Supermarket vs. Mom-and-Pop shops.

Supermarket vs. Mom-and-Pop shops.

This has to do with the article of Friday ,June 29,2007 "Keep grains off retails, Buddha tells Reliance"published in The Economic Times ,one of the leading financial daily of India. The article reads as follows:

"Do not touch food grains". This is the rule No: 1 for Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance group which has ambitious plans to spread its retail foot prints across West Bengal. The state government has also spelt out categorically that Reliance''2019 retails initiative should in no way unsettle the lives of small shop keepers and vendors.

This reminds me my blog PARIJAT-7 of 24^th November 2006 where in I had described the plight of a vegetable vendor on the face of onslaught of Supermarket. This was followed by PARIJAT-8 on 4^th December 2006 which was basically seeking solution to the problem raised through PARIJAT-7.

The article of The Economic Times prompted me to have a re-look on the issue. An internet search resulted in locating some interesting articles. Let me share gist of those articles before we analyze the issue and look forward to the solutions keeping in intact the basic assumption that the process of market driven Economy and Globalization is irreversible.

INDIA'2019S RETAIL REVOLUTION BY JOHN ELLIOT, FORTUNE DATED 27^TH JUNE 2007.

This article highlights the fact that "Reliance Fresh" owned by Reliance Group of company has opened up 50 brightly lit, western style stores in past seven months in the South Indian city of Hyderabad. They have also opened up 220 Reliance Supermarkets in 20 Indian cities and plan calls for 2500 outlets in next four years including 500 hyper markets. Wal-Mart group with Bharati Enterprises is also quite active in India in the field of retail market. These activities are supposed to affect 12 million Mom-and-Pop shops (called KIRANAS in India) of India. Small scale retailing provides livelihood to about 20 million urban workers and 12 million rural workers. This has resulted in opposition from whole seller, middleman and other political parties.

To counter this Reliance has been opening BULK-BUY stores called "Ranger Farms" in early morning hour that allows street vendors to buy ay whole sale price from Reliance supply chain.

Communist party of India (Marxist) is now calling for restrictions on the number and size of large stores that can be opened in a single locality. They also want protection for farmers who sell to large retail chains and will, they fear, be bullied into accepting the low price.

Reliance and Bharati group argue that their supply chains will replace corrupt officials and middle man who run the current purchasing and distribution system and reduce the waste up to 40%.

The article also highlights that smaller shops are still preferred by lower-middle income group as these shops offer credit and cater to people shopping in their way home from work. Those shops also sell to customers who buy in small quantities. Another interesting fact mentioned is about small eatable shop which has doubled its sales due to its proximity to super market.

ARTICLE ON INDIA TOGETHER DATED 16^TH FEB 2007.

This article highlights the study done by Stephen J Goetz and Hema Swaminathan of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Pennsylvania State University in United States. The authors measured the impact of Wal-Mart's2019s massive retail boom on poverty of various American States. The gist is as follows:

American states that had more Wal-Mart stores in 1987 had higher poverty rate by 1999 than the states where fewer stores are set up. Equally important, the counties (districts) which built new Wal-Mart stores between 1987-1998 also had high poverty rates. Increased poverty growth from Wal-Mart operations came at a time when poverty rates nationally were otherwise in decline.

No doubt the above study is interesting.

IN HYPERCITY, INDIA GETS BIG BOX RETAIL, DATED 15^TH AUGUST 2006 BY BLOGGER PROFESSOR-Z

This article talks of opening of 120000 square feet Hyper City retail store in Malad, Mumbai (commercial capital of India) by K.Raheja Corp Group. It accepts consumer's debt by tying up with Hong Kong Bank and Citi Financial for money- less customers. The most important fact nearly 50% Mumbai population, a hoofing 6 millions live in small congested areas. These populations do not look to Super market for purchase.

FACTS ABOUT INDIAN DEMOGRAPHIC PATTERN AND CONSUMERISM

These statistics shall help us to analyze the problem in a larger prospective.

70% Indian population reside in villages, total number of villages being 550000.

Rest 30% resides in more than 2000 towns and cities.

Rural market is growing at the double the speed of urban market.

Number wise, both rural and urban hold equal numbers of middle income and above households.

Lower middle income group population in rural is twice that of urban.

In highest income level, urban has 2.3 million household and rural has 1.6 million household.

Money available to spend on fast moving consumer goods

a} Urban India-49500 crores

b} Rural India-63500 crores

Absolute size of rural India is expected to be double that of urban India in couple of years.

ANALYSIS

A cursory glance into above statistics conveys a message of comfort.

The impact of opening of Super markets on local economy is not that menacing as it made out to be. Certainly it requires displacement and relocations of Mom-and-Pop shops (kiranas shops) but the presence of lower middle income group will always provide consumers to these Mom-and-Pop shops. Considering the population of India and the demands always at par or above the supplies, every body (both super market and kiranas shop) will get its pie here.

Mom-and-shops should be flexible enough to move to the new localities instead of going head-on with super market. Change in business shall help. Recollect the experience of eatable shops near super market described above. Role of government particularly various state housing boards come into prominence as they should construct and provide accommodation in new places to the displaced Mom-and-Pop shop owners. Mobile shops or in other words shops on wheels are the best options to counter super market considering the busy urban life.

Apart from generating employments these Super Markets shall indirectly help in (call it a by-product) generating distributed economy rather than concentrated economy. Influx of urban population to the rural is going to be inevitable considering the displacements of Mom-and-Pop shop owners and growth of rural market (see the statistics above} which is a good sign for economy.

Look for a win-win model (Reliance Bulk-Buy stores selling to street vendors in whole sale price). This has got many advantages. The sale volumes of supermarkets shall increase. The dependent Mom-and-Pop shop can enjoy the economic scales of its supplier that is Supermarkets. In the long run Super markets may not penetrate to new areas as they are already serving and increasing business through Mom-and-Pop shops. In other words Mum-and-Pop shops shall be consumer to Supermarkets and their presence will not be threatened. This shall reduce the industry burden on distributions. In food products this shall reduce the presence of middle man and wastage.

PARIJAT-31

The jittery music of utensils was appearing to him coming from a distance. The drowsiness was drowning him down. Legs, stretched high over study table, were going up and up as he was sliding and sinking on the plastic chair like a damaged boat of a raged and raised sea.

The silhouettes of past loomed forth before him, only to recede slowly. A boy jumping high. High enough to smash that shuttle overhead. Easy kill. Easy prey. Easy victory. Probable and possible victory. He had seen that. He had smelled that. He had sensed that. Clapping hands. But in the end, those claps were not for him. He does not remember how he missed that easy prey? He only remembers the concealed and pinching smile on his opponent face as he stood dumbfounded. Talent lost to luck. From where hell the wind came in that dry winter afternoon-------------! what was the timing of that wind---------------? He does not know why it hurts and hunts him till today. It regurgitates so often and very often, without reason, perhaps sometimes with reasons. But certainly it has pushed him to pusillanimity and loneliness.

The jittery music of utensils grew. With that came a sobbing sound. Slow and low. He knows, it is she, the old and aged KrishnaAamaa, crying. She must be cleaning that metallic plate. A plate made out of third graded recycled stainless steel in which he takes his food. A companion of last three years. Flat and low reamed with manufacturing defect. The internal stress has pushed middle portion of the plate up like a protruding belly of a stressed up person. KrishnaAamaa laughs and grumbles when he takes the food in it. Laughs for his peculiar eating style. Coarse rice, flowing dal, vegetables each poured and piled over each other in that plate. Flowing dal, flowing to the circular edge of plate, which he sips directly lifting the plate from edge by both hands. His nose and sometimes his untrimmed mustache and some other times his uncombed dried flowing hairs touch that heap of rice, dal and vegetables piled one over others. Now KrishnaAamaa grumbles seeing the food particles struck to his nose, sometimes to his mustache and uncombed and dried hairs. She grumbles as he smiles. He forgets who is KrishnaAamaa? She too forgets who is she? That is love! Undignified love! Indian love! Stinking and unaesthetic love!

She is KrishnaAamaa, an old and dark complexioned house maid. And he? A struggler who is struggling and ever eager to struggle in that hired house along with others two from different geographical regions of the country. The fourth, the flat nosed Shan had left six months back. KrishnaAamaa cooks for them, cleans utensils ,cleans clothes, brings medicine, lends money when required ,grumbles and scolds all in return of meager monthly pay, not that important ; of those affectionate calls of Aamaa,very essentials and most essentially those bowed and cowered heads when she grumbles. She is Aamaa, a mother. A house maid at the same time.

The sobbing sound grew further. It stuck a clunky note. It is now mixed with sound of wind buffeting the bougainvillea plants full of dry leaves and dry flowers. He did not lift himself and looked back. He sank further into the chair. He knows the sobbing sound will stop once he looks back. He did not do that. It was a lingering aroma of unconditional love, so divine, yet undignified, stinking and unaesthetic. krishnaAamaa too does not understand why she sobs. But it is coming to her automatically and unconditionally. It is coming to her every now and then after he purchased the train ticket and when she sees that peculiar eating plate, that cheap country wood cot with bamboo legs, moth eaten with bleeding of white dusts from numerous tiny holes and that thick misshapen sleeping mattress filled with cheap and unprocessed cotton, soaked and moist with sweat ,smelling and stinking ,again with numerous tiny holes made surely by ants for those bite when he sweats lying on that and those too make disciplined queues of coming and going from those tiny holes when he is not lying on that and that high legged study table ,top scribbled with information like phone numbers, scientific formulae and of course "I love you------",written in mother tongue to avoid glares of friends and guests and there he keeps the legs when tired as he has done now carefully avoiding half burnt and half molten candle with tiny black wick to be lighted when required and the books ,most important and least important.

KrishnaAamaa knows the train will take away him leaving those surrounding him, that third grade stressed stainless steel plate; that bamboo legged cot; high legged study table and half burnt and half molten candle with black wick. Ants, too, shall leave slowly and gradually as the stink of moist sweat vanishes. He will go as Shan went six months back. She had sobbed too when Shan left But why for him and why for Shan, she will cry? It remains unexplained for her. No logic. No reason. It is a feeling, unfathomed, unexplained and unexpressed. It is a feeling which jiggles. Feeling both firm and yielding like soft jelly. She felt nauseating as she sobbed and coughed. The plumpness, jiggliness, firmness and softness of that felling, all coupled together in unlikely combinations griped her hard and harder. She coughed as she left. She did not look back and he too did not look back. Sinking further in that chair, he stretched his vision far and far to that day's star invisible and yet visible like that feeling which swings and trembles like the light of a flickering candle which gives a feeling of leaving with all its fragility but stays and smiles. Scene of that "luck wins over talent" again resurfaced. Flying shuttle. Easy prey. His jump to kill. That sudden dry winter wind. That concealed but scornful victory smile of his opponent. Those claps in the end. He began, mysteriously, to breathe hard. Every bit of him again filled with burning sensation. It is burning him from inside. The victory has not come. It is yet to come. Till today, it has been story of luck which had triumphant smile. When the turn of talent will come? It roiled and roiled within him until he could barely stand it.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KrishnaAamaa walked and walked in that scorching sun of afternoon which turned her to stupor. She came to the bank of mud-muddled river, slow, practically asleep and to that several legged banyan tree in its pillared shade. She came near to that stone covered with vermilion and full with smell of sandal and turmeric. She knelt down and prayed. It is her God. It is her faith. It is her Lord, Lord Murga. She did not wish for anything. She did not ask for anything for HE knows everything. She did not know how many times she could move around the tree pronouncing Lord Murga, Lord Murga and Lord Murga---------------------------------------------------------------------------. She kept on moving and moving.

From a distance a cow mooed, Haaamaaaaa,Haaaamaaaaaaaaaaa and Haaaamaaaa, perhaps announcing that undignified love, stinking love, unaesthetic love but unconditional love.

EXOTIC NILGIRIS-2(FLOWER SHOW AT BOTANICAL GARDEN,OOTY)

EXOTIC NILGIRIS (PART-2)

Ooty, the darling of Nilgiris has several places of interest. The most popular tourist spot in Ooty, of course, is the 150 plus year old Government Botanical Gardens situated at the northern end of Ooty town. Originally started by European residents with the object of raising "English vegetables at reasonable cost", it was subsequently converted into botanical garden of world acclaim, thanks largely, to the efforts of Mr.W.G.Melvor of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, England, who was given the charge of the garden in 1848. What was before a deep ravine covered with shoals, shrubs and swamps was transformed into an exquisite garden of about 50 acres at his trained hands in matter of just 10 years.

The steep slopes were converted into walks, terraces and lawns and the lower part was turned into a sprawling undulating lawn of "Kikiyu" grass, the lush magnificence of which is a captivating sight to the visitors as they enter the garden. Ponds, rockeries, green houses, bowers, nurseries and a conservatory are some of the attractions of this informally laid garden.

With over 2000 species of plants and trees from all over the world, the garden is a rare treat of delight to students of botany and connoisseurs of gardening. A grand picnic spot, the garden is one of the best offers for walks, bird watching and photography.

SINGERS FROM INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT-1(GHULAM ALI)

Ghulam Ali is a famous Pakistani ghazal singer of Patiala Gharana. Ghulam Ali was born in the village of Kaleke, Sialkot, then in India, now in Pakistan. He belongs to a musical family, his father was a vocalist and a sarangi player who gave him early training. At the age of 15, Ghulam Ali became a disciple of the legendary classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, who was a master of the Patiala Gharana. His training was provided mainly by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's three brothers: Barqat Ali Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan, and Amanat Ali Khan, in Lahore. All these great teachers of classical music taught him the finer nuances of classical music and his solid foundation of classical music included studying Thumri and learning to sing raagas.

He started singing for Radio Lahore in 1960. Ghulam Ali's father named him "Ghulam Ali" after Bade Ghulam Ali. Along with singing ghazals, Ghulam Ali composes music for his ghazals too. His compositions are raaga-based and sometimes include a scientific mixture of raagas. A raaga is a scientific, precise, subtle and aesthetic melodic form with its own peculiar ascending and descending movement consisting of either a full seven note octave, or a series of six or five notes (or a combination of any of these) in a rising or falling structure called the Arohana and Avarohana. He is known for blending gharana-gaayaki into ghazal and this gives his singing the capability to touch hearts. He beautifully sings Punjabi geets too. Most of his Punjabi geets have been extremely popular. Though from Pakistan, Ghulam Ali remains as popular in India as in Pakistan. He burst into the Indian scene with a Hindi film song "Chupke Chupke raat din" in B.R.Chopra's movie, 'Nikaah'. Other popular ghazals include "Hungama hai kyon barpaa" and "Awaargi,yeh dil yeh paagal Dil mera", and many more.

He is not to be confused with Chote Ghulam Ali, who was a classical singer from Pakistan hailing from the qawaal bachha ka gharana.

Ghulam Ali has also sung some beautiful ghazals like Kina Kina Timro Tasveer, Gajalu Tee Thula Thula Aankha, Lolaaeka Tee Thula and Ke Chha Ra Diun in Nepali language with Narayan Gopal, the greatest Nepali singer, and composer Deepak Jangam. Those songs were compiled in an album entitled Narayan Gopal, Ghulam Ali Ra Ma, and are equally popular among Nepali music lovers to this day.

EXOTIC NILGIRIS-1(THREAD GARDEN AT OOTY)

The NILGIRIS or literally the BLUE MOUNTAINS is situated at the tri-junctions of the states of Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Kerala in Southern India. Presently, it is a revenue district of Tamil Nadu. It has been estimated that 57% of the surface of the Nilgiri is over 1000 meter above the mean sea level and 47% of the same surface tower above 1800 meter. It compares very favorably with any other tropical resorts that can be mentioned;Kodaikanal,Mahabaleshwar or Shimila in India,Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka,Baguio in the Philippines,Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania,the Blue Mountain resorts of New South Wales,the lake resorts of Guatemala

Cuddled up in a valley on the crest of the Nilgiri hills, at an average height of 7500 feet,Ooty still retains much of her fabled charm despite the ravages of modern development.

Amongst the several popular tourist spots in Ooty, the THREAD GARDEN is a miracle in art creation of this millennium. It is an innovative aesthetic creation of an artificial natural looking garden comprising of many natural models of plants and flowers, creepers, climbers, lawns etc. It is done in self-invented technology of "Four Dimensional Hand wound Embroidery", created without taking help of needles or machineries. The creation has consumed thread measuring more than 60 million meters in length. It has taken 50 specially trained artists for 12 years to bring out this wonderful creation. About 400 different shades and plain natural colored embroidery threads have been used to create such a color spectrum in order to get natural color combinations. Painting or printing has never been entertained.

First of its kind in the world, the garden enjoys the monopoly of the top attraction with its innovative aesthetic creation, since there is no similar one to compare or to compete. In all respects, thread garden can be rated as the highest-art creation of manual effort that ever brought about successfully in the world.

Every piece of art creations is an imaginative expression of nature. Making artificial pieces of flora look natural, is a real challenge. Really tourists adore this millennium miracle. Once seen, memory will not willingly let it pale.

CAN QUALITY SURVIVE THE ON-SLAUGHT OF PRICE WAR ?

A couple of weeks back I had the opportunity of talking to one of the marketing personal of a company manufacturing consumer durable. He was worried as market share of his company is nose-diving over a period of time particularly after arrival of foreign players. No doubt his product is good. But it is the pricing of the products of foreign companies, which has proved to be a nagging headache. Secondly they are dealing with consumer durable; hence the durability aspect of the product has to be looked into. The concerned marketing person to whom I was talking to was of opinion that the products offered by foreign companies are not durable and those products are definitely going to mal-function after period of four to five years. But in a competitive market a time period of four to five years is very crucial and price war may totally wipe out a company in that intervening period. In other words by the time it is proved that the product of a company is bad, it has already thrown its competitor out of the market by resorting to price war and semi-durable product. So what is the alternative available for a local company manufacturing a durable product whose price is on higher side in comparison to a foreign manufacturer whose product is certainly inferior, but the inferiority is yet to be proved, and has lower price tag? Secondly the foreign manufacturer is backing its products with misleading high advertising and publicity gloss. Well, it is certainly a problem.

But myself, only having a superficial swim over the issue told to the marketing person very casually, may be perfunctorily, "What is the problem? If others are bringing down the cost by compromising the quality, you also do the same". The reply arrived before I completed my perfunctory utterance. Oh, my God, I was not expecting an answer so sudden and so realistic from the marketing man. He looked straight to me and said, "It is shear foolishness for an Indian company operating only in India to cut down the quality. If the foreign operators fail, they can always go back to the countries of their origin. But where shall the Indian company go if they fail in India?"

Really a catch-22 situation. Either way it is problematic. But what is the solution? Customer education and awareness? Who will do that? Whose responsibility is that? Hmnn! I remember a story narrated to me by my Grand father way back 1972 when I was ten years old. I have forgotten in what context he narrated that story to me. But I find relevance here to narrate that. Here goes the story. DO NOT BE WORRIED. I AM NOT ASSUMING YOU AS MY GRAND CHILDREN WHEN I NARRATE THAT. BUT LISTEN (OOPHH! READ) IT CAREFULLY.

Once upon a time in a sleepy village of India, villagers opened a school. None of the residents of the village had any formal education. Teachers were rare commodity in those days. In lot of difficulty they could locate a suitable person from nearby village to teach in their village's school. So the teaching started in the school. Villagers were happy about the fact that their children were getting education. They paid lavishly to the teacher and every day as the teacher returned home after teaching, he was invariably presented with some gifts by the villagers. Sometimes it might be fresh vegetables or a tender country chicken or fresh fishes from river. But he was presented with something everyday. The teacher's wife was very happy with those every day's gifts brought by her husband. Naturally, she was feeling proud of her husband.

One good/bad quality with ladies that they can exaggerate the things with lot of ease. Gents fumbled in that matter. They are no match to ladies in this regard. In fact gents are no match to ladies in any show business involving tongue. Ladies have versatile tongues. Now let us come back to the story.

Everyday, after teacher goes to the school, his wife used to make a nice propaganda amongst the neighboring ladies about the capabilities of her husband like how knowledgeable and learned her husband is and how he earns everyday nice gifts for her in form of costly dress materials and ornaments. This created lot of jealousy in the mind of neighboring women.

And all of us know when wife becomes jealous and envious who becomes victim. Again husband. By over night, from good-for-something he is promoted to good-for-nothing. Now comes the time to prove.

Hence one of the good-for-nothing husbands of the village promised to his wife that he, despite his no education, can also be a good teacher and wins gifts for his wife. Tall claim! But he needs to prove. He went to the neighboring village and claimed he is a better teacher than the present one. But villagers were unwilling to buy his words. But the man kept on persuading everyday. Ultimately the villagers thought of giving a chance to the new man. They asked the old teacher to take rest for couple of days till they test out the new person. The new person, now the teacher on test, knew that villagers are not educated to take a test of him. He can resort to gimmick (read marketing gimmick) to befool the villagers.

Next day, the new teacher came to the school and asked the children to read, as loudly as possible, whatever was taught by the earlier teacher. Children read loudly and their voices reached every nook and corner of the village. Villagers were impressed. Ah! The new teacher is teaching well. Day by day as test days moved on, the voice of the children became louder and louder. No doubt, villagers concluded, the new teacher is certainly better. Hence the new teacher is hired and old teacher is fired.

Days moved on, the good-for-something designated as good-for-nothing suddenly became good-for-anything and everything. He managed the show successfully and now he too brings gifts everyday. Fresh vegetables, tender chicken, fresh fishes. Sorry! Read new ladies' dress and ornaments.

The old teacher was puzzled! How an uneducated man is able to teach? He went to the school and discovered the truth. Students are only reciting loudly the old stuffs. The new teacher is dozing under a tree near the school.

He went inside the class room , wrote a message in the board for the new teacher and left quietly.

HOW LONG THIS SHALL LAST?

After sometimes the new teacher came inside the class and his instinct told him that there is a message for him in the board. Cleaver as he is, he immediately called a student and asked him, "Here is a test for you. Read what is written in the board." The boy read it. Then the teacher asked the boy to write below that question.

THIS SHALL LAST AS LONG AS MIND IS BLIND.

BE SURE, THAT WILL KEEP YOU ALWAYS BEHIND.

He then asked the students to read it loudly. The crescendo reached the villagers. They were happy. The new teacher has taught a new poem.

Now my friends let us analyze the story in the context of plight of that company manufacturing a quality consumer durable. But like the old knowledgeable teacher, it will be soon thrown out of the market as our mind is blind. Whom to blame? What is the solution? Misleading advertisements and publicities? Partially true. But how to control that? Who will control that? What is the effect of that control if mind remains blind? How long shall we keep a good product behind? Shall we keep it behind till it vanishes? What is fair competition? How to maintain and sustain a fair competition? Quality monitoring is a must to maintain a fair competition. Who will monitor the quality? What is methodology? Is accelerated test an answer? Shall the quality comparison and price comparison of a particular product available in various countries help? For example the product "x" of company "y" available in country "z" should be compared with that of "x" of company "y"available in country "w" before it is publicized as a good product in country "z" based on experience of country "w". The climatic variation and price variation should also be considered. Otherwise a cash-cow shall eat away an ordinary-cow. Unfair competition shall definitely lead to monopolistic situation in long run. Examples are many. What happened to Indian soft drinks market? For that matter what happened to lock, toy, shoe, motor pump market? Who rules there?

In India we are indifferent and insensible to many things. We need to shed our lay back attitude. We take shelter behind the saying "TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL. QUALITY WILL SPEAK". Yes, it is true that the truth shall speak. But by the time truth prevails, another truth shall emerge: the quality shall not survive to speak; it would have been eaten away in the price war, say unfair competition. THINK.

Think, my non-Indian friends too. What is happening in my country today, you might have experienced that or going to experience that.

PRICE WAR IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN ANY OTHER FORMS OF WAR.

BREATHING EXERCISE-5(ANULOMA-VILOMA PRANAYAMA)

This is the concluding blog in the series of Breathing exercise or Pranayama. This breathing exercise is called Anuloma-Viloma Pranayama. Now please listen to the video carefully before you start practicing it. Videos are shown in two parts. I would request viewers who are interested in breathing exercise to see all my previous blogs on breathing exercise before they start practicing it. The details of previous blogs on breathing exercise or pranayama are as follows:

1] PRANAYAMA(BREATHING EXERCISE)-1

2} BREATHING EXERCISE(KAPALABHATI PRANAYAMA(PART-1))

3}BREATHING EXERCISE-3(KAPALABAHATI PRANAYAMA-2)

4}BREATHING EXERCISE-4(BAHYA PRANAYAMA AND AGNISAR KRIYA}

All these blogs are high-lighted entries in my page. The sitting postures and the general precautions are high-lighted in the first blog of this series.

METHOD: The steps to be taken for this Pranayama are as follows:

A} Close the right nostril with the right hand thumb.

B} Inhale slowly through the left nostril till the lungs are filled.

C} Then close the left nostril with the middle and third fingers.

D} Open the right nostril and exhale through it.

E} Then inhales through right nostril and repeat the procedures.

BENEFITS: Diseases like Rheumatisms Gout, diseases pertaining to urinary and generative organs are cured. Pathogenic cholesterol also gets dissolved. Blockage in arteries of heart gets cleared. This is highly effective in case hypertension and all short of diseases relating to eyes. This pranayama along with Kapalbhati almost acts as a panacea.

GENERAL NOTES: Pranayama should be done in empty stomach or five hours after food intake. Follow the precautions prescribed for a particular pranayama before practicing it. Do not rush. Start slowly. Increase the speed as your stamina increases. Follow the sitting posture as explained in the first blog of the series.

FOR DETAILS, LOG ON TO www.divyayoga.com

PARIJAT-30

When he opened that folded paper it started to get torn from the middle forming a sign plus, a sign of addition on that double folded paper. He carefully opened the folds. Opening of second fold, helped the paper grew from quarter to half and then the unfolding of first fold made it half to full. Scripts have faded. But the content is known to him. Four quarters of paper hold four letters, a full-fledged story of a faded dream. Still he wanted to feel and smell those letters. Lovely letters. Faded letters. Red ink like red blood. Those have faded and yet apparent like an unknown pain, never seen but ever present. He moved near to the window, a proud window for it looks to the sea with twelve windows below it like twelve steps of a descending ladder. The sea and sky meet with their merging color and while clouds kiss the waves, the vision does not fly further and does not feel like flying further. He held that paper in front of his eyes facing towards the window. Breeze laden with moistures from sea hit him hard. It hit hard that paper too, held in side edges by both hands. It did not cry while it got torn further. The plus sign in the middle grew bigger and bigger. Is it not strange a sign of addition creating separations? Breeze. Weighty breeze. Naughty breeze. Weighty with moisture and naughty with power of pressure.

The paper now four pieces holding a letter each separately, each pieces flutters separately from two grips of two hands still at eye level. He tried to read those letters again though it was known to him. Four piece of papers. Four letters. Like four stages of his life. A high ceiling tiled roof house with his parents. A young boy with guiding sisters when he received that paper with four letters. A sleepy life in a sleepy flat at thirteen storied level in a building which aspires to touch the cloud. Now of course he will go back to that old high ceiling tiled roof house, alone and shall wait under depressed and compressed breathes to move for his last and ultimate journey, one day, to there, Towers of Silence, where his parents have moved followed by his sister Naznin and Nilofar. When the pain will leave him for ever and ants shall walk on him and move inside his nose, he will lie in the outside ring of Tower of Silence, the Zoroastrians graveyard, waiting for vultures to eat him away as heat of the Sun rots him and his mother and sisters in second ring and father in outer ring, eaten away by vultures since long, perhaps shall sob for him, though dead or plead to that dry wind to croon a melancholy lullaby leaving that hissing sound of whirl. No complain for it is a sacred belief that dead shall be eaten by vultures and earth, fire and water, all sacred, should not be defiled by the dead. His parents and sisters, the emotional immediacy of their existence had long vanished. It is strange but true. Time sweeps away everything.

He looked to the four pieces of papers once again. They are fluttering hard. They are impatient to go away from his grips. They feel like chained birds ever eager to fly. They plead while flutter. L-E-A-V-E. Yes, he must open the grips. Those four letters in four pieces of papers appeared heavy to him. Gravity of emotions pulling down his hands. Why they want to leave? Why? Gravity of emotions pulled the tears too. Tears. Yes,tears. Those are from his eyes? Or from moist laden sea breeze? Let them leave if they wish to leave for they had never come. He had waited and waited long for those four letters to turn real. But they never become real. They remain his hope for ever. Never, in reality, but forever in hope. A piece of paper with four big letters. Now of course it has become four pieces in vagary of time. Red ink. Pink envelope. Why it had come? Who had sent it? Was it a joke? Why it should be a joke? Does it not come in everybody life?

He recalled that moment. A compressed memory of sleepy but palpating afternoon. It was exactly two years after that Navjote ceremony on his fifteenth birthday, a ceremony to initiate him to Zoroastrian fold with that Kusti tied thrice round his waist pointing to the trinity of good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Tiled roofed house. Tip-tap, tip-tap, tip-tap sounds of afternoon rain. Crotchety face of that old bandy-legged post peon irritated by incessant rainfall. And his elder sisters Naznin's and Nilofar's alternate calls by his three names fondly coined by them. Davar.Hey, Davar. Hey dispenser of justice. Dilbar. Hey Dilbar. Hey lovely and sweet heart. Dilshad.Hey Dilshad. Hey cheerful and happy lad. A letter for you. Pink and nice. Naznin and Nilofar had giggled together. He got up from his afternoon nap. He had received that envelope with levitating heart. His pulses had rushed as he opened that two fold paper. It had not torn then though that plus sign made by folds was perceptible. It was a beautiful sign of addition or lines making four quadrants in time, holding in each quadrant one of those beautiful four letters. He had avoided the look of his sisters as he rushed to that cavernous kitchen with singed and sodden walls in pretext of eating Kopra Pak. Sweet Kopra Pak was like that word of four letters in that piece of paper. The gloomy sky suddenly looked beautiful. Out side, the moss-slung, bunioned and misshapen tree changed into smiling lass.

Now that piece of paper has torn into four pieces. The smiling lass, whittled out of the ice of his imagination melted in the time and heat of reality. But he had never listened to his sisters when they have quoted to him the words of Ahura Mazda , the universal GOD.

"O Spitama Zarathushtra:Indeed, I thus recommend here unto thee, a man with a wife above a magard (an unmarried man) who grows up unmarried, a man with a family above one without any family, a man with children above one who is without children."

The breeze from the sea gathered momentum making those fluttering of torn papers more palpable. He opened his grips holding those papers. They came flying and kissed his face ,fell in the floor before they flied away through open door. He could not see those letters as the papers flew away. But he remembers those.

He smiled, the smile of a Parijat. He knows life exists without that four lettered word. Life exists without love. Who knows better than him?