Sugandha

New Year Vows

2012-01-02T10:28:00.018+05:30

I have decided! 2012 will be a happy year. And my only new year resolution is that I will be happy.

Oh yes, did I share it here on this page that happiness is a choice. Indeed it is. I will not hesitate to be happy because 'I want to save for 2050' or because 'I want to look anorexic' or because 'I want to pretend that I don't care, when in fact I do'. Yes, I will do anything and everything that makes me happy. Here's my laundry list:

I will shop, shop and shop...
I will watch a movie every weekend & have a beer party every Friday \m/
I will get that handsome German Shepherd I always fancied. No second thoughts this year!
I will talk, laugh and spend most of my time with the people I like, whether they like it or not :P
I will keep my bag ready all the time & go on all possible trips (& I will get my passport back from the Passport Office :X)
I will eat butter chicken, chilly chicken, tandoori chicken, kadhai chicken, chettinaad chicken & any other possible form of chicken. Slurp!

Clearly and thankfully my happiness is merely my own choice.
So, happy new year folks :)

Rebound Life!

2011-12-24T22:08:00.012+05:30

Talking of the times you indulge... The times when you sit in fancy restaurants and order sizzlers, just for yourself. The times when you go to the mall and watch silly movies, without company. The times when you call a cab and explore a city and all its century old forts, all alone… !!

When this happens, take a moment, pause and reflect… Is this a desperate effort to enjoy after things derailed?

Are you living the rebound life?

Notes for Self

2011-11-23T23:35:00.005+05:30

Hazy dreams. Lonely roads.
Loud noises. Deafening silence.

Umpteen thoughts. Insane ideas.
Pent-up energy. Perennial laziness.
Unforgettable past. Clueless future.

Amidst this chaos, I now seek closure and composure.

The Dream of Yesteryears

2011-11-23T20:28:00.007+05:30

(originally written in May 2011, published here now :)

With dew under our feet

Saunter we would

Two crazy, content flaneurs

Unruffled, unswayed

Staring at the naked horizon

Then dancing in the first rain

Not caring for the hours

Not counting the days

Just fine love and virgin dreams

Rankings for Rankings?

2010-07-19T17:25:00.011+05:30

How many times have we come across bizarre institutes & companies getting bizarre rankings in bizarre surveys? Surveys that spin our head, leave us cranky with a “what the ...” murmur.

For one, I am sure you have seen a zillion such surveys before that dare to think beyond IIMs & IIFT & XLRI & IITs & FMS & ISB & every other school that has some credibility...

Well, B-school rankings may be an old & cold issue now but think of it, there are so many categories of goods & services where we have no idea of the product before hand and we tend to trust the rankings blindly. Rankings of hotels, schools, companies, gadgets, etc. The list is endless.

My take on this issue:

Any organization that has revenue dependency on a particular company should not be allowed to rate that company or the players in that particular industry

There should definitely be a public agency that throws light on the methodology, scores and analysis adopted by these *enlightening* & *unconventional* surveys

There should be a public survey to rank ranking agencies (for "consumer rights protection")

Sure!

2010-07-10T04:38:00.015+05:30

HUL is the market leader in India not for no reason. Apart from a few hiccups, the company has a history of producing “to-do” case studies for business schools in India. It has not only done a good job in promoting its products aggressively but it has also very well exploited the latent needs of Indians.

The latest offering from the FMCG giant is “Sure”, an anti-perspirant launched last month. Sure controls sweat, & body odor (how? donno.), keeping the underarm dry. Priced at Rs.65 for 40-ml roll, I thought the product was worth a try for a sweaty person like me! And so I tried it.

My verdict: the product is surely cool! I loved that it has no alcohol in it (0%!) & is not irritating for the skin. Its good (by the way, I am not an HUL employee).

But on the flip side it has to be used regularly (6 swipes a day!) to ensure ‘No Paseena’ / ‘No Sweat’. Yet, I still feel that its good for people who have a tendency to sweat a lot.

But the biggest set back for Sure could be the belief that roll-ons make the skin dark... so I don’t know how HUL plans to deal with this popular belief about roll-ons. (Maybe a spray pack!)

Will “Sure” work? Can’t say for sure, but the timing for the launch surely seems perfect as 2010 has proved to be the hottest year in a century!

Agriculture Economics & the Blame Game

2009-11-17T19:37:00.006+05:30

The FM yesterday lambasted the “inefficient farm market” for food price spike (source: ET).

This sounds extremely funny esp. when it comes from the mouth of the government, which fails to appreciate the policy instruments in its own hands. The government has no right to blame anyone for India’s ineffective food policy and inefficient agrarian market & let me explain why. Apart from the woefully inadequate infrastructure, reliance on monsoons & small size of land holdings; a major reason for the poor state of Indian agriculture & food market is poor government intervention.

- The food policy has so far been characterized by various kinds of input subsidies. The problem is that, unlike support for extension of irrigation or adoption of new technology, most of these subsidies (e.g., on electricity, water or fertilizer) are not of an once-for-all nature and hence do not cause an enduring increase in productivity. In general, for attaining a targeted increase in output, input subsidies are much less efficient than production subsidies, remembering that the latter leave it to farmers to choose inputs on the basis of their relative costs and productivity.

- The major beneficiaries of procurement at MSP (minimum support prices) are the big, not marginal farmers. There is a systematic and considerable overestimation of consumer subsidy & the net subsidy to the poor Indian consumer through Public Distribution & Ration system is actually negative! (source: Mihir Rakshit)

- Moreover, the government cannot set all the policy instruments independently. Thus a higher minimum support price needs to be accompanied with let’s say larger FCI accumulation of food stocks. The ineffective food policy pursued over the last four to five years may thus partly be traced to inadequate appreciation of such policy constraints.

Guess, it is time to remind the FM that he CANNOT blame anyone but himself, his team & his predecessors!

Some Confusion Here!!

2009-10-17T04:45:00.009+05:30

Let me admit, I am confused... I don’t understand the so many pointless things that I do these days... & I just want to reflect upon these mundane things over a ho-hum Diwali night.

I am confused b’coz I am actually anxious about the summer placements in my school, when I know for a fact that the process doesn’t ‘places’ most of the people, but ‘misplaces’ them. In fact, the process of placements at a B-school is so similar to that scene in b’day parties where a dozen toffees are thrown abruptly over a group of kids who just grab what they can without caring about which candy they really want.

I am confused b’coz I don’t know why I calculate the intrinsic value & market value of a bond to take that buy or sell decision, when I can do that same thing by just glancing at the interest rates in most cases.

I am confused b’coz I wonder why I have to sit through these Economics classes when I have done all that before. I fail to feel inspired by what I find to be too trivial & bookish.

I am confused. But chuck it!

Look back

2009-09-09T07:27:00.014+05:30

Look back at the journey,

just once in a while

Look back at the journey,

a thousand moments, endearing or vile...

Keyed out a new abode,

but lost myself in the journey

Collecting pebbles in holy elixir

- the ultimate anserine irony?

Look back at the journey,

drop a tear & smile

Look back at the journey,

but move on... just that one long far away mile...

Somewhere inside I deeply miss you all the time... But no regrets!

What Went Wrong With Economics

2009-07-23T06:59:00.009+05:30

This particular article on the Economist caught my attention. It is about “what went wrong with Economics” and how the discipline should change to avoid the mistakes of the past (yeah! Right).

Well the author rightly points out that like the housing bubble, the economics bubble has also burst and has severely tarnished the reputation of Economics, particularly Macroeconomics. Like the author of this article, I also want to defend Economics, before we collectively rip it apart :-)

Frankly, I think Economics is one subject from which people have a lot of expectations. People expect it to be that magical something that can fix-it-all when it comes to markets. That is so wrong. Despite the use of so called scientific stuff like calculus, Economics is essentially a social science which can only study rational human behaviour.

Therefore, I have only one point in defence of my dear subject – that instead of blaming Economics we need to understand that Economics can only study rational behaviour and not whimsical transactions that people indulge in all day long. Unfortunately, people are not as smart as Economics assumes them to be.

I invest in an x-y-z stock not because I know about markets or that stock; but because I believe, on the basis of what I have heard, that this stock will do good. I go on spreading this word to others who do the same. And when this stock crashes I blame economics for my woes. Hello! Economics asks me to be rational, to judge things on the basis of information and not word of mouth.

This is exactly what happened with the current crisis. Despite living in the information era, hardly any investor cares to collect information.

Leave alone the capital market, even if it comes to our basic savings, we care a damn about where we are putting our money. We blindly go and put our money in some bank on the basis of some kaccha-pakka information. How many of us care to go through the balance sheet and portfolio of the bank where we put our money? How many people in the UK cared to know about the investments of the banks of Ireland, before putting their money in it? If it paid more interest than other banks, at least some one should have cared to understand its investments. Even the great Oxford university didn’t bother and lost 30 million pounds because of the foolish investment.

Any theoretical model of Economics flows from the underlining assumption that 'people know', when in reality 'people don’t know and people don’t care'! No science can study irrationality other than astrology, perhaps. So pappus of the world - its not Economics, but lack of common sense, irrationality & laziness that has doomed us.

For you

2009-07-17T17:52:00.006+05:30

The moment I close my eyes, I go back in time... For times were what I spent with you... But you were longing for the stars when I was lost amidst fairy tale illusions. & in that bluster I was just a little speck, motionless in the background...

But you gave me a collage of memories and took away time. Oh! I need not the stars; I need your touch, I need your time... Meanwhile in this crimson shade of sunlight I just sit and watch time go by...

Hope...

2009-05-25T14:46:00.009+05:30

Hope is the biggest energizer & I happened to notice the beauty of hope when I met this tiny, little 4-year old girl in my neighborhood. The girl lives away from her mother as her mom is studying medicine in the US. It is really sad and touching to see how badly the little one misses her mother and how her room is filled with pictures of her mother instead of dolls and teddies.

The girl misses her mother so much that she is learning how to write - just to communicate with her mother. She talks to her mother on the phone daily. But she hopes that that the written form of communication will help convince her mother to come back.

The little 1 thinks that it was a written letter (the admission offer letter) that made her mom go to US and so a comeback-request letter written by her will make her mom back soon. Hence she is eagerly learning alphabets and words when most kids avoid all this at this age. It's amazing to see how her faith keeps her going.

On the same lines all that I have is also just a ray of hope... Yes I am well past my teen age but pimples are still one of my life’s biggest problem.. Grrr... But I am still hopeful that I’ll have a flawless skin 1 day... some day :D :D

Rahul Gandhi is the new Mother Teresa

2009-05-08T09:53:00.008+05:30

(Yeah right & I am the New Barack Obama!)
ToI reports that a Reuters report has said that Rahul Gandhi has managed to rebrand himself as the “biggest champion of India's impoverished masses” since Mother Teresa died.
Yes of course he is a champion of masses; India’s new ‘Poverty – Tourist’ ambassador!
Also read: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lets-stop-this-poverty-tourism/412069/

Me thinks it’s all a part of his stupid political gimmicks. Continue reading here :D

IIM L-oving it

2009-04-28T14:05:00.011+05:30

So here’s a news - I am joining IIML finally after years of falling in love with the ‘CAT’.
Suddenly everything is looking beautifully colorful (notice the new blog header :P).

You can say that an IIM (that too an L,I,K) is not a big deal. IIML is not the best B-school with the best placements. Intellectuals don’t behave like that; they don’t write such crappy posts on their IIM admits on their blogs. Why are u so insanely happy? Why??

I say “screw you”. I am loving it totally & here’s why:

One, I want to be happy in life. I want success not for the sake of success but for the sake of happiness. If I cannot be happy with an IIML after 2 years of tears and toil, I can never be happy. Wotsay?

Two, there is nothing like a best business school or a best college. People call some schools (generally their own schools :P) the best, just to boost their false egos. Every place has something unique that no other place has, right? Right! For instance IIML has the best reptiles ;-)

Coutesy & Credits to http://itsmeadi.blogspot.com/2006/10/wildlife-of-iim-lucknow.html

Three, I am happy to be back to my home town again. I know some1 who loves me madly is waiting eagerly for me… My Grandmother it is :) :) I chose IIML over any A/B/C school, any day :P

& Last but not the least, I will be an MBA 2 years down the line (most probably or so I hope). Yeah, no1 will call me a "mediocre" now; instead I'll be a "mediocre-but-arrogant". yay!!

P.S: I thought I wouldn’t do "this" to my blog. I never wanted my blog to be a personal diary, but I guess we all like to talk about ourselves :-)

Choices in DemoCrazy!

2009-03-26T17:26:00.009+05:30

Yes, we are soon going for the 15th Lok Sabha Elections in this country. And with all the hoopla this time around “we must vote” – some people with a different take, make me pause & ponder that “yes! we must vote – but for whom?” This I don’t know… B’coz I am really confused with the great choices that we have this time.

Opinion polls feel that Aam Aadmi’s party can come to power again. Great! That would be best for the entertainment of people in these sad times. How? For starters, Aam Aadmi’s Party manifesto, released this week, is the biggest horror flick I have ever seen. Threatening the nation with so many weapons! Awesome!! First being reservation in private sector & reservation for minorities. Followed by promises of generous but slightly ill-planned subsidies for the poor... (now whats perfect you'll say?) The suspense & thriller angle to Aam Aadmi Party's national entertainment flick - the manifesto has no answer how a nation like ours, dying under a gigantic fiscal deficit & credit rating deterioration threats afford all this? Keep guessing.

And then there is BJP & the Third Front. These parties will at least ensure that we remain united as one nation. Didn’t you just hear a young BJP leader, much like the older BJP leaders, described himself as a Hindu and a true Indian. (Bythe way, I loved this post on Gandhi Cousins & others. Mast Read)

And of course the behenji from UP with her lovely slogans and statues is also a perfect PM material.
Another option could also be “ Is baar, Sharad Pawar” - for the sake of Maharashtra! Man, the choices in DemoCrazy!

P.S: Do leave a comment and help me decide :-)

The Japanese Slump - Lessons for US (& me:)

2009-03-23T14:11:00.013+05:30

I was asked this question in one of my IIM interviews:

“The economist Dornbusch said sometime back that ‘watch out for Japanese consumption’ to Fed. What did he mean?”

I said that - "he (Dornbusch) probably meant that US cannot consume more than its income for a very long time, and referred to Japanese economy of 1990’s which was in recession too. Their MPC (propensity to consume) was also high like that of US till 2008 crisis..."

Well, this is the wrong answer. In fact contrary to US, the savings rate in Japan was very high and this perhaps, is at the root of Japan’s woes, as my analysis suggests. After 2 weeks of giving this question a thought, I think I have figured out the answer somewhat. So please read my analysis (I know it’s nerdy & verbose) but let me know if it makes sense.

Now it is important understand what a recession is – essentially a blip in the economic activity. Why does this happens? Do factories suddenly become non-functional? Do the sophisticated machines suddenly rust? Does technology abruptly becomes redundant? NO.

In fact recessions happen because of the constant interplay of the demand and supply. And they deepen because policy makers intervene with all the wrong tools. Japan is a classic example of this.

Now the Japanese economy is/was a great economy, look at the facts below:

1) The second largest economy of the world at the end of 1970s
2) Blessed with an educated, skilled & hard working population, modern technology & capital
3) Blessed with a stable government
4) (Still) A creditor nation, not dependant on whimsical foreign capital like Latin America or most East Asian countries.

Yet it spent the entire 1990s in a ‘growth recession’ (meaning literally no growth). Real GDP in Japan grew at an average of roughly 1.5% per year between 1991-1999, compared to a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s.

Why did this happen? Well when Japan’s economy grew spectacularly in 60s, people attribute this to various factors like:
a) sociological factors (the Japanese were extra hard-working)
b) Good fundamentals (high savings rate, good infrastructure, good educational institutes, etc.)
c) A new superior form of capitalism was established in Japan (later this system was labeled as ‘crony capitalism’ and the bane of Japan!)

Paul Krugman (in his book “The Return of Depression Economics”) says that these factors were present but the fundamental reason for Japan’s initial success was because of the Govt. of Japan’s strong role in directing the bank loans and import licenses to favored industries. Moreover, Japanese firms were not concerned with short-term profitability pressures. They got bulk of their capital though the Keiretsu system. & this system only fuelled the bubble economy of Japan.

In fact the Japanese bubble was so huge that at the beginning of 1990s the market capitalization of Japan Inc. was larger than that of the United States, which had more than twice the GDP of Japan. But sooner or later, bubbles always burst. In the early 1990s the Japanese government raised interest rate to deflate the bubble and with that started the downward spiral in Japan. Investors started losing confidence in the economy and the miracle like growth story of Japan became a thing of the past.

As is the present case with US, the Japanese govt. also tried all remedies to cure recession during this period, but kept failing.

->Japan started systematically reducing interest rates to revive the economy. Interest rates became zero & yet the economy didn’t take off. Why? Well Krugman thinks that the ageing population of Japan and the general sentiment of nervousness in Japan, made the public less and lesser willing to spend and hence idle capacity became the norm in Japan due to deficit demand.

-> Japan tried the Keynesian medicine of giving fiscal stimulus to the economy. This led to short bursts in growth but they also simultaneously increased the fiscal deficit in Japan which reached 4.5% of the GDP in 1996. This triggered panic in the Japanese govt. which could not afford huge fiscal deficits as it had a growing population of the aged people who needed fiscal support & who could not service future debts. So the govt. increased taxes. This option failed as well.

The economist’s concluded that Japan had fallen into the “Liquidity Trap”. The only way out could be an artificially inseminated inflation into the economy to spur demand. Well, that didn’t happen of course.

And finally Japan started showing signs of recovery in 2003. How? Well, by this time the deficit consumer demand in Japan had found a big consumer – US. Japan’s exports to US increased. Moreover the growing Chinese economy also imported a lot from Japan – which ended a decade long slowdown in Japan which finally touched a 2% growth in 2003.

So basically the flamboyant US economy helped the Japanese economy recover somewhat. But just as Japan started recovering from the liquidity trap, US started falling into the debt trap. And we all can see the result today.

Perhaps Dornbusch, had sensed this at the right time and had given the signals to Fed – who chose to ignore him. (No citations here, couldn’t find any!) So while Japan had a deficit domestic consumption, US had too flamboyant consumption levels.
Even in the 1980s, Dornbusch had been vocal that the US was incurring huge trade deficits vis-à-vis the Japanese economy. But some timely & precious warnings always go ignored.

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Source: The Return of Depression Economics (Paul R. Krugman)
http://spice.stanford.edu/docs/122
http://www.druckversion.studien-von-zeitfragen.net/Japans%20Bomben.htm
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Who's Failing - JEE or CAT?

2009-01-27T13:28:00.011+05:30

Two exams in India enjoy the collective fantasy of millions of students. One of them is the IIT-JEE (Indian Institute of Technology- Joint Entrance Exam) and the other is CAT for IIMs (Common Admission Test for Indian Institute of Management).

Both the exams are tough in the sense that only one percent (or lesser) of the test takers finally manage to get an admit into these institutes through their entrance exams.

This means that if conducted properly both the tests should be able to screen out the best talent for their respective institutes & fields through these tests. Right??

Now the aim of IITs (as per my interpretation of IIT Delhi’s mission statement) is to impart higher technological education to students with a flair for science & technology and teach them principles of basic and applied research. So basically IITs are trying to nurture people who have the potential to become future technocrats & scientists.

IIMs on the other hand are trying to gauge the people who have a flair for management, people who possess qualities like managing people and resources creatively, people who can take risks, people who may not be geniuses but people who can certainly make a great business proposition out of a simple idea.

To put it in simple words, IITs are looking to train the best people among the category of people who generally have introverted intuition or thinking (ISTP type or INTJ type). & IIMs are looking to train the best people among the category of people who generally possess extraverted thinking with introverted intuition (ENTP types or ENTJ types).

And these personality types are very different from each other. So exams that have a huge talent pool to chose from, like JEE and CAT should be easily able to screen the most talented people in their respective categories. Students without these abilities should not ace these exams no matter how "well prepared" (read well coached :P) they maybe. But unfortunately this it is not the case.

The talent pool of IITs and IIMs is greatly overlapping. IITians get into IIMs in huge numbers. IITD has an entre hostel each year full of call getters. There are no statistics to prove this for sure but my intuition and experience (:P) suggests me that there are quite a few IITians in IIMs. Only IIMC specifically tells that for one of its courses (PGDCM) there are 32 IITians in a batch of 58 students.

However, don't you think that logically speaking the raw materials for these two institutes (of great national importance) should be different. This means either of the two institutes is failing in its screening stage, ‘coz the co-existance of an Ambani and a Kalaam in the same person should be a rare event and not an event with highest probability.

And maybe that’s why the best scientists and engineers of this country like APJ Kalaam and E. Sreedharan are not from IIT and of course the list of business tycoons not from IIMs is endless; running into pages and pages.

So who’s failing in sourcing its respective talent type – JEE or CAT??

Some points to note:
1) I am only pondering & arguing about the existence of IITians in IIMs. Engineers can, and engineers should be present in management’s Mecca like IIM. But IIT is where only the so called best-of-the-best science students get into, so by definition these guys would generally not posses the best managerial skills.

2) Of course we do have talented tech guys who have made it big in the commercial sphere as executives like Bill Gates and Larry Page & Sergy Brin. But aren’t these exceptions? Moreover these people had exceptional inventions and 1 great guy with them in their initial days who had a great business acumen.

Satyam - Total Falsehood!

2009-01-08T11:37:00.008+05:30

The revelations by Satyam’s promoter Ramalinga Raju, come as a big blow not only to the company’s shareholders and employees but also to the Indian IT sector and the Indian stock markets and brand India Inc. at large. I do not have much knowledge to comment or write something noteworthy on this event, but I would like to post these 2 links that discuss this issue in entirety…

Huge fraud in Satyam Computers: Dr. Krishna has analysed thoroughly and objectively each and every implication of this episode and given his views regarding the steps to be taken by common retail investors. Must Read!
He had also earlier written about 15 stocks that may require regulatory authority’s inspection - 15 Indian Stocks that may shock you!!! Again, a must read for all, esp. our policy makers and regulators :P

Everyone is writing now that India has/had a great image in terms of corporate governance standards; but I wonder whether these soothsayers ever did a reality check. KPMG released its Annual Fraud Survey in 2008; sometime in Sep-Oct; it had clearly reported that corporate fraud is a constant threat to businesses in India.

Over 80 percent of respondents (which included top executives at top companies) recognized that fraud is a major challenge in corporate India. Moreover, almost 70 percent of the respondents believe that fraud in India may increase in the next two years. 60 percent of the respondents experienced fraud in their organization in the last two years. Out of these, 14 percent experienced more than 10 instances of fraud, whereas 75 percent experienced a maximum of five instances.

I know that Satyam accounting scandal is a big incident with huge implications but I don’t know if it is really an exception and a standalone event – as some people are saying. It may just be the first scam to come in the news.

P.S.: Just stumbled across this blog by Bernard Madoff!!! - "I'm Bernard Madoff--I'm Telling All. Right Here. Trust Me." Maybe we can find Raju also blogging on similar lines very soon....

Time for Fun.. Time to Hunt a Woman

2009-01-07T11:04:00.012+05:30

A group of guys want to have a little fun after a game of cricket.. what better than hunting down a woman? After all, women are god’s creation for his favorite creation – man.

If you think I am a crazy feminist, please rethink, because I am only writing down the facts.. since this is exactly what is happening in Noida and NCR. Men are hunting down women. (source, source, source)

And the headlines are not “girl abducted & gangraped” but “another girl abducted & gangraped”. Yes, it’s just another story.

But I am sure that we will soon get a great analysis of these 3 incidents. We will be told that some of the girls were being too adventurous – a girl going home from school at 2 in the afternoon – isn’t that being adventurous in a country where men have a Talibanistic attitude towards women? Other girls were too skimpily dressed (esp, if they are university girls).

Some intellectuals will also reason that this is a reaction to female empowerment and women taking up positions meant for men . Don’t you know there were no rapes when women were confined to households? It’s only in modern times since Indra Gandhi became the PM of the nation & Indra Nooyi a business tyoon, that poor men who couldn’t take it, started retorting in this manner (you can find such great reasoning on my previous posts only!).

The simple fact is that we may have moved from bullock carts to motor cars or mandis to malls; but our attitude towards women is essentially the same – they are still commodities like cattle which need to be guarded by their masters all the time, else no point cribbing if something of this sort happens.

These pieces of news which shook me (and am sure many more) yesterday - got a 5 minute coverage on major news channels, except one English channel where 2 women were debating the loopholes of the system. Let me bullet their points here:

-Most men (whether educated or not) treat women as objects
-Police is not responsible and responsive
-Lack of political will to reform the system
-The society traumatizes the victim and not the accuse
-Judiciary is rigid and slow.
-Women do not voice their opinion.

Blah, blah, blah…. I don’t think these points serve any purpose excepting in writing essays for college exams. The real reason is that God made a big mistake while creating men & women. He made the more lecherous species also the more powerful one. And if this was not enough; he made physically weaker species also the child-bearing one.

Just Some shocking statistics that make you feel that to hope that things will change is to hope against hope… Do you know that at least 1 in 6 women is sexually assaulted or raped in her lifetime and less than 40% cases are reported to the Police worldwide, with less than 6% of the rapists ever spending a night in jail!!! (source)

“Shame: Rape is India’s fastest growing crime” (Hindustan Times, Jan 2008)
“Its official: India 3rd worst offender in rape cases” (Indian Express, Dec 2008)
“Tourists Beware - India, a Major Rape Destination” (Search India, Dec 2008)
“How often does sexual assault occur” (Rape and Incest National Network, US)
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Revised Predictions

2008-12-08T14:54:00.002+05:30

So it is proved now beyond doubt that the only purpose of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.

Just 6 months back, oil prices were hitting the roof. Prediction of economists and analysts in mid 2008 was that crude would cost anything between USD 200 to 250 in 2009 and now the revised prediction states that it would be close to $20 per crude barrel in 2009!!!!!

Such is the magnitude of error - to the tune of 10 times. So are oil companies next in the ‘bail-me-outta-bankruptcy’ queue?

Economics - Artistically Deceptive?

2008-10-30T11:55:00.032+05:30

Day before, Dow lost more than 200 points despite another Fed rate cut. Investors are down 44% so far this year loosing around $10 trillion just this month - much more than the crash of 1929!

Consumer confidence in the United States (yes US, the biggest consumer, the my-baap of all) has hit an all-time low in October. The Conference Board reported that "expectations have turned significantly pessimistic with the percentage of consumers expecting business condition to worsen over the next 6 months rising to 36.6% from 21%".

Many placed their bets on the emerging markets and how they will remain untouched by the Western turmoil… But as we all know, this is so far from the truth. Even India is clearly feeling the heat of the financial crisis now (No citations here; if you are in the Indian job market, or if you need some credit, or if you’ve invested just about 10K in BSE like me, you just know it!).
Fair enough, I feel. If we benefit from their flamboyant consumption in good times, how can we remain unaffected by their super huge crisis?

Even oil is touching almost $60 now! Weren’t many pundits shouting that oil would just move up & up? So when stocks and realty is going bust – its competing asset, i.e., gold, should go up! Even that’s not happening because people are selling gold, instead of investing in this so-called safe & stable asset.

Just about a year ago, things were so bright and booming that the question every1 was asking was where is the next big opportunity? And now, the question is “where is the next big threat”? Seriously, what’s next in store in this turmoil? Credit card crisis?? Electricty Crisis? (Tell us, else we’ll speculate and speculate, till we ruin it all…)

I don’t know all the nitty-gritty’s of economics, but I really wonder if economics is all about sentiments. The economy grows even amidst poor infrastructure and high interest rates when the investor is confident…. And if he has his confidence shaken, no amount of liquidity injection, govt assurances or policy changes seem to work!

Maybe that’s why Economics is at best an Art! No amount of econometrics, mathematical models or calculus application can make it a science. Its artistically deceptive!

Irrelevance of economic inequality

2008-08-19T12:22:00.003+05:30

This article (or rather a ‘perspective’) by Manish Sabharwal in ET yesterday (i.e., Aug 18) is worth reading, citing and analyzing. Manish has put forth a straight and simple argument - Does the prevalence (or absence) of economic inequality *actually* has any effect on poverty and general well being?

“India has become substantially more equal since January 8, 2008. About two hundred billionaires have turned into millionaires. The drop in stock market and real estate values means that the top 5% richest people may have lost about 40% of their wealth and making the rich poor increases equality. But does this exponential increase in equality help India’s poor?…………

………… I argue that if eliminating poverty is accompanied by an increase in inequality, we should want it. Levels of economic inequality are irrelevant; all that matters is equality of opportunity, particularly for the poor.”

Basically, Manish says that in India we have a lot of both – poverty as well as economic inequality. But what should concern policymakers should only be POVERTY. And if poverty can be reduced by increasing economic inequality, so be it (Also read - http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/07/is-economic-ine.html).

I am also personally of this view only. Indeed ‘equality of outcome’ is insignificant and should not be the goal; rather ‘equality of opportunity’ should me the social aim. Once it is assured that everyone has a level playing field, then equality/inequality in the next level of the game should cease to be a consideration.

The argument can be explained using a simple example – A couple has 2 sons, they send both of them to good convent schools and then both of them attend a good coaching and appear for IIT-JEE. One beta clears, the other does not. And so the beta in IIT has a higher (expected) income than the non-IIT beta. Sounds Fair… Right?

This should be the general case in the economy. Every1 gets equal opportunity. And that’s it. B’coz Intervening beyond this point is tantamount to forcing ‘the hard working ants to compensate the lazy grasshoppers for their laziness’! Sound Unfair… Right?

NewsPapers (Cant think of a better title)

2008-08-08T18:32:00.012+05:30

Okay, 2 things that we all need early in the morning are: a cup of hot tea and a crisp newspaper. The former may not be a major problem, but the latter certainly is. At least I find it so…

When I was in school I was forced to read Times of India, as our school was an NIE (Newspaper-in-education) member. It was compulsory for us to purchase the subsidized and edited version of ToI. This was the same ToI but had none of ToI’s USPs like Delhi Times and other A-rated material.

In early college days, bored of ToI, I switched to Hindustan Times for a while. But within a short period I learnt that ToI and HT are both liberal (read insignificant) newspapers. They are full of errors; including, but not limited to, grammatical errors [citations needed ;-)].

Being a part of the great Indian CAT-XAT herd, I must read some intellectual, heavy weight stuff like the Hindu.

Okay, so I switched to the Hindu. But frankly, whenever this paper publishes anything other than purely information, I can’t help but disagree majorly with the content. I realized this during the 2006 abti-OBC reservation protests, in which this newspaper had all editorials almost exclusively taking the pro-reservation stand point. [In the name of citations, no links to anti-merit stuff will be provided. If you cannot give us our due seats, we cannot give you your due links]

Yet, putting all my love for “youth for equality” aside and exercising tolerance I continue to read Hindu as I am still a part of the CAT-XAT herd.

And so, every 2nd or 3rd day, I read an editorial in our national newspaper which really makes me say “oh-really, you think we readers can buy anything in the name of editorial?” The portrayal of Mayawati as the goddess-to-watch-out-for, Left as ideologically superior-est (source: any page on www.hinduonnet.com) and poor Dalai Lama as a puppet of so-called Western democracy & the wealthy beneficiary of a superstitious and feudal system.
Agreed that this newspaper doesn't seem to have huge commercial interestes. Instead it is likely that it has other bigger vested interests [citations majorly needed].

And yeah, I do read ‘Economics Time’ and occasionally stuff like ‘The Mint’ too. But these for me are only bizpapers (spare me for such super BROAD generalizations). But can any1 suggest a really balanced news paper, which refrains from taking biased one-sided views? By the way, how is ‘The Indian Express’?

PS: Dear ‘The Hindu’ & my readers (if any) - please note that these are totally and only my views and please take them as just an expression of freedom of speech.
Exercise restraint in case you beg to differ :-)
World Peace!!!!

Tax on Femininity

2008-07-21T15:43:00.004+05:30

Suppose you want to go from Gurgaon to Noida at 8 PM. What do you do? There can be two action courses here:

Case 1: In case you are a guy, you pack your bag, catch a bus, pay 15 bucks... and off you go. Simple. 'Sochna kya' types...

Case 2: In case you are a girl. Keep in mind that its 8 at night (and not 8 PM) and the distance is nearly 50 kms. So the option of bus is not in the picture anymore. Kindly go in the morning.
But you really want to go? You girls have so many 'wants'! Go in the morning.
Its 'urgent'? Damn. Take a so-called 'safe radio cab'. Shell out 750 bucks (yeah, 15 x 50) and go.

Got it? Simple rule, If a male species wants to go, he can go in Rs. 15 but a female needs Rs. 750 for the same journey (poor girl? Well, then cancel the journey).

This is what I call tax on femininity. Just about 3650% !!!

And females, the department which collects this tax is very vigilant. So please don't even try to evade this tax, else the dept will ~~rape~~ raid you.

Maane Tu... Maane tu ya maane naa

2008-07-14T12:15:00.005+05:30

What do you do when a movie gets a 4 star rating? Of course, you go watch it! But what to do when 45 mins into the movie, you cant help realizing that even though you are "trying hard" but you are just "not able to enjoy it"?

This is exactly what happened to me when I went to see this much appreciated and talked about movie… 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa'.

Come'on the movie has to be good. Your friends liked it! Its every where – on the critic's good books, on your fav blogs, and even on your friend's Gtalk status messages!

What's wrong with me? Why didn't I like it? Neither am I a serious movie critic, nor do I regularly come up with 'the-other-side-of-the-story' kind of views. I am not even a 50 year old aunty averse to college kids romancing (or am I?).

But I can't help concluding that this 1 is certainly an over rated movie. I'll tell you why, and bare with me 'coz every1 is entitled to his/her opinion.

~ For one, the movie is all about parties, parties and more parties. Each scene is either a disc party or at the most a picnic. The farewell party, followed by 'the hero meets the other gal in a party'; followed by 'the heroine and the other guy chill out in a party'; followed by 'the hero, heroine, other boy, other gal meet in a party'. And the parents cutely asking each time "Beta, how was the party?"

Can you digest this? I mean are just-out-of-college kids only partying all the time?

~ Ok, I am not averse to the old bollywood theme – "best friends eventually fall in love". But please there could be and there should be better ways to tell this. If an alien watches this movie, he'll certainly feel that that college kids are the most unproductive species on earth. They lavishly consume everything – from alcohol, to awesome 5 star food to fancy clothes and stuff. But they do nothing. They seem to be just wild, irresponsible, party animals!!!

Some people on imbd even called this movie the "Dil Chata hain" of 2008! What!!?

Ok even DCH was about young, rich, confused people. But the movie did justice to all the characters. Even the funny characters like Saif got a chance to showcase their story and they were not present in the movie just to get their legs pulled. But the Bombs, Rotlu and Jiggy in this 1 were just either standing behind the main leads or cracking a silly odd joke.

And there was some meaning and substance in the story of DCH. The characters weren't just partying all the time; they were also shown doing some sort of productive non-party stuff (like real people in real life do). In fact, the movie Lakshya (yeah, that Hrithik starrer) was more meaningful that this 1.

Maybe, I just hate movies that potray people in their early 20's as useless and confused. Ok, young people do fall in love (a lot actually!). But there's more to their life than just being confused about which guy/ gal to chose and which 1 to dump.

~ Finally, a word on Genelia. I agree that she is goodlooking (in a flashy way). But she goes overboard in her silly, desperate attempts to look extra cute. Doesn't she constantly remind of Jab we met's Kareena? And for those who find her bubbly, please watch Dil Se (For Ms. Zinta) or 50 first dates (For Ms. Barrymore) to see how soberly a heroine can look vivacious, cute, funny and lovable without over doing it!

Ok, the movie was not totally trash. There were some good things too. Like the disclaimer in the beginning: "All characters in this movie are fictitious. Resemablance to any person, living or dead is totally impossible". Hehe.

But yes, on a more serious note, some stuff was actually good. Like some comic tit bits were nice. They did make you smile. Prateik Babbar (the heroine's brother) was the show stealer. Even Imraan Khan was nice. Gentle and fresh, so to say. The seasoned actors – Nasserudin Shah, Kitu Gidwani, Ratna P Shah – all of them played their parts to perfection (as always).

But yet I really cant give this movie a 4 star rating. Its definitely not in that A++ league (yeah, the league of Dil Chahta Hain or Jaane bhi do yaaron) as some people say. What say?

Method and instrument for proposing marriage to an individual

2008-07-09T18:08:00.013+05:30

People have different perceptions about intellectual property aka patents – some think they are the cornerstones of innovation, without which human progress would come to a standstill and yet there are others that proclaim that patents are all about exploiting the society, the masses, the third world, the poor. So they are either absolutely angelic or abhorabely satanic! To some know-it-alls they are “necessary evils”. My take is that most of the patents are just ridiculously funny.

I always thought that only things which are real break-throughs like the steam engine or the airplane or a super fancy software could be patented. Hehe. Come to the real world… Anything can be patented. Yes, ANYTHING!

& this cool dude here has patented the method for “proposing marriage to an individual”.

The method of proposing to an individual generally comprising the steps of meeting the individual; exchanging names with the individual; dating the individual (not necessary); drafting a government document having a proposal to marry the individual incorporated therein; and showing the government document to the individual. The government document may be a patent application. The patent application may claim the method by which the proposor will make a marriage proposal to the individual. The proposor could then use the method claimed in the patent application to propose to the individual. The patent application could be the actual marriage proposal.

So basically this guy just wrote that he is proposing the girl for marriage in a government patent application and got this act of immense stupidity “patented”.

I wonder if the girl only rejected this ‘patented proposal’ or downrightly rejected this stupid proposal and outrightly declared the guy mentally and emotionally challenged!

Anyway, check out this book, for more on such breakthrough inventions :D

What Makes a Good Writer???

2008-06-12T15:08:00.009+05:30

There’s this 1 question that I often think before starting and ending a book… “What makes a good writer?” What makes a person readable, bearable and finally likeable??

This question am sure should interest a lot of writers, bloggers and just readers.
So am starting this tag thing so that all of us can brainstorm what makes a good writer (I cant get rid of my newly learnt office jargon, damn!). Lets start with our 3 points of “what makes a good writer”. I start with myself…

For One, A brilliant writer is the one who is a perpetual storyteller. Every little, minutest of things in his work has a unique story to tell… A little story maybe, but a wonderful one for sure. Like how Mr. Rushdie has this story of ‘an inherited nose’ in his Midnight’s Children that runs through the epic novel like a never-ending Pagalguy CAT thread (a weird analogy, but never mind).

Two, the writers we love understand us. They know when the readers want to be surprised or shocked or happy or sad… They know their audience just too well. JK Rowling knows the pulse of kids across the globe. Chetan Bhagat knows the youth’s sensibilities beyond gadgets and fast food. & a Ruskin Bond knows that his audience is looking for a quite moment and he gives them just that with his description of the hills and the trees amidst a little story in the background.

Three, Writers are men of courage. Period. They don’t fear exposing a group or a religion or a even an entire nation. So many of the great writers of our era are actually desh-nikalass. Neither do they fear describing repugnant things like ‘dirt and dung stuck on the back of an old sandle’, ‘the smell of sweat’ or ‘the texture and density of excreta’. Hehe. Seriously, writers do this brilliantly. They actually observe and describe stuff like shit as a work of great art!!!

So What are your 3 points ??

Its not in one color

2008-06-07T22:01:00.003+05:30

Another work from the push button publishing era's writer... Twisted, verbose, with totally my-kind of words... & This one is for my city which houses all types of people, all types of dreams and all types of colors....

“We have been quite lucky today”, declared the white girl in a white dress. Well, the girl wasn’t really a “white” and it wasn’t really a "dress”. The girl was an Indian, a semi-whitish, semi-pinkish girl in one of those dress-like-tops. Going back home after what was supposed to be a long, dull day at work in a big blue car. She had the company of two more young people - another pinkish-whitish lady dressed in deep crimson, seeking the cupid's blessings and a semi brown, semi black boy, who was also dressed in white.
(Who dares to call Indians 'brown' - we are available in all colors!!!!)

The evening was like any other Delhi evening, an orange sky lingered over a dusky, grey earth. & the lowest layer of atmosphere that touched the earth was just marginally breath-able as per WHO standards. Yet it was amazing how one of the most inhabitable areas of earth (as per WHO) was also among the most densely populated ones.

Rows of buildings edged the broad roads, that narrowed down only to accommodate the construction of Metro rail. Flashy metallic shade cars honked on the streets. Yellow-green busses exhaled smoke on the pale faces of skinny kids… Yes, those little kids trying to sell toys to grown ups, every time the signal went red. Less read people selling books to the more read people. Beggars with hyper animated appearances and expressions, begging for mercy, which you could only give in the form of money. It is bizarre how the red signal which means “stop” to some, means “start” to others.

“So true Ann, it becomes damn congested after 530. Life would become so much more easy if you could leave everyday at 5…” Ann stands for Anandita, the girl in white.
“But Mish the point is that you cant leave at 5 everyday, with your Boss bossing over your head. Moreover its cool today, otherwise you know that the scenario is like at 5PM in a June evening...”

Mish is short for Mishka. And the temperature was swinging in early 30's, cool for a Delhi-June-evening but enough to cause a heat wave in far away France or Finland.

“Anyway whats the plan now, it’s a Friday yaaa?”. "Yaaa" is a four letter Anglo-Indian word which means ‘friend’.
“Nothing yaaa, a quick little dinner at home and then a drink with friends in of course Friends (colony) only. Cant drive down again after this long day”.
“True yaaa, I so feel like going to Saket or Priya on Fridays but then this traffic. It makes it so freakin’ impossible. Saket demands a Saturday.”

The black-brown boy was also thinking about his weekend plan. He had to catch up on some good sleep tonight. On Saturdays and Sundays he had his UPSC classes in one of the congested North Delhi areas known for coaching classes that sell dreams, much like any other industry of our time and age. Had he not got this job of driving Ann’s car on week days, it would have been impossible for him to fund his preparation. Ironically, there are so many financing schemes for funding education, but none for funding preparation-for-education. And it is in these times that skills like ‘bearing-the-burden-of-inherited-poverty-without-even-grudging’, ‘managing-life-with-5-hours-of-sleep-a-day’, and of course, ‘driving’, that come handy.

“I hope am not looking too red, like my dress. Am nervous, just hope things work out today. Proposing a guy for marriage after 2 years of dating is not going overboard naa?”, stammered Mishka nervously.
"Not at all Mish. And remember, guys only propose gals for dating. It is the girl who proposes or imposes marriage"
“Hey by the way which place you goin tonight Mish? I hope I don’t bump into you and Abhishek with my gang”, giggled Ann.
"Donno yaaa... With Abhi we only end up in a sports bar".

This last piece of Ann-Mish conversation caught the brown-black boy’s attention. Alcohol and women never fail to get a guy’s attention. And here the combo was deadlier – ‘girls talking about alcohol-serving-institutes – the bars.’

But our brown-black boy wondered what a sports bar could be: The name of a bar or a type of bar. And as the rest of the conversation flowed between Ann and Mish, the boy quickly deciphered that sports bar is a genre of bars which serves sports along with drinks, much like dance bars which serve dance (and….) along with drinks.

“Ann, did you manage to see the new collection of Mango? Its awesome. To die for types yaaa”
“Oh! Is it? I’ll take a look at it on Saturday. Anyway, at the moment my wardrobe sucks. Its full of UK stuff. Its been 3 months since I returned from London, but I haven’t been able to bring my wardrobe out of its university and Brit-phase”.
“Then do take a round around South-Ex for Moja and Allen Solly also, their formals are mouth watering…”
“I hope it helps. Maybe I should have shopped in London only. I was in love with the Bridgewater formal collection, which is a distant dream in India”.

“Hey Ann, look there, that magazine has some cool pictures of spring collection… Oh it reads Ritu’s formal collection, looks like worth a look yaaa…” said Mish, looking keenly at one of the magazines held by a little girl, as the car halted at the red light.

A little girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old with dry hair and dry skin stood near the car holding a bunch of fashion magazines in hand. The girls on the cover pages of magazines wore little but colorful clothes. The little girl selling them wore a dress with a color 'difficult to decipher', may be it was green or maybe red, who knows… dust and smoke had covered it all.

“Mish grab it”, yelled Ann. “40 Rupees”, said the little vendor.
“I only have 100 Rupee notes... Ann you have change?”
“No yaaa, I just have plastic money, damn”
“Girlie do you have change?”, asked Mish to the little vendor.
The little vendor started started counting. Yes, she had adequate number of 10 Rupee notes to give to Mish. She counted her change twice and then gave 6 notes of 10 Rupee and the magazine to Mish. Mish also took her time to count the notes, but before she was done, the light went green.

Our young brown-black boy who was dreaming of sitting in a white, chauffer driven, ‘red-light’, Govt of India car one day, was not following the Ann-Mish-vendor conversation and so he zoomed off as soon as it showed green on the light. But wait, Mish had not given her 100 Rupee note to the little vendor. As the car zoomed, and the little vendor yelled, Mish gave a ‘I-donno-what-to-do-now’ glance to Ann. Ann yelled after a 5 or 6 seconds, “just throw the 100 bucks outta the window naa, the girl will catch it.” As if, the 7 year old girl was some Johnty Rhodes in full form amidst Delhi roads.

But the little vendor girl was also a gymnast par excellence. Like a Yuvraj Singh she lapped the green note flying near the road and found her way elegantly between the swiftly moving cars towards the pavement. She was accustomed to selling stuff to crorepatis in big cars who would first examine the product from all angles and then count the change before parting with their 100 bucks. It was normal and usual. So, Mish and Ann were not worth her anger or curse or after thoughts. She was just happy that the minute spent at the red light was productive for her. A minute that tested all her skills - marketing, ac-counting and even athletic skills.

Mish and Ann were also not in a mood to discuss whether the girl could or couldn’t catch the note. They became busy discussing the beige and azure shades of Gucci's brand new bag collection.

The brown black boy did think about the ‘difficult-to-decipher’ colored girl for a while, guilty that he speeded the car without waiting for her to get her money… Then as usual he got mentally transported into his Govt of India office and car.

& life with all its colors moved on…

On Inflation – The necessary Evil

2008-05-13T23:14:00.003+05:30

Everyone is talking about inflation these days and it seems to be an issue worth the attention… After all inflation has reached a 3 and a half year high and soared to a 7.5% + in the last few weeks!!!!

And today the headlines of the paper were even more depressing: “industrial growth falls to 3% - the lowest growth figure for any month in the past 6 tears”

Probe deeper into the news articles and the sub headings read as “inflation hurts industrial growth”, fallout of inflation – industrial slow down” and so on…

Now is the slow down in industry because of inflation? Well, maybe yes.
Do we now have to deal with both – inflation as well as industrial slow down? Well maybe NO.

Think about it. What is inflation? General rise in the price level across commodities. Effectively, it means that my hard earned money is losing its value. Something like - The same note of 10 rupee will now fetch me 75 grams of bread instead of 100 grams. Right?

Why does this happen? Simple. Demand outweighs supply. More people demand bread and so my bread becomes dearer and I become poorer. So, I conclude that inflation is a sin. The government must help me.

What do the policy makers typically do in such a situation? They try to control this “excessive demand”.

To fight this nuance of inflation, RBI (or any central bank) tightens the monetary policy and makes credit dearer – by increasing interest rates, repo rates, CRR, SLR, etc. The Central bank does this with a good intention - to control excessive demand in the economy, which is seen as the culprit behind inflation.

When credit becomes dear, the users of credit reduce their consumption of credit. Industrial investment, in most cases is the biggest source of demand for credit, and naturally investors reduce investment and the industry as a whole slows down because of paucity of fresh investment which fuels growth.

This is exactly what has happening in our economy. In an attempt to control inflation which starting soaring in mid Feb, the RBI took steps such as increasing CRR which made credit less available in the economy, coupled of course with high cost of certain raw materials. All this has now shown its side effect in the form of a 2.9% industrial growth in March.

This slow down clearly indicates that that ruling out supply shocks, inflation should be curtailed in the coming months.

What does this mean? This only means that the RBI is working in the right direction, if the policy of the government and the popular opinion is to reduce inflation at any cost.

Now comes the second bigger question? Would it be right for the govt to control inflation by putting brakes on growth? This is a question of national priorities. What are my nation’s priorities – growth at the cost of inflation or vice versa?

No doubt, in the short run, there is always a clear cut trade off between inflation and unemployment (a proxy measure for output slow down). Try to control inflation and you are bound to see a slowdown in output and employment. Similarly, when output and employment expand, inflation naturally starts spreading its wings.

The economic logic again is simple. As output expands, employment expands. When more people are employed, aggregate demand for goods rises. This leads to inflation.
From here in follows the logic that trying to control inflation amounts to trying to curtail demand and output.

The economy of the US witnessed a situation of this type in the 1980’s under Fed chairman Paul Volcker (The famous Volcker disinflation episode of US history). The decade of 80’s began in US with inflation soaring to 10%. The Fed followed aggressive policies to curtail inflation. As a result inflation reduced to 3% from 10% by 1983, but unemployment reached a 40 hear high!

Its now on our government to decide what it wants – inflation or unemployment. The sacrifice ratio is high! A central bank engineered attempt to reduce inflation by 1% will lead to a GDP slow down of any thing between 2.5% to 5%

Also lets stop looking at inflation as a parasite… It just one of the indicators of buoyant and at times unsustainable growth.

P.S: Inflation is different from hyperinflation (which equals an inflation rate in excess of 1000% per month). The above theory of trade off between inflation and outputs fails in the case of hyperinflation. But hyperinflation is a result of reckless printing of money by the govt (termed as Seigniorage). Thankfully, India is not in the clutches of hyperinflation! :)

School chale hum.... Days I loved :)

2008-04-01T15:31:00.006+05:30

Okay I just happened to see a bunch of school kids today at a bus stop… All chirpy and full of energy. And am feeling so damn nostalgic. I want to recall today a bit of my good old school days…. Yeah, those lovely funny, happy, cute & totally mad days…
For those who don’t know, I have studied from std 5 to std 12, in KPS Noida, a branch of some big Calcutta convent… I joined KPS mid session in 5th standard coz we had to urgently move to Noida in Oct 1997. No other school would admit me and my sister in the peak of the academic year…. Except of course KPS.

Initially I thought that I have been put in a ‘bad schol’… After all I had studied in super flashy convent schools all my life, like St. Mary’s & St. Marks… And now - KPS aka Khaitan-Public-School. Yucks! The name sucks… Is it a fan-factory or a school!!??
Even though I was only in the 5th grade I was highly skeptical of the quality of education in KPS (the granny in grade 5 :P)… I thought that my education and entire goddamn career was at stake now b’coz of an urgent move to Noida…

I had so many frndz in my previous school – St. Marks… & it was a school where only intelligent people could get through, without donation [& we were not that rich to afford the kind of donations they charged… really, only the super rich dukaan-daars, industrialists & politicians could afford St. Marks] So basically it was a (academic / financial) merit certificate to study in that school….

& I had cleared the St. Marks interview for standard 2 so stupendously… The teacher, who interviewed me, later told my dad that I was a creative child & a gifted orator (hahaha)…
I would chatter & chatter in the interview with the nuns… and about what you know… Birds & Cows!!! They asked me about my favorite animal and I said cow (!!)… All the things that my grand mom told me about cows all my life – I told to the teachers like a parrot… & then they showed me a picture of 2 birds sitting on a tree branch (sparrows, I think) and asked me to tell a story based on that picture ( Can u see how they grill 7 year olds… Jerks of the first order… @$$)
I then told them that its basically a love story going on between the 2 birdies… A super mushy & romantic narration it was, I suppose, which completely melted the love-sick nuns (err.. apologies for the blunt & politically incorrect title), I guess…. & yes I got admission & also a tag of potential orator! Hmm, what a super-achiever kid I was! :-)

& now all that hard work of clearing the JEE & CAT like St. Marks entrance was in vain. I was to study in KPS now…

Anyway, my first day to KPS was a bit strange… Firstly I was in casual clothes, & every1 else was in school dress… I got so many stares and is-it-your-birthday-today looks in the corridor. It was all so damn weird & funny. And when I reached my class V (No A,B,C with class 5, the school had only 1 class 5, no sections). Even the class was small - about 25 students. What a contrast! St. Marks had stuffed about 50 students in one class – and sections till J or K...
But thereafter it was no looking back… I loved every moment I was in KPS…

Besides Acads and other co-curriculars, I made the best of friends in KPS. Friends that are close to me till date…
I don’t want to sound boastful here… but I was actually loved by all (yes – ALL) my teachers. They loved the simple-me. A little, semi-studious, semi-shy, semi-creative girl… they understood me so well. They showered me with all the attention, concern & love, that a child needs. I never found better teachers than what I found in KPS… Neither in college, nor in any of the coaching classes.

I remember it all so well… I had lesser marks in 10th boards than everyone’s expectations in English. And in 12th I remember how my English teacher called me before the English exam and kept talking about random things, just to cool me. I remember her holding my hand before the exam just to give me strength. & I can’t forget how my Maths sir wrote in my slam book on our farewell that he would love to have a daughter like me. :-))

But all things come to an end and so did my school life…. But I can still look at those school day pics for hours and hours. I loved KPS. I still do….
Ok the post has become too long... So just want to jot down a few key take-aways before I sign off on this post…

Never judge a book by its cover! Read it to experience it! I would have never known what KPS was if I wouldn’t have studied there. It was not just a school but a family.
Never go by reputations! They can be deceptive! A big brand name can hide a lot many nasty secrets! But the best of things certainly come in the smallest of packages!
It’s better to be the head of the bird rather than the tail of an elephant! Yeah, I’d rather be in a small & warm place than a big but cold place!

I got an IIM Call

2008-01-18T15:23:00.003+05:30

I got a call from IIM C today.... Yay! Worth blogging about! But it was not a post-Cat GD-PI call.

They called me to know about the recruitment process at Corporate Executive Board (CEB) my current employer. The guy on the other side of the phone was in IIMC's placement cell. He got my number from I donno where... he didnt tell me. His voice was so similar to the 20 year old SRCC junior of mine (who also used to call me for placement at CEB).

Anyways, what he told me gave me a 'feel good' thing for the day... He said that many at IIM C want to know more about CEB's business model! They knew that CEB had visited IIT campuses & so they were looking to invite CEB to IIMC as well. Cool!

I had a nice small chat with this guy and then I gave him my HR Manager's number (Coz obviously, I could do nothing about his request, I am not in the HR Team).

Felt good!! I want to go to IIM and IIM guys want to come to CEB :-)

But then CEB is one company that would appeal to evry1... The unique thing about CEB is it's business model. Perhaps its the only firm which can claim that it faces no competition. And yes, thats true!

Every company faces some problems... & these problems are the bread and butter of many other organizations. These organizations (or management consultancies) offer customized advice to their clients and charge them per unit for that...

The consulting pattern of CEB is different. CEB also produces the same output, i.e. "ADVICE" but does not bills you per hour for that! CEB charges a fixed annual fee for unlimited consultancy/ research insights. The cost of CEB research is by the way, a fraction of what it takes to hire the McKinsey's, Bains and Hewitts of the world.

Yes, its a subscription-based consultancy model.. (And CEB's annual re-subscription rate is more than that of the Wall Street journal!)

Also the advice is through insights on "best practices" prevailing in the industry. What we do is to connect the organization with the problem to the organization with the solution. Entrancingly simple, immensely economical and thankfully useful too.

In a nutshell CEB provides psuedo consultancy (hehe) through best business practices- case studies, leadership meetings, networkings etc. Just helping others in not reinventing the wheel...

May be this person (kidnapped from youtube, to compensate for my verbosity) can explain better:

P.S: *This post has been edited in the light of the suggestions (read criticism) received from my most avid reader.

*It may appear to the reader, that I am in awe with the company (which I should be), but I am not... I am only in awe with the business model!

Spontaneity

2008-01-02T15:07:00.000+05:30

Perhaps, one of the many flaws in my personality is that I AM NOT SPONTANEOUS. My brain refuses to think, if asked to, at a short notice. I can think and come up with convincing crap for any x, y, z topic under the sun, if given appropriate time. But give me a crunch deadline & I become shaky.

To add to my woes is the irony that I can’t even fake this one. One can pretend to be sincere or honest or hardworking or even intelligent (if thought of intelligently :D)… But spontaneity… No you just can’t pretend to be one. If you are not… you’ll be caught!

But I believe this entire concept of spontaneity goes against many “virtues”… For instance, “hard work”. You gotta agree that it’s a quality that helps our wicked colleagues survive in the office place… They may have done nothing in the project, the entire work may be ours… But they know how to cover it up before their seniors & bosses. They are lazy, stupid, wicked & mean. But unfortunately their spontaneity helps them sail through.

Spontaneity can kill “honesty”. It is very much a quality that helps you ace through in exams sans all the toil of cramming. Yeah… If you are spontaneous you may not know the answer, but you can certainly make a better guess and you can certainly & surely cheat well!

I thus can surely claim that at any cost spontaneity is not a virtue. It may not be a vice, but its far from being a virtue.

But doesn’t matter whether it"s a virtue or vice, this trait is sought after, recognized & appreciated. Spontaneous people are considered witty, sharp & intelligent.
The exams of the like of CAT openly claim to be testing spontaneity in pupil. A strategy before hand is surely gonna spell doom for you in such papers. (Add to my sorrows… I am also a CAT aspirant.)

This is the irony. Spontaneity may not be a virtue. But it does helps the many spontaneous (read “lucky”) people. And for many like me, lack of it, is just an unfair competitive disadvantage.

Any guru mantras for the not-so-spontaneous people???

Serendipity... Pheeeww!

2008-01-02T15:06:00.003+05:30

The other day, while going through a word list (I do it once every two months or so, when I suddenly realize how important it is for me to crack a CAT or XAT!), I came across a very beautiful word. Though I knew what the word means, I just couldn’t skip it & read the next word. I got lost in an ocean of memories (sounds melodramatic, but never mind)… & the word cramming exercise ended with that.

The word was "serendipity". Though you may know what it means, let me still tell you. Dictionary says serendipity is “good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries “

I couldn’t help feeling amazed that there are so many moments that I cherish; that are the best things to happen to me & all of them are but serendipity or ‘nature’s controversy in my favor’

Two of my ‘best friends’ (I was a hard-core believer of the ‘we-must-have-a-best-friend’ concept till quite sometime back) in school were not even friends till I and a friend of mine, happened to spend a night with them (Ahem!) in a night camp. Our beds were next to each others. While all other girls in the hall had slept, we four notorious creatures were far from sleeping. And so, we couldn’t help talking to each other. And voila! We clicked instantly & became the best of friends... We were together by chance in the camp & we decided to remain so by will.

& my dearest-of-dear, my soul mate… Again I met him randomly, purely by chance on orkut. Though we didn’t became the best-of-friends on orkut or yahoo (we became close, thanks to a common friend :)-- but that’s how I met him…Purely by chance!

Okay, I am not here intending to narrate my autobiography, but, the whole point that I am trying to put across is that almost all the great things that happen to us are chance events… Miracles of nature… Isn’t it?