”

I want to tell you a bit more about the last two newest additions.

Rather than send you chasing separate links across multiple stores, here’s one that works no matter what you read on:

https://books2read.com/u/m2Oxw7 [Volume III]

https://books2read.com/u/3nwnd5 [Volume IV]

It will detect where you shop and take you straight there.

A word on what you’ll actually find inside. Each volume pulls selected essays from the same twenty-year archive, but asks a different question of it.

Volume III is the most personal of the four — a single journey across faith, belief systems, values, and spirituality, drawn from over 2,300 essays and organised into six thematic parts: God and Personal Faith, Organised Religion and Institutions, Secularism and Religion in Society, Spiritual Traditions and the Bhagavad Gita, Moral and Ethical Philosophy, and Spirituality and the Inner Life. These are essays written with curiosity rather than certainty — I don’t think I’ve arrived at answers so much as gotten better at asking the questions honestly.

The newest, Volume IV, does something different: it asks not what the essays were about, but what was genuinely new in the writing itself — the pieces that took a fresh angle nobody else had, or turned a private experience into something more universal. Seventy-one essays made that cut, spanning a 2007 satire built on queueing theory to a 2026 experiment testing my own archive against four different AI models to see what still held up.

If you read one and have thoughts, a review on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, or Goodreads means more than you’d think — it’s often the only signal that tells me whether a book is worth my time.

Thank you for reading, as always. You can contact me via my personal email at vjsri99@yahoo.com for publication requests and any additional commentary on my eBooks.

Vijay Srinivasan
11th August 2026
Singapore

People in our Life

I always get inspiration when I am in my balcony – which I don’t do often enough. I look at the sereneness of the morning sun, lightly streaming from the North East corner in the early morning as I deliberately look at it (to get my daily dose of vitamin D). I look at the body of water facing my balcony and the people jogging. I don’t even recognize all of these things, but silently I get a feeling of calmness, which always allows me to gather my thoughts for the day.

So, what is my flagship thought for today?

Let me elaborate first as I always do, before coming to the point – I love this part as always. It allows me to stream my thoughts into this post as I type it out on my mobile. Even if I have already thought about and identified the topic, it does give a deep sense of pleasure when you are able to write it out almost effortlessly.

Many people come into our lives for a variety of reasons. You quickly drop off the transactional folks as their value-add is quite specific and not broad- based. Examples would be your relationship managers at your bank, your insurance company, the lady who recognises you every few days at the check-out counter at your local supermarket, your business friends who are almost always transactional (not wanting to go any deeper to build a lasting relationship for whatever reason), your local service providers for many regular services such as home cleaning, cooking, etc., We have countless such interactions with strangers over the course of a week or a month.

But how about the ones who choose to stay in your life and remain engaged, through your ups and downs? No matter what, they want to be your friends, and you want to be theirs.

Don’t you think they are the most impactful people in your life? Relationships are built over many years and usually stay invested as long as you nurture them constantly. If both parties invest, a relationship could easily become consequential for your social well being and mental health.

The reason is rather simple. Someone is seriously and genuinely interested in you, your family, your thoughts and your growth. In essence, it is YOU. Such interest does not occur easily. It requires a serious effort from both sides, once the mutual “interest” parameters are well established. Further, there should be no motives or nefarious intent on either side.

Why do some people (not many that you know well enough) wish to stay closely associated with you? And, likewise you wish to be associated with only some.

Recently, I decided to quit one of the most important groups that I have been associated with for some 39 years. It was not an easy decision. Everyone in that group knows me, and I know everyone of them. Nevertheless, after many years of staying silent in the group, I concluded that there is a huge divergence in values. I would hasten to add that the divergence was not with everyone, but the trend of the discussions was not in sync with my views and my considered inputs went unrecognised or unanswered. Someone can challenge me on “what exactly are you talking about with high-sounding words like value systems, et al”. But that is fine for me despite it being a very valid query. However, I am not obligated to explain myself to anyone or to any group. I remain who I am, and would never compromise myself or my beliefs just to stay as part of an influential group. I should state here that the group shares lots of useful perspectives on the status of global economy, society and political landscape, a good fodder for me!

However, I took my decision and departing from the group today.

As I am getting in to the “wiser” part (!) of my life, it has become imperative to make key decisions pertaining to the conduct of my life. Usually, I suffer silently with no public expression of my unfriendly thoughts (my blog has been an exception but in a very selective manner only). But now, time has come to be more responsive to my own feelings and thoughts, with no care about how my decisions would impact others. There is nothing wrong with that I guess.

I would like to stay on with the people I like in my life’s situation, rather than perpetuate old antagonisms or trying to discover novel new friends for a change. It is not going to work. So why make a wasted effort?

The people who are already in your life (other than your immediate family members), who are serious about nurturing a continuous, ongoing relationship with you, are the only folks who matter to you for the rest of your life. Tell me if I am wrong, and if so, provide me with a detailed logic on how I can be so wrong to start with.

My partner told me this – why do you want to quit this potentially useful group? Just stay on and benefit from the group’s thoughts, opinions and suggestions. But I explained to her that mutual recognition, respect and appreciation have all become very important in my life today. If I can get none of that, I do not wish to participate or contribute anything to that group.

Let me leave and focus on something else where I get at least noticed for my contributions!

And, let me devote my resources and efforts towards nurturing the long-standing relationships that I already have built up which are not insignificant. I am not in this for a public relations exercise or fame. I need none of that to survive. My focus should stay firmly on building something solid which will be recognized. I am doing that day in and day out.

The group I am exiting today is going to throw some shenanigans on my way like, why don’t you stay in the group and do nothing at all. But that’s what I have been doing for the past few years!

Time to move forward and focus on people who do matter in my life!

Have a good week ahead,

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan

9th August 2026

Disagreement is not Disloyalty

Human beings, in societal configurations, have always assigned a huge weight to conformance.

What does that mean?

Conforming to social mores has been a very important and critical component of human existence for a long time, even to this day. People who do not conform, and who deviate from established customs, are often banished from specific social networks. People who possess a totally different view of how life needs to be conducted, or whose political or religious views differ vastly from those of the grouping that they purportedly belong to, have found themselves sometimes in a state of being excommunicated.

Unfortunately, this is the predominant status even now. Things haven’t changed much.

People who differ go on to make their own impact on the larger society, their country or even the world sometimes, because such people are often creative in their thinking outside the usual box. They are not disloyal to the group that they came from, they only had disagreements with the normative tenets of the group.

Nothing wrong with that, right?

But, the status of politics even in developed countries is such that any disagreement would automatically be misconstrued as disloyalty to the founding principles of the political party ruling a specific country, or its “widely” accepted manifesto. And, any perceived disloyalty would be either viewed with scorn or punished. You can see many examples of such behaviour in the Trump administration.

The problem with such approaches is the squashing of free and open discourse, and the generic ability to withstand public criticism. A democratic form of governance provides for such aspects of public discourse in public forums. But if a political party is too strong, or has the necessary majority in the parliament, it can take a view that disagreements should be curbed at any cost. This is happening even in the U.S. today, which just celebrated its 250th anniversary of independence from the British in 1776, and has often been seen as a “beacon of freedom” all those years.

In other countries in the West, there is an ascendancy of far right (or far left) ideologies, which brook no disagreements at all. Either you conform, or you are out completely. You may disagree with me that this is not indeed the case, but I beg to differ. Once a far right extremist political party manages to get to power in fair and free elections, then you would witness what happens. A case in point is Germany, which is seeing a resurgence of public opinion against immigration and in favour of far right ideology. While it may be insignificant right now, it would take only a few more years of concerted work for the far right to come to power at least in certain states of Germancy. From then on, it would be an unstoppable march to the Bundestag. So, it is not inconceivable that extremism might be on the rise in Western Europe, and that too, in its most consequential and powerful country. Disagreements would then be frowned upon initially, and then would become cause for legal attacks. Imprisonment would not be far behind.

The mixup between disagreement with social customs or with political philosophies and conformance to the same is often wrongly and totally incorrectly represented as disloyalty to the nation itself. Everyone knows that this connection is rather tenuous and leads to huge misrepresentation in the public domain. But politicians often use such disagreements to their advantage. It is easy for them to characterise a group or an individual as disloyal to the constitution of the country, just because there is a disagreement in expressed views.

Another huge case in point is the definition of anti-semitism which is often conflated with the state of Israel. I would argue that disagreement with the political and military actions of the state of Israel which are the result of the policies of its current government should not be misconstrued as anti-semitism. There is actually no relationship at all. If someone disagrees with the actions taken by Israel, he is more or less automatically categorised as an anti-semite. This is nothing short of ridiculous. Even more disturbing are the strong views by political parties and governments of some of the Western nations such as Germany and France, going back some eight decades because of which they do not wish to blame the state of Israel for anything, irrespective of the fact that it could be committing war crimes.

It is blatantly anti freedom of expression to constrain anyone from around the world who might possess indpendent views of the situation on the ground of any conflict or war. I do not agree with the U.S. war on Iran, which is unwarranted and unprovoked. Does this mean I would not be allowed to travel to the U.S., or even to any Western nation allied with the U.S. on this war (none to my knowledge!)? Is that the manner and mechanism by which individual thoughts would be measured and judged in future?

The issue is that the opinions of most people are not significant for any issue or problem plaguing the world currently. We do not matter. If I feel that way, even if I have a platform to voice my opinion (like this blog), it is because I know for sure that I still do not count. My views remain restricted to a very small audience.

I disagree on many issues because I spend time thinking about those issues. Not because I always wish to disagree or stand out on issues to the detriment of conformance. If my thinking produces a different perspective and I validate the same in my mental analysis to be the right approach to take, then it is entirely my decision to do so, and I cannot and will not be constrained by anyone. If this means I am not in conformity with the generalized view of the society on any such issues, so be it. I do not have a problem with that.

Disloyalty is a strong word, which is often misused in my opinion. I do not see myself as disloyal to any social institution or government. I keep my views on any issue even if there is disagreement with the public view – that does not mean I am disloyal.

I am just different, that’s all there to it, right?

Have a good weekend folks,

Vijay Srinivasan
8th August 2026