IMPORTANCE OF STOCK AND OTHER FINANCIAL MARKETS
Stocks tumbling all around the globe on the wake of the sub-prime issues in the US, gives non believers in stocks enough mileage to further their self fulling prophecy of wisely staying out of it. But can anyone really be totally unaffected by stock markets. In capitalist and mixed economies atleast, it is not possible.
Even if you are not invested in the markets, you, your spouse or your parents are working in a company that is listed in the market and hence their compensation is invariably tied with the performance of that company's stock, which in turn is tied with the general health of the country's stock market and the global market trends. Indirectly all the products and services you make use of, is provided by corporate entities. So a stock market bubble burst may close down these companies or drive their product/service prices northwards. My roomie Suresh, still was not convinced with this line of argument. He questioned how come a beggar on the road is affected by the markets. But is it not obvious? Ultimately it is a person employed with a listed company or a stock trader who drops coins to the beggar.
So who can be the real ones who are totally unaffected by stock markets. There are two possibilities. One is a perfect socialist state. Also this socialist state should remain a closed economy, meaning not trade with other countries of the world. Such a closed socialist country where the state owns all means of production and is the only employer can remain unaffected by the stock markets. But such idealism cannot be applied to our world.
The other are the tribal groups that are totally secluded and have no means of communication with the rest of the world. There are only few groups that are present like that in today's world. The kalahari bushmen from Africa and few trial groups in the Andaman like the Sentinelese, Negrito and the great andamanese.

Way to future
Of late I have been yearning to become a techie, trying out and reviewing new gadgets, staying at the forefront of technology. This is more because of my inner conviction of being able to identify which new developments will click and which are just namesake additions. This attraction towards technology is in spite of spending four years in engineering (precisely electronics) and feeling lost. But that feeling has lot to blame on the course structuring. The faculty did an unbelievable and unparalleled job in making it drab and incomprehensible.

Let me take you through a sneak preview of your home fifty years down the line. All electronic gadgetry will be integrated and master controlled. For convenience let us call your master system as fido. Fido be accessible at a couple of places in the house. Accessibility will be through a projected screen which will be touch sensitive. (Imagine a transparent screen with icons)

Mobile phone will become obsolete atleast inside the house and will stay confined to your car and exterior locations. From anywhere inside your house, you can use it by just calling it out. Also the microphones will be hidden in the walls and the listener on the other end will hear your voice as good as if he is in your room. There will be voice recognition, thus allowing only calls from you and not anyone in your house, unless you give them a code to access it.

Movies and music can also be played by calling out the appropriate codes. Vast collections of movies can be saved in a small drive without any fuss which will reflect both the efficient compressing algorithms and huge memory capacities that will prevail then.

In your wardrobe, the clothes you throw on the bottom will automatically be channeled to the washing machine which will be invisible to the dwellers. The washed clothes will be dried, ironed and even your deodorant (permanent smell) will be added to it and placed neatly back in your wardrobe.

From the projected screen you will be able to access the inventory in your refrigerator. If you feel you have run out of something, you can just call out an order to Fido. It will place order with the grocer and the grocer will deliver it instantly. There will be a small box outside your house. Fido will pick this up from there and place it in the refrigerator. You will be billed in the end of the month for this.

The airconditioning system will work based on your presence. Thermal detectors will sense your position and the vent near that vicinity will work. The same principle will also be applicable to the lights. There will be face recognition at the door and depending on who turns up at the door, Fido will tell you of that person's arrival in the room in which you are present. If it is someone new, it will try describing you the person.

You will be able to change the color of your walls and also your car through simple commands. Your car will drive automatically. The traffic will be syncronized by a big server (Fido senior) run by the state. When you get into your car and announce your destination, it will send a request to the fido senior. It will obtain the route from fido senior. There will be no traffic signals anywhere and regulation will be done by modifying speed suitably so as to keep moving continuously and not wait anywhere.

I guess this preview is enough. Too much of it and it spoils the surprise for you. In a nutshell, people will become so dumb and lazy and if anything goes wrong with fido, you will go mad. Also it will take a whole group of technicians to get it right.

Sifting fact from fiction
For a few of you, this line of argument may be completely new and ridiculous. But for those who try to seek explanation for everything, you may find this acceptable. How true are the things we consider as facts about our history? Historians are under the mercy of the incumbent rulers. Victors have unlimited power in twisting facts and rewriting them to show them in good light.

In the Indian perspective, most of our history is vague and intertwined with religion. Accepting the occurrence of Mahabarath and Ramayan, still doubts persist on the degree of truth in them. Were the Kauravas really the malicious lot? How will historians have treated the pandavas, for polyandry, if they had lost the war? In any story that is passed down generations, people are bound to exaggerate facts and the final product that is present is a really distorted version on truth.

Extending this line of thought to recent events, we can even question the validity of the Pearl Harbor attacks. Did Japan really wrecked havoc or did US use a stray navy plane as a reason to enter the already full blown world war. Also if Pearl Harbour can be made into a dramatic movie, how will the Americans react to a movie that is made on the Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombs. Also US's recent aggression towards these countries is lot because of a whole generation being fed on war gloryfying movies and that explains Bush's continued presence in the office. And also the influence US wields on the world now can be seen from the way the current wars in West Asia are being portrayed to others.

This line of argument finds support in the movie '300' in which the Persian King Xerxes threatens Greek Leonidus that he will erase them from history after the war if they fail to come under his ascendancy.

The current scenario with respect to history writing is more optimistic than in the past. We have various options by which we can pass all that happened with us to our descendants. But they face an Herculean task. They have to sift through all the evidence and reach a judgment about us. Most of them might be tired to do that and just follow the popular opinion of their day.

Hiatus Ends
After seeing some spirited minds blogging and the craze to associate with anything google, activity in my blog is resumed. But this time I have decided to flood this space with my posts. To begin, let me explain you why my posts have been sparse for a while now. It has nothing to do with the rigors of my b-school as they hardly take place when there is natural light. It is because of the thought process that i go through before scribbling here.
1. I don't want to blog on mundane things that happen with me, thereby making you go through the travails of knowing my ordinary life. Also letting people know what is happening with you through blogs is so impersonal.
2. I never believed in diary writing as it is like accepting your fate that you are not destined for greatness and looking for satisfaction in ordinary things.
3. I do not want to write on any contentious issue as it is already discussed threadbare, thereby making my blog redundant.
4. I have become tired of writing about my friends because that is becoming so predictable and also keeps only a small group interested.

So inspite of all this, why am I blogging now?
My friend just received his adsense cheque from google. So lets cut the crap and please start clicking on the ads by the side of this rambling.