If I could write a letter..

The semi-final duel with Pakistan yesterday was a top-drawer stuff

With the finals slated for the weekend, everyone – from astrologer to zoologist – will get an opportunity to guess and give a pre-match verdict. Some have already started invoking the calendar factor to say India will win – 1983 and 2011 have the same calendar they say and India won in 1983 (what is the big deal – the calendar repeats every 28 years). Sterling fell from 1.70 to 1.05 beginning 1983. Hope this also happens.

With so much at stake for global economy on the back of this clock-stopping event, I thought of writing a letter each to some key people involved with the game that just got over at Mohali. This will help to separate the grain from the chaff and the milk from the water. These letters are a vital link between the past and the future and therefore time sensitive in nature. Here they go…

To MSD:

I am a big fan of your luck. You may have had a mediocre run with the bat for a very long time, may be regularly dropping catches or bungling when the batsman meanders out of the crease or enjoying a liberal quota for conceding byes, but who can complain as long as you are successful. You may have disappointed me by dropping Ashwin but Nehra did a superb job. So credit to you. I don’t know if it is in your hands entirely but if it is, then request you to be lucky only once more when we take on the Lankans in WC finals. Since I am a compulsive fan of something or the other, please give me an opportunity to be your batting fan for some length of time

To Sachin:

It may not have been a lively knock, but you did enjoy many lives. It is ok – I consider it as nature’s tribute to a genius. I virtually bit my nail out off my thumb in sheer tension because everyone around me was grumbling “if sachin scores, india will lose”.  Undeserved ignominy i thought. You not only proved them wrong but also demonstrated that there is no substitute for talent and hardwork. You will leave behind a difficut question:  What will Indian cricket look like without you. We may someday be all out in a 20-20 game also (if that has not happened so far). Whatever, wish you all the best Sir.   Yes that reminds me, you surely deserve to be knighted.

To Yuvvraj:

No, I am not a nameologist trying to add a ‘v’ into your name. It is just an expression of my anger at what you did. I am not complaining about your first ball duck –it happens and should always be seen against other valuable contributions. I am pissed off at what you did when you took your first wicket. No need to show the batsman where the dressing room is, unless you are part of a match between physically challenged cricketers. For someone of your caliber, you should start moving into a Walsh mould and be graceful in whatever you do. Anyway, you have made a very strong and telling comeback and silenced all your critics (no dearth of them) with your performance in the WC. Knowing you,  I am sure this success will go to your head in the soon to be played IPL and we all will be treated to another bout of superciliousness.  Until Sehwag hits you for 24 sixes in the 4 overs you get to bowl. I was taught to accept eccentricity and arrogance among talented. I am willing to live all my life in acceptance mode if you score a century in the finals of the WC.

To Zaheer/Nehra/Munaf:

One of you has always turned up with laurels and done a good job with the ball so far. However, there is no rule that all three of you should not do well together (if you get to play together). And please examine this request – whenever destiny forces you to go to the batting crease before the 40th over, please stay there until the last ball. No need to pretend that the pitch is very difficult to bat and show hurry in returning for that hot tea in the dressing room. Because we soon discover the pitch was a batsman’s paradise. Anyways, good luck boys.

To Raina:

The country despised Greg Chappel for calling you a gifted cricketer. Maybe he bracketed you alongside that dancer boy Sreeshant and therefore the national fury. Honestly, you remind me of Michael Bevan of yester years. But what keeps you out of the team so regularly? I would spend this weekend analyzing what is the dividing line between becoming a great alrounder and perishing as a good fielder fit enough only to be a permanent twelfth-man until superannuation.

To Afridi

Hats off Shahid. You built a team from scratch and did a wonderful job. Some bit of better planning after losing 4 wickets could have seen you through. Why didn’t you gamble by sending Razack as opener? You surely deserve a place among the best in this edition of the world cup. You led the team from the front and a victory in the finals  here would have been resurgence for the country’s cricketing politics. It didnt happen. It's ok - Wish you all the best.

To Fans-India:

Success and Failure are the two sides of the same coin. It could be your bad luck that your coin has failure etched on both sides. But don’t despair. If we win, we had home advantage so let us be modest in our pride. If we lose, let us be happy we lost to the best team.  In our living memories, we have lost more than we won. Many a sentimental Indian cricket fan has been turned into a drunkard by taking on the tension of watching india suffer defeat. Even in victory, Indian cricket has killed some. They will win a totally impossible match in such a fashion that the weak hearted would die of excitement.  I am not asking you to be prepared for disappointment. Just that the hype is consuming us.  We have a very balanced team and a very committed skipper. Consistency is the only ingredient missing.

Murali deserves a grand farewell as much as Sachin deserves. A century by Sachin and a 5-wicket haul by Murali will be justice to their great caliber. Much before the tournament started I wrote elsewhere in this blog that Srilanka are the favorites. And I am now pushed to a situation where I wish them being second-favorites.

Someone told me that TV audiences in India get to watch and hear Sidhu. On a boring day, some humor is guaranteed.  Unlike here. where we get to see serious discussion on cricket!!

If required, I will write the next chain of letters on Sunday - until then, have a very nice weekend.

Miscellaneous Sundries

It’s been some time since I wrote anything here. Been quite busy for a variety of reasons and the only thing that has a continuum in this memory-chain is the fear of being disappointed in the semi-finals of the World Cup 2011. Well, here is what I would have written on various issues if I was regular.

CRICKET: A commendable performance against the Ozzies. Raises expectations and makes me believe that the law of averages will not apply this time. The three heroes who i expected to deliver in the World Cup, have done it in style. Ponting scored a century in possibly his last WC match. Tendulkar is going great and Murali, remains the real maestro. Both Tendulkar and Yuvaraj are in awesome form while the rest too are – in failing to perform. Ashwin – was he a secret weapon and kept away for key matches or was it a case of media becoming part of selection committee. Whatever, this guy is really talented. And deserves to come ahead of Harbajji in the batting order. Wishlist includes Sehwag getting his rhythm atleast once again, Dhoni keeping wickets well and we playing the same that team that played in the QF. Whoever wins the cup, richly deserves it. If there is a commercial need, then India. If it is an issue of the most remarkable effort, then Pak (what a team-effort despite losing three-secondth of the real team.. hahahah, that fraction is not a typo), if it is alround talent and class, then SL and if is none of these, then NZ…

DREAMS: That has become life now. From uncorking a champagne bottle after winning the F1 to making a simple but neat 30 percent gain on my nifty shorts overnight, the range is exhaustive.

MOVIES: I saw a few recently-released Hindi movies. Nothing worth writing about. Except a reiteration of my long held belief that even such classics like ‘Sholay’ or ’Gone with the Wind’ would be a bore if you watch it from a DVD.

BOOKS: I have given up reading any form of printed material, for quite some time now. And that continues. I didn’t read any book in recent times

FRIENDS: Same story – apart from a few mails, smses, telephone calls, skyping and periodic visits - nothing much (what else does anyone do besides these????). Unable to remember my passwords properly, I have created half a dozen Facebook and Orkut IDs and nothing works now. As a precaution, I created a spreadsheet of all my IDs and the corresponding password. And mailed it to a few of my mail IDs. It was a healthy and safe method I thought, until I realized those spreadsheets also had a password and I haven’t stored that anywhere. As a last resort, I am planning to change my name, if I can’t change my face.

WEEKENDS: Since work-days were always busy for me, I had decided to join a gym, a yoga class and then regular cricket at weekends. The trouble is all of these require waking up early so I am Googling hard to find out if there is anything that could be achieved without having to disturb a lovely sleep. Suggestions welcome.

TELEVISION: I love to watch pulp and nonsense. The decrees of fate are so wayward that I hardly get an opportunity to indulge on that favorite pastime, now. We don’t get almost 99.9 percent of the channels that I used to watch in India. As if to hurt me further, I am getting to watch the same Tamil program every day for the last 4 months. It is very similar to DD coming up with a news bulletin just when Zaheer has appealed strongly for a first-ball wicket.

ADVICE: I hardly believe in taking one. Call it God’s gift to me in some ways, packaged as arrogance. And hate to give any (I don’t believe in giving something that I don’t take!!) as well. So this one appealed to me to post it dispassionately : Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced daily and failure is nothing more than a few simple errors repeated daily.

INFLATION: Have spent most of my time trying to understand if this recent one is from the supply side or from the demand side, if it is just commodities or it is from crude and food prices in addition to commodities.  Is it the QE2 from the Federal  Reserve that is fuelling easy liquidity and therefore inflation, or is it for want of a credible asset class that the common man, having access to easy liquidity at almost no rate of interest, is buying commodities and metals and wheat futures. Whatever, in this deep and tireless research I have forgotten to pay some important bills and the penal rate of interest for such non-payment reminds me that the world is far ahead of the rate curve!!  It is the beauty of investment science that whenever I have large surpluses interest rates are almost negligible (thankfully my bank never asked me to pay for depositing) and whenever I borrow to invest, the interest rate is prohibitive enough to get a value from investment. No economist ever created personal wealth I suppose.

PS:  Part 2 in this series will cover more important issues like my food habits, the T-Shirts I liked, the journey in my building-lift, difficulties of standing in an ATM queue etc.

A Dusk-time Picnic

Damside Dusk

The Wise Man

‘It was poetic justice that England had to be the eventual winner in yesterday’s match” said the Wise Man.

I wondered what was so poetic about this victory except for the swing of fortunes but I suspected he was possibly not happy with the third umpire’s judgment of that on-the-line catch. Don’t you think even the third umpire is a human being and prone to errors, I asked. The wise man had his own theory. And he beat me down with his impregnably strong logic. Toggling between technology and philosophy, he made me realize that anyone asked to function as a God should never go wrong. In this exposition, I was also taught how ‘could’ was different from ‘should’ in the world of supreme beings.

The wise man was a different character in many ways. He had a view about everything on earth. He refused to believe he could be wrong or ignorant. “If only in real life we had a review system like the one in this World Cup, how nice it would be” he started. “There won’t be any wrong doers. The wrong doers will be rightly punished and the wrongly punished will be rightly rewarded. A seemingly guilty culprit will be elevated to the role of a judge and… ”. He had a dozen other examples – all aimed at conveying the same point: The world will be a safe place if there was a referee system for all decisions on earth. 

I was happy to hear this and wished that life really had such a mechanism. I wished I could appeal to such a mechanism and implore for justice in all places where I have been wrongfully punished. I also wished even if it was not available now, I should get a retrospective justice whenever this ‘Referee of Life’ was put in place. I quickly resolved to go home and list out in black ink all the instances where I was deceived, cheated, tricked, swindled (little did I realize they all meant the same thing). I also wondered if I should write down what I have done to others but quickly erased such an idea as the mechanism did not provide for introspection / self-appraisal.

I countered the wise man by saying that even in the world cup, the review system was based on an appeal. And there was a limitation on the number of such appeals. Given my needs and greeds in life, I would have long back exhausted my quota and would have started trading in a secondary market for such a quota. He said, “No, in real life, the RoL will be a permanent feature and he will intervene even without a petition for justice.”. That was egregious to me. I wanted to ask if there would be a referee for every locality and what would happen if my referee had some disagreement with the perpetrator’s referee. Will we have a fifth umpire then? With very few things right and very many things wrong between the sky and the earth, the superman called RoL would be an overworked imposter and would soon turn a monster – preferring to kill the errant than punish. Which meant, if someone chose to pick me for treachery, he would be condemned to death after I declare myself ‘the affected’.   By that reckoning I may have vanished long back, I dreaded.  In any case, that was a good idea I thought.   I richly deserved justice, I self-pitied.

The wise man, I thought, was impractical in his expectations of life. He was out to demolish the karma theory and the principle of rebirth and re-generation. The centuries old myth of ‘this birth’s good deeds passing on to next’ was rendered unnecessary by the advent of such an imposing referee I thought. But his idea triggered in me a process of thought : In what is supposed to be a sporting event where everyone is expected to behave sportingly, we have serious checks (third umpire)  in place.  Whereas in real life, where we ought to have had uncompromising dispensation of correctitude, we have serious aberrations. Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it, I concluded.

Nature's Fury

It was only last night that i was reading about a phenomenon called 'Super Moon' to be occuring soon - as early as the Full Moon next week (March 19th)

The sad part of this phenomenon is that it is linked to extreme weather events like Tsunami, volcanos or earthquakes.  The last time this supermoon appeared was in January 2005 when Indonesia experienceced a killer earthquake that measured 9.0 on the Richter scale. Katrina, the hurricane was also associated with an unusually large full moon.  Looking back, researchers say, previous supermoons occurred in 1955, 1974 and 1992 - in each of these years the earth experienced extreme weather conditions killing a multitude of people.

I did not believe this and only looked at the positive side of this spectacle as i wanted to see the beautiful moon, closest to earth in the last few decades.

As if to teach me a lesson, the earthquake and Tsunami in tokyo and pacific coasts this morning have devastated life and property of vast magnitude.

Without getting into any debate if this is a science or a superstition, i pray for welfare of all living and peace to the departed soul in this fury of Mother nature. Let 19th of March pass off as a normal day, known more for a spectacular moon in a clear sky.

To My Ladies with Love

Here is saluting every lady on this special day - Women's Day. What would be life like without a woman.  I sent this to all my colleagues and was warmly patted for an apt one:

‘Where shall we see a better daughter or a kinder sister or a truer friend?’ . . . … where Emma errs once, she is in the right a hundred times."  From Emma by Jane Austen

I generally hate these commemorative days - we dont need an occasion to remember a mother or a father or a daughter or a wife.  I have always thought  it was the advertiser's gimmick to create a sales pitch and therefore these "M/F/D/C/W Day" got invented. Still, every year i am moved on a mother's day or a women's day (sheer coincidence both are ladies). 

As one of the many forwarded mails of the day said it nicely:  The angel of the Family is Woman.  Mother, wife, or sister, Woman is the caress of life, the soothing sweetness of affection shed over its toils, a reflection for the individual of the loving providence which watches over Humanity. In her there is treasure enough of consoling tenderness to allay every pain. Moreover for every one of us she is the initiator of the future. The mother's first kiss teaches the child love; the first holy kiss of the woman teaches hope and faith in life; and love and faith create a desire for perfection and the power of reaching towards it step by step; create the future, in short, of which the living symbol is the child, link between us and the generations to come. Through her the Family, with its divine mystery of reproduction, points to Eternity.

On a seriously lighter vein, i may have disappointed my lady-love in some ways. But that's ok - thats what life is all about. Am grateful she understands my shortcomings and is convinced my consistency is infallible and i can be trusted to be the same for the rest of our lives!!!

Club Exclusive

I don't exactly remember the origin of this forwarded piece but if true, this should be a statement of sorts.  Please read on.

“I am sitting and writing this blog from one of India’s most sought after clubs. Membership is not exactly limited but is not easy. The selection process is often cumbersome, very often expensive though there is no fixed membership fee – some pay in crores to gain entry and yet some get in by getting others to sponsor the fees. Membership is for life,once in never out and though membership is not automatically transferable to a member of one’s family this too has been known to happen with great regularity. The food is not much to write home about but service is quick and the food is so cheap that concepts like inflation exist in theory only and do not practically bother those using the facilities.

Where am I sitting I hear you ask. It’s simple really – I’m in the Central Hall of India’s Parliament.”

And guess what.. this piece is attributed to Omar Abdullah, that rare specimen among politicians.

The Incorrigible Boys

There are times when one gets bored to death. To imagine one getting bored when India  is playing a game of cricket is fiction. The very aspect of preparing oneself for a period of agony and tension itself should drive away boredom, i reflected.

What is boredom? It is afterall  a state of mind that is beaten to numbness for want of excitement or misery. And how could one be deprived of misery when India plays cricket. We would any day pull defeat from the jaws of victory (cliche??!!). 

That was a prelude for the Sunday that went by. I started off quite disinterested on a cool and rainy Sunday morning and the only thing i dreaded was a call from any acquaintance for either a lunch or a drink or a stroll somewhere aimlessly.

Then came the afternoon when India was playing England.  I was already depressed by Srilanka's loss the other day (nothing to do with who they lost to - just that gnawing thought that they tried to emulate India by fighting till the last ball, determined to lose) and therefore silently hoped that it should be a keen tussle. 

Rather than analysing what went wrong and how little went right, i will sum up with my view that it required special skills to tie a match that could have been won. The boys didnt do their job (i got this baptism into calling everyone a boy after watching Yuvi and Co.) and it again got reduced to a Tendulkar's match. The senior boys (i mean the selectors) didnt do a good job either by playing a wrist spinner who would have announced his retirement if he was ingored for a few more matches. My brother asked me 'What does it take to play an Ashwin?". I said wisdom (benefit of hindsight could be most intimidating if one is a born sarcastic).

 India could be one of the few cricket playing nations that can win on any day inasmuch as it can lose on any day to any team. I hate the thought that someone called cricket a game of glorious uncertainities. It must have been an Indian saying that after watching  India playing.

Whatever, i was made to sit through a hundred overs (not a ball less) of cricket with a string of beads on hands and prayer on lips, rather than enjoy the niceties of the game.

Looking forward to an Oz-Lanka or Lanka-SA or SA-Oz match to get value for time.

A Nameless Nemesis

Either he/she/or they were irked or enthused - i wouldn't know.

But i have received a load of unprintables in response to my clarifications. I have started falling in love with this business of writing and getting nasty responses. It throws open a new perspective and stimulates me to have an alternate outlook in life. It is said everyone likes flattery but only hates the manner in which it is done. Possibly i go a little beyond here. I love silent, written criticisms. It gives me a karmic pleasure to realise that the one who is hurt by my actions (or inactions) has found his opportunity to avenge his or her pain and therefore i am liberated from that particular sin (how profound i am getting!!!). And that also paves way to move over to the next sin...

Afterall no one is perfect. The subtle difference betweent the victor and the vanquished lies in the process of realisation. One who realises he is imperfect and fallible stands more chance of a success than the enlightened fool who considers himself a reincarnation of Alexander the Great. (what's happening to me - i am now like a seasoned willow)

All this apart, remember the item on astrology a few weeks back?    I had seen prospects of tension to the north- east of  where i stay. I was too enthusisatic to consider Egypt as a possible target. While the prediction is more than true (what with violence and carnage and rebellion everywhere), the place of occurence is not. Apologies. Proves my fundamental belief - that i have a long way to go.

Steve Jobs

I haven't had any role model in life. I don't actually believe in one.

And blessed with abundant ignorance, it is easier for me to worship the image i see in the mirror. But i have fallen in admiration for this man Steve Jobs. 

I was interviewing a group of manag-grads and i was awe-struck to see many of them having Steve as a role model. After Adam and Eve if there was anyone who 'halo'ed the word 'Apple', it is Steve Jobs.

We need him. I sincerely wish the story in the link below is not true at all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1357743/Cancer-stricken-Apple-boss-Steve-Jobs-just-weeks-live.html?ITO=1490

I owe these clarifications

• No, i don't copy. Either it is a straight lift or it's mine
• Yes i try to be humorous - but i am as serious as a stone in real life
• No, i don't read much. Belong to that elite group of semi-literate masquaraders with a smattering of knowledge about many things without any real depth or mastery
• Yes i know a bit of astrology and i have played decent cricket at some stage of my life
• I make both ends meet by buying and selling things - the professional world calls me a Trader
• That is my daughter - and i recently changed the name of the blog to express my love for her
• No, i am not young
• Yes, i know a bit of music - all forms of organised noise you can call.
• Yes i was confused in life sometime back (i thought confusion was my birth-right and i was exercising it with aplomb at all times)
• No, that's not graphics. That's a real cricket action - The bowler is Dennis Lillee, bowling to a field of 7 slips and two gullys.
• Yes i know a few languages (i know the unparliamentary ones in 7 languages).
• Thank you for those kind words
• Please don't use such language.

No, this one is not from any asylum.  I have been getting lots of mails carrying comments, encomiums and unprintable abuses for whatever i have written in the last 6 months. I exercise my right as owner of this blog and ruthlessly filter them and publish only that i like (hahahahahh) with terrific consistency.  But i always was gnawed by this thought of being unfair to my reader. So you find those one liners. And i am sure it will reach the intended lady and gentleman without any difficulty.  Thanks friends.

Thus Spake

Quoting media headlines:

INDIA PM: WONT SAY HAS NEVER MADE ANY MISTAKES, BUT NOT AS MUCH A CULPRIT AS MADE OUT TO BE

INDIA PM: WAS NOT ABLE TO MAKE UP HIS MIND WHETHER ANYTHING WAS WRONG WITH ACTIONS OF TELECOMS MINISTER DESPITE 2G COMPLAINTS IN 2009

INDA PM: “NOT VERY HAPPY ABOUT” IRREGULARITIES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE UNDER HIS WATCH

INDIA PM: SAYS AGREES NEEDS TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF GOVERNANCE

INDIA PM: NOT THINKING OF RESIGNING BECAUSE HAS JOB TO DO, A LOT OF UNFINISHED BUSINESS

My heart bleeds for this man - such a conscientious brilliant central banker / statesman, now forced to hold the apologetic brief.

World Cup Cricket - 2011 Edition

We may have had an overdose of cricket in recent times. Form may have gotten mistaken for class and some minnows may have even defeated a world eleven somewhere but cricket’s best known extravaganza would soon get underway in India, Ceylon and Bangladesh. We have had such a surfeit of cricket that it hardly matters who plays whom.

This tournament is important for me because we may not get to see the likes of Tendulkar, Ponting and Muralitharan playing a world cup again. Happy to be wrong on this. They have been my favorites in any form of cricket and I have had the privilege of watching some great cricket from these legends, sitting in the gallery. I know I invite scorn by admiring Ponting – but who can pull a good length ball over midwicket with such felicity (Viv Richards excepted)

Looking back, we have come a very long way. What started as a Prudential Cup in 1975, the initial three tournaments go down as nostalgic as a black and white movie of yester years – a time when players appeared in white flannels, when there were 60 overs a side, when there were no flood-lit matches, it was the red cherry instead of this white leather, boundaries appeared larger and distant, Walsh would smile even if the batsman was plumb in front as opposed to a Sreeshanth or a Lee today who would stare and deride a batsman to death for missing a nearly wide ball. Bedi would bowl his entire 12 overs non-stop and India almost played three spinners, Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott played a full tournament. Tony Greig and Mohinder Amarnath have been key bowlers in their games, Gavaskar would take his own time to middle the ball, while Asif Iqbal had more value as a fast runner between wickets than as an all-rounder. There was hardly a difference between test cricket and a limited over international then. Not anymore. Today, one has to deliver even before the game starts.

The game has changed significantly – not just in the areas of rules, dresses and spirit – it has been a thorough overhaul. And the metamorphosis is as palpable as between a go-carting and formula 1 racing. Innovation has been total. It’s just not cricket anymore, it’s more a mental warfare. And an exhibition of high class athleticism and sharp thinking.

With almost 6 weeks of high voltage drama in offing, its time to start looking around to buy colored acrylic wares to match the team of the day. Srilanka should be favorites. There aren’t many Mahelas and Sangakkaras around.

PS: With this fanatic rage for improvisation and innovation, will we end up having a scenario where cricket is played like this: It starts like a test match where the two sides play the first innings. Then instead of the second innings, there is a 50 overs-a-side match. And a 20-20 in the last few hours of the fifth day. If still some time left, a 30 minute hockey match between the two sides. All within the allotted 5 days.

What a Goal

Haven't seen something like this in all my years of soccer watching. Long lilve Wayne Rooney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq2_4F7BBOU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sROO1PJQw9g

Doctor, Musicologist and a fan

That was an unforgettable Sunday afternoon.

 

A professional Doctor, a Musicologist (also a music director in some ways) and Yours Truly – all three of us huddled in a small room with nothing but pure music for company. And to keep us steady and sensible, there was this copious flow of ‘fermented liquid extract of barley malt and hops’, supplemented with unlimited supply of hot short-eats. The downpour outside was hardly anything when compared to the one inside.

 

It began with the 1970s AIR releases of Dr Balamurali Krishna’s concerts. Soon we moved to Hisham Abbas and not happy there, we tried the fusion by Sikkil Gurucharan and Anil. It was good but we were in search of ecstasy. I played some of Abida Parveen’s haunting Sufis. The director then explained some of Swathi Thirunal Maharaja’s great compositions. My doctor friend went nostalgic and started crooning the 1980s IR numbers and explained soulfully how he missed singing that great hit of the 1990s – from the movie Criminal. It seems he was to have sung the song but it ended up in SPB in Telugu and Udit (or Kumar Sanu) in Hindi (even if it was just track singing, its an honor boss, I thought)

We discussed what was creativity. We understood how VishalShekar’s nearly national-anthemic ‘My Name is Shiela” had its sheer-coincidental roots in Tommy Roe’s ‘Sweet Little Shiela ‘ or they mentioned something else also which I don’t remember. And how ‘Munni Badnaam’ had many previous versions in our own folk music. I wanted to listen to that “Launda Badnaam..” but could not lay my mouse on. When I mentioned my favorite Pritam’s name, the three of us fought fiercely to reel out songs that have already appeared in history in a different geography. What hurt me most was that the songs of Metro have already been copied by famous singers many years ago (hahahahah). For every hit number I mentioned, the two had one original composition to back up. It looked they had come prepared to counter me everywhere but it was worth learning. Imitation after all is the best form of appreciation I explained.

To prove that my knowledge of music was not less, I started strutting out songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and some Malayalam. They corrected me every now and then (hmmmm). Either my lyrics was totally wrong or the tune, messy.  I have started believing that doctors and engineers and chartered accountants make brilliant musicians than the ‘Arts’ guys like me (well, I should actually not be an example for any activity – the other will always look great).

We wound up when we realized what was cooked for lunch was soon running the risk of becoming our following day’s breakfast.

Ps: missed my alter-ego GK on this day. We have done such excursions a number of times in early 2000!!

To hedge $500 a barrel

The cassandras are back with a vengeance it appears.

Someone already asking if oil is headed towards $500. I was laughing with derision when oil was at $85 and my somewhat namesake said it would hit $150.  It did and i ended up eating barrels of humble pie.

Well the issue is not about whether we will go to $500. This piece is about a nice article that has a back-tested proof of a 1:1 correlation between a basket of equally weighted currencies (long) against the dollar(short).   I am not able to lay hands on the original article. And even this chart is not mine. I saved the chart but lost the original article. Visually atleast the correlation looks great...

Chal Diyay

Surfing sometimes helps. Came across this collection of fusion and i would say with humility this particular number in Yaman (yamuna kalyani) did my Bose proud.

Javed Bashir - what a voice. A must for all music lovers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY_LzIAG4gc&feature=player_embedded

Rains are most beautiful here

That sounds more parochial, right?

Rains are beautiful, wherever you are. Having moved to Mauritius recently, i asked my colleagues when was the Summer here - they said i am well here in the peak of summer. I couldn't believe.

Rather than struggling to explain why i was adumbrated on a summer day, i attach a snap of the road i take to reach my office. Its breathtaking - the sight of literally wading through a sea-surrounded land and driving between mountains... God's own second country!!???

Astrology Again

Rahu and Ketu start their movment after a prolonged period of stationary or less-mobile phase between November 2010 and Mid February. This should relieve the pressure for a lot many of us especially for those whose ascendant is around that mystic 8 degree (and an orbit of 1 degree). These have been tense and testing times for some.

Concern is Egypt. This country will be passing through a phase of greater uncertainity and strife beginning this week and well into early  March.  12th Lord Mars is combust and conjunct Sun in 9th.  Shudder to think any further!!

Another Tower of Justice

A friend forwarded a link that had this small story (reproduced below).

  

For hardcore geeks, the WikiLeaks saga should serve as a stimulant to a new wave of innovation which will lead to a new generation of distributed secure technologies (like the TOR networking system used by WikiLeaks) which will enable people to support movements and campaigns that are deemed subversive by authoritarian powers. A really good example of this kind of technological innovation was provided last week by Google engineers, who in a few days built a system that enabled protesters in Egypt to send tweets even though the internet in their country had been shut down. “Like many people”, they blogged, “we’ve been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we can do to help people on the ground. Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service – the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.”

 

They worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter and SayNow (a company Google recently acquired) to build the system. It provides three international phone numbers and anyone can tweet by leaving a voicemail. The tweets appear on twitter.com/speak2tweet. 

 

What’s exciting about this kind of development is that it harnesses the same kind of irrepressible, irreverent, geeky originality that characterised the early years of the internet, before the web arrived and big corporations started to get a grip on it. Events in Egypt make one realise how badly this kind of innovation is needed. 

I liked the concept very much. While we do not live in a repressed society, we sure come across day-to-day petty instances of oppression of the weak and fallen or violation of rules and laws or similar such instances when the heart silently bleeds for justice and we get into a mode ‘I know what is right but I cannot help in any way’. It is still worse if we are ourselves victims and do not have the courage to raise a voice, fearing tyranny of the ruler. I have often vicariously lived the thought of going to the huge entrance of a mighty king's palace and pulling the chains tethered to a huge bell that symbolizes ‘The Justice Dispenser’, raising the noise and running away without a trace

Some of my all-time favorites – Part 1

I once had a driver. He always gave me the impression of a frustrated Formula-1 driver – someone who never had the right mix of crew, car, sponsor, luck and above all flexible rules to help him make it to the top. His passion for treating my car as a toy was an understatement. He believed God gave him the right leg only to push the accelerator out of the car. He equally believed that the brake was a redundant spare-part in a car. He would horn anyone to death if he or she came in his way. He would hardly talk, once behind the steering wheel. He never brooked the moving presence of any object ahead of him. He was endowed with the eyes of a hawk, reflexes of a cheetah and the impatience of an African leopard. It is sheer coincidence these comparisions are with the Animal kingdom - the emphasis is on his superior faculties. All these characteristics paled to insignificance in front of his humility and sincerity. He would crush his watch to dust if it showed him he was late to an appointment. And would want to abolish the currency system if anyone tipped him. I dreaded the prospect of seeing the first of any month fall on a Sunday or Public holiday - for i would not know if he would drive me to the cliff of a hill for delayed payment of salary. The risk was equal if i paid him a day earlier - his principles of life would not want him to accept any favor.

One fine day he decided to quit – preferring to work on his farm fulltime. I couldn’t buy a farm for him so let him go. Where will i find another one like him.

[This is the first in the series of my experiences with certain ‘different’ people. Will keep introducing them with a tinge of humor, whenever i find time]

Your's Frugally

In one of its recent articles, EWI talks about ‘frugality fatigue’. I liked the phrase. I like Socionomics and some of the recent research articles in this area are quite fascinating.

The write-up further analyses how the ‘Americans are spending again – whether they can afford or not’, how the common man is consumed by ‘The urge to splurge’ and how the current generation could be different from the one that lived through the Great Depression.

Am not too altruistically inclined to sit on a judgment as to which is most virtuous and why a rational person should be fatigued to save. We (the subcontinent) belong to that minority in the financial world that believes in saving for the generation-next. My dad struggled all his life to save for me (and he need not have done that by any stretch of imagination). My in-laws do that for their daughter. Collectively, me and my wife do it for our daughter. The saga continues. We specialize in inflicting on us maximum pain for minimum comfort. We would plan an extravagant tour of the world and convert all our savings into tour money and would all along be striving to bring back as much as possible, unspent!!! Well, that is frugality at its best (not worst).

If it is true that frugality is being given an unceremonious burial and the world is spending its way out of the current financial crisis, then let me look into the diary noting of my dad and grand-dad and great-grand-dad to find out which school of economics they all belonged to.  And write again about the virtues of being frugally wise.

Whither Lying

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I had my first taste of bringing up modern day children recently. We went to a zoo some weeks ago when Taarinie was not 5 yet. The zoo had free entry for kids under-5. So when I proffered the entry fee for three adults, leaving out our under-5, my little one couldn’t bear the insult (that’s how she must have thought) of free entry and shouted ‘I am 5 appa’. The counter clerk looked at me as if i had plundered a nation and people around me must have thought no less. I had to explain to the zoo authorities that she still had a week and half to go for the Fifth one and it was an accepted practice to round-off to the higher number of age once someone crossed 183 days after a birthday. It was thereafter resolved honorably

But a few questions remain to be answered. Do we parents unwittingly teach our children to tell lies? I remember having gone through such ‘honorable’ practice in my childhood without a protest. I rather inculcated that art of lying across places – cinemas. buses, trains, circuses, sports (entry barrier) – wherever it mattered. And it was an accepted form of smartness. There were friends whose great-grandfathers had once served the police, there were others who had a family member that was in the army during the Indo-Sino war – but they all clamored for some concession or the other. And these past soldiers came in handy to fetch that petty exemption. It was a veritable exercise in falsehood, beautifully cultivated under the garb of thrift. Yes, this was done to save a few pennies or thereabout for the family.

This possibly was the fountain-head for corruption in a way. I may not belong to that tribe of morally defunct characters but I know what my generation must have started off on. Over a period of time, this relaxation in moral standard morphs into moral abyss. And we are lost.

Not this generation. They appear to have started off on a much better footing. More virtuous mores.

The fall of a raja

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Ex-Telecom minister done in?

If one remembered the many reports that appeared in the press or carefully sauntered through various news items and interviews and tidbits and the investigative fare dished out by the fourth estate over the last 18 months, one is indeed disappointed. The most basic of the many questions is how come an individual – who also is a public servant of the highest order – could do it alone and be singularly responsible for a multi-billion dollar scam?

Without much ado, my simple conclusion is that the weakest in any link is always the victim. I don’t understand politics and therefore do not keep track of the strength of the voices that questioned many key decisions around -1G, 0G, 1G, 2G, 2(a)G, 3G…but there is a very rudimentary arithmetic here. The cash flows must surely have raised eyebrows long back. The delay therefore was in figuring out the most acceptable power equation before slamming out the weakest midget in the link!!

Taarinie turns Five

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Time Flies.

Even before we have gone tired of seeing her first birthday album, Taarinie comes over to cut her fifth birthday cake.  A week ago Taarinie turned 5.

Children are amazing. A girl child, all the more. I wouldn't know how terribly boring life would be if only there weren't anything called childhood.  One of the greatest gifts to mankind must be the joys of watching  children grow. And one should consider himself or herself lucky if he or she gets the blessings of God to be living with children and parents together.

Bombay Dreams - Au Revoir

Maybe you haven’t noticed, maybe you did but don’t care or maybe you are also in the same lethargy that I am in… whatever, its adieu to this wonderful city Bombay. 

I could never slip into calling it Mumbai all my life. Like i have never relished Chennai, for it is always Madras for me. It can never be Bengalooru - it has to be Bangalore. I am hardly swayed by political bigotry and jingoism.

Atleast for some years from now i will  miss Bombay. For someone so much used to inner and outer silence, the initial days in Mumbai were  indeed traumatic.  But the city had its own beauties. I started loving its confusion, its crowd, the cut-throat business mindedness, its commotion and everything one can imagine to disrupt calm.  But overbearing all these are that unmistakable undercurrent of humanity  and a rare spirit of the locals. If one is lucky to get a good friends’ circle, life is on an autobahn (like the 1974 German Band would say). I was fortunate to have that.

Looking forward, out of Bombay,  I remember these great words of my favorite author..

This was what I carried with me into [my] new country, an instinctive simplicity, a thoughtless idealism. It was the first time, moving from one place to another, that I hadn't expected something better of the new country than I had found in the old, that I was prepared for disappointment. It was the first time, too, that I was not disappointed.

Sun Set - Chowpaty

On a Rainy day: Worli Home

When wil this torture stop

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Sycophancy comes to us quite naturally. 

Or else what could explain hundreds of discomfiture personified masses of humanity squatting beside a charkha to spin out a foot of thread. Some of them were writhing in pain trying to use both limbs simultaneously. 

What makes them forget spindle and remember charkha, what prompts them to forget their regular life of falsehood and deceit and remember that great soul once a year or at best twice and finally what makes them get under a never fitting all-white garb? Is it the need to demonstrate a loosely existing nationalism or is it just that jig before a camera. Or is it a stupid math that the voter is gullible enough to buy this presentation.

The best way to remember that ultimate soldier of non-violence is to walk bare=footed and bare-bodied a few miles on a day like this and swear before his statue that each of us will spend atleast one day per year in honesty. Am i asking for an all-impossible event?

ps:Someone called me all the way to ask what was this about and why this petulance. Today is 30th Jan. We mourn the death of a Father. The rebellion is against what i saw on DD sometime back in its news edition!!!

Incredible What

  

I am no doubt possibly world’s worst conversationalist. The most mortifying moments for me are when I have to attend a group dinner or a gathering where I have for company people besides me and my shadow. And I am happy in this cocoon life where I preserve my ignorance within me and never get exposed.. (if you are silent people may think you are ignorant. The moment you open up, you confirm their fears)

Now, I never ever imagined that I will have to sit through a session like this in my life. Not that I have strong likings or opinions about anything, but to expect an introvert like me to survive a conversation like the following must be a travesty of my faith in public life.

He: How is life in the new place? You play Golf? Or Soccer? Which is your favorite team?

Me: Life is fine – could have been better though. No I don’t play golf although I have played a few times in the recent past. I tend to hold the Club like a hockey stick and swing it like a Cricket Bat with footwork that one uses for pulling a long hop over the mid-wicket. So my Caddy told me I can never make it to the top grade and I may require atleast a thousand Pars to reach the eighteenth-hole.

He: That’s pretty interesting and funny.

Me: Indeed. I like to play soccer but don’t know where the best grounds are. I used to like ManU but since I don’t know who are its current players and its coach, I have no opinion.

He: That’s great – I can introduce you to some country side clubs.

[I, for a moment thought, if I was going to play for one of those counties. In my school days I always wanted to be playing for Hampshire (alongside Barry Richards) or Somerset (Viv and Ian) but then it required cricketing skills]

Me: Let’s see. I have other priorities for the present. Will surely let you know if I would want to.

He: Then how is this (what’s his name…) Tandulkaar doing. Is he still playing. Must be great fun watching him playing.

Me: [On a normal day I would have strangulated him but he had, among other things, the responsibility of being my pay-master]. I corrected, ‘its Sachin Tendulkar’, the greatest batsman of our times, often compared to The Don by critics. He still plays and every team in the world is praying that he retires soon. And its sheer delight (and not fun) watching him. I am lucky to have been born and be living in the same era like him (and equally unlucky to be living in the same era like this person who doesn’t keep track of Sachin)

He: That’s great. Is Shaarook Kaan acting these days. I met him some time back in HighStreet. Nice Guy. How is Aishwarya Rai doing. [And many questions]

Me: [again the same frustration..]. Yes Sharukh Khan acts. No idea about Ash, I haven’t met her in my life.

[I ended it abruptly. I detested his penchant for pronouncing male names incorrectly. I thought it was inappropriate to be asking me about such high profile individuals. And I felt quite low to realize that he considered me good only for such trivia. I would have been an equally good candidate for discussions on Solar System, Global Warming, Green Revolution, Molecular Biology, Honda’s trading losses, Jupiter’s transit into Aries, Mclaren’s dreams, Apple’s guidance for first quarter, the fate of global economy etc but why just these few issues. Was it because he thought after Independence, India has progressed only in sports and cinema.]

Well things have to change. I have to start talking.'

I walked out like a cat caught in a rain. And thought to myself...'

Thyaga Brahmotsavam gets its Gloss

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There was a time when i used to look forward to every December with great expectations - for it  was when the music festival in Madras started every year. This was soon to be followed by the greatest event of all - the Thiruvaiyyaru festival. Musicians and Rasikas would set aside pride and pelf and sit together in sheer devotion and sing the pancharatna keerthanas in true earnest. It was experience most sublime. I have personally sat through those exhillarating moments during my school and college days. The number of westerners that thronged the place was to be seen to be believed.

Today, as i sit in some distant place and watch this on DD, i get the impression if it were a plenary session of a large political outfit. Politicians, their personal attendants, party workers, walkie-talkie  holding security people, safari clad bureaucrats - the list is long. Where is the rasika?

As TMK orchestrates yet another melakartha (the presence of TV cameras and foreign media has made our musicians dress conscious and they emote more than what is necessary), i see party workers planning their evening dinner, i see a senior political leader whispering in the ears of another senior bigwig about how this electorate should be taken care of when the moment comes, i see a senior musician of yester-years running around desperately (possibly he is in some committee and is heckled by the demands of the political leaders that are in the committee)... well, its like those Dubai and Malaysia glitz. There is everything for a memorable picnic but the humility that marked Thyagaiyyar's immortality is conspicuous by its absence.

Will this morph eventually into a day when this festival starts with a Srikant Deva and Imaam's fusion of some rare gana-raaga, followed by a Gaana in Sri or Madhyamavati no one will ever know,  then a jugabandhi that ensembles those great track-singing lippers... And then the festival for a few hours. 

God save the King.

Markets - Another Bet on Another Bubble

   

Back to markets again.

I should admit with straight honesty that i must have lost more money than anyone else betting on the Chinese bubble over the last few years. Therefore,  when i read the story in the following link, i couldn't help pulling out my trading log and rub my eyes again.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8261740/Hedge-funds-bet-China-is-a-bubble-close-to-bursting.html

The more interesting part of this cliched story about the bubble is that i sent in a note on Friday morning  about how i saw a possible  top-formation in CRB Commodity index (340 looks like a top to me) and how commodity currencies could come off.  I also circulated some trading themes on this set-up. And later in the day when China hiked (yet again), i thought i had pulled a rabbit afterall!! Coming as it does close to my call to sell India (both the index and the currency) and seeing them happen to a T, this report in the Telegraph gives me a kick.(for those back home, Sensex and Nifty looked ominously lower a week ago to me)

Well, a long way to go. Two things however interest me and hence all this indulgence in vanity. How will this 'sell china' funds work and how will a multi-trillion dollar reserve country respond to a crisis if ever it happens. In 2010 the shanghai index lost possibly the highest among notable economies and yet nothing happened. 

Will continue on this theme again after i cover my Oz shorts!!!

ps: squared oz at a decent gain. should not have done so given my larger perspective but then a bird in hand is worth two in bush.

The future is surely in their Hands

..

The Torchbearers of Progress

Unforgettable 2010

    

For someone who believed nothing can go wrong if you walk slow and steady, 2010 corrected me. All that i ended up realising is, accidents can happen even in the best regulated families.  Am too tired to look back and too weak to analyse. When God closes one window, he opens another - modifying the old adage to my liking.

As long as there is hope,

As long there is a direction, 

The energy to move

and the path to move along,

We have a hundred alternatives,

a thousand paths and infinite dreams.

The two posts below are the views that i get from the new window God has opened for me. 

Thanking all those that helped me in my difficult times and forgiving all those that hurt me, i apologise to all those that suffered because of me.

... and Cruising down to make Ends Meet

Golfing in the World's Best Course