Reminiscence 2020: a productive year it was ... ... .. .
Reminiscence 2020
“Events, like
covid19 pandemic and worldwide lockdowns may be horrible or inescapable. Men
have always a choice - if not whether, then how, they may endure.” If a wall is
built around you then do not get confined within it. Ride and walk on that
wall.
Life is full of
opportunities.
Opportune moments
are dynamic. Chase and grab those.
THE YEAR
2020 WAS UNIQUE ON ITS OWN.
IT WAS HIGHLY
PRODUCTIVE FOR ME.
WN A LOT DURING THE LOCKDOWN PERIOD.
14 OF MY
MANUSCRIPTS GOT PUBLISHED AS BOOKS.
VIGNETTES
(Published in October 2019)
The entire universe is a book to read and understand.
Nature, environment, human, human behaviors, hunger, thirst, power, lust, love,
competition, birds, animals, stars all of these convey mute as well as verbal
messages with consistency and inconsistencies to its system and surroundings.
Observant, if one is, can capture these and convert these to meaningful words.
The wordsin turn can help in making a good living environment for one and all.
The present book is a compilation of articles written over a period of 12
months starting from May 2018 to June 2019.
The authors have expressed their
observations and their own interpretations in different moods, melancholy,
painful moments and pleasurable instances. Hence, these are, one can say, the
manifestation of both conventional as well as unconventional thoughts. We have
not limited our expressions to any limits. The articles are written as the
words started coming to our mind based on the situation and circumstance of the
events observed. We, consciously, have kept the articles in a format that is
different from other books. We have discussed the Ramayana as a history rather
than mythology, we have also deliberated on beauty as a deeply valued material,
we have also written about materials such as narcissism and living with
originality. We have also spoken about – life as a practical field and is not
to be lived as a moral science classroom. The articles are deliberately kept at
random and each article is a stand-alone description. We would suggest readers
read any article as the first article and any article as the final article
because all articles in the book are independent and mutually exclusive from
other articles.
MKP
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IN
DECISION MAKING
Decision Making is a
complicated process that involves a diverse inputs and experiences in varied
exposure areas of a person or group of persons. Plethora of raw data often
confuses, not facilitates, the process of decision making.
Human
brain, certainly, is more efficient than any other neural systems including the
super computer. But the other side, of this efficient brain is that it is often
covered and entangled with data and information layer over layer. Humanly,
thus, it becomes highly difficult to segregate data and come to a conclusion to
act on the basis of all raw data.
The
book, on your hand, entitled “Business Intelligence in Decision Making” is a
general research guidance book. Contents in this book are dealing with the
basic principles of business intelligence as well as data mining techniques
with special references to health science related case
studies.
[3]
ECONOMIC RECOVERY POST-COVID 19 PERIOD: A LAYMAN’S VIEWPOINTS
(Published in June 2020)
For the generation now and generation next,
the experience and scar of the covid 19 viruses are unprecedented. The lockdown
imposed by countries to arrest the spread of the covid19 virus spurred panic
for many including workmen, business houses, day labourers, financial
institutions. The economy went crumbling. People suffered. The recovery of the
economy was doubtful post lockdown. Many forward-looking leaders and chief
ministers took bold and positive steps to bring the economy on track. This book
was written keeping these aspects in mind.
If examples of the United States, China, and
European countries as economic superpowers are to be cited and vouched upon,
then the best practices of these countries in implementing their growth stories
are to be implemented. One cannot have the cake and still eat it. The old and many irrelevant parts of laws are
already been looked into by the state and central governments of India. At the
same time, the primary employment sector namely the agriculture sector is also
getting reinforced to bolster and drive the economy of India strong and
sustainable.
[4]
INTERTWINED
(EMPATHY
AND DESIGN THINKING)
(Published in June 2020)
Similar to the subjects
of “individual behaviour” and the “organizational behaviour” the emotional
parameter “empathy” is identical to “individual” and “group”. In this sense,
individuals behave quite differently when alone and when in a group. At the
individual level, it is subtle to differentiate between empathy and
sympathy.
Let
us analyze the case of an organization and its behaviour towards an
employee. On the disciplinary ground, an employee was suspended from the
services of the organization. The reporting officer who had issued the
suspension order, later on, came to know the financial difficulty the person
and his family are facing. He, on the individual level, then started helping
the suspended employee by extending financial help so that the family of the
latter does not suffer. But at the same time, the same officer was not putting
up his empathic views to the management to reinstate the suspended employee. In
this case, we can find that within the same person (here the officer) that
sympathy is prevailing at the individual level but empathy is dormant.
Second, empathy – the first step in the design the thinking process is
to develop and fine-tune the product, process, and service – is effective and possible
in the group to group i.e. G2G (just like B2B or Business to Business in
business) behaviour.
I2G (Individual to Group) and I2I
(Individual to Individual) are not examples of empathy but are examples of
sympathy. To a large extent, similarly, self-empathy is somewhere between
narcissism and sympathy but not empathy.
The
empathy that gives rise to new processes says the implementation of the online
education system in primary education is possible only through a group (such as
schools and institutions approved and recognized by the education ministry of
the governments) to group (students).
After
all, as Dalai Lama has said - Love and compassion are necessities, not
luxuries, without them, humanity cannot survive”.
MKP
[5]
READ
BETWEEN THE LINES AND WALK BETWEEN THE LANES
(Published in June 2020)
Nothing can compete with
an analytical mind. Books will have words, books will have stanzas, and books
will also have verses.
But a book on its own can neither open up nor can enter into the brain cells
and the neurons. It is the mindset, openness, and magnanimity of thoughts and
guts, brain and heart to delve into the static books and make meaning out of
the written words. Thus, life will be kinetic and meaningful.
Blessed
is the one who reads books.
The
culture of a city is not by walking on its highways and major roads. The
culture is understood while walking on the smaller and by-lanes of a city. The
hygiene factor of an organization is perceptible in the washrooms, not in the
board rooms.
In
the same token, reading a book line by line can give a generalist view of the
content. But the essence of the book can be squeezed out by the reader able to
read between the lines. There stored is the elixir of life.
MKP
[6]
SMILES
ALL THE WAY
(Published in June 2020)
This book is a compilation of some incidents
experienced by me during my professional career of three and a half decades.
People in the profession behave differently as compared to their characteristics.
This difference has bifurcated behavioural patterns into individual behaviour
and organizational behaviour.
As social animals, it is difficult to immune oneself
from its surroundings. That is why our response to any incident is either” in favour
of it” or “against it” but never “neutral to it”. The very fact that our brain
involuntarily analyzes observations we get influenced by happenings in and
around us.
The pandemic caused by the spread of the novel
coronavirus COVID 19 forced us to be in isolation. Social distancing is
practiced. The experiences of being in isolation and remaining within the four
walls of the houses brought out unexplored potentials present within each one
of us. While most of us enjoyed the bliss of the togetherness with family
members, many turned their inherent interests and skills like cooking, playing,
story listening, storytelling, gardening, farming, and so many other things. I
thought of writing down my experiences as correctly as possible, and this book
is a small compilation of many small articles I could write down.
Each article in this book is mutually exclusive and
independent of the other articles. So these are random dots on the canvas of
nature. I believe you will find each of these small particles and the book as a
whole interesting.
Your feedback will encourage me to write down the
complete book in a bigger format.
MKP
[7]
SHRUBBERY
OF THE MAGNIFICENT NINE
(Published in July 2020)
One should practice the principle of acknowledging the credits
of good jobs to the performer. If you ever take away someone else’s credit then
in the future that person will never do a good job either for you or for
anybody else.
The article titled “too
early into the oblivion” is inspired by real-life experiences related to the
golden principle - Learn
to acknowledge and honor the performers. Give credit where it is due.
The abysmal mindsets of selfish people downgrade
cultures where they dwell. To be in a position and enjoy power, people limit
the growths of desirable others. In the name of a good diet, humans kill
innocent animals. After doing heinous and unjust deeds the same humans visit
places of worship and pray to God for happiness. These ironies are described in
the second article. It is titled “Dealers of death and their journeys to
Heaven”. The author does not believe that the dealer of deaths can never find the
path to heaven.
Human life is divided into four different phases
namely, the student, the responsible performer, the retired, and the
renunciation. Each stage has to pass on the responsibilities to its succeeding
generations. The succession plan thus is important.
Unfortunately, the greed for power and wealth is insatiable for many. Such types of people do not like to pass on the baton of responsibilities to their next generations. They remain glued to their positions and in the process the thwart growth of their next generations. The very essence of the law of nature and society is, thus, ignored. The perils of not performing the succession plan are discussed in the article titled “Succession plan”.
The ability to make communicate effectively is
important. Innuendos are practiced in situations where verbal and sign
languages can pose a threat to the communicator and the receiver. The schools
and educational institutes probably are the only places where clear
communications are made. Teachers pass on clear teachings to students. In all
other places, one has to be capable to interpret hints and indirect references.
Circumstances in odd situations need insinuations
to convey desired communications to ones’ advantage. These are covered in the
article titled “Insinuation and interpretations”.
We all have heard about mathematics. It is the only
subject that gives formulae applicable anywhere in the Universe. But when
applied to human resource management, it spells disaster in the lives of many.
“Mathematics in business” is a story in this line.
Facts are stranger than fiction. Humans are trying
to conquer nature. It believes that if it can convert ist ideas into reality.
We have contemplated some vital points the human race needs to consider, over
for the present generation and the posterity. The article titled “The day
after” is deliberation in this direction.
Lip services, prayers in the places of worship, and promises intended to break are extreme inhumanity. Tangibles can hold intangibles, but intangibles cannot contain tangibles. Thus the attempts to amass wealth by hook or by crook are useless. The intangible soul cannot carry tangible materials. Physical materials thus can never become sources for happiness. We will read more about this in the topic titled “Soul cannot hold material and Body cannot travel final abode”. It is interesting to know that evolution of life is understood much before the evolution theory propounded by Alfred Russell Wallace in 1859. Intellectuals in the ancient past had understood this evolution process quite long ago. It is a coincidence that similarities between ancient wisdom and the present era of science are now getting established. Some correlations of the past and those from the modern era are described in one of the topics. The topic is titled “Evolution of life and the Dashavatara”.
Necessity is the mother of invention – we all know
about this. During difficult times we put stress on neurons in our brain. The
principle of thinking deeply to find out a solution is the process of
brainstorming or churning. The ancient history Vishnu Purana is a worthy read
for the students choosing leadership as a path in the present era of
technological advancement and the digital revolution. “Manthan, virus and the
Vaccine” is the title of the article where similes are described.
The tongue voluntarily moves to the teeth where food
particles are stuck. It does not rest until the jammed particles are swiped
out. During the process of cleaning many times, a tooth bites the tongue. Tongue
and the 32 teeth are parts of the same body. When food particles get stuck, the
teeth get pain. The tongue tries to relieve the pain of the stuck up food
particles, teeth bite the tongue. These are no surprises. The tongue and teeth
follow their inherent characteristics. In the article titled
“win-win vs bite and win” the author has discussed the winning mantra in the
era of the digital world.
Best wishes and I am sure you will find the articles
relevant and enjoyable.
MKP
[8]
PREDICTIVE MODELS IN ROCK BLASTING
(Published in July 2020)
Metals and minerals are necessary to build infrastructure. So
are oils, hydrocarbons, and natural gases to make fuel engines operate.
Countries rich with natural resources are prosperous. Ores are excavated by
removing the top surface of the earth and then taking the materials out of the
deposits. The process of excavation is broadly known as rock blasting.
Rock blasting is an operation
to excavate and explore natural resources from deposits present inside the
earth. It is carried out mainly by the use of HEM. HEM is a generic name used
for chemicals and a mixture of chemicals having high entropy. These are also
called as explosives. We shall use the generic name HEM during the discussion
in this book.
HEMs are hazardous to deal
with. These are all muscles but no brain. Not only the news and reports but I
have seen the disasters involved with HEMs. The fire travels at a speed of a
minimum 2 km/second and burns and shatters everything that comes in its way. So
I always had a strong wish to develop numerical models that can predict
behaviors of HEMs without handling those. To some extent, I along with my team
of young mining and HEM engineers have developed some easy to use models for
use. This small book is the first in the series that I will be publishing
covering areas of safety, good practices, testing, and SOPs.
The present book titled “Predictive models in
rock blasting” in your hand has discussions with some predictive models,
namely, GPeng, ReGPeng, GPdetTem, and Big data analysis.
Students and professionals in the fields of HEM, and mining who I love to address as the Earth Movers will find the contents useful and usable.
[9]
REMOVE THE BLINDERS
(IDEATION IN DESIGN THINKING)
(Published in July 2020)
As a child learns to
crawl, the first set of instructions it receives are the dos and the
do-not. But curiosity dominates over
pieces of advice, and the child often does contrary to what is taught not to
do. In simple terms – trying to walk
with eyes closed is to explore - how it feels to walk blind. The child falls
and hurts itself. And then never again attempt to repeat such an act. But in the
first place, why do we do the way we do despite advice not to do so. It is
because our curiosities to understand things are either not explained or
ignored. “Life is the greatest teacher of them all”.
We
have seen people have achieved what others had contemplated as impossible.
Years before the invention of airplanes, the idea of flying objects was wild.
Most people thought that - an object made with material heavier than air can
not fly. But someone somewhere thought contrary to the groupthink. But
airplanes finally got invented. At some other point in history, great
philosophers and scientists had to undergo the pain of social stigma and ire of
societies for explaining – the earth is going around the sun, and not the other
way round.
Arjuna
was thinking that he is the doer. So, he refused to fight the war of the
Mahabharata. Sri Krishna changed the mind of Arjuna by answering – Arjuna has
only to perform his duties. He does not have to see the kinship in the enemy
who is ready to fight on the battlefield.
One
gets transformed based on what one thinks. Thinking brings changes. A better
lifestyle is achieved only by thinking differently. A routine bound employee
otherwise will keep on doing works allotted to him by his employer. If he does
not think to change, a change will not come down suo motto.
Thinking
itself is – Design Thinking. It is an age-old process. Generation after
generation, people have dreamt up, delved into details, went into the depths of
unfathomable subject matters, generated ideas, made small changes (prototypes),
and then implemented their thoughts. Some implementations were easy, while many
others like the ones proposed by Galileo were challenging.
We
are going to discuss the 3rd phase in Design Thinking. Earlier in my books
titled “Unleash the Neurons – The Design Thinking”, and “Intertwined – Empathy
in Design Thinking” both published in this year 2020 we have covered some
details on this subject. In this book, I am going to discuss a little more
regarding the 3rd phase in the Design Thinking process. This book is about
IDEATION.
Unlike
many other books already available, this book is an attempt to make the subject
of Design Thinking in simple ways. Let us go ahead and read it.
[10]
SITE MIX EMULSION
(SOP & MANUFACTURING
FOR ROCK BLASTING)
(Published in July 2020)
This book deals with the subject
of the Site Mix Emulsion (SME) Matrix. SME matrix is used for excavation of
rocks, metals, minerals, oils, and gases by mining these materials.
Engineers and
managers in the field of drilling, rock blasting, and mining, in general, will
find this book useful since the subjects of the design thinking and rock
blasting are merged into one.
Explosives come
as one of the prime variable costs in mining operations. Being high energy
materials, explosives play the most vital role in rock blasting operations. It
is extremely important to use the right quality of explosives to blast rocks.
The input-output (IO) ratio between the explosives and rock excavated is in the
second decimal level, say for example 0.002:1. That is the importance of the
explosives in rock blasting.
There are many
ways to procure the best SME (for rock blasting) but the presence of a large
number of manufacturers and price war for market share has made it difficult to
get quality SME from manufacturers. This is true for the Indian market,
certainly, and also for many other countries.
The cost of
operations for SME manufacturing is minuscule compared to the cost of
operations for mining. The present author has worked in the industries of all
types of explosives manufacturing and also in mega open-pit coal mines for 35
years.
If empathy in design thinking is
the first phase in the development of innovative products and processes then it
is most opportune to let the mining industry know about the manufacture of
powerful explosives at a lower cost. Thus, this book, which is the fourth in
its tetralogy, is written wherein design thinking is completed and its applications
are initiated.
The author is
sure that his fraternity of engineers in the fields of drilling, blasting,
explosives manufacturing, and mining will find it useful, and the case study
implementable. The book is divided into three parts. The three parts have been
titled as, Part I: Preceding SME: The Design Thinking, Part II:
Site Mix Emulsion (SME) manufacturing, and Part III: Standard Operating
Procedures (SOP) in SME manufacturing.
[11]
UNLEASH
THE NEURONS: DESIGN THINKING
(Published in July 2020)
This book on
design thinking is aimed at the readers to be a stimulant to create general prosperity from
the islands
of excellence.
Gone
are the days when wars were fought to acquire and amass wealth. Now it is the
age of data, information, data analysis, and implementation of innovative
products and services. Pragmatic plans and strategies are important to be
worked out and executed to create wealth and deliver cutting-edge
results.
Just
like how the use of pulleys reduces the application of mechanical energy, the
understanding of design thinking will facilitate the process of ideation and
innovation in a large number of subjects such as environmental management,
mining, industries, entrepreneurship, personality development, agriculture,
biotechnology, and medicine.
The year 2019 ended with the beginning
of a disaster in the form of Covid-19. The virus has caused a pandemic across
the world. It has taken the lives of millions because the entire world is
caught unprepared. Scientists in research laboratories across the nations are
struggling to find a medicine for this virus. So, it is thinking that would
help scientists to develop a suitable medicine. Yes, this development will be
possible only through thinking.
MKP
[12]
THE PAIN
EXPLOSION THAT RAVAGED
BEIRUT
(Published in August 2020)
The 4th August 2020
transformed the beautiful Beirut to a ghost town. Though the fire, explosion,
and the shock waves from the massive blast that ripped the port city Beirut in
Lebanon is over; the trauma, mental shock, after effects, deaths, and injuries
resulted from the blast are painfully alive. People are in shock. The
investigation for the reasons for the blast must be underway but the first
information that the genesis of the blast is from the stored 2750 tons of
ammonium nitrate reminds a repeat of Texas incident on the 16th April 1947. The
photographs of the Beirut blast area are scary.
This
book is written to make everyone aware of the fertilizer Ammonium Nitrate (AN).
This innocuous-looking inorganic salt contains an enormous amount of gaseous
and heat energy in it. When initiated with electrical spark or fire it
decomposes and explodes violently. The material is however very useful as
fertilizer as well as for converting chemical energy into mechanical energy to
do excavation in mines.
The
human race should not experience a disaster like experienced in Beirut ever.
MKP
[13]
DEMAND, SUPPLY, AND SAFETY OF EXPLOSIVES IN
MINING
(Published in August 2020)
India
produces about 33327 million tonnes of fuels, metallic minerals, and
non-metallic minerals, 8086 thousand tonnes of lead, manganese, zinc, gypsum,
and Phosphorite, 1600 kilogram of gold, and 31836091 carats of diamond every
year. These are excavated from the mines by the use of explosives.
We have
beautiful roses to pluck but by saving ourselves from thorns of the rose
plants.
About 50
numbers of explosives manufacturing companies manufacture about 830 brands of
explosives to the tune of about 14,00,000 tons of class 2 slurry and emulsion
explosives to excavate the riches reserved beneath the surface of the earth by
mining, rock blasting, and excavation
The
large volume of explosives associated with the tedious operations in mining
needs for an in-depth analysis between demand-supply-safety parameters. These
are addressed here in this book.
[14]
THE BUILDINGBLOCKS FOR COMMISSIONING A SME MANUFACTURING PLANT
(Published in October 2020)
Annually about $7.1 billion worth of global industrial explosives are
used to excavate about 18 billion metric tonnes of mining products. SME,
because of its safe characteristics and cost competitiveness, is one of the
most preferred explosives for this.
Many entrepreneurs and mining companies are looking for a book that can
clarify steps in sequence to commission safe and effective SME manufacturing
plants.
Thus is the genesis
of this book on SME.
This book provides building blocks for legal
entities (holders of the license granted by the Government of their countries)
to commission SME manufacturing plants by complying with the legal needs of
statutory authorities.
The book covers areas of preparing a project
report, safety management plan, safety data sheets, hazard identification, and
risk analysis, aspect impact analysis, and checklists.
MKP
[15]
AMMONIUM NITRATE
SPECIFICATIONS
&
QUALITY OF
EXPLOSIVES FOR ROCK BLASTING
(Published in October 2020)
This book is a ready
reckoner and handy guide to the purchasers of ammonium nitrate and
manufacturers of explosives (containing ammonium nitrate).
It
is written to facilitate understanding the nature of technical specifications
in finalizing purchases of ammonium nitrate.
The
contents will help the purchasers in emphasizing and asking for the correct
parameters of AN from the AN sellers.
[16]
THEMATIC
APPERCEPTION IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(PSYCHOLOGY AND
TECHNOLOGY FRONTIERS)
(Published in December 2020)
Psychology
and science & technology are two of the diagrammatically opposite branches
of studies. These two branches do not seem to match in the real world. But a
study of the literature confirms that perception is well intertwined with
science & technology. We have tried to bring these together into a common
platform by citing case studies. The results obtained are interesting and
useful.
Congratulations for publishing a good number of books in the year 2020.I have got many innovative ideas and knowledge by reading all those books.Keep it up .
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