(So many days, and almost no post? You gotta be working buddy!!)
Heres a small story I wrote during Rainy season'09. Putting it only for the fact that I dont want December month to show only one post. So gone back to June'09.
THE WORST BARGAINER
Chandrashekhar Mahajan
June 26, 2009
It was raining quite heavily today in Sion. Just like start of any rainy season, there were (smart/ignorant/forgetful) people or speculators who did not have umbrella with them. So, some asked for help and got into other people’s umbrella.
Funny thing is that there is always a smarter species on planet. No matter what. One, belonging to that species, just spread a plastic regzine (hows it spelled?) on foot path and started selling umbrella. Before today, I hardly ever saw that person. What a timing to start a business. He could be a good trader!! Lets call him D.
So fourth species animals (1st : ones who got umbrella, 2nd : who got into others’ umbrella, 3rd: umbrella seller) were the ones who decided to buy an umbrella. They went right to this small show room of D for purchasing an umbrella.
Now there was this girl (U), generally you wud give A+ to, went to this ‘shop’ and asked for umbrella. I don’t know what price D quoted but the girl was heard saying- 'nahi bhaiya, aap jyada bol rahe ho, 200 ke upar nahi dungi'. The girl had at least 7 layers of different chemicals on her face which girls would term as make-up and a good dress (the one we wud never buy in our salaries for anybody I guess!). So she needed umbrella badly. And now there was one more girl, generally you wud give B- to, apparently U’s friend, was repeatedly heard saying- 'Are jaldi chal na yaar, we are already late'. And D was smiling in his chicks, oops I mean, cheeks.
I don’t know what made me cross that place at a speed of 0.3 times my original speed, but seems like at least two people had made their day.
D and me.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Correlation between Twitter profile and an analyst one
Well, got many Twitter invitations recently....and then read somebody's article stating how stupid people could get on Twitter. And from last few days, I actually feel like opening the account. Whoa! Why...why is HE doing it to us. Just refer to the picture and scare yourself. Do you want to be on Twitter?
Thats how its goin at my end. Are you doing anything better?
Chances are- zilch!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Songs those rock me
Well, how do you define your all time fav list of anything. I mean this post is about my 'fav 10 rock songs'. But what I have observed is that many songs are flavor of the season and you may like them much more than your previous favorite songs at one point in time. However, when you sit back and say, if I have to take only 10 songs, forever, in my i-pod, which wud they be, you probably, just probably get those '10' you are looking for. So, here's a list of my those '10'.
- Sweet Child O’mine – Guns N’ Roses
- November Rain - Guns N’ Roses
- You know you are right - Nirvana
- With or without you – U2
- Crazy - Aerosmith
- Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
- Hallowed be thy name – Iron Maiden
- I can’t get no satisfaction – The Rolling Stones
- Knock Knock Knockin on heaven’s door – Originally by Bob Dylan, (also GnR and Avril version)
- Like a rolling stone – Bob Dylan
Well, if you haven't listened to any of these, you should.
Why? The song itself will tell you...
Friday, November 20, 2009
Idiots, go for it!!
Read the news recently that number of CAT'10 applicants have actually gone down as compared to last year. And, as u don't need to be a rocket-scientist to pass a judgment, its being attributed to the slump. Further, I get a call from someone who asks me, 'is it ok if I go for M-Tech, as in would I get a good pay?' Trust me, this guy wanted to work for an investment bank until recently. So I asked, why?
Reply: Who would wanna throw himself to such a risky field?
Hah!
Now that my batch, batch'09 of MBAs, is experienced enough, it would surely tell you that timing could not be better than this year to enter (presumably, stud!!) MBA world. For following reasons:
A. 2 years down the lane, job market wouldn't be bad. In fact, it would be sparkling.
B. You'll get recruited at the upsurge of a business cycle, so you get enough time to settle down before you face a (next) business downturn
C. Chances are, you will enter a company that has survived the downturn. It has got something in it. (Although this third arguement is third-class.)
So, guys, go for it!!
(And on top of it, if you think that other Post Grad courses have not been affected by downturn, better get some Cerelac and Huggies for yourself!!)
Reply: Who would wanna throw himself to such a risky field?
Hah!
Now that my batch, batch'09 of MBAs, is experienced enough, it would surely tell you that timing could not be better than this year to enter (presumably, stud!!) MBA world. For following reasons:
A. 2 years down the lane, job market wouldn't be bad. In fact, it would be sparkling.
B. You'll get recruited at the upsurge of a business cycle, so you get enough time to settle down before you face a (next) business downturn
C. Chances are, you will enter a company that has survived the downturn. It has got something in it. (Although this third arguement is third-class.)
So, guys, go for it!!
(And on top of it, if you think that other Post Grad courses have not been affected by downturn, better get some Cerelac and Huggies for yourself!!)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
In the testimony of 'Paradigm Shift'
Well, is it the beginning of an end? Many of lesser mortals have asked this question before as well…
Hmm. So in a recent interview to ET, when asked about the future of dollar, Jim O’Neill said -
“….There is no real alternative to the dollar. There will be, whenever the Chinese decide to fully allow the convertibility of the renminbi, but that could be another decade, certainly another 5 years….”
Wait. What?
….another 5 years... ?
So in good times, (don’t get surprised, they were just around, 2 years back), say in 2007, had the same question been asked, one might have said, another 50 years. Investors were all around US treasuries and wanting to purchase dollar. Reason? Trust. The trust that US economy has a consumption model that is net importer of goods from across the globe. So as long as US is consuming, and fundamentally (duh!) the economy is growing, investors would fund the debt of US citizens. And that, I believe, is the reason for strength of dollar.
Many a times, it is observed that dollar being the global medium of exchanges, it is trusted by investors. Or is it? Are we swapping the cause for an effect over here?
Whatever is the causal relationship, bottom line is that the dollar ‘IS’ the currency of globe.
However, the trade deficit for US has risen substantially in recent times whereas the total debt/GDP has reached to a level of approximately 40% as of September, 2009. That, does precisely put a thought in investor’s mind. Is this level of debt risky? In history, developed nations have run those kinds of debts and have come safe out of it (that calls for another post). But then, history may not always repeat itself. If so has to happen, where do we turn?
Investors would definitely want to turn to yuan. The way dollar has become a global currency as US drove the growth (directly/indirectly), yuan might have that value for investors, as China seems to be the driver of global growth in future. But then, yuan itself is undervalued. Some estimate, by around 15-20%. Further, it’s a well known fact that this undervalued yuan has supported China’s export and is one of the reasons of China’s huge dollar reserves. Consequently, it is the reason that China has been funding US debt. A catch-22 situation! Maybe. As in, if China revalues yuan, the whole scene will be reversed giving dollar a much needed strength.
So, how does this whole situation translates into our current scenario? Although the view is very simplistic and the situation is not, it has resulted into a stronger Euro, rising oil and record breaking streak of gold. Other most commodities have also shown a well-behaved, upward rising graphs.
It remains to be seen, how political and economical events unfold and if dollar gains the ground or not. However, if China is shrewd enough to tackle political pressure (as it has already illustrated), we might-I repeat, might- be in for a testimony of so called ‘Paradigm Shift’.
Hmm. So in a recent interview to ET, when asked about the future of dollar, Jim O’Neill said -
“….There is no real alternative to the dollar. There will be, whenever the Chinese decide to fully allow the convertibility of the renminbi, but that could be another decade, certainly another 5 years….”
Wait. What?
….another 5 years... ?
So in good times, (don’t get surprised, they were just around, 2 years back), say in 2007, had the same question been asked, one might have said, another 50 years. Investors were all around US treasuries and wanting to purchase dollar. Reason? Trust. The trust that US economy has a consumption model that is net importer of goods from across the globe. So as long as US is consuming, and fundamentally (duh!) the economy is growing, investors would fund the debt of US citizens. And that, I believe, is the reason for strength of dollar.
Many a times, it is observed that dollar being the global medium of exchanges, it is trusted by investors. Or is it? Are we swapping the cause for an effect over here?
Whatever is the causal relationship, bottom line is that the dollar ‘IS’ the currency of globe.
However, the trade deficit for US has risen substantially in recent times whereas the total debt/GDP has reached to a level of approximately 40% as of September, 2009. That, does precisely put a thought in investor’s mind. Is this level of debt risky? In history, developed nations have run those kinds of debts and have come safe out of it (that calls for another post). But then, history may not always repeat itself. If so has to happen, where do we turn?
Investors would definitely want to turn to yuan. The way dollar has become a global currency as US drove the growth (directly/indirectly), yuan might have that value for investors, as China seems to be the driver of global growth in future. But then, yuan itself is undervalued. Some estimate, by around 15-20%. Further, it’s a well known fact that this undervalued yuan has supported China’s export and is one of the reasons of China’s huge dollar reserves. Consequently, it is the reason that China has been funding US debt. A catch-22 situation! Maybe. As in, if China revalues yuan, the whole scene will be reversed giving dollar a much needed strength.
So, how does this whole situation translates into our current scenario? Although the view is very simplistic and the situation is not, it has resulted into a stronger Euro, rising oil and record breaking streak of gold. Other most commodities have also shown a well-behaved, upward rising graphs.
It remains to be seen, how political and economical events unfold and if dollar gains the ground or not. However, if China is shrewd enough to tackle political pressure (as it has already illustrated), we might-I repeat, might- be in for a testimony of so called ‘Paradigm Shift’.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
In The Anticipation of Nostalgia
‘It’s total rubbish. People who want to show off (of what exactly?) have invented and utilize this thing. I am not going to do it.’
This was my reply in 2008. Typical of me. After being unsuccessful in keeping up with mounting pressures of writing a blog, I confessed to myself that this stuff- blogging - makes no sense. So somewhere on the same website lies my dead blogger account. Should have used that only, but why call haunting evils back?
However, like every time you think in optional circumstances, I found myself thinking about the correctness of my decision. For the time being (I guess and hope not in future), the decision needs to be revisited. So, here I start. But in first place, why?
Blogging, I believe, is a kind of public diary. People must be writing something in diary that they don’t want others to know. Here, they want people to know. One reason. Next could be the fact that one thinks of 100s of things in a day. And if you want to remember what you thought on June the 23rd, there’s no particular way to get back to it, I guess. And when you put it down somewhere, you try to structure the vague thoughts to some conclusive shape. So, my second reason is to put down the arbit functioning of my brain in some structural form.
Third, every one of us has a particular opinion about multiple fields. Politics, education, economy, relationships, music, aspirations and n number of other things. It would rather be interesting to know how one has developed his own beliefs. So it’s the history of evolution of yourself. Third reason.
Fourth, I love writing. Although, I m too lazy to be carrying out it frequently, but there’s always a tomorrow. Who doesn’t want to be a Tolstoy or a Pu.La.?
So be it. These days are wonderful. Let them be trapped.
This was my reply in 2008. Typical of me. After being unsuccessful in keeping up with mounting pressures of writing a blog, I confessed to myself that this stuff- blogging - makes no sense. So somewhere on the same website lies my dead blogger account. Should have used that only, but why call haunting evils back?
However, like every time you think in optional circumstances, I found myself thinking about the correctness of my decision. For the time being (I guess and hope not in future), the decision needs to be revisited. So, here I start. But in first place, why?
Blogging, I believe, is a kind of public diary. People must be writing something in diary that they don’t want others to know. Here, they want people to know. One reason. Next could be the fact that one thinks of 100s of things in a day. And if you want to remember what you thought on June the 23rd, there’s no particular way to get back to it, I guess. And when you put it down somewhere, you try to structure the vague thoughts to some conclusive shape. So, my second reason is to put down the arbit functioning of my brain in some structural form.
Third, every one of us has a particular opinion about multiple fields. Politics, education, economy, relationships, music, aspirations and n number of other things. It would rather be interesting to know how one has developed his own beliefs. So it’s the history of evolution of yourself. Third reason.
Fourth, I love writing. Although, I m too lazy to be carrying out it frequently, but there’s always a tomorrow. Who doesn’t want to be a Tolstoy or a Pu.La.?
So be it. These days are wonderful. Let them be trapped.
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