Tyron DevottaGetting up to speed
Last week I wrote about how there was a clash of speeds, how various sectors of our economy were not synchronised with each other. My focus was on the Southern Express Highway and how we need a plan to get moving!
I travelled up north last weekend, along the A3 to Puttalam and then to Anuradhapura and from there to Mannar. Right along my journey, the roads were in excellent condition; so good that in many places I spotted Traffic Police with speed guns to discourage motorists from travelling at Southern Highway speed limits.
The slow road to Galle
When I travel I like to amble along, as I am a strong believer in enjoying the journey as much as the destination. On an average it would be safe to say that I rarely exceed the speed limits set by the Highway Code. Therefore, the 100 kilometres per hour minimum speed on the Southern Highway was an experience to say the least.
The thin grey line
There are three stories that I’d like to talk about in this column, which might seem unconnected, but I see a connection and hope my explanation of it will hold water.
I read a report on Huffington Post Business quoting a 10 January report on Reuters, which said that organised crime now generated an annual turnover of around 140 billion euros ($ 178.89 billion) and profits of more than 100 billion Euros.
“With 65 billion Euros in liquidity, the Mafia is Italy’s number one bank,” said the report, quoting a statement by anti-crime group SOS Impresa, set up a decade ago in Palermo to oppose extortion rackets against small business.
Data over voice?
I lost my phone on New Year’s Day and I have not replaced it as yet! Actually life has been good without it. How do people contact me? Those who really wanted to got me on the landline and that was it!
In this day and age when everyone must have a hand held device (no longer can it be called a mobile phone) is this really possible? I think I have proved it, 10 days without a device and I am yet surviving, it has not affected my business.
Is it the end of the world?
2012 has arrived and if we are to go by Mayan predictions, this is the year that the world will come to an end – to be precise 11-and-a-half months from now, on 21 December.
This year I got many wishes reminding me of the impending doom and how one must look at the year ahead in that light. Towards the latter part of December 2011, the movie ‘2012’ (the 2009 American science fiction disaster film) was repeatedly shown on cable TV, probably adding to the trepidation of many who may wonder if these would indeed be the end of days.
Is snail mail becoming a redundant mode of communication?
The Christmas season is a time in which we use the post a lot. Christmas cards are still quite traditional and sending greetings via snail mail has its own special place in the season’s activities.
A Christmas grumble
It’s Christmas and it is open season on us shoppers as the retailers wait to get us. In fact the world over, especially in the USA, the beginning of Christmas shopping has a special term called ‘Black Friday’.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when Christmas shopping is supposed to begin. The term which is said to have originated in Philadelphia, refers to when retainers start making money – in other words when they begin to get ‘in the black’.
The Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterised by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously (Wikipedia). This is the age we live in.
The Christmas Tree
There is a saying in the English language, which goes something like “you cannot see the woods for the trees”. What it means is that those who cannot see the wood because of the trees that obstruct would not be able to see a situation as it really is, because they look too closely at the nitty-gritty and miss the big picture.
Demographic dividend
I recently read a document produced by the World Bank this year, titled ‘Reshaping tomorrow’ and in its overview written by Ejaz Ghani, he asks the question ‘what will south Asia look like in 2025?’
The World Bank says, ‘The optimistic view is that India which accounts for 80% of the regional economic output, and is the largest country in the region, is headed towards double digit growth rates. South Asia too will grow rapidly, primarily due to India.’
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