|
***
The Sun-Lyre
 by Harish K.
Thakur The Home of Letters, Bhubaneswar. Rs. 75. Pages: 63.
One advantage
that blank verse has over the metred one is that it facilitates
experimentation with imagery. Since the age of didactic poetry
is over and most of the conventional subjects have been
exhausted, today’s poet seeks new forms of expression. But it
is not always possible to come up with original symbols. This is
when one should try to steer clear of cliches and employ a
modified idiom in order to create reader interest. Thakur has
succeeded here. The first stanza of his poem # 41, It’s
always hard / to unfog the moistened horizons / of the forlorn
eyes" is quite good. However, I’m more impressed with
the verse 40, The singed fingers of the desert / knock at the
door / I hide my greens / behind the wall of mendacity.
Thakur shuns
bombastic verbiage. The sparse language creates images that
linger on for quite some time after one has finished reading the
slim anthology.
***
Women
Entrepreneurs
by Deepak
Walokar. Himalaya Publishing House, Delhi. Rs 375. Pages: 216.
Businesswomen
are no more a novelty in our society. They have made their
presence felt in the world of trade and commerce like never
before.
Walokar is
right when he says that women entrepreneurs still face a
plethora of perennial problems peculiar to their gender. Due to
the lack of economic independence, they cannot take as many
business risks as their male counterparts can. A majority of our
women are still deprived of quality education – they do not
have access to technological training to the same degree as men
have. Prejudices of male colleagues as well as the business
community in general place women entrepreneurs in a
disadvantageous position.
Walokar has
gone into the details of the various constraints faced by
businesswomen. He has analysed the causes for such constraints
and has offered remedial measures. You will find topics like ‘Entrepreneurial
activity taken up by women: A profile" quite thought-
provoking. However, one may not agree with the suggestion that
women feel less motivated to achieve than men do. Bachendri Pal
and Kiran Bedi are two of the several examples of highly
motivated women in different walks of life. The psychological
reasons given for women’s lesser ‘need for achievement’
here are to be understood with reference to the centuries of
repression that women have suffered.
***
Treasury
Operations and Risk Management
by Trivedi
& Hasan. Genesis Publishers, Mumbai. Rs 290. Pages: 253.
 With the
economies of different countries getting integrated into one
global phenomenon, international trade has become vital.
Therefore, foreign exchange is an indispensable input for a
country’s development.
This calls for
professionals trained in managing foreign exchange and treasury
transactions. Since economic and political events in one country
affect the rest of the world, our managers should be able to
anticipate the impact of such events on their respective
organisations. For example, the recent rise in oil prices is a
direct offshoot of the Palestinian problem, especially Iraq’s
act of curtailing crude oil production.
This will not
only affect the sale of automobiles the world over but also push
up the prices of several consumer goods in different countries,
triggering off another bout of recession. Consequently, the
managers should be adept at risk management.
One can learn about all this
and much more in this book.
|
STRESSED
out? Not surprising, considering the sort of lifestyle we are
forced to adopt. Old values espousing self-restraint and
contentment have given way to an acquisitive mindset,
triggering off a frenzied pace of living. It takes its toll in
the form of perpetual personal dissatisfaction and social
strife as well as various physical and psychological ailments.
Anxiety is all-pervasive, especially among managers owing to
the nature of their profession. It, thus, becomes imperative
to keep the body and mind fit in order to survive the rat
race.
