The Kodai Sojourn
Strange things bring together people. Out of college, old school mates seem to have headed in different directions brought together by a small holiday made possible by the weirdest of reasons. A bandh against Ram Setu outcry and Gandhi Jayanti holiday along with the weekend gave the perfect opportunity for a short outing.
After much disagreement, everyone agreed to go to Kodai. And as usual we went there in the most unconventional way. 9 of us packed in a Scorpio. With Durai and Sajan that is an achievement in itself. The trip was quite memorable. Some events that bring a smile to my face recalling now include:
1. Durai puking at every 100 KM
2. Rajesh on his omlette gobbling spree
3. Arun and his GPS smsing
4. Me and my new love (Fuji Finepix S6500fd)
5. Pradeep's 'sunior... jeenior' tongue twister
6. Vijay's leg shaking while driving back
7. Sajan and his marine photo shoot
8. Sujith's ridiculous HR game

Here are some of the eye candies of the trip :

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.

THIRD TRIMESTER
Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...
This has been a whirlwind of a trimester here.
Saying that in a nutshell aint possible n de usual lengthy dissertations have already received enough flak.
So for now let me just detail about my learnings in the third trimester in my college IIFT, Kolkata.

Consumer Behavior :At the end of the day, the consumer is a big black box and very unpredicatable.

Operations Management :Learning Quality (L) and using Quality (U) are two individual events with the conditional probability P(U/L) = zero

Soft Skills for Entrepreneurs :Every test including MBTI says I am mad but will be able to convince others too to follow my mad idea. Typical traits of an entrepreneur. Yipeeee

Business strategy :Corporate and business strategy are based on the premise that people will work.

Working capital management :Extend credit from suppliers forever and never give credit to buyers. (ha ha airtel)

International Finance :Forex markets offer the best returns but they are not open to individuals. Why teach us and tease us??

Information technology management :Secrets to success include cut the crap, never use acronyms to show off, share a secretary and work form home.

International Trade operations :There is so much disparity in prices around the world not withstanding 25 trillion $ global trade.

Advanced research methods :"I will give an instant A to anyone who solves this" means the faculty is kidding or the question doesn't have a solution.

Macro economics :Sounds very far fetched to write on India's fiscal deficit and inflation when you cannot afoord stationery and snacks.

OM KARA
Went to the movie on the shortest possible notice, again precariously perched on the auto. And once in the theatre, found a patient guy who can help me with my hindi comprehension and sat near him. Saif Ali Khan plays the role of a sniper (without a scope though) in the gang. The movie opens with Saif marking a baarath bus’ tire, thus stopping Kareena’s wedding. Prior to it Kareena falls in love with Ajay because he has injured his shoulder. I am not kidding. Kareena plays a very optimistic role. Once when Ajay comes to her home, she gives him a cup of coffee with her engagement ring in it. Kareena’s positive intuition and the hot coffee prevents Ajay from swallowing it.
As Ajay is shifting to politics, he is forced to find a successor for his gang. Vivek Oberoi gets picked up inspite of Saif’s seniority. This forms the crux of the movie. As there is no legal way in which Saif can snatch the leadership which he feels he deserves, he resorts to artifice. He spins an affair between Kareena and Vivek and makes Ajay believe it. Bipasha Basu’s role has been woven into the main story to have two item numbers. Also Konkana Sen plays the role of a village belle. As there are six stars in the movie, the director has made use of a simple means to identify the couple combinations. If two people of the opposite sex have an ornate hip bracelet with them when together, it means they are a couple and you can guess what will happen next. Now between all this entertainment, the gang goes on with its job increasing its frag count. At a stage of the movie when you start to feel that the cops have been significantly absent, guess who turns up as cops. Our own Ajay and Saif and still more fragging.
Finally Saif is given a deadline for proving la affair. I first misunderstood the deadline to be the morning of the marriage. But it turned out to be just before first night. Saif finally cooks up some crazy call in which it seems like Vivek’s reading of a paper written by Saif. Our gullible Ajay believes it. Now starts the killing spree. Whatever ways you think people can die, they do here. Kareena is smothered to death with a pillow by Ajay. Konkana confesses that she had stolen the ornate bracelet. So now Ajay turns on Saif. Then loses interest and chases them away. Then comes the sudden revelation that he is a necrophile. Later Konkana surprises Saif with a sickle and slits his throat. Now with too many confusions about who was right and who wasn’t, the director chose to end the movie allowing Ajay to kill himself thus saving our time and the reels

MY NEW LIFE

Finding time to blog when in a b-school is not that difficult once the professors allow us to use laptops in the class. But till situations become that idealistic, I have got to exploit innocent faculty teaching refresher courses like mathematics.

First let me begin with my college. Though a startup and people being skeptical about it, the institute is in the hands of dedicated people who don’t show the slackness often associated with government employees. Also the investment on the temporary campus is enormous and shows the resolve to make IIFT-K a success.

About Kolkata now. Salt lake city is the poshest area in Kolkata and is in everyway opposite to how people usually picture Kolkata. Folklore here says Salt lake is actually land that has been reclaimed from a lake. That’s hard to believe as salt lake is as wide as 5 Km in diameter. As Dominique Lapierre narrates, non motorized rickshaws are still aplenty here. And surely I have to mention about the ‘ultadangas’. That’s how motorized autos here are called. With every passing day we are setting records for maximum capacity of an auto and surpassing them promptly the next day. As of now it stands at 7. In the evening people usually queue up at important junctions to hire autos. And believe me, the queue can be longer than in a busy ATM. Buses here are also weird. The seats are like 4 inches wide and only along the periphery and so are the tickets (5cm*1cm). Yellow colored taxis are also ubiquitous. And hiring them is very much like asking for a lift. You can only go to the location the driver intends. Long live communism.

About b-school life. The course is designed to be very rigorous. But that is only applicable if you don’t understand how the system works. No different from management books, the professors too are verbose and convey little. So it is up to you to separate the grains from the chaff. The most important benefit of being in a b-school is having a wi-fi enabled laptop. As long as orkut and ym are around, life is going to rock. And everything connected with the course is usually done using powerpoint. And this is the most exciting part of it. Most of the exams have only MCQs. Now why are you showing your teeth??

LOOK!! SOME ONE BEHIND YOU HAS RESERVED THAT PLACE
It has been a while since my last post and I am still wondering on what to blog about.
Although there have been myriad articles on the reservation controversy, here is my take on it.
Reservations were first introduced eons ago (50 years to be precise) to account for the social and economic inequality that prevailed then. Also then, social status was directly linked to economic position. According to the census taken then, nearly 22.5% were classified as SC/STs and 30% as OBCs. As the first step, the SC/STs were promoted using reservations. The basic purpose behind introducing such partisan, populist and seemingly unfair measures was to make up for the centuries of oppression inflicted upon the lower strata of society (SC/STs). So as to seek mercy and also to provide an even playing field, such policies were introduced in educational institutions and also in government sector employment opportunities.
In 1994, Mandal commission was constituted to see into the reservations and see whether there was any further requirement. The commission came out with a report suggesting reservations even for the backward classes. This did not go down well with the people and hence was not implemented. Anyway a few states were delighted by the idea as it would increase their political mileage and implemented it. The states included Tamil Nadu (no wonder). Now I would like to throw light on some of the parameters that are used to determine whether the caste you belong to is backward or isn’t. If more than 50% of women in your community are employed then you are doomed to be backward. Also if most of your community has to walk more than 0.5 km for clean water or most girls get married before 17, your community is called backward. Though all these criteria are obsolete when applied to city dwellers, these metro people are the ones who are going to make use of these reservations. And hence those walking half a km for water and getting married before 17 are going to continue doing it and are least bothered about all these developments.
Actually I would like to put the blame on our parents for keeping the caste system alive. Although educated they all have married within their castes thus allowing casteism to thrive. What if everyone had married otherwise, then we will be facing another sort of crisis where in a method cannot be found to classify us and hence we wouldn’t be subject to reservation. This was what I was thinking, but then my dear friend told me that once such an intercaste marriage takes place, then the child can have any one of the parents caste (something for you to ruminate on).
But I think we need not worry about our futures because it is in the safe hands of people like Arjun Singh, our HRD ministry (Was the portfolio given by lots). Also our APJ’s view is that the number of seats in premier institutions should become large enough to render reservations meaningless (very plausible). And our beloved PM does not want to comment on this issue other than asking the medicos to give up. Anyway I cannot understand why the medicos are striking. Most have gained admission into the premier medical institute and are settled with their lives. I thought they were doing it to gain some media coverage and also bunk a few inescapable classes. Again my knowledgeable friend pointed out that PG programmes in medicine which have a very miniscule intake have reservations.
What irks me more is the pro protestors. What are they protesting for?? It is like accepting that they have been discriminated by the society this long, which no urban dweller can claim for sure. And Chennai has seen more protests supporting reservations rather than against it (something to be proud about).
So what can be the likely solution for this problem?? While helping the people in the lower strata come up, the general quota students should also not be hindered. One possibility is to take a census again to ascertain the population of each community and then go along with the proposed reservations. Also children of people who have already benefited from reservations (through education or employment) can be exempted and brought under general category. Also to premier institutes, some practical cutoffs must be kept for reserved communities. Like say the SC/STs not scoring atleast 80% of the lowest general category student can be doomed inadmissible. This will also benefit them later as they won’t find it much difficult to cope with the course pressures. I say this because my intellectual friend told me yesterday that one of his classmates is joining IIM-B this year with an absolute score of 22 in CAT. Now that is infuriating.

Volatility
A euphemism for people losing hard earned money in the stock market. As I am writing this article the BSE and NSE are tumbling down from dizzying heights. It is the time investors feel that they should have booked their profits earlier and come out of the stock market. Others like me tell themselves that it is all like a wave and we are just experiencing a trough. So what made me write this article?? Probably the thousands I lost.
The fall has been attributed to a number of reasons. One of them being the fear about rising inflation rates in the US. Indian inflation rate has hovered around 5% for some time. The US rate which was much lesser before is also feared to approach the Indian rate panicking investors all around the world.
The fall has also been attributed to slow global economic progress. Although countries like India and China have impressive GDPs of about 8% and 10% respectively, the global GDP has been an abysmal 4.5%. Also the developing countries stock markets have shown a general decline in the past week with the Indian market falling steeply.
As happens with any global phenomenon, it is natural to place the blame on global oil prices. The economics behind world oil prices is interesting. The OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) controls about 67% of the world oil reserves and hence dictates world oil prices. Whenever it wants to raise prices, it just reduces production. Also the producers never try to reduce the prices as it directly encourages consumption which in turn leads to global warming. Now Venezuela is coming forward as a major source of oil due to high oil prices. The quality of oil in Venezuela is low grade and costs a lot to be made usable. But the high prices now make it possible allowing Venezuela to produce oil. Also one interesting fact is that in India from the time I have started driving two wheelers a litre of petrol cost 20Rs then in 1990’s and now it is around Rs50 in 2006. But amazingly the US gas price has been ranging from $1.91 to $2.68 per gallon(3.8 litres) for the past fifty years. The lowest oil price is in Venezuela costing about 0.12$ per gallon. The US with its gas guzzling SUV’s is the largest consumer of world oil but has done little to reduce dependence on oil. Instead it has only tried to secure its supply by constructing Strategic Petroleum Reserves which are nothing but underground salt caverns which can hold large amount of oil. Their reserves can help them hold out for sixty days in case of any crisis.










SPR at Bryan Mound, Texas


The initial stock market fall can also be attributed to the left grasping power in West Bengal and Kerala, thus causing the foreign investors to worry and pull out ( fall of 500 points in a day in sensex) which further created a domino effect including the mutual funds to pull out(A fall of eight hundred points in the sensex). Last comes the retail investor who pulled out in order to reduce his losses. But still I stay invested. Why???? I think it must be because I often show high risk behavior in the market and I believe that any one’s risk appetite is inversely proportional to their age.
For anyone wishing to become part of Dalal street, I think that this is the best time to enter. As even all blue chips are priced at a discount, it is a good time for investors to enter the market. But alas I have no more cash to pump in. (My bank balance now is about 1000 against a minimum balance of 5000).
The Indian growth story will continue and I firmly believe that inspite of these corrections, the sensex will surge ahead and outperform expectations. So my kind advice would be to stay invested and to increase your portfolios.
For those interested to enter the market now,my recommends would be
1. Infosys technologies
2. Reliance capital
3. ITC
4. Pantaloon retail
5. ONGC