“Wonder”ful India!

During the last couple of weeks, I have been watching “the Seven Wonders of India”, a program on NDTV and I must confess that I am amazed at the plethora of heritage monuments, culture and natural beauty that our country possesses. India was being discovered in every episode. So much of beauty lie unexplored or forgotten in every single state and with each of the nomination vying with one other in its beauty, rarity & magnificence, it is an arduous task to shortlist the wonders to a mere 7!. The list of “wonders” included ancient temples, universities, mausoleums, caves, wildlife sanctuaries, backwaters, synagogues, and a wide range of other man-made and natural marvels that make this country so rich and so different

India is indeed incredible! Whether it is the ancient town of Shravanabelagola in Karnataka or it is the splendid Meenakshi temple of Madurai or the rock-cut caves of the Ajanta-Ellora or the Golden Temple at Amritsar or the magnificent Sun Temple at Konark, or the ancient University of Nalanda or the Holy ghats at Varanasi or natural scenic areas of Sunderbans or the Silent Valleys or the Valley of Flowers, everything in my view had perfect reasons for their inclusion in the list.

Viewers were expected to vote for their choice of the 7 wonders to choose the ultimate list of winners. When the 20 short-listed nominees were disclosed yesterday from the initial 240 choices, the only reason for elimination that one could assume was when people voting for their choice of the 7 wonders tended to be partial towards their states. As the final list of 7 will be unveiled in a few weeks’ time, this year-long, first-of-its-kind effort can be hailed as a brilliant initiative by ministry of tourism in collaboration with the media. The attempt to capture the beauty of all these and explaining the factoids behind these places deserving a spot in the list of “wonders” was outstanding.

The grass being greener on the other side couldn’t have been more clichéd than here where we see Indians (including myself.. I can barely count the number of places I have visited from this list) thronging to travel to beauty locales abroad when they haven’t ventured out to catch a glimpse of such places their own country has to offer. I am definitely smitten by the beauty of this country & the glory of our heritage and I hope that there will be a large portion of people who will be enchanted by these places now and will want to explore them.....protect them for posterity.

The call of the cuckoo..

I was awakened from my peaceful slumber this morning by the call of a cuckoo. So pleasant was it’s sound that I lay awake a couple of minutes more hoping to hear it once again. It must have been perched on the tree just outside my house. As I stood sipping my tea, I tried to look for it on that tree from the window of my living room. I did not find it anywhere nor did I hear it coo again till I left for my work.

He must have chuckled in glee to indicate the end of the Bangalore winter; ushering in the spring or it must have sung to attract its mate. But those two notes stayed in my mind as I left home to board my bus this morning. I began to notice that the winter was indeed receding.. Fresh green leaves were sprouting on many of the trees that were bald even a week ago. The newly blossomed bougainvilleas stood beautifully in all their myriad colours on people’s house compounds. The early morning wind was less crispy today and I could feel the sun fiercely penetrating through the bus’s window to warm my cheeks.

I was feeling very low since the last few days and today since the time I heard the cuckoo sing, I felt my mood slightly go upbeat. It has made me want to travel to some place else… some place near a brook…away from the everyday din...under the clear blue sky…beneath a canopy of trees.. listening to more country birds sing and lie soaking in the imminent spring. I hope I am able to gather a few of my friends together and travel away atleast for a weekend to some such place soon.

I hoped he was the first cuckoo of the spring that I heard..it gives me hope to look forward to more such wonderful daybreaks.

...In lighter veins!

I have been intending to post this for a while now but as usual I have been procrastinating a lot… Like all deferrers say, it’s better late than never!

With every newspaper keeping aside a considerable portion of their columns to write about the global financial meltdown and with so many market watchers and eminent economists predicting the fate of the world economy and so many discussions on this subject, I know that anything more that I, or for that matter anyone else, write on it is just otiose. However, over the past few months, I have come across a few write-ups that help one to look at the subject in lighter notes. I have compiled them here for future reading as well….
(courtesy: a lot of sources from the internet)

a) A little ditty about Merrill Lynch and CEO John Thain..

At first I was amazed,
But I was dignified

When Merrill offered me the job,
I almost died
But I've spent the last few nights wondering just what went wrong
Our firm was strong
But I wasn't the boss for very long
There was just no way back
From Stan's bad place
I didn't have the time to write down all our toxic waste

I should have dumped it all at once
That really was the key

Then all those short sellers
Wouldn't have made such a fool of me
I thought we'd press on
I was pretty sure
Please believe me
I didn't see BofA coming through our door

But our firm stock, it soon went short
And the future, it looked real black
Like Lehman we'd get caught
And there would be just no way back
The name's John Thain (But I'm not to blame)
I thought we'd survive

Oh, now I'll soon be off
I'll be on my way

But I've got that real big bonus
Then there's my stock option pay
So I'll survive
I will survive, hey, hey
It took all the self-belief I had
To stay this strong
I even called up Goldman Sachs
To see if they would come along
And I spent all last weekend
Trying to do a deal
But I just can't lie
Now this firm don't need me
You'll have someone new
Ken Lewis rules
That much is very true
Our staff will really feel the pinch
You'll soon be feeling blue

There'll be no more Merrill Lynch
No more jobs left for me and you
I thought we'd press on
I was pretty sure

Please believe me
I didn't see BofA coming through our door

But our firm stock, it soon went short
And the future, it looked real black
Like Lehman we'd get caught
And there would be just no way back
The name's John Thain (But I'm not to blame)
I thought we'd survive
But I thought we'd press on
I was pretty sure
Please believe me
I didn't see BofA coming through our door

But our firm stock, it soon went short
And the future, it looked real black
Like Lehman we'd get caught
And there would be just no way back
The name's John Thain (I'm off to work for John McCain)
Sorry we didn't survive

b).The after-effects of the sub-prime crisis:

President Bush said, the clients shouldn't be concerned by all these bank closings. If the bank is closed, you just use the ATM, he said.

George Bush said that he is saddened to hear about the demise of Lehman brothers… His thoughts at this time go out to their mother as losing one son is hard but losing two is a tragedy.

How do you define optimism? A banker who irons 5 shirts on a Sunday.

Why are all MBAs going back to school? To ask for their money back.

For Geography students: What's the capital of Iceland?
Answer: About Three Pounds Fifty...

A trader: "This is worse than a divorce. I've lost half my net worth and I still have a wife."

If you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas. If you want to trade in derivatives, God bless you.

Forty years ago I sold fifty shares of my company stock and had enough money to purchase a brand-new 1967 Ford pickup. Last week, I checked it out, and if I sold another fifty shares, I'd have enough money to buy a 1967 Ford pickup. So, the market has stablized.

"I want to warn people from Nigeria who might be watching our show, if you get any e-mails from Washington asking for money, it's a scam. Don't fall for it" — Jay Leno

"Do you have any idea how cheap stocks are now? Wall Street is now being called Wal-Mart Street" — Jay Leno

Q: What is the difference between a pigeon and a London investment banker?
A: The pigeon can still make a deposit on a BMW

Q: What's the difference between a guy who just lost everything in Vegas and an investment banker?
A: A tie

The problem with investment bank balance sheets is that on the left side nothing's right and on the right side nothing's left

I went to buy a toaster and a bank was given free with it!

c). An ode to Lehman Bros...

There once was a bank built on credit
Toxic loans, CDOs further fed it
But when it came time to sell
It was after the bell
And the Fed and the Street simply fled it

But think of us upper class bankers
Good food and champagne we still hanker
Now back on Main Street
No more world at our feet
Yet still we are thought of as .......

Who next ? What now ? Where to go ?
Are we heading for Wall Street's last throw ?
Replaced by hedge funds emerging
Sovereign money resurging
Is there a future for us ? We don't know'.

d). Investment banking groom valuations fall in Wedding market

Hyderabad: The subprime crisis in the US has made its effects felt in India as well, this time in the highly lucrative weddings futures market in Andhra Pradesh. "An IIM passout at a US investment bank like Lehman Brothers was as good as it got, a few weeks back. But now parents of brides want to stay as far as possible from such profiles", said Dr Rajan, an expert with over 20 years of experience in the matrimonial industry.

The first visible effects were noted in the online space yesterday with scores of investment banking profiles being "blocked" by women across matrimonial & social networking sites. Apparently the average "Be my friend" request index from 20 - 26 years old women to investment bankers have dropped from 24 to 2 in a period of three weeks. "As Indians, we have always been trained to think long term", said an unrepentant Sophia after deleting 6 investment bankers from her Friends list.

Mrs Narayani, head of the Old Wives & Aunts Network, the most powerful lobby working in this industry said that the offline impact will also be felt sooner than later. "As of today, we are downgrading Financial Services, Investment banking & Outsourcing from 'Marriage Material (MM)' to 'Ignore Politely (IP)'. But we stand committed to all deals that have been mutually agreed upon before Sep 15th, provided the groom can present evidence of fresh employment & adequate capital reserves, preferably in cash only", she said.

Raj Malhotra, a Lehman Brothers investment banker who was holding out, hoping for a better valuation said "Maybe I should not have waited so long & should have accepted the buyout offer from the Mysore based girl". Utopia has also learnt that a number of investment bankers have lowered their next quarter projections and are now ready to marry any girl who will just let them.

It is also reported that the worst fears of any banker - the girl insisting on a sense of humour - might also come true as the market prepares itself for a long winter.

The Global Financial Meltdown...

The global financial crisis…catastrophe…turmoil...meltdown...whatever terminology one wants to connote it with, is a reality. The US sub-prime mortgage crisis left a lasting impact on the world economy and the depth of the economical destruction it has caused is unfathomable. The year 2008 will be remembered for the death of the once indestructible IB giants such as Lehman Brothers who filed bankruptcy (I had aspired to work for LB some day!!!), Merrill Lynch & Countrywide Financial being acquired by Bank of America, Bear Stearns being acquired by J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley revoked of their status of Investment Banks!!, Government take-over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, by placing them into “conservatorship” and the failure of AIG, whom FED bailed out later and Washington Mutual who filed for bankruptcy & was later taken over by J P Morgan.

Over US$700 billion have been invested into the US economy as bail-out packages and these have left the country in its highest national debt ever. The Dow Jones & the NASDAQs of the world have fallen by over 20 to 25 % from their earlier highs; these have a cascading effect on the European and the Asian indices which have also fallen prey to the global turmoil. The share prices of the once inaccessible blue chips have touched rock-bottoms, almost. Corporate layoffs have left lakhs of people jobless at the helm of such a financial peril that has rocked even the world’s strongest nations. This has directly impacted larger industries such as automobiles, petrol, airlines etc which has experienced a fall in sales and consumption. The world’s most powerful country goes into elections amidst the country’s worst economic times and the candidates in contention, Obama and McCain respectively, campaigns promising a resurrection of sorts & guarantees on rescuing the country from going through another “great depression”, last experienced in the US during 1929.

For millions of people the slump directly translates to lost fortune.. a million dreams had come crashing down along with the free-fall of the stock markets. Stocks that were held as long term investments had to be sold at the current low prices for immediate liquidity to cater for their imminent sustenance and the decline of the housing prices left the people with lesser “wealth”.

But for lots of others this is the period to make money.. to rake in the moolah aplenty. For an average individual this recession could be the well paved path for making their dream fortunes.

The stocks of blue chip companies are sold for a song.. The global financial gurus predict a USD 10,000 investment in such stocks to turn into at least USD 30 million in the long run. It is the right time to invest in such stocks and gain from the revived growth that these companies will see in the near future. If one understands the Warren Buffet way, it is easy to notice the similarity in his pattern of investments. He invested about US $ 5 million in Goldman Sachs and about US $ 3 billion in GE during the slump instead of in their prime!!

The Real Estate is fast moving into a slump across most the developing countries, such as India and China. The US sub-prime mishap has woken up local banks in many of these countries who are now on a pre-empted corrective phase to set right their home loan segments before the inevitable crisis rudely wakes them up. Banks have tightened their loan-lending policies, doubled up the check on the loan applier’s eligibility and credit worthiness for loans and stringent loan recovery measures have been initiated. In such times of hard credit in the market, there is lesser number of people available to buy houses. The number of homes available for sale far exceeds the number of ready buyers. The once bullish real estate market is slowing seen losing its steam and has started on its downward journey. In a couple of months from now, it becomes the best time for people with good credit-worthiness and repayment ability to bite a juicy chunk of this sector; get their dream home at affordable prices!!

The enviable yellow metal has also yo-yoed along with the fluctuating market. It is however tried and tested that the price of gold will rise alongside inflations and it is one of the most preferred avenue for long-term investments. An article on investment by Emanuel Balarie, clearly explains the journey that Gold has traveled in terms of its value and its ROI, “In 1934, an ounce of gold was priced at $35; in 1973 it was priced at $42.22; and in 2006 it hit a high of $720. The general trend has been higher gold prices over a prolonged period of time.” The price of gold has currently fallen and hence it paves way for average investors like me to dip my fingers into it and stay put for a long period of time.

The BFS (Banking and Financial Sector) organizations in countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, India etc are now able to recruit very knowledged and experienced talent at lower salaries than they were available for a couple of years earlier or their abhorrent current market value in the west. These job-seekers who have been evicted from their earlier plum jobs have headed to Asian destinations are more than willing to take up these jobs and contribute with their knowledge to the development of these organizations.

We do not know if this crisis is the beginning of the fall of the mighty US or whether the US will emerge like the phoenix from the ash, with all its might. With a new government days away from coming into power and the new economic policies and plans that it promises to bring in, one can only wait and hope that the current recession that the great economy is now experiencing do not fall further to see another depression.

Picture courtesy: TOI

A dear departed....

She was the tiniest 15-day old that I had ever seen. All of 6 inches tall, shrill voiced, and with those eyes that looked like they have been contoured freshly with black mascara, Mini stormed into our lives this day, 17 years ago.

It was a lovely experience to watch her grow up amidst us. She was a very joyful dog, with a lovely tan coat; a shade of tan that was uncommon for dachshunds, deep warm eyes and an allegiance that I have never been able to fathom. Her playful antics of running around to catch her own tail, her “reverse-gear” dashes, slapping big black ants with her tiny paws, chewing on all our shoes & sandals, carving off our furniture legs, tearing our curtain ends, her fear of the fire-crackers & thunderstorms, her hate to be tied-up with a chain, her apprehension on being left alone at home, her love for half-scraped coconut shells and morning tea, her acute loathe for lizards up on the walls, her despise for stray cows or goats that wander near our home to graze, her deep adoration for the family members, her guilt-ridden face whenever she dirtied our home instead of relieving herself outside, her regular “vigilance” walks around the house every hour, her sneak-visits to our beds to sleep beside us, remains etched in my mind even today.

Apart from the family members, there were only very few people whom she allowed to be a part of her “inner-circle”; the rest had to do with merely watching her from a distance. If dogs could speak, then Mini kutty would have communicated to us in clear Malayalam. I am sure she understood every single word we spoke. The mere utterance of “shampoo”, “chain” and “water” was enough to make her go into hiding, to avoid a bath which she intensely despised. She could recognize the sound of dad’s bike approaching from miles away and would gleefully run around the house waiting in anticipation for his arrival. She wouldn’t hesitate to create a pleasant ruckus each time anyone of us returned home from a brief period away from her sight.

I still remember the day when mom was away from home for almost a week and Mini had refused to eat even a morsel of food without seeing her. She had to be coaxed and cajoled into eating some food and finally force-fed when all other tactics failed. We had never seen a more happier dog, when mom returned from her trip. Mini refused to leave her side for a whole week since then. She asked up onto her bed and lay by her side all throughout the week fearing that she’ll leave her again. It took a lot of sweet-talking and comforting before she finally was convinced.

Her non-judgmental companionship and unwavering loyalty to us, many a times, gave a small lug on our hearts. She left us quietly one August afternoon, after spending 14 years of her life with us..…without giving us a chance to bid her a proper good-bye, without letting us show her what she meant to all of us, without realizing the void she was going to leave behind and without allowing us to thank her for sharing her life with us.

Miss you Minikutty…

Book mania(c)!!

My 3rd grade final exam results were announced and dad came home with my report card, visibly very happy. I had scored the 1st rank once again and the report card proudly displayed “Rank 1st” across all the three term exam results. Along with it the school had awarded me with the scholarship of Rs.500 that year for the consistent performance.

That afternoon, dad handed me a small wrapped bundle. I eagerly opened it up and was happy to see that my gift was a collection of 30 books. They were short stories written and compiled for children and it was an ideal catalyst for developing a habit called reading. Summer vacations had just set in and my cousins had gone on their annual holiday to Kerala to their granny’s home leaving me behind. Besides sleeping and watching television I had nothing else to do. I opened the first book and started reading it and the 30 books, I soon realized, kept me busy for the month.

Very soon, we were introduced to the school library that year. The likes of Enid Blyton, F W Dixon, Carolyn Keene, Mark Twain and others caught my immediate attention. I could easily relate to the characters Darrell Rivers & Sally Hope from the Malory Tower series; George, Julian and the gang in the Famous Five series; Nancy Drew with her friends Bess & George and Frank & Joe Hardy in the juvenile detective novel series; Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer in their adventures and many more. Every book that I read then had varied adventure sequences & escapades to look forward to. The stories lead me into imagining being a part of all the adventures the characters were playing. Exploring the secret passages in the mansions, discovering treasures on islands, picnics on the hills, cracking secret codes, being a part of secret societies, hunting for clues, solving mysteries, fighting the bad goons, playing detectives intrigued me. Every Wednesday we had an hour of mandatory reading time at school and no doubts for guessing that it was my favourite period.

These were such prolific works for children in my ages then that I now secretly thank my dad and my English teachers who introduced me to them. Although my frequency of reading had reduced due to mounting syllabus and academics, I always made time to catch up on a few pages of fiction most of the days.

The likes of James Hadley Chase, Perry Mason, Mario Puzo, Frederick Forsyth, Alistair MacLean, Mills & Boons series, the Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer & John Grisham series soon found its way into my book shelves at home. These works of fiction threw open a whole new perspective of things. I couldn’t keep a book down till I had completed reading it. I couldn’t sleep till I read a few pages of fiction. They found way to the dining table too. I did not think it was an acquired habit at all. It was a natural process for me as much as eating or sleeping or reviewing my homework was. When I talk about appreciating the works of Ayn Rand, I have a lot of people giving me that look of “oh god, how can she even go past the first paragraph in the book” and telling me, “Don’t tell me you actually read The Fountainhead completely. Girl, are you really insane?”

I hear some of my friends and relatives proudly claiming that their wards are well versed with all the latest movie songs, are able to list out all the names of actors and actresses who are a part of all the new movie releases, do not eat food unless its served to them right in front of the TV and they are allowed to watch the mind-clogging serials that their parents watch, needs walkmans plugged to their ears before they fall asleep....but they do not read “boring” works of fiction because it deviates the child’s mind away from his academic books!!

Books I always believed are “Fast foods” for the mind. It is a rejuvenating activity that can quite stir a child’s thinking abilities and enhances his/her imagination. Wish they will realize it someday and that someday is not too late.

Picture Courtesy: All the pictures are from various web pages on the Internet.

Malayalam Movie Montage..

Chocolate, Romeo, Rock and Roll, Kangaroo, Classmates, Ring tone, Laptop, Flash, Sound of Boot, Alice in wonderland, Lollypop, The Tiger, Casanova, Colours, Body guard, Daddy cool – no these are not some mere strings of unrelated English words that I have compiled; they are names of Malayalam movies that were released over the last 2 years or are in the pipeline for release!!

It is difficult to place a finger correctly on whether it’s the need to look “cool” or the pressure of “globalization” of movies, or if this is what the Kerala audience now demands, but the trend in naming movies and the overall quality of Malayalam movies that’s being released off-late is pitifully sub-standard. It irks to see movies of such genre getting released every other week, flooding the theatres and also coagulating the minds of the average movie watcher. Creativity, that quite withstood the trial of time in our movies, seems to have vanished into oblivion.

I had grown up watching Malayalam movies and had admired its simplicity and its ability to tell us powerful tales by fiercely guarding its originality. At the time when the Hindi film industry was being coined as “Bollywood” (I never quite liked that word; a lame copy of the famous Hollywood), and movies were being marketed in more Indian cities and abroad, Malayalam films were “nice” and “authentic” and were mostly confined to viewers within Kerala and through some late releases to viewers in a few other cities. They had that old-world-charm in its stories, its heroes, its heroines, its plots, its shooting locales; everything helped one relate easily to them. They did not take you on a “dream-trip” to aspirational Switzerland or Holland, nor did the protagonists try to appear “super-human” or “god-players”. The aesthetics of movies of that by-gone era had delighted me and the movies from those eons are a pleasure to watch even today.

The blockbusters which were released then were thought-provoking. The low-budget movies demonstrated communal issues, the kerala political scenarios, the belly-bursting comedies, the campus and mature romances, the tragedies that made you weep along with the lead characters in the movie; everything captured the viewers’ intellects. Adaptations of a lot of literary works into movies helped the not so avid readers to look into the minds of M T Vasudevan or O V Vijayan and understand their writings. It was a treat to watch the likes of Mammootty, Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Innocent, Shobana, Urvashi, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, KPAC Lalitha and a host of others in movies such as these.

The Kerala film industry has got itself muddled into unwarranted controversies, the silent, unconfessed dual between the “senior” and the “new/junior” actors, the confused movie associations unsure of the reason for their existence and baffled at the sides that are supposed to support, rising costs of actor/actress remunerations which is not quite withstanding with the movie’s success or failure, production houses funding movies that are not “off-beat” or “original” but always surrounding around the “never-aging” superstars, members of the star “fan clubs” who are set out to hoot away movies that do not feature their favourite actor(s) have become the norm. I recently read an article by a pained and an observant audience who couldn’t help lamenting on how the stage programs in all the award ceremonies in Kerala had participants dancing and singing to the tunes of Tamil and Hindi movie songs only. “Can you see anyone in the Tamil or the Hindi film industry dance on stage to a Malayalam movie song?”, asked he. Well, we all know the answer to that one.

M. Karunanidhi, the Tamil Nadu CM had announced a discount in entertainment tax for Tamil movies that have a Tamil title and the latest movie to honour this commitment of TN Govt is Rajnikanth-Shankar’s movie, Robot. The team is considering renaming it to a Tamil name, Yenthiram!! I sincerely hope that V S Achudanandan takes a leaf out of the book of his Tamil Nadu counterpart and contribute his 2 cents in saving this drowning industry; ensuring mandatory Malayalam movie titles to begin with!!....on second thoughts, any idea if someone’s offered the Malayalam film industry tax sops for naming the movies in English??