GYRATIONS OF A LAISSEZ-FAIRE MIND

EQUILIBRIUM

2009-05-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

It’s simple to understand things, if one can compare it to the laws of nature, and “Equilibrium” is one of the most important “Law of Nature”.

Nature hates in-equilibrium; it will always seek to achieve balance by reacting to an input. If one can successfully understand and use this counter reaction of nature to an input, great things can be achieved.

It then becomes easier to understand, complicated theories and principles, taught in academic institutions and institutions of higher learning.

Here are a few examples, all of which are based on “Equilibrium”!!!

History:

A kingdom is as good or bad as any other kingdom. It manages to struggle and survive. The moment it becomes rich and prosperous, it attracts invaders till the time there is nothing more left to call it rich and prosperous and it becomes an average kingdom. “Equilibrium”, isn’t it?

Economics:

Law of Demand: This law talks about equilibrium between Demand and Supply. If demand/supply of the product/service fluctuates it will induce a change in price of the product/service which eventually helps to regain equilibrium.

Economy:

Circular Flow of Money: Consumption, Savings, Inflation, Liquidity all these halp to maintain equilibrium in the economy. Liquidity of money in economy increases, inflation rises. Increase in inflation, govt. encourages savings, consumption decreases, inflation decreases till liquidity dries up, eventually govt. tries to encourage consumption. It’s all about keeping the economy in “Equilibrium”!

Physics:

Newton’s third Law: “Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction”. Just a way of telling what happens in nature.

Terms like “Up thrust” and “Buoyancy”: If you displace a certain volume of liquid, the liquid will exert a pressure equal to the volume of liquid displaced, add to it the direction of pressure. Nothing so difficult to understand, it’s the plain vanilla theory of equilibrium, expressed differently.

Biology:

Food Chain: This is the nature’s way of controlling every living being’s population. Number of grass eaters (primary source) increase, plenty of food for flesh eaters (secondary). Flesh eaters consume more food, the number of grass eaters decrease, eventually population of flesh eater decreases due to lack of food. The equilibrium is maintained.

Governance:

In a capitalist country, everyone tries to make more money for himself, leading to disparity and lack of social responsibility. This gradually leads to exploitation, discrimination, depression, et al. Socialism takes over. Conditions improve, basic amenities are provided for, discrimination decreases, depression tackled with, the economy achieves stability. Economy all set to grow at a high pace, people think of more profits, faster growth, etc. Eventually socialism gives way to capitalism. “Equilibrium at play”!!!

Nature will always strive to achieve equilibrium. If one understands this universal law of nature and works towards facilitating equilibrium great things can be achieved. So don’t try “to make a difference” ……. as some people say but always try to seek equilibrium and success will follow.

Cyclic Nature of Retailing !!!

2009-01-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

As I frequently say, the intellectual mind tries to analyze and simply things and in the process creates complex hypotheses and concepts beyond comprehension of the common man. Most things are really not that complex.

Ok, getting back to the point of the cyclic nature of retail industry. Here we go:
Initially we had one common market (Haat) for a few villages and one or two common markets per town as per the size of it. When the towns grew in diameter, it was inconvenient for people to travel long distance for shopping. Hence, the concept of separate smaller markets (haat) that catered to a certain area or part of town. Gradually came up the corner-side stores to provide more convenience to the consumers. These stores stocked FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) which are required in the consumer’s day-to-day lives. But there were a few people who preferred to sell their product (mostly fruits, vegetable, fish and other perishables) directly to the doors of the consumer.

Conclusion:
1. Products/services required on a day-to-day basis should be sold/ made available near the place of consumption.
2. Green groceries should be either centralized to offer value for money or absolutely door delivered for convenience to consumers.

Coming back to the cyclical nature of retailing……..

When a few retailers wanted to sell products in an already competitive market, they found out a unique solution….. “ambience and buying experience”. This is how shopping malls came into picture. They were and are no doubt a huge success. But soon the customer’s priority changed once again from ambience and fancy shopping to convenience when it was time to buy day-to-day requirements and green groceries. Hence, there arose a chain of specialty retail stores, often called as retail formats. These are smaller sq. feet stores which cater to only day-to-day commodities like cereals, green groceries, pharmaceuticals, beauty care, etc.(Spinach, Food Bazaar) Most of these are not located inside malls but are distributed across the length and breadth of the townships.

These specialty retail stores are nothing but glorified departmental stores catering to specific needs. Definitely these specialty stores also have limited reach. Hence the most recent and emerging trend among established retailers, is to open “no-frills” stores (Shubishka, KB’s Fair Price). These are nothing but corner-side retail shops.

Soon enough we’ll see these no-frills shops taking orders on phone and doing door-delivery of goods to provide convenience to customers. But isn’t this what the corner-side retailer already does?

So, we can now see how the entire retailing industry takes a complete circle and arrives at the same place where it started. Though, we might experience a few value additions here and there.
Having come a full circle, what next to break the clutter of competition? Well, to build even bigger shopping malls with greater range of products and services, covering much larger area, providing more sophisticated or thematic ambiance. Build the brand name and then again follow up with convenient outlets.

This is what I call in my common man’s parlance as the “Cyclic Nature of Retailing”.

ART OF MOTORBIKING & INVESTING

2008-12-29T09:56:00.000-08:00

Zooming out of a traffic stop, once the lights turn green, gives ardent bike enthusiasts like me a lot of pride and satisfaction. It feels like you have the fastest machine among the rest.

Strange but true is the fact that, to be the first one to zoom out of traffic signal just a big and powerful machine is not the only requirement. In fact, one can very well achieve the same feat with a comparatively less potent engine. The requirement is of a good bike rider with excellent biking skill, expertise in maneuvering, proper positioning among the crowd so as to allow one to zip past the others, regardless of their bigger or smaller machines.

The art of making big profits in the stock market is similar to bikers waiting for a signal to zoom ahead. Here are a few similarities:
1) Each biker occupies a different spot on the road. No two bikers can occupy the same co-ordinates on the road simultaneously. Similarly no two investors can have exactly the equivalent equity portfolios at the same point of time. Similar they might be.
2) Each biker has an engine of different capacity. They might have the same brand motorcycle, with the same cc engine, but wear and tear and proper or improper maintenance does play a factor enough for these machines to perform at varying levels of efficiency. Similarly, no two investors have the same risk taking appetite or investing capacity.
3) Every biker has his own driving and maneuvering style and thus the performance of the same bike will differ in the hands of two bikers. Similarly, every investor has his own style of interpreting and understanding the value of stocks, own style of investing, every investor has different investment requirements and portfolio churning schedules.

I don’t get intimidated if I have a 150 cc bike and another biker with a 180 cc engine parks his bike besides me at the traffic stop. The success or failure of being the first to zoom out after the lights turn green is absolutely independent of the size of engine.

Hence, we should take cues from this practical day by day experience of ours and learn to visualize our strengths and plan and invest accordingly. Not follow the big Indian investors or the trends followed by FIIs. Following them or listening to analysts is like parking your mean machine behind a queue of trucks waiting at a traffic stop for clearance. We all know how long queues of trucks are formed and how slow moving they are.

It’s for you to decide then.

REASON BEHIND WAR

2008-12-03T10:47:00.001-08:00

Wars may happen due to several reasons like greed of a nation, abundant natural resources, wealth, manpower et al. These wars obviously cause a lot of mayhem, ruthless destruction and devastate each other but such wars generally come to an end. They have a time frame.

But the most dangerous reasons behind a war is ideological differences, the very nature of human thought process. Thoughts are the most potent weapon and when thoughts are directed onto thinking in a particular narrow direction they are devastating. When ideology is the reason behind war…. Such wars never end. There might be a slight lull for some time but these are indefinite war.

The war between Arab world and Israel is an example. Some might argue that the dispute started when Israel was carved out as a separate nation. But, if one digs a few more gravel, there has never been a state of peace there. The BIBLE clearly states of umpteen wars of Israel against Syria (Assyria), Iraq (Babylon), Palestine and Egypt (Mishr). The root of these dates back to the Abraham. The controversy being who is Abraham’s wife? Sarah or Haggai. From Sarah came the Jews (Israelites) and later Christians. From Haggai came Islam. And the war has raged on since then.

India and Pakistan: When Pakistan lost 2 wars two India, it was quick to realize the low morale among its defense forces and citizens. It needed to motivate them, direct their action against India and a reason that they believe should be bigger than the daily problems. A reason “Bigger Than Life” as some call it. So they looked to the Arab world and the Holy Crusades (around the time of Saladin) and came out with the concept of “JIHAD” (Holy War) and the entire territory issue of Kashmir turned into something very different. And obviously like the Crusades which lasted for decades and the Middle East crisis which has kept dragging on, the conflict between India and Pakistan shows no sign of seceding.

MAHARASTRA GOING THE QUEBEC WAY ???

2008-12-13T18:38:00.001-08:00

Quebec is the largest province in Canada. In early 17^th century Quebec was mapped by French explorers Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain and since then it has drawn vast number of French settlers mostly from the region of Normandy.

In 1763, the French lost the Seven years war for domination of the region to the British and the French immigrants were subjugated by the Scot population of the region. For generations the French speaking population was oppressed. They earned a third of what the English speaking worker would earn for the same job.

But, between 1960-75 came a revolution, popularly known as the “Quiet Revolution” which brought parity and a sense of joy and pride to the settled French population in there. Along with this new sense of identity came an unmitigated prejudice of political and linguistic righteousness. The secessionist bloc Quebecois came to power and imposed French language as the official language of Quebec. With it an institution was formed by the name “Quebec’s Office de La Langue Francaise” which polices the usage of French language on all labels, signage and instruction boards through-out the province.

In 1996, the Jewish were infuriated when an over-zealous language inspector disallowed the entry of kosher matzos into Montreal, for the Passover festival as the labels were in English. This incident is commonly described as the “Matzo-gate Affair”.

Quebecois French protectionist practices have all but sealed out the world’s winds of change and it cultural and linguistic influences. It might very well lead to a moribund state, similar to that of “Walloon”, a French dialect colloquial of southern Belgium. Quebec currently grapples with religious and social problems, rising divorce and abortion rates, declining church attendance and a withering attachment of people towards age old traditions.

It’s now for the people of Maharastra, to think do they want a Quebec instead of the prosperous state it is. It’s time for the people to tell the prevailing politburo what is their desire and not just follow the biased and egocentric banter of the self proclaimed saviors of Maharastra.

WORLD'S FIRST MISSILE

2008-12-03T15:28:00.001-08:00

No its not Germany or Britain. The world’s first missiles were “Made in India”.

Tipu sultan, the Muslim ruler of Srirangapatnam, and his father Hyder Ali, were the men behind the pioneering of world’s earliest rocket technology and used it successfully in their war against the British.

The initial ground work was done by Hyder Ali. He brought into action, iron cased rockets weighing more than 12 pounds each, specifically custom made from Guntur, in Andhra Pradesh. A 10 feet long bamboo pole was mounted on it, with a long sword fitted at its front. These had a range of half a mile.

Tipu Sultan had a battery of men trained to fire these rockets from a lunch pad attached to the ramparts of the Srirangapatnam fort, with 40 feet high walls on three of its sides.

The above picture shows the ruins of the site where Tipu Sultan had his rocket launch pad.

Incidentally, some of the paintings of the era, notably by Holmes, whose works were based on his observation and are preserved in London, highlight Tipu's men stretching themselves to fire rockets from the ramparts of the fort.The use of rockets and missiles won the Mysore army a temporary reprieve against the British.

When Tipu was killed at the battle of Tipu Khanahally in 1799 the British captured more than 700 rockets. These rockets were taken to England by William Congreve and subsequently "reverse engineered."One of his rockets is still preserved at the Woolwhich museum London, with the name "India's War Rocket".

MBA VERSION OF JIT

2008-10-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

JIT stands for Just In Time. It is a Production & Operations management concept. The concept states that inventories should be avoided and raw materials should arrive at the assembly line just when they are required, rather than lying idle on the production floor for long time durations. Or where a certain inventory level should always be maintained, the raw materials reach exactly when the inventory levels decrease beyond certain specified level called the critical level.

MBAs have a their own version of JIT to manage the heavy task pressures of preparing for presentations, exams (which happen day in and day out in a b-school), quizzes, assignment deadlines, et al.

The concept MBA students implement is called S.H.I.T. It stands for Some How In Time. Funny but true. How else can one cope up with the tremendous pressures a student is put through during his b-school days?

This is how S.H.I.T works:

- If there is a group presentation after 2 days at 14.00 hrs, and is notified today, the first thing the group does is to divide the topics to cover among themselves and “SOME HOW” agreement is achieved on who will cover what. But, hardly any one prepares on those lines on the same day. The poor student has assignments to submit the next day by evening, a quiz in the morning and another presentation to give in the afternoon the very next day. All of these have to be “SOME HOW’ managed.

One day later everyone starts collecting data on the topic. But there is no time to analyze because there are other things that require immediate attention.

So now, we have the presentation the next day. The day’s classes get over at 16.00 hrs. It’s time to break head analyzing the data collected for the presentation, drawing a rough draft of the flow and contents of the presentation. By now its dinner time i.e. 20.00 hrs. Around 22.00 hrs everyone knows what he/she will be presenting and how but there are no slides even by now. Also there is a quiz in the morning session.

So the group meets and decides a time to meet up next and submit their slides to a member at a specific time for consolidation. The time is somewhat in the early morning as the group member is an early riser. So everyone now gears up to prepare for the early morning quiz and by the time the preparation is over, its 2 am already.

Now the slide preparation starts and is complete by 4 am. It’s posted to a shared server facility. It’s time for a nap now.

Having slept at 04.00 hrs, the student wakes up at 07.45 hrs with just 15 mins remaining for the class to start and the quiz papers to be distributed. The breakfast has already been sacrificed for 20 mins of extra sleep. Note: The breakfast timings are from 07.00 hrs to 07.45 hrs.

“SOME HOW” or the other the student manages to reach the class. Right on time for the quiz and then the other lectures continue.

Its 12.30 hrs i.e. lunch time. A super fast lunch it has to be. “SOME HOW” the lunch is over by 13.00 hrs and there are 60 mins left for the presentations to start and no one still knows if the compilations are over or not, what is being presented by other members of the group and the flow of the presentation as a whole.

It’s relieving to know that the parts of the presentation slides submitted by the group members have already been compiled but each member’s slides have different formatting. So a common formatting is decided upon and implemented throughout the presentation sides. 30 mins left for the presentations to start. “SOME HOW” the members manage to brush up on the topics they are covering and also on what other members are covering along with the flow of the presentation.

After a quick lunch and so many things to be taken care of……. “SOME HOW” the group manages to be on time for the presentation and manages to “SOME HOW” impress upon the faculty and classmates with their content of presentation, presentation skills and ability to answer the questions fired at them from the faculty and fellow students.

“SOME HOW” a good job is done but its only one of the tasks that is over now and several others are still waiting to be completed…… “Some How In Time” (S.H.I.T).

KAFIR !!!

2008-12-01T11:54:00.001-08:00

Tinka tinka jod ke humne jo aasiyana banaya tha,

Kuch kafir aa ke use khandhar kar gaye,

Pyar muhabaat se jis aangan ko seencha tha,

Use bahan ko wo banjaar kar gaye!

Kaise kaise khuab humne firoya tha,

Wo saare pairon se kuchal gaye,

Khuun pasine se jo haasil kiya tha,

Use pal main hi fanah kar gaye!

Busdili aur kayarta ka wo namuna tha,

Khud to jehhadi wo keh gaye,

Dharm aur imaan ke baat karte the,

Janwar se bi wo battar ho gaye!

Unhe kosh ne na maan karta tha,

Apni hi zubaan ganda hoga so hum chup ho gaye,

Kuch bol bhi de te to kya farak padta tha,

Un ke andaar ke insaan ko to wo kab ka hi maar gaye!

KHWUAISH HAI !!!

2008-11-30T17:05:00.001-08:00

Labzon main to hamare aap hamsha hi rehte hain,

Khwuaish hai kabi hum aap ke khayalon main ho.

Chaand ki kirnon ko to aksar dekha hai,

Khwuaish hai ki kabhi un aankhoin ki thandak to ho.

Saath de ne ke liye hume to bahut milte hain,

Khwuaish hai kabhi aap ka ahsaas to mehsus ho.

Haseenaen to unginat hi dikh jati hain,

Khwuaish hai ki kisi ek main aap sa nazaakat to ho.

Phul to aap ko koi bhi de sakta hai,

Khwuaish hai aap se pehele kaanton pe humari ungli ho,

Dua to aap ke liye koi bhi kar sakta hai,

Khwuaish hai aap ka dard sehne wala dil hamara ho,

Zaban se nikle laabz to har koi samajh ta hai,

Khwuaish hai aapko in nazron ke alfaaz ki samjh ho,

Jane ke baad to har koi yaad aata hai,

Khwuaish hai ki aapke ke dil main hari panah ho.

HOW TO 4GET UR EX GIRL FRIEND !!!

2008-10-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

Guys this has worked wonders for me and am sharing this so that all you guys who are a bit more on the sensitive side like me and find it difficult to recover from a break up can follow this method and live life to the fullest. Here it goes:

Think of your GF as your bike. What else could come closer? Here are the similarities between a bike and a GF:

1) We all love our GF. We love our bikes too.

2) Both are a vital part of our daily life.

3) We are crazy for both of them.

4) We take a lot of care of both.

5) We also spend a lot on both.

6) We take both to the beaches, malls, theatres, shopping, et al.

7) Both bikes and GF have maintenance cost.

8) Both need our regular time and attention.

9) Both give us problem at times.

10) Both get old and need replacement. At a point of time, a guy upgrades from his bike to a more powerful bike or a car. Similarly, the GF becomes wife or if things don’t work out with her then we get someone else as a wife.

11) Every bike is different from the other. In terms of power, mileage, stability, seating posture, comfort of handling, cost of maintenance and riding pleasure. All these apply to GFs also. Each has her USP (Unique Selling Proposition) by which we remember her and compare her to others.

12) Of course, we ride both of them. Ha Ha Ha !

13) And these days both of them come “tested ok”. He He He !

So, we have already seen the similarities. Now what next? Things are simpler now. Read the following lines and compare them to your ex GF!

Some bikes might be wonderful, pleasurable to ride and we might be emotionally attached to it, still, it will get old and require a replacement. So it’s ok if we loved it but had to change it.

Some bikes give us a lot of starting, clutch plate, engine problems. We can love them a lot but they still don’t understand our love and keep giving us problems. So what to do? Change the bike.

Some bikes have manufacturing defects, need excessive maintenance, put a severe strain on our pockets, but look real sexy and give a great mileage and pleasure when taken on long drives. These bikes make a lot of guys crazy about them. Every other guy envies the owner. But, these bikes can only be maintained for a small duration, and then they need to change ownership. So it’s at times better to accept the fact that such a bike was manufactured to be gazed by everyone, to change ownerships, to be ridden by many and not for a single ownership. I hope all you guys got what I am trying to say!

So, just think of your ex girl friend as your ex bike. It was good, gave you company to places, you had a lot of fun driving it and you’ll always remember it for the service it gave you.

And, now……. Cheers! Time to find and ride a new bike!!! New experience, new USPs and lots of happiness!

Voila!!! Go for it!

INDIAN GROWTH - THE FOREIGN CONNECTION

2008-10-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Every civilization has its own way of growing and nourishing itself.

The British civilization, though there is no mention of them in the ancient times, but in medieval times they grew by exploration of different countries, trading with them, and finally converting them into colonies and exploiting them for their homeland’s prosperity.

The Chinese had their own style of developing their civilization. It was a mix of travelling to different neighboring countries and learning what they had to offer coupled to their own citizen’s inventions.

But, how did Indian civilization grow and nourish itself? One finds the answer to this question in the pages of history.

First, it was the Aryans who invaded the Indus valley region and the four Vedas, the cornerstones of the Hindu religion are a gift of the Aryans.

The popularity of the silk route from China to Europe through India was the gift of Emperor Kaniska, who also built the Grand Trunk Road, is again a foreigner.

The popularity of India in the ancient and medieval times by the name, “The Golden Bird”, is something which makes all Indians proud to this day, is the gift of Greek and Chinese scholars and ambassadors who traveled to India and made India popular across the far corners of the earth.

The language of ancient India, Sanskrit, was the gift of the Persian tribes who invaded India. The 7th wonder of the world, the Taj Mahal was the deed of a Moghul emperor, again from a foreign dynasty who invaded India and made India their home. The same applies to the Red Fort, the very place where we flutter our national flag on Independence Day.

The very capital of India, the city of Delhi was established by the Moghul dynasty.
The Sultans, e.g. Tipu Sultan who fought so bravely against the British and is believed to be first pro-pounder of the use of missiles and who did use missiles of a different form against the British belongs to a dynasty which traces not from India.

The Indian Railways, one of the largest in the world and the highest employer in India dates its origin to the British rule in India. Accepted the British did more harm to India than to foster its development, but the fact that India did experience some critical developments due to the British can never be ruled out.

The very feeling of freedom and national unity was realized by Indians only after spending a century or more under the British rule.

Such a feeling of national unity never existed before the British Empire and it’s really sad to say does not exist anymore.

One witness’s state/ language wise fight for supremacy or rights almost daily in recent India. I list below:
1) The Assamese not allowing people from Bihar to appear for exams in their state.
2) The fight of Gorkhas for a separate state.
3) The people of Maharastra being brain washed by few leaders are up in arms against North Indian and racking havoc against them, also in the process destroying the state owned property, hardly realizing the fact that these infrastructure are for their facilitation and also set up from the tax payers hard earned money, i.e. they themselves are destroying their own property.

One can continue quoting numerous such examples, where we have just seemed to forget the fact that we all are from the same Nation and the state wise divisions are just for better administration and not because one is superior or inferior to another.

Some things never change. Previously, we misinterpreted the caste divisions and fought among ourselves and tried to differentiate ourselves from others and in turn caused our society and development to take a beating. There was no feeling of unity or brotherhood, even within our same Hindu religion.

Now, we are fighting based on language, state and not to forget the ever present issue of fight against other religion.

Imagine all the talk of India becoming a super power and crap, do we deserve to be citizens of a super power? If we keep on destroying our own property and behave like insane creatures how in our wildest dreams can we expect to grow? And even if we sum how manage to develop and grow, we really are self sufficient in the context that we can destroy our selves with great efficiency and we don’t need any outsider to destroy us.

The foreigners who invaded India were wise enough to understand and adapt to a secular India. But, we the people of India, we don’t ever seem to learn anything even after years of bondage and suffering.

It’s a real shame that we need foreigners to invade and control us and make us suffer for us to realize we all belong to the same nation and that we should live in peace, harmony and unison.

So let’s wait and watch this time which country or tribe makes us suffer for us to realize of our oneness.

A real bloody shame for us, “The People of India” !!!

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

2008-10-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Technical analysis is the analysis of chart patterns formed by the stock prices. Technical analysts or Chartists as some call them, analyse the patterns from various charts and derive at future predictions. Based on the trend lines formed by these charts they are able to suggest whether to hold, sell or buy stocks.

Fanatic technical analysts do not look at fundamentals of a company at all. These quantitative analysts or chartists only analyze the stock prices, volume traded and psychological indicators over a period of time to arrive at conclusions.

One can frequently hear the mention of the following terms from the talks of a technical analyst:

Support Level – This results from the inability of the chart lines to break below the previous lows.

Resistance Level – This results from the inability of the chart lines to surpass the previous highs.

Simple Moving Averages – A simple moving average is the average of the closing prices over Nth period. This is done so as to smooth the fluctuations of less than Nth period.

For example, if we are analyzing the price trends aver a one month period, the daily fluctuations of stock prices can be made smooth by taking the average of the opening and the closing stock price for that day. This gives us a price chart which does not display the daily volatility in stock prices.

There are famous and commonly used techniques like:
1) Head and Shoulders
2) Double Top and Double Bottom
3) Febonacci Series
4) Eliot Wave
5) Bollinder Bands, et al

IGNORE THE ANALYST TO SUCCEED

2008-10-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

The talk of the corporate world these days…… When is the market going to bottom? Are we going to see the capital market indicators like Sensex and Nifty going down even further or are we going to witness a bounce back in the investor sentiments?

Obviously no one has the answers. And the only people, who seem to have an answer, are the analysts…. who are paid to utter anything and everything that they feel like on the television channels. Irony but true, “I think… so and so” is the typical answer an analyst gives to whatever is being asked him. It would be incorrect to blame these analysts, I being one of them, because an analyst is supposed to know the fundamentals soundness of a business and its probability to succeed in the long run.

An analyst is not an astrologer or a prophet to predict what other humans are going to do. So how are they supposed to know whether the investors are going to buy or sell? They get paid to blabber whatever comes to their mind and they do so.

By listening to these analysts, broadcasting their thoughts on various television channels, the investor cripples his own judgment. One needs to realize that there are 1000 other clowns, ignorant about the tricks of the trade and who blindly follow the words of the analysts.

The simple moral of the story is, if the analysts say the markets are doomed, all of the 1000 clowns start selling and the markets go down. So a knowledgeable investor should use his own judgment and buy shares in small lots contrary to the predictions of the analysts. So one has now acquired valuable shares at underpriced rates.

Having done that, just wait and watch the show. How panicky the markets get. One can see loads of unnecessary data being beamed on channels and well paid intellectuals analyzing those bits of data to produce information for the ones who don’t understand a single bit of it.

And when these intellectual analysts, start advising investors to purchase stocks, rest assured the analysts have a massive investor following who start pumping in money into the markets and start purchasing shares, the share prices are going to rocket.

So, when one hears the analysts speaking about buying, the enlightened investor starts selling his shares in small lots and books profits.

Therefore, if you know your trade well, don’t follow another person’s judgment and don’t be a part of the crowd, but spin your money.

PAN WALLA'S UNDERSTANDING OF FEVER !!!

2008-11-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

I had been resting all day down with fever. In the evening I decided to go down stairs from my apartment and catch some fresh air! At the local pan shop, I got the following enlightenment:

Reason for Fever: “There is nothing wrong with the body if you have fever. It’s just that the body needs rest and is letting us know that it needs rest. Fever happens if something not supposed to enter the body has entered in and the body is trying to fight it. Taking medicine only helps the body to fight faster and thus we recover faster.”

Suggested Remedy: “Take a teaspoon of sugar, little bit of ginger, a fragment of Tej Patta (Bay leaf) and prepare black tea. Drink it and you will recover.”

Well, I am not sure of the suggested remedy because I haven’t tried it. But, yes the pan walla’s reason about why fever happens is to an extent correct. No, he has not had any formal training, never went to school but he has been passed on this knowledge by the ancient Indian way of learning i.e. Word of mouth.

Scientific reason for fever (For A Layman’s Understanding): “There are unwanted organisms like viruses and bacteria’s of various form and kind. At times these intruders enter the body. The body has defense mechanisms in the form of antibodies. These antibodies declare war against the intruders and a fight ensues. When such a fight is going on, a lot of heat is generated…. Hence the temperature of the body rises. Again, the energy of the body is directed to fight these intruders so we have less energy remaining for other activities. Hence, we feel weak and are advised to take rest. When we take medicine, it strengths these anti bodies and thus aids them in their fight against the intruders. So, we recover faster.”

Remedy: It’s better to consult a doctor because as the technology progressed the modern day’s warfare has also undergone a vast change and has become more sophisticated. Similarly, the forms and variety of these intruder’s has also increased and some of them very barbarian and dangerous. So it’s always better to consult a doctor and be on the safe side. After all someone did say “Health is Wealth”.

COMPARISION OF PRE & POST BUDGET TAX LIABILITIES

2008-10-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Government of India has made the following changes in the tax slabs of the Income tax payer. Good going. Its a welcome change !!!

CULTURAL CRADLE

2008-10-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Education, manners, etiquettes hone the society, from an aboriginal and primitive origin to modern day’s society.

But a sincere and truthful look at today’s society and one wonders, has the society changed so much? Have the ways of life changed so greatly?

The answer might differ from person to person depending on their depth of understanding, eye for minor details, capability to visualize in a holistic perspective, vested interest in calling their society developed, civilised and modern, et al.

I for one, would not say that all things have remained constant ever since man began to live and roam in groups. But, definitely some things never change, or rather the law makers themselves being mere mortals and having full knowledge of their human weaknesses of flesh and blood, make loop-sided laws to facilitate the fulfilment of human desires.

Knowingly we try to change but unknowingly we don’t. A close examination of ways of modern day’s society and an aboriginal society definitely points out some things don’t change.

DATING – This was one of the basic characteristics of the tribal culture. You could choose a woman of your choice and take her with you for hunting and if she made a good partner you choose to live with her. Obviously there were no terminologies used for such asking a woman to accompany a man for hunting and the later living together was not termed as married but how does it matter? The bonding between a man and a woman was equally strong.

The point of discussion here is there were no customs like arranged marriage and a man choose the woman who turned out to be his perfect hunting partner.

The ways of today’s modern society doesn’t seem much different. The custom of arranged marriages is slowly giving way to young couples dating with each other to find there suitable match and on finding their match they get married.

AFTER MARITAL AFFAIRS – In primitive societies there was no security to an individual’s life. People got killed during hunting, forest fires, by wild animals, diseases etc. This was the reason way a man or a woman had relationship with more than one better half. A man might go to hunt of find food leaving his wife in the safe custody of another man and they spent time together as man and woman for as long as he didn’t return from hunting which might be a day or a week or more, or worse didn’t return at all.

Present day’s reasons may differ greatly but whatever the reason a man having physical or emotional relationship with more than one woman and vice versa has become a common thing and the trend is only growing.

NUCLEAR FAMILIES – There was no concept like joint family among the primitive culture. The role of a man and a woman was to produce off spring, take care of them till they could take care of their own needs and let them move on. The main role of the couple was to keep producing off-springs for as long as their hormones and genitals allowed them. True, they were forced to do so for numerous factors like high mortality rates, need for more hands to collect more food for the group, et al. Besides lack of other sources of entertainment and even if they did indulge in rock paintings and carvings on stones and trees but fact remains could those sources of entertainment beat a good fuck?

Coming back to today’s modern society, off-springs moving out of their parental house either to study, make a career or for so many other reasons, we are seeing a rising rate of nuclear families. Accepted that the parent couple does not only engage in producing off springs but this does not change the fact that we are experiencing a move from joint families to nuclear families.

FIGHT FOR FEMALE – For aeons man has been fighting for woman. A beautiful woman has been the desire of every man with a healthy mind and an appropriate hormonal system. History has documented great wars like Troy, the fight between Rama and Ravana, et al.

Compare it to present day fights between boys who want the same girl as their girl friend. It’s a tough fight. It’s a fight which involves mind games, strategy and at times brutal masculine physical fight.

Beautiful and sexy girls have always been the cause for many a fight. No girls are not to be blamed because it’s the fault of the male dominated society. After years and years of fighting for women, the modern day’s civic society has not yet learned that a balance between male to female ratio is what is essential for a healthy society.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION – Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. This is how conflict was resolved in primitive societies. It was a part of their existence, and a vital part without which they would have perished. If sum one attacked them, they retaliated with full force. One may argue there were no court of law and no written legislature. Again life then was hard and full of hardships.
There were a lot many things to take care of ranging from finding food, fending off other tribes, et al. So where was the time to waste in undergoing lengthy legislative procedures had there been such institutions like court of law?

One does not find much difference in today’s modern society. Whether its inter group conflicts among small school going kids, fellow students fighting for several reasons in college, shoot out incidences in universities, inter gang clashes, actions of individuals or gangs for revenge, all of them just by pass the established legal processes. No, we are not arguing about the credibility of the legal system. But we are just trying to say even in today’s civilized and modern society, conflict resolution still remains as it was in primitive society. Here certainly one don’t find a cent per cent match, as the degree to which individuals take it upon them to take their revenge has decreased and there are a lot many people who now take the civilized method of punishing avengers by following the established legal norms.

FIGHT FOR TERRITORY – In ancient world, the various civilizations had to expand their boundaries to acquire more cultivation land, gather more man power and domestic-able animals, supplies for armies and gain more power and influence, et al. We called them primitive and barbarian.

So are the modern civilizations any different? Most of the modern and developed countries as we call them were and are at the forefront of barbarian aggression and colonialism. So are they really very different from the primitive civilizations and barbarian tribes?

In today’s world we often hear about nuclear deterrent and an exploding arms race under various contexts. We have also seen the bi-polarization of the world to act as a deterrent against war. But have the so called deterrents been successful? I feel not. It’s all the same. Modern civilizations do show the same aggression and intrusion into others territory and they have plenty of excuses to put forth for such displays of territorial aggression.

FOOD HABITS – Primitive societies consumed flesh burned on fire and we call them uncivilized because they didn’t know the use of oil, ghee, butter and spices. They consumed fruits and roots. Finally they stated farming and used animal excreta as manure.

So is the modern society any different? We crave for the yummy kebabs and tandoor food, a form of meat burnt on fire. All our prestigious find of spices, oil, butter, ghee have given rise to innumerable diseases among humans. So we are advised by our intellectual dieticians to do eat fruits and roots and to avoid our proud finds like spices, oil, butter, etc.

And what should one say about all the industrial inventions of fertilizers and manures. Yes they are good as they increase the productivity of land. But instead these chemicals detoriate the nutritional content of our food. The dieticians of the modern and civilized society advice - consume organic food. The health conscious and the wealthy have already started to consume organic food, and the rest of the society will catch up soon enough. Organic farms have already started sprouting across vast stretches of land. And soon enough we might witness a revolution…. a revolution of modern day farming giving way to organic farming or in other words primitive way of cultivation.

Of course, all this discussion does not mean to say, there has been no progress. Civilizations have made important invention, taken pride for it and used it against one another for selfish gains. But, the silver lining in this black cloud has been, the realization of such folly sooner or later and using those inventions to make life better for the general man.