Candid conversations with Dr Surajit Bhattacharya

Recently I sat for a session of Beyond the Knife - Candid Conversations with Dr. Nikhil Panse. Over to Nikhil..........

In this  episode of Beyond the Knife – Candid Conversations, we sit down with the ever-inspiring Dr. Surajit Bhattacharya. A brilliant teacher, academician, writer, editor, blogger and a surgeon – he wears many hats with ease.
From tips on writing well and dealing with manuscript rejections, to what makes a great teacher and mentor in today’s changing world – this conversation is full of practical insights and honest reflections.
If you’re a student, teacher, researcher, or just curious about learning and growth in plastic surgery – this one’s a must-watch!
Grab a coffee or tune in while you’re travelling. You won’t want to miss this!

A CHARMING PERSONALITY

 

Personality is a person's enduring characteristics and behaviors that help them adjust to life. It includes their interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns. The word "personality" comes from the Latin word persona, which means "mask". It is a product of both biology and environment, and it remains fairly consistent throughout life. Personality influences a person's environment, cognition, emotions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations. It also predicts how a person will react to other people, problems, and stress. One can gain insights into a person's personality by observing their communication styles, body language, and decision-making approaches.

Personality embraces moods, attitudes, and opinions and is most clearly expressed in interactions with other people. It includes behavioral characteristics, both inherent and acquired, that distinguish one person from another and that can be observed in people's relations to the environment and to the social group. If one is attracted towards a person then perhaps these are the traits, in various combinations and in various degrees, that make them attractive:

·        Courage.

·        Trustworthiness, including honesty, reliability, punctuality, and loyalty.

·        Integrity.

·        Respect and courtesy.

·        Responsibility, including accountability, diligence, perseverance, self-management skills, and self-control.

·        Fairness, including justice and freedom from prejudice.

 

Who wouldn’t want a capturing personality that enables us to lead, connect with others easily, convince anyone to support us, and resolve any quarrel with irresistible personal charm? I have, in the past, written quite a few blogs on personality development, the most pertinent one being: https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2018/09/how-to-cultivate-good-personality.html

 

People with great personalities are more likely to succeed, so it's not surprising that many people try to improve themselves and their communication skills. Part of this improvement process focuses on developing or strengthening features that people can’t resist, and if you want to have a good influence on people, you just need to recognize and adopt them.

 

1. Confidence

People who are self-confident do not compare themselves to others all the time. They rely first and foremost on their own minds and abilities and do not blame their environment for their emotional state. Instead of losing themselves in relationships or workplaces, people who have high self-confidence build and maintain their relationships based on their own personal plans and dreams - they know what they want to achieve and make sure they do so. When you feel confident in your personality and in the decisions you make, those around you will be impressed by your management and decisiveness. These people never lament being victims of circumstances, instead they create the circumstances of success for both themselves and others.

 

2. Honesty

Honest people are not afraid to tell the truth. They are direct in their judgment and open to themselves just as they are exposed and true to their environment. People are happy to talk with honest people because they can be trusted, and relationships become simpler, clearer and safer when everything is on the table and there is nothing to hide. In addition, in a romantic relationship it is easier to trust honest people - and for a healthy relationship, trust is priceless. In business relations honesty is the best policy and with friends and family, honesty is the only policy.

 

3. Trustworthiness

Without trust, any relationship - whether in the workplace, romantic or platonic - will quickly disintegrate. It is therefore very important that you establish yourself as a reliable person whose words and actions can be trusted, from minor matters to the big and significant things. This is the only way to get people to be pulled to you and trust you with all their hearts. For big time success in business (Ratan Tata), politics (Narendra Modi), performing arts (Amitabh Bacchan), Sports (Roger Federrer) trustworthiness is simply non-negotiable.

 

4. Sensitivity 

Sensitivity is about being able to sense the swings and changes in other’s moods, as well as to being empathetic towards them. Sensitive relationships begin with the smallest things, such as noticing when your partner wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, and bigger things such as noticing when your partner feels jealous. For example, in order to attract others, you must be aware of their feelings. If, for instance, one of your colleagues seems different, preoccupied or looks down in the dumps, don’t hesitate to take interest and offer an empathetic ear. Doing this guarantees that you’ll be able to bring people closer to you and be seen in a positive light.

 

5. Be supportive  

 It's not enough to just recognize that someone is going through something. You also need to know how to support them. You should make others feel that you are "on their team" and that, together, you’ll be able to overcome anything, big or small. The confidence and support you provide them will encourage them to act, make them part of your team, and perhaps even bring others closer to you. Being supportive in moments of crisis gives you a reputation of being a reliable and sympathetic individual.

 

6. Express interest

In addition to being supportive in times of need, in order to become an irresistible person, you should adopt a curious and healthy interest in others. Reach out to people you haven’t heard from in a long time, whether by phone or social media. In this way, you’ll be able to regain friends you’ve lost along the way and even make some new ones. If your partner is prepared to go with you to the stadium to watch cricket she is showing interest in things you like. So make sure you accompany her in a music concert, which is of her interest.

 

7. Loyalty

Loyalty is one of the most important qualities, not only in romantic relationships but in any relationship. Knowing that you can wholeheartedly trust another person who won’t knowingly betray you or try to hurt you, even when tempted, is very important to everyone. But first of all, you have to adopt this attribute for yourself. Always be loyal to your beliefs, views, and path and this will show others that you can be loyal to them as well. The crisis of loyalty is most evident in politicians, who change loyalty with seasons, and that is why you don’t tend to respect most of them.

 

8. A sense of humor

Our sense of humor can help us easily overcome minor problems, resolve small conflicts and quarrels, and generally make life more enjoyable. When a person has a sense of humor, a touch of irony and self-awareness, they are often perceived as being easy to love and cherish. Therefore, even if you are not naturally funny, you may want to remember some jokes and funny stories to draw people closer to you. However, a forced sense of humor may also be petty repulsive, so don’t overdo it.

 

9. Patience

Patience and restraint can be expressed in everyday life in all kinds of ways: if you can wait in line without whining and trying to push your way past, if you stubbornly avoid falling into life’s many obstacles, and if you know how to strive steadily to achieve your goal - you have patience. People find this attribute very attractive. If you haven’t been blessed and your patience tends to be very short, it is highly recommended that you work on it.

 

10. Optimism

It’s always nicer to be around a joyous person who radiates happiness. In order to adopt infectious optimism, you have to start seeing the good in life and know how to enjoy the moment. An optimistic person helps others and encourages them not to give up and stick to their goals, and, in doing so, brings them closer. When you are in a relationship, this approach will help you and your partner see all the little problems and troubles as smaller than they seem at first, and this feeling can strengthen the relationship and make your partner stick with you for the long run. Like

 

11. Likeability 

When given the choice between a sulky, angry, and sarcastic person and a calm-headed, forgiving, and compromising person, all would choose the latter. Likeability is part of the vast majority of traits that we’ve talked about so far, but it is also a trait within itself. Even a small smile will make others feel warm and happy –so start spreading them around and no one will be able to resist your charm.

 

12. Politeness and respect

If you can remain polite and calm despite provocation it is a priceless gift. We may disagree with people, but we do not have to be disagreeable. Impolite words and deeds, disrespectful gestures and utterances burn the bridges, which you might have to cross again in future. Walking out of a controversy with your head held high after politely putting your point of view is an art worth cultivating.

I choose my friends very carefully with the selfish motive of learning something good from them. I do not find all the traits in all my friends, but they end up forming a very beautiful kaleidoscope of personalities and I try to imbibe the good bits from everyone, even without their knowledge. By simply listening and watching people we get the opportunity to learn and improve.

TARIFFS - TRADE TACTICS OR TRUMPIAN BLUNDER

 

 

At times it seems Trump doesn't know what he is up to? He is driving the bus of U.S economy through a dense fog, with nil visibility and absent GPS. If it tumbles into the ocean of recession no one will be surprised. Yes, he will succeed to bring a high Richter scale convulsion in the world economic order and decimate globalization once and for all. 

The mighty solitary pole of the unipolar world is travelling down an unsustainable path of large fiscal deficit, spending more than earning, high current account deficit, consuming more than producing and an ever increasing debt to GDP ratio. A course correction was long overdue. His plan is simple - correct current account deficit by imposing tariffs on imports, reduce fiscal deficit by Musk' DOGE hit on wasteful government spending and bring stability to the debt-GDP ratio through a sovereign wealth fund and a reevaluation of gold reserves. The ideas are Clinton's, but a lot more radical leading the U.S towards stagflation and the rest of the world towards recession. 

 

He said the countries of the world, allies and enemies alike, are all out to take advantage of America's goodness and are ripping off the U.S economy by high tariffs, currency manipulation and trade barriers. If I am to quote him he feels America is being "looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friends and foes alike". So, what was his answer? Reciprocal tariffs, which were country specific, the more the trade deficit U.S suffers the higher tariff the offending nation faces. 

 

But will that not increase the cost of virtually everything in the U.S market from toys to clothes to cell phones to cars. America has stopped manufacturing most of them since ages, so does Trump expect these factories to mushroom overnight?

 

Trump thinks that higher tariffs will incentivize foreign and domestic companies to establish factories in the U.S and create employment opportunities. This resonates well with Trump's core vote bank, the blue collared working class Americans that have seen thousands of factories close, and large part of their once industrialized states convert into rust belt with shuttered industries, dying towns and depleting population. However, even if car manufacturers and machine tool and cell phone makers set up factories in America, in the age of AI and robotics are the good old golden days of manufacturing expected to return with bountiful employment opportunities?

 

Another miscalculation which Trump plan has is the U.S will earn $600 billion in tariffs, which will reduce their national debt, which today stands at 123% of their GDP! Lowering imports, because of higher tariffs will also reduce the trade deficit with their trading partners, he argues. Someone should tell him that his ideas will surely lead to worldwide recession and trade wars and Americans will not remain insulated from this impending economic disaster. 

 

All along he was telling in his election rallies and even today he continues to believe that tariffs will cause momentary price hike but the rich will be harmed and the poor will be benefitted! His MAGA supporters have no reason to disbelieve him because the stock market has tumbled, the Wall Street is running for cover and the MAGA crowd is cheering, oblivious of the fact that their own cost of living has gone through the roof! If Wall Street experiences pain long enough, the Main Street will feel it soon. 

 

Trump's class warfare is against the Elite America and the Global Elites. The MAGA followers know it is accompanied by pain, higher costs, shortages and inflation. But, the price is worth paying, they feel. Short term pain is worth long term benefits - more employment and better life! MAGA now has a President who can screw the Wall Street and the Global Elite and stand with working class Joes! Excuse me, but who exactly are Trump and Elon Musk if not global elites?

 

Trump has repeatedly told the blue collared Americans that they are victims of bad trade deals, off-shoring of cheap labour, starving the homeland getting work done at slave wages in China. As if that was not enough, illegal immigrants from Mexico, Central America and Asia are picking up the farm and factory jobs in the mainland at much below mandatory minimum wages.

 

No one except Trump could understand the logic of his varied reciprocal tariffs - 125% on China, 49% on Cambodia, 48% on Laos, 46% on Vietnam, 44% on Sri Lanka, 37% on Bangladesh, 32% on Indonesia and 26% on India! His insanity is best seen when he imposes 10% tariff on Heard &McDonald Island which has only penguins and no human beings. Perhaps he is charging the island for using his first name!

But, hang on; is there a method in his madness? Why is this 90 day pause on imposing tariffs on every country except China? By announcing mega tariffs and then postponing them the US President is acting like the thresher shark which stuns the shoal of sardines with a tail slap, before gobbling them up. Now more than 50 countries are, according to him, ‘licking his ass’ to renegotiate trade deals!

 

The trade war has already started. China has imposed a 84% tit for tat tariff on U.S goods. It looks like the world's biggest buyer U.S, and the world's biggest seller China, who together account for 40% of world trade, do not want to do business with each other. How can this be good for the post globalization global supply chain which turns around these two important cogs?

 

Different countries will be differently affected and right now Canada and Mexico, the two immediate neighbours, whose economy are heavily dependent on American consumers, seem to be facing the worst case scenario. Europe requires U.S to provide it security guarantees that subsidizes its welfare state economies. As their sclerotic thought process will not allow them to have an imaginative understanding with Moscow and lower their defense spending, they will remain easy target of Trump’s blackmail. 

 

Every crisis is an opportunity waiting to be exploited. Brazil, which is only second to the U.S in agro-trade, has an opportunity to sell more beef, soybean, oil and iron ore to China and footwear to the U.S. How will India use this opportunity? Higher tariffs on our competitors in textile and garment industries (China and Bangladesh) and electronics and telecom (Vietnam and Thailand) are opening opportunities for us but pharmaceuticals, agro products,  diamonds and jewellery will require renegotiation. 

 

With top companies of the world, Apple, Nvidia, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon,  Netflix and Tesla, the U.S already enjoys a privileged position in world trade, with the best business minds calling America home. The USD is world's reserve currency. This irresponsible trade behaviour raises serious questions about the reliability of the USD as a favoured currency for conducting international trade. By weaponizing the dollar in the form of Sanctions against its strategic enemies, the world is already looking for an alternative. China, Russia, India and a host of other countries, almost 45% of the world’s population can and are trading in alternative currencies. China-Asian bilateral trade is already over $900 billion and with higher tariffs in America these intra regional trade options will become more frequent. 

 

Trump wants to leave behind a spectacular legacy, but a long standing recession in the U.S and in the rest of the world will surely not be anything worth boasting. Goldman Sachs has raised the probability of U.S recession to 35% and J.P Morgan Chase has predicted a 60% chance of global recession this year. High inflation is a distinct possibility and if the Fed raises rates, economic slowdown may become unavoidable. Economist John Kenneth Galbraith once said "when all else fails, immortality can be assured through spectacular errors". We are unfortunately witnessing one, and I am afraid, we have not yet reached the climax of this story!