One Less Than Yesterday

Bankers are usually a worried species. They live to carry out three basic functions. First one is to raise resources or funds. They are hence first worried about mobilising deposits. Worries generally end when the required goal is accomplished. Not with bankers. Having mobilised funds from those who have surplus, bankers cannot keep the funds idle. They are required to pay interest to their depositors. Hence they have to deploy the funds and earn even more than what they pay their depositors. They have two main routes available for this. Lend the funds to those who need them or invest the funds somewhere. Great! What is the problem in this? There may be difficulty to find people with surplus funds to deposit. But there is no difficulty in finding people who need money! Why worry about it then? 

The real issue is the greed of the depositors. They are not content with merely receiving interest. They also want their original funds to be returned, may be after sometime. This is the source of all evil, as far as the bankers are concerned. In order to meet this requirement, of having to return the depositors money due to their greed, bankers have to carefully choose those who are willing to take money not only at higher interest rates, but also promptly return it as and when due. 

Anyone who has dealt with a child knows how difficult this is. You can easily give a toy to a child. But you cannot take it back from it. Sometimes you may be able to take the toy back, but it is usually by giving another toy which is more attractive. You can recover an old loan by giving a new bigger loan. But bankers cannot always do this for various reasons, though they also use this tactic sometimes, especially with big and influential borrowers. Thus, bankers are now worried for the second time. Worried about finding the right borrowers.

They often find the right borrowers. At least, that is what they believe. But misfortune is something that relentlessly chases these bankers. Someone who was considered as an excellent prospect before lending, starts playing truant the moment loan is disbursed. All difficulties in the world befall on them, as soon as they take the loan. This is at least what they tell the bankers. Very successful businesses start failing. The very healthy promoter falls sick suddenly. There is fire, flood or famine. If not, there is labour unrest or power disruptions.  Some reason or the other. Now the poor banker is worried for the third time. He is worried about recovering the money given away as loan. 

When a borrowing unit becomes sick, banker reaches a Catch-22 situation. What is a Catch-22 situation? The best way to explain this is with a suitable example, as it is with most of the things. There is a boy, considered to be at an age good for getting married. This is the age considered as good by others. (Even a very old man considers himself good for marriage. That is not acceptable to others). But he is behaving somewhat abnormally. Many consider him of unsound mind, but his family members do not agree. Wise men advise the near ones of the boy to get him married and then he would become alright. (This must be true because the converse is almost always true). They are indeed very wise men. They have a suitable girl in their own family, but are not foolish to be generous. Parents of the boy try hard to get the boy married. All girls say that they are prepared to marry him as soon as he becomes alright. (Let us escape for the time-being, is what they really mean). The boy never gets married. He will never become alright. It is Catch-22 situation indeed. 

Let us get back to the worried bankers. They have already given a loan. It is to be recovered. Sometimes it is possible to recover a bad loan by giving some more loans. Someone is drowning. He is given a long rope. Give him another rope or tie another rope to the end of existing one you are holding. He may be able to get out of water. Or, he may drown with both the ropes. So, you are going to lose a second rope. This is called "throwing good money after bad money". Bankers have given a fancy name to this type of loans. They are called "Nursing Loans" or "Rehabilitation Loans". Banks also have huge establishments for this purpose. They are called "Rehabilitation Division". Success rate for such loans is very good. One out of every ten such loans usually gets recovered. Of course, sometimes the tenth may also fail. One can never predict the future, you know. 

When should a banker decide to throw in the extra rope or let the first one go and treat the matter as closed? There is a scientific basis and method to decide this. Banker conducts what is called as a "Viability Study". "Can I recover the earlier loan as well as the new loan, in a given reasonable time?", he checks during a viability study. If the answer is "yes", he gives a fresh loan. If the answer is "No". he feels losing money in first loan is better. Of course, there are many variables. By changing some assumptions in the variables, "Yes" can become "No" and "No" can become "Yes".  It is a question of finding the desired answer by using appropriate assumptions. Yes, you guessed it right!

Now we come to the most crucial part of the story. Having given a fresh loan to "nurse the unit", what are the essentials of nursing? There are of course many conditions. But the most important condition is the one known as "One Less Than Yesterday". What that does it really mean? It simply means that the "total loan dues of the borrower today must be at least one Rupee (or Dollar or whatever currency it is) less than the dues at the end of the previous day". This will ensure the psychological satisfaction for the banker that he is not throwing good money after bad money. No, Not again. 

*****

We talked about "Nursing" above. When bankers can nurse, why not nurses bank upon the banker's idea? They indeed do this, and have been doing for a long long time. One doesn't know whether the Doctors told the Nurses or Nurses told the Doctors. But it is practiced and often mentioned by both. The rule of "One Less Than Yesterday". 

Most people fall sick sometime or other in their lives. The only exemption is those who are always sick. When they are sick, they are put on a "Nursing Plan". This is always true in case of patients who undergo a "Procedure or Surgery" or some such similar sounding thing. There are many conditions and stipulations. There are "Dos and Don'ts". There are medications. There are therapies, exercises, and so on. But the most important one is of "Reduction in Weight".  If you want a modern name, you can call it "Weight Management".

The most deceptive item for a patient is "Weight". This one item literally and physically weighs on the patient. He can hide pain and keep smiling broadly. He can hide discomfort and yet look most comfortable. He can lie unhesitatingly while answering questions asked of him. But he simply cannot hide weight. The rule told to him is the same as the one followed by the bankers as discussed above. "One less than yesterday". May be a ounce, or even a gram. But one less than yesterday. One KG or Pound less than yesterday is not possible unless patient conducts a surgery on himself and cuts off a part of his body. But at least one gram less than yesterday. That is the requirement. 

The manufacturers of weighing scales also play truant on the patients. The ones they buy for use at home always show the correct weight. But when they go to the hospital or clinic half an hour later, the weighing scale there shows three KG or ten Pounds more! It also looks like hospitals and clinics place their strictest staff to manage weighing scales. Once I saw a patient's encounter with such a staff member. She was quite lean among the many patients present there. At least, that is what she considered herself to be. She tried to remove her footwear and sweater before getting on the weighing scale. The supervising nurse admonished her. "Don't do it. You are supposed to show your normal weight that you carry around!".

*****

While bankers and patients struggle with the "One less than yesterday" rule, there is one and only one who is able to follow this rule very strictly. He does not miss the rule even once. Not even for one living thing. Person or animal, that is. 

That is the Supreme Lord.

He follows this rule very methodically and unfailingly. Each sunset makes it very clear. "It is always one day less than yesterday". The remaining life span, that is, for all of them. 

Doctor-Father's advice to a Doctor-Son

The flight from Bangalore to Frankfurt was delayed by one hour due to late arrival of the plane from Frankfurt on the previous leg. The wait was rather boring and such delays at the beginning of the journey have the effect of making one feel tired even before the journey starts. Once inside the magnificent Boeing 747-800, the atmosphere was altogether different. The mind was working on a different plane now and started wondering how such a big metal bird floats in the air at speeds in excess of 600 miles an hour carrying over 400 passengers and crew. The redesigned and highly efficient new aircraft, introduced only last year by Lufthansa between Bangalore and Frankfurt, took off with relatively less noise level and started doing its job unmindful of other things. Boeing claims that this aircraft is more than 10 percent lighter per seat and consumes 11 percent less fuel per passenger than its nearest competitor Airbus A380. This translates to a trip cost reduction of 21 percent in terms of seat-mile. The journey is enjoyable due to the perception of lighter per seat weight even for those passengers whose own weight has not come down despite several crash weight reduction programs!

Persons sitting by our side on long haul flights generally tend to sleep off and avoid conversation with strangers. But once drawn to talking we can find some very interesting personalities among them. Towards the end of the flight I succeeded in drawing the person sitting next to me into a conversation, though I suspect that he will be claiming that he succeeded in drawing me out of my shell. Either way, it was an enjoyable two hours of talk and the fact that he was a dozen years older did not come in the way of our discussions.

He turned out to be a Doctor from South India, a Paediatrician, who moved to USA in the late 1960s. His father was also a Doctor and was instrumental in grooming him in his earlier years of practicing medicine. He shared with me some of the learning points he inherited from his father in those formative years of his professional life. The knowledge he thus gained from his father was very interesting and absorbing. Before we parted at Frankfurt I sought his permission to use those fine learning points wherever I found fit. He was very understanding and encouraging and gladly permitted me to dos so.

The young doctor reached USA and wrote his first letter to his father about his status and life in the new land. Writing a letter was the best form of communication in those years as telephone was difficult and electronic communication was nearly non-existent. Within a few days he received a letter from his father listing out the grammatical  mistakes in the letter and asking him to rewrite the contents after rectifying the errors! This gives an idea about the rigour adopted by the father in grooming the young doctor.  Some of the interesting points he recalled are summarised below:

• Look like a Doctor, feel like a Doctor and behave like a Doctor.  That will make you feel confident and earn respect in the community you serve.
• Have a Stethoscope around your neck. (More required in those days).  It makes others recognise you as a doctor!
• Never visit a patient with an unshaven face or with a baseball cap.  Remember you are visiting a patient or a patient is visiting you.  You should not look like a patient yourself.
• Have eye-contact with the patients but do not make it excessive as it may make them uncomfortable.
• Always sit on par with the patient, neither above nor below his seat level.  You are neither superior or inferior to him.  Treat the patient as a equal human being.
• Treat the mind of the patient.  It automatically opens up treatment of the ailing body.
• When the patient is talking keep your mouth shut.  Do not interrupt. Let him/her unload whatever he/she has to say.  Some part of it may be vital for the course adopted for treatment.
• When the patient is about leave ask him/her whether he/she has anything else to say.  Vital information may come out in such moments that may help during treatment. 
• Understand the patient.  That enables you to understand the disease.
• Do not use medical jargon and terms while talking to a patient.  Use simple language which they understand.  The patient is interested in getting healed and not in your knowledge as a doctor.
• If the patient starts talking about medical jargon and terms, then you raise the level of your interaction. Let him know you are the boss in your field.
• Treat the patient first for the problem he has come with.  Do not discuss and treat some other ailment you may diagnose in him/her. That can follow later. 
• Never go to the room of a woman patient without knocking.  Even after knocking, never enter the room of a woman patient without a woman nurse or assistant.  That may save a lot of troubles later on.
• Do not hesitate to levy a reasonable fee.  Remember you have to make a living by practicing medicine.  Be considerate to financially weaker patients.
• Finally, relieve the pain and relieve the purse.  The patient should feel the first, but not the latter. 

Many of these words of wisdom are equally applicable for other professions as well.  Teachers and trainers for example.

Just as we were parting at Frankfurt, the doctor mentioned about a woman athlete who had a long and distinguished career and won many laurels and prizes in competitive games.  She developed pain in the joints and went to a orthopaedic surgeon. The doctor advised her that she needs new joints to replace worn out ones.  "No doctor, I am convinced that I do not need new joints", she shot back.  "All I need is a new doctor!", she said!