'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' A Review

Jab Tab Hai Jaan (JTHJ) released this Diwali, and is the last movie directed by legendary Indian film producer and director Yash Chopra. I am not really a great fan of Shahrukh Khan movies, and have infact just seen a few glimpses of his past couple of movies, while they were being shown on TV. However, bowing to the wish of wife, I went to watch this movie, on the day after Diwali.

Talking generally about the movie, it follows the trade mark style of Yash Chopra. However, a weak plot and screenplay ruins the day. I found a number of things in this movie, which could have been avoided or improved. At few places, minor details were not really cared for by the director and/ or editor.

• In one of the initial scene of the movie, Anushka Sharma is shown to be jumping in a freezing lake in Ladakh, only to be saved by SRK. The movie later reveals that she is a good deep sea swimmer. Is a well trained swimmer, not supposed to know, that he/ she can or can not swim in such kind of conditions?
• The same scene also shows SRK leaving behind his army jacket (with his name plate on it) along with other equipments with Anushka Sharma and leaving the scene in a jiffy. Does army issues uniform and such equipment to soldier whenever they demand it, and without seeking any clarification?
• In another scene Anushka starts to reads a personal diary of SRK, which starts with "Meri Zindagi ki...", however the background voice of SRK narrates the same as "Meri life ki...". Hello editors? were you sleeping?
• A scene, where the fiance of Katrina is making presentation to room full of people. People listening to the presentation have their respective laptops screen open, but for some strange reasons they have forgotten to switch on their laptops.
• The basic point, around which the whole plot of the movie is built seems to be very illogical. Katrina strikes a deal with 'Sir Jesus' to save the life of SRK (after he meets an accident) and in return she will never ever meet him. Surprisingly, the lady backtracks on her part of the deal 10 years later, for which director has not been able to convince the audience.
• SRK is shown to be doing the odd jobs in London such as snow cleaner, vegetable vendor, waiting at restaurant, singing on streets, which surely indicate lack of skills. However, after breakup with Katrina he decides to return to India not only to be enlisted as an 'officer' in the Indian army, but also goes on to become such a celebrated bomb disposal expert that Indian Army wants him to be part of a Discovery TV documentary in order to encourage youngsters to the profession. The later portion of the movie also indicate that age of SRK when he leaves London was 28 years. I am not sure if Indian army would recruit people at this age.
• SRK's room mate in London is a Pakistani, again with no skills and no job. But once SRK gives him a handful of pounds while leaving London, he surprisingly becomes proud owner of a big restaurant in London. Choosing a Pakistani room mate is also not logically shown, as usually an Indian-Pakistani friendship in a movie is used to promote the Indo-Pak bhai-bhai philosophy, which is not shown properly here.
• SRK never wears safety suit while working on most difficult of the bombs and has successfully disposed close to 100 bombs.  Army discipline and protocol gaya tel lene.
• SRK initially warns Anushka Sharma (A Discovery Channel intern) to be at a distance of 200 ft (or may be it was 300 ft) from the bomb. However, after a few days his confidence on her grows and she invites her to come as close as half feet to the bomb, and not surprisingly not insisting on the lady to wear a safety suit.
• A scene depicting bomb scare at a tube station inside train in London, shows police clearing the area, and SRK walk in (police personals  are not able to stop a single man) and disposes the bomb, much to the surprise of the man in charge. Agreed that SRK is the king of Bollywood, but you keep to show some difference between the Scotland Yard and Indian Police.
• The end seems very simple and boring (Happy Endings types...). It could have been a more twist. For example, when he comes to Katrina after disposing a bomb, and is called by his colleague for attending another bomb, the second bomb could have been shown to go off.
• The censor board certificate at the beginning shows the movie length at 179 minutes. The slow pace of the movie and 179 minutes makes the movie a bit uninteresting at few places and compels you to look at your wrist watch again and again.
• Although, composed by A R Rahman, the music of the movie is not so great except for that Punjabi songs, in which SRK runs around the streets of London dancing and singing around with his cover less guitar and has goras enjoying and gyrating with him.
• Intimate scenes between SRK and Katrina look artificial, seem not planned properly. No wonder, SRK has recently commented that he was forced to kiss Katrina, which shows the reason for above argument.

Being a DELHIite..

I have recently shifted to Delhi from Hyderabad. Though it has been almost two month since I joined the Delhi office, I am still getting used to being a Delhi-ite.
The culture here is write different as compared to Hyderabad. People are so vibrant and lively. There is a lot of Punjabi influence as Delhi is home to many Punjabis. The Punjabi influence here is most prominently observed in the food. The most frequently eaten and preferred food here is Chhole bhature, Rajma, Dal makhni etc.
Delhi is anyway known for food. The bylanes of Chandni Chowk are famous for variety of food. Be it that famous Paranthe wali gali known for delicious veg paranthas, or other shops known for Jalebis, lassi etc. everything has been repeatedly covered and shown on TV by a number of food shows. I haven't visited the area yet, but definitely intend to do so in the near future.
Delhi also has a thriving night life,.which was practically absent in Hyderabad. It is quite evident from the fact that even if you travel at midnight you will see lots of vehicles plying on the road. Last weekend I visited India gate after 11pm and found lots of people around there. It was like a 'mela', with lots to eat and chat, and unless you look at your watch you can't tell that it is close to midnight.
Another good thing about Delhi is travelling in metro. Even though there is huge rush during rush hours, the journey is competitively in air conditioned coaches of metro as compared to travelling in buses or even autorickshaws. Plus it saves a lot of time.
Delhi is also known for a number of historical monuments as well as other tourist attractions. I have lots and lots of places to explore here, which I guess would require some good amount of time.
I intend to keep writing about Delhi, but am very lazy to make a blog entry. During last six months a number of people have appreciated previous posts in this blog and have advised to write more frequently, which I hope can be done easily.

Samosa Justice

Found an interesting article on the net. Publishing here as it is.

[Source: http://dawn.com/2012/07/26/samosa-justice/]

THE days of the cheap samosa are over. While the savoury little delight is consumed with great relish by Pakistanis around the year, sales of the samosa skyrocket during Ramazan as it is a staple of the iftar spread. However, the Supreme Court has set aside a notification of the Punjab government regulating the price of samosas. As reported in the media, in 2009 the Lahore local government had fixed the price of the crispy delight at Rs6 a samosa. The local government’s machinery took action against some shopkeepers found to be selling more expensive samosas. However, not satisfied with the price set for their product, the bakers and sweet-makers of the Punjab went to court. When the Lahore High Court turned down their petition, the bakers appealed to the Supreme Court. They felt the samosa did not fall within the purview of the Punjab Foodstuffs (Control) Act, 1958, hence the government could not fix its prices, a notion the apex court seemed to agree with.

While the commercial bakers will rejoice at the verdict, others waiting for justice in Pakistan’s ever-clogged judicial system may be wondering when their turn will come. With a question of interpretation of a law at stake, the Supreme Court was the ultimate forum for resolving the matter, however trifling it may appear to the average citizen. The question, then, is whether the superior judiciary should devise some rules and a system to fast-track more urgent and serious matters for justice rather than spend valuable time on a regulation that is virtually unenforceable in any case — the proof of that being a visit to any market in Lahore where samosas are openly being sold for much higher than Rs6. Samosa-makers may be happy and another case struck from the superior judiciary’s docket, but was it the court’s best use of time at this stage?

Temple built for Higgs-Boson 'God particle' in Tamil Nadu.. devotees throng to get darshan

Came across an amazing post on a news group. I am producing the same verbatim herewith.

Temple built for Higgs-Boson 'God particle'

in Tamil Nadu..  devotees throng to get darshan

In what is a testament to Hinduism’s assimilative capacity, the elusive Higgs-Boson or God particle has been admitted as a full fledged God into the Hindu pantheon and a temple in His honor has been built in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district.

Confirming the development, Swami Vajranand Sarwasti, head of the decade old Higgs-Boson consciousness sect devoted to the propagation of devotion to Lord Higgs-Boson and attainment of spiritual salvation by chanting His name, said, “Ever since CERN confirmed that they had discerned the Lord’s temporal presence after detecting a bump in the mass range based on the data generated from collisions of trillions of sub-atomic particles, we have been inundated with calls by eager devotees seeking a darshan of Higgs-Boson bhagwaaan. So we decided to build a temple in His honour to satisfy the cravings of His devotees.”

In addition to the sanctum sanctorum housing the idol of Lord Higgs-Boson, the temple’s walls will feature murals and carvings depicting data from CERN’s experiments involving over 500 trillion collisions between protons and anti-protons since 2001 in the 27 km long Large Hadron Collider (LCH), so that devotees can feel His divine presence at a more spiritual, metaphysical level.

Aarthi being performed for Lord Higgs-Boson

But how will He be represented in idol form since thus far only His presence has been validated, not visual form? “Dude, most Gods and Goddesses in the Hindu pantheon are anthropomorphic so why should Lord Higgs-Boson be any exception unless CERN tells us otherwise. We have asked devotees to send in their submissions from which we will finalize the Lord’s image. The only guideline we venture is that He should be imbued with classical Aryan features. For the time being, we’ll just go with a notional Google search generated image of the Lord,” replied Swami Vajranand.

“However, let me make it clear at the outset that we will not accept pictures of Rajnikant, Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Bose. We are very clear about this,” he hastened to add.

Swamiji has also requested the Government to subsidize the annual pilgrimage of devotees to CERN headquarters to pay obeisance at the Large Hadron Collider where the Lord’s divine presence was first detected.

In related news, upcoming Godman Swami Brahmanand has claimed that he is an avatar of Higgs-Boson and CERN can stop conducting any more experiments to validate His presence. “Once they submit to me with full faith and experience the divine rays of spiritual energy emanating from me, their lingering doubts will melt away and they will go back with 10 sigma proof  that Swami Brahmanand and Higgs-Boson are one and the same,” claimed the Swamiji.

Deleveraging the National Balance Sheet

The countries across the world are facing the crisis of huge national debt, and some are on the brink of default. A few countries in Europe like Portugal and Ireland have already been downgraded to 'JUNK' grade by Moody's. US is also facing the problem with its national debt. Though it is not as high as European countries and is manageable (net debt at 65% of GDP), it has reached the ceiling of $14.3 trillion, which if not revised by the Congress, may lead serious repercussions in US and obviously the world over. I came across the article "Handle with care" in 'The Economist, July 9th-15th, 2011 issue'. The following are the excerpts from the article on how to reduce the national debt.

---

Debt can be reduced in several ways. It can be paid off with the help of higher thrift (though not everyone can spend less than they earn at the same time). Its burden can be reduced through higher inflation or faster growth. Or it can be defaulted on. In practice, rich countries seem to be using different combinations of these approaches.
In America, where overall debt levels have fallen fastest, a lot of the reduction in household debt has been thanks to mortgage defaults and write-downs. In Britain, where there have been virtually no mortgage write-downs, relatively high inflation has pushed down the overall debt burden. Spain, in contrast, has seen virtually no reduction in its debt load, despite fiscal austerity, partly because that very austerity has contributed to weak growth and low inflation which have kept down nominal GDP. Tough rules on mortgage have made it hard to reduce unpayable household debt.

European Mess

The economic mess in Europe is getting messier day by day. Some time back a new term PIGS was coined, to refer Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. These four countries are most financially troubled and debt burdened countries in the Euro area and one among them Greece is almost on the verge of bankruptcy.

European union, IMF etc. have helped them in past by providing additional line of debt to temporarily take care of debt liabilities, but these oxygen supplies have not helped them in long term and the trouble continues.

The deficit in Greece is touching 14-15% levels. Recently Greek government announced austerity measures for civil servants, which faced a lot of opposition in the country. People there are afraid that these austerity measures may soon expand to all business sectors including privatr firms. infact some people have already started planning to emigrate to other countries. The wages and salaries are not increasing, but the inflation is, and so are the taxes. Banks are refusing to lend money fearing that borrowers may not be able to repay. Worse still, the unemployment level is going up gradually.

When Eurozone was created in late 90s, the member economies gained a lot of attention worldwide, particularly on the strength of strong economis such as Germany. The FDI and financial flows increased manifold. This is not the case anymore. There have been allegation that these PIGS countries are affecting other Eurozone economies, particularly on trade performance. There have been some serious suggestions to do away with the Eurozone and the Euro as common currency. So far, the Euro is surviving on the continuing commitment of member countries and as an alternative to the US dollar in Asia and Middle East.

PIGS countries have received significant amount of bailout in the past and continues to receive further bailout packages as and when required. Now Eurozone is planning a permanent baiout fund known as European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which will be operational from 2013/2014. But will that solve the problem, only time will tell. The major problem is that countries like Greece are not capable to repay such huge debt. Therefore without a formal restructuring of their debts, the bailout packages are only providing temporary relief and just delaying the inevitable.

Greece has become insolvent as its debt has reached 160% of its GDP. Economist has been suggesting that Greece can not sustain more than half of its existing debt. The formal restructuring of debt seems more of a preferred option as an austerity drive can not reduce deficit significantly, and would have lot of internal opposition. An otherwise chaotic default would be very harsh not just on lenders to Greece, but would indirectly affect most of the economies globaly. Moreover, in case of default the lenders may not be in position to recover even half of their money, which could be recovered though an orderly restructuring.

Solar Power May Already Rival Coal, Prompting Installation Surge

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-05/solar-energy-costs-may-already-rival-coal-spurring-installation-boom.html

Solar panel installations may surge in the next two years as the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, industry executives and analysts said.

Large photovoltaic projects will cost $1.45 a watt to build by 2020, half the current price, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimated today. The London-based research company says solar is viable against fossil fuels on the electric grid in the most sunny regions such as the Middle East.

“We are already in this phase change and are very close to grid parity,” Shawn Qu, chief executive officer of Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ), said in an interview. “In many markets, solar is already competitive with peak electricity prices, such as in California and Japan.”

Chinese companies such as JA Solar Holdings Ltd., Canadian Solar and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. are making panels cheaper, fueled by better cell technology and more streamlined manufacturing processes. That’s making solar economical in more places and will put it in competition with coal, without subsidies, in the coming years, New Energy Finance said.

“The most powerful driver in our industry is the relentless reduction of cost,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive officer of New Energy Finance, said at the company’s annual conference in New York yesterday. “In a decade the cost of solar projects is going to halve again.”

Installation Boom

Installation of solar PV systems will almost double to 32.6 gigawatts by 2013 from 18.6 gigawatts last year, New Energy Finance estimates. Manufacturing capacity worldwide has almost quadrupled since 2008 to 27.5 gigawatts, and 12 gigawatts of production will be added this year. Canadian Solar has about 1.3 gigawatts of capacity and expects to reach 2 gigawatts next year, Qu said.

“You have to get better at it as well,” said Bill Gallo, CEO of Areva SA (CEI)’s solar unit. The French company could shave another 20 percent from the cost of making its concentrating solar thermal technology, and the same proportion from building and deploying plants, he said.

Electricity from coal costs about 7 cents a kilowatt hour compared with 6 cents for natural gas and 22.3 cents for solar photovoltaic energy in the final quarter of last year, according to New Energy Finance estimates.

Comparisons often overstate the costs of solar because they may take into account the prices paid by consumers and small businesses who install roof-top power systems, instead of the rates utilities charge each other, said Qu of Canadian Solar.

“Solar isn’t expensive,” he said “In many areas of the solar industry you’re competing with retail power, not wholesale power.”

Rooftop solar installations also will become cheaper, the executives said.

“System costs have declined 5 percent to 8 percent (a year), and we will continue to see that,” SolarCity Inc. CEO Lyndon Rive said in an interview. The Foster City, California- based company is a closely held installer and owner of rooftop power systems.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ehren Goossens at the BNEF Summit in New York at egoossens1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net

Travelogue on the day of India v Pakistan epic

This is the travelogue details, when I was traveling to Chennai instead of watching the India v Pakistan clash in the Cricket World Cup 2011.

All this started on 28th March, when I got a call from a bank in Chennai asking me to attend a meeting on 30th March regarding a company, for which I was working a debt refinance scheme. I told them, the agenda of the meeting is very simple and there is nothing related to me, so I may be excused, but still my presence was insisted. I talked to my boss next day, who was also reluctant to send me because we were not paid the fee for long time and also because of the India v Pakistan clash. It is difficult for me to say, which was the primary reason and which was the secondary.

Any way, I booked both sides ticket and embarked on the journey next day.

0650 hrs. I woke up. Usual morning calmness. Prepared to leave for airport.

0720 hrs. Cab driver called up. at least half an hour early then I had asked him to report. I asked him to wait.

0740 hrs. Had two Gobhi paratha for breakfast.

0750 hrs. Left home for airport.

0845 hrs. Reached airport. I was told this is the international flight, so I have to go to the check in counter at international terminal. Luckily, Hyderabad airport do not have separate terminals for domestic and international operations, it is just that one side of the terminal is used for domestic operations and other side for the international operations. checked in at the counter, I asked for the seat near exit, thinking it would be the comfortable one with more leg space and would be convenient to exit, but I was given the seat near emergency exit in the middle of the aircraft. then I cleared the custom desk and moved near the scheduled departure gate. There were a couple of Muslim family perhaps traveling for Holy Haj, with males wrapped in a white towel or similar looking cloth. Everything except that was quite at the Terminal.

0910 hrs. I sat near the departure gate, where my flight was supposed to leave. I looked around if I could find some familiar face only to meet disappointment.

0945 hrs. Finally the boarding started. People at boarding desk checked my boarding pass, and tore off one portion of it. I moved to clear the CISF jawan and then in the aero bridge. I clicked a pic of the aircraft and posted to my facebook wall.

1015 hrs. Flight started moving. In another 5 minutes it was airborne. A few turbulence in the initial phase, which are quite uncommon for a bigger aircraft like A-319, in which I was flying. This reminded me of the fake pilot scam recently unearthed in India. However, realizing that since I am already airborne, there is nothing I can do now and I have good amount of insurance I relaxed back on my seat and took out the book 'Immortals of Meluha', which I have been reading on past 2-3 journeys.

1040 hrs. The flight stabilized at a height, and air hostess and stewards brought a small box containing so called breakfast. (A tip to all home sick people, that you should travel Air India, where you will feel like your mother and father are serving the food).

1110 hrs. Landed at Chennai airport. Came out of Chennai airport.

1115 hrs. Came outside of the Chennai airport, to find driver was not there. Made some quick calls to my office. After waiting for about 10 minutes, I found the driver. He was waiting for me at internal arrivals.

1225 hrs. Reached the bank. Bank officer asked me some help regarding the provisions he had to make in the account. I opened the RBI circular on my laptpo and convinced him that three different things he is inquiring with me are one and same; and whatever calculation has been done by him is correct and even if it is wrong let auditors point it out and also provide the correction. After that I made a reply, which the bank branch was supposed to provide to its corporate office.

So far, there was nothing related to India v Pakistan match.

1420 hrs. Left for lunch. Ordered Veg American Choupsey and shared with a bank person. The match started at 1430 hrs. The restaurant had an LCD TV, and while eating the Choupsey, we both enjoyed Sehwag hitting Umar Gul all around the park. After finishing the lunch, we both left the restaurant with about 6-7 overs match over and Sehwag returning to pavilion.

1600 hrs. Reached the meeting venue along with bank official. Wow! they had arranged a small TV in the meeting hall for match. We watched a few overs, while waiting for other participants to arrive. In the meanwhile, some old and not so young bankers exchanged a few expert comments about the match, regarding who will win/ loose, what should India do to win, and whether Sachin should score a century today or not. The meeting started in some time, with mute volume. Everybody excited with the match, kept the meeting very short and the official gup-shup was over in not more than 30 minutes. Bankers proceeded to sign documents one by one, waiters served some snacks and everyone enjoyed the match.

1830 hrs. The Indian inning was over they made 260 runs (a not so good score but still fairly defend-able) and we left the meeting premises. Some bankers had came in my cab, so I had to drop them back. On the way, they asked me for some documents, which I told I had already e-mailed a few days back. Banker asked me to wait till he checks his e-mail. Holy shit! I am not going to wait for you , I told in my mind. I made a nice excuse and started back for airport immediately after dropping the bankers at their branch.

1930 hrs. So many people mushroomed beside road, affecting the traffic flow. I though it might be some fight or an accident. But it was an electronic showroom, who had installed a giant TV, in which India v Pakistan match was being played.

1945 hrs. Reached Chennai airport. showed my e-ticket to CISF people, who were discussing that if Pakistan loose two more wickets they are in trouble. I moved inside the terminal, took my boarding pass and cleared the security. Airport had a small TV in the boarding area showing the match, the score was 2 wickets down. I watched the match for a few minutes and then moved near my boarding gate. After a little while, the terminal building was filled with huge roar of people, which indicated that Pakistan had lost its 3rd wicket. Another applause followed a little later, indicate 4th wicket. I checked the internet on my cell phone to confirm the same.

2050 hrs. Boarding for my flight started. The flight was delayed by about 5 minutes or so. Some passengers suggested the Jet airways staff that they can delay the flight by two hours if they wish to, which was obviously ignored.

2120 hrs. The flight was airborne, and I took out 'Immortals of Meluha'.

2200 hrs. Flight attendant announced the score. 40 overs 180 runs 6 wicket down. Every one in the flight was excited, India has a chance.

2220 hrs. Another announcement. 45 overs 199 runs 8 wickets. Yes! India can do it.

2245 hrs. Flight landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad. I switched on my cell phone immediately and logged on to cricinfo.com. 5 balls remaining 30 runs required. India has almost done it, and then after a few minutes, India has won and entered in the Cricket World Cup 2011 Finals.

2330 hrs. Moving towards home, I observed mad rush of people waving Indian Tricolor on bikes and cars.

India had finally beaten arch rival Pakistan.

Before the match Prasoon Joshi had written a wonderful poem on the match, which was telecast on Headlines Today. Here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yLQK317Vbs

Economic Impact of Japanese disaster

As the subcontinent is dipped in colors of the Cricket world cup, as political parties prepare for forthcoming state assembly elections in five states in India, a tragedy stuck in Japan. It was hit by 8.9 M earth quake followed by devastating Tsunami on its North-eastern coast and now news about accidents in its nuclear reactors.

Enough has been discussed in various media about the damage the tragedy has caused such as monetary loss of billions and trillions of dollars and loss of human population, not less than 10,000 in number; and I am sure much more discussion will take place on these subjects in the time to come. However, I am writing this blog post to identify some potential impact this tragedy will have on the economy.

• As investors and corporates in Japan, try to recover from the tragedy, then would require huge amount of cash for the same. They might withdraw their investments from the government treasuries/ bonds and equity markets.
• The equity markets will fall because, first investors will be withdrawing money from the market by selling their equities and their are less numbers of people willing to buy these securities; and second because company's performance itself would be under pressure, due to temporary stoppage of work, high raw material prices etc.
• As people start to withdraw money from government securities, government will find it tough to raise money from the market. This will result in the yield on these instruments going northwards.
• As government is not able to raise money from the market, it has no other option but to borrow money from abroad or to print the money. Borrowing money from abroad may not be very feasible idea, considering lower rate of interests in Japan and definitely printing Yen, would be the most attractive idea for Japanese government. More money = more inflation.
• Inflation will go up, first because government will print more money for reconstruction and other normal expenses, but second because simply their is little supply against high demand.
• Food prices will go up. World is already reeling from the poor staple crops last season and the Japanese disaster has made the matter worse.
• A significant portion of the electronic items has equipments sourced from Japan, which is definitely going to be affected at least for a shorter period.
• As Japanese bonds themselves not buying enough buyers, their demand for US securities will reduce significantly, which may affect the economic recovery in the US.
• Japanese economy may ultimately show some positive growth, after showing years of stagnancy, as it tries to rebuild the lost infrastructure.
• Global companies dealing with providing infrastructural support may benefit from the reconstruction in Japan.
• The most hit would be the reinsurance companies, who would be approached for the claim on loss of properties and lives. Many smaller insurance companies would not be hit significantly, as they typically re-insure and pass on the risk to bigger insurance giants. The share prices of reinsurance giants has already taken hit (to the tune of 15-20%). These were already under pressure, after recent floods in Australia and earthquake in New Zealand. However, as insurance companies are smart, they would probably increase the premium amount for new insurance (similar thing happened in US after 9/11, when re-insurers increased the air insurance premium by USD 1 per head). The higher premium would definitely surprise (positively) the market in terms of expected earnings for the next financial year.
• Overall, I believe Indian economy may have very little impact due to this disaster

The comments of readers are invited.

The Importance of being on LinkedIn

This is the story about a professional networking site LinkedIn, which is not so popular in India as are other social network sites like the Orkut was a few years ago and now the facebook is. And this is the story of my boss, who has presence in LinkedIn and Facebook (Presence on Orkut has not yet been known) under some kind of cover or anonymity (I will ask him the reason someday and write about it).

So, as I said, my boss is using some kind of alias name on LinkedIn and suddenly yesterday (minus a day or two), he got linked up with some old room mate of his, who happens to be a hot shot prof at some American University and has got published enormous research papers and articles in the field of finance and economics. Now, boss has decided that he will do away with the alias name on the LinkedIn and appear in his true avatar there.

However, I had discovered him on LinkedIn much before (2-3 months), and also sent my request to get connected. However, it was not approved. Now, I guess is the right time to send the invitation again and hopefully this time it will get accepted. I have found out his presence on Facebook also, but never sent an invitation. So, I am sending connect request to him on both sites shortly.

Thought of the day

[Received as SMS]

"Whenever we find the key to success,
Some idiot changes the lock.
So forget the key,
Learn to break the doors!"

Bhavani-ism # 4

All of a sudden Ms. Bhavani's mood has changed. Now she seems to have entered the arena of philosophical discourse. Below is excerpts from her discourse delivered today morning. She has been very kind to me and readily agreed to provide a written excerpts on her own. Hopefully, she will contribute more such texts to this space in future.

[Disclaimer: All views and opinion expressed in following lines are exclusively attributed to Ms. Bhavani.]
"We often say that we should behave like human beings. But what is so great about a human being who behaves as a human being.If a tiger kills at will, we don't consider it wrong. If an animal chooses its mate by violent means, we don't think it is unnatural, because they have no code of conduct. So at one end of the spectrum we have animals, and at the other end we have God. There is no right or wrong in the animal stage. And we don't question the rightness or otherwise of God's actions either. If we push a man into the sea, and he dies, we would be labelled murderers. But God brought the sea into the land during the tsunami, and thousands died in the process. But while we may have cried for the victims of the tragedy, did we blame God for what happened? But man is in the in- between stage. He is neither an animal, whose conduct is not questioned, nor is he God, whose conduct is not questioned. He is the bridge between the two stages. So a man merely continuing to be a man is like building a house on a bridge. We must transcend the human state to reach the divine state. what sense does it make for a human being to be merely human, without aspiring to a higher philosophical state? A human being, therefore, must see the human state as an intermediary step in his upward journey. To be content to be human is to stagnate."

Twittereti reaction on Ayodhya verdict

The following are some reactions on Twitter world after the Ayodhya verdict.

@jhunjhunwala Nirmohi Badnam Hui Darling Akhade Ke liye.
@jhunjhunwala The judges have delivered a verdict that confuses everyone into thinking they have all gotten what they wanted.
@jhunjhunwala Well at least our judges don't decide verdict on the basis of SMS Polls unlike the Indian Idol Judges.
@fakingnews How will the Ayodhya verdict impact real estate rates in UP?
@madversity If the Supremene Court cannot decide, we can move Rajini to decide on the Ayodhya dispute.
@madversity It's time hardline Hindu and Muslin leaders shifter from "Khatron Ke Khiladi" mode to "Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hai"
@gswalia81 i think the judges had pizza for lunch, so they were able to divide the land well among the three parts!
@madversity The British divided to rule India. The judges are dividing to unite India.
@fakingnews Indians didn't make any noise about Ayodhya because Australia is here
@fakingnews I guess the Ayodhya verdict is still less voluminous than Lalit Modi's reply to BCCI?
@shkakbarali Allah Ho Akbar ya Jai Shri Ram, Dono ko maanne wala hai insaan, Mandir-Masjid kuch bhi bane, Tut na paaye Hamara Hindustan!
@bhogleharsha yesterday, the world virajmaan entered the engligh language! as in "this is where ram lalla was virajmaan"!
@madversity Vijay Mallya says: Please beer with the Ayodhya judgement, which has been brewed with larger issues in mind.
@madversity And so, it turns out that Ram Lalla is both "Indian Idol" and "Chhote Ustaad"

The train blog

The strange title of this blog is because of the reason that I am writting this blog sitting in a train. I am travelling on 2721 Dakshin Express from Hyderabad to H. Nizamuddin and at this point of time, the train has just arrived at Bina station.

The journey has a lot of interesting things. I'd write about all of them here. First, why I am travelling. My wife's parents live in Haridwar. It is almost five weeks since she has gone to her place. Though initially it was decided that she would come alone in return, but then the plan had to be changed because my in-laws wanted to organize a 'Satyanarayan Katha' and ofcourse they want me to meet 'n' number of relatives on my wife's side (rather it would be a kind of show off event, because my marriage was a very small event and just a handful of relatives attended the same).

So I will be travelling to Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi) by this train, which will reach there at 4 am tomorrow (25th July) and then I will catch Dehradun Shatabdi exp. from New Delhi Station which departs at 0650 hrs and will reach Haridwar at about 1130 hrs.

Next is the story of my ticket booking. Well as I said the trip was not planned well in advance, so I bought tickets of 3A class at WL 16. Now, I was aprehensive that the waiting may not be cleared, therefore I also booked a SL class ticket at RAC 16. Now, because this great Dakshin Exp train takes 30 hrs from Hyderabad to Delhi, I didn't wish to travel in SL class, therefore I booked a tatkal ticket for 3A class. However, due to rush for this tickets also, by the time I could select my travel plan on IRCTC site and make payment, I was given a WL1 status. (the complete process took me less than 8 minutes; the final ticket had a time stamp of 0808 hrs.So finally I had 2 tickets, one of 3A class and another of SL class. When the chart was prepared my both tickets were confirmed, so I ended up having 1 ticket each of 3A and SL. So, I am finally travelling in 3A class.

Now, I am handling a few mandates in office, where in I am the only resource. Therefore my boss asked me to take the laptop along so that in emergency I could send in some response. The laptop and datacard proved to be a lot useful for killing the time, as well as file the online TDR for the unsed SL ticket.

Bhavani-ism # 3

3. The more you learn to appreciate others, the more you'll learn to appreciate yourself.

Bhavani-ism # 1 & 2

1. Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right thing.
2. Blame it on Oxytoxin - triggers love and music simultaneously (on twitter)

[Ms. P Bhavani is my office colleague and is known for her wonderful sense of humor (sometimes for her philosophical gyan also). Bhavani-ism is a collection of her holy teachings]

The great Jadeja

Well! I am talking about Ravinder Jadeja here, who has created much furor (atleast on the twitter world) because of his wonderful alround performance in Cricket. Mr. Jadeja has been on fire since his poor performance in West Indies. After the WI series we heard news that some of the Indian team players were involved in a pub brawl when allegedly some Indian fans saw Mr. Jadeja in the pub and started hurling abuses on him (obviously because of his wonderful performance). Mr. Jadeja's trouble actually started last year when he was suspended from IPL season 3, for negotiating with an IPL franchise, without informing his own franchise the "Rajasthan Royals". Today in the match of India vs Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup again he was out first ball duck. The inteligent twitterati had a lot of praises for Mr. Jadeja on Twitter. Here are a few examples:

• @jhunjhunwala Ravindra Jadeja has got out thinking this way i won't make fun of him. He's wrong. I'll make fun of him anyway. He inspires me to pick him.
• @jhunjhunwala Ravindra Jadeja is like Tata docomo. He is a per second player. he gets out even before playing the second ball.
• @mishrashiv Jadeja got out! A day will come when he will be thrown out.
• @madhuusv jadeja is vodaphone (hutch) puggy he always follows ajit agarkar
• @Scarlet_Nimbus Hope this poor ZzZZdeja dude in not on twitter. might commit suicide after reading ur twets.
• @jhunjhunwala Tendulkar should get a Bharat Ratna for playing Cricket but Jadeja should get a Bharat Ratna for NOT playing Cricket. He is that Great.
• @jhunjhunwala When Ravindra Jadeja bats he makes Fardeen Khan look like the Greatest Actor of all time.
• @jhunjhunwala And to make matters worse Adidas not only sponsors Sachin's bat but also Ravindra Jadeja's bat as well. Truly 'Impossible is Nothing'
• @RahulK18 Ravindra Jadeja makes Paris Hilton look intelligent
• @rameshsrivatsThe feeling of having seen a guy underperform yet again - Jadeja Vu
• @witty_n_vetty Jadeja is a true allrounder. he gets a 0 in his batting scorecard and a bigger 0 in his wicket column. allround figures!
• @jhunjhunwala Ravindra Jadeja takes less time to bat & get out compared to the time Usain Bolt takes to run 100 metres.
• @mishrashiv jadeja should bat in olympics.
• @shiladityam Ravindra Jadeja = weighted mean average of [Uday Chopra + Mimoh + Tusshar Kapoor]? :-)
• @witty_n_vetty One Indian, Aryabhatta invented ZERO. Another Indian, Ravindra Jadeja made full use of it! Proud to be Indian
• @iPrath i used to think justin bieber sucked, but then i saw ravindra jadeja...
• @srikanthgv Jadeja is Greg Chappel in Disguise, this time he sneaked into playing XI and trying to spoil a well built team
• @antidespondent the truth is out. Jadeja actually employed by the govt. as a comedian to keep the janta amused in these tough times
• @chetanbhatia76 How Ind win the WC.: When opp see that Jadeja's on d team, they laugh so hard & get injured. India wil; win uncontested
• @jhunjhunwala People prefer to watch Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati do an item number instead of watching Ravindra Jadeja bat.
• @rj33t I was trying yo recover from Ajay Jadeja debacle, and Ravindra Jadeja happened to me.
• @jhunjhunwala You know why the monsoons are delayed? The monsoons were coming, then they saw Ravindra Jadeja play and turned back.
• @jhunjhunwala Where is @fakebalthakre. Balasaheb, can't you send the sainiks to go and bash Ravindra Jadeja for his crappy cricket?
• @bhartisushant Jadejaseriously keeping INFLATION under control.....Dealing in zeroes only from all side.
• @witty_n_vetty the only reason why our Indian cricket team is not targeted by terrorists is they dont want us to lose Jadeja!
  

Fed Signals Growth Return Insufficient to End Monetary Stimulus

By Scott Lanman

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve signaled that the U.S. economy’s return to growth is insufficient to withdraw stimulus as officials seek to reduce the highest unemployment rate in a quarter century.

While the economy has “picked up,” the central bank’s planned asset purchases will help ensure a “gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization,” the Fed’s Open Market Committee said yesterday. Policy makers committed to complete their $1.25 trillion in purchases of mortgage securities and extended the end-date of the program to March from December.

“They’re going to be in that accommodative phase for a while,” said Vincent Reinhart, a former Fed monetary-affairs director who’s now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. The Fed’s “tactical goal isn’t just to get to the rate of growth of potential,” he said. “It’s to work down the level of slack.”

The FOMC statement, while offering the most favorable economic outlook since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. failed a year ago, means Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may delay raising interest rates and shrinking the Fed’s $2.1 trillion balance sheet until he secures a recovery.

Policy makers, as part of a unanimous decision, kept the main interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent and reiterated that rates will stay low for an “extended period.”

The central bank pledged to purchase “a total of” $1.25 trillion of mortgage debt, changing prior language saying it will buy “up to” that amount.

Traders yesterday marked down expectations for Fed interest-rate increases next year, based on futures contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Stocks, Treasuries

Treasuries rose yesterday, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year note down three basis points to 3.42 percent in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 10.79, or 1 percent, to 1060.87, paring its gain this year to 17 percent.

The FOMC said the economy showed signs of “substantial resource slack.” The unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent last month, the highest since June 1983, when it reached 10.1 percent. Employers eliminated 216,000 jobs in August, the 20th straight month of losses, and the Fed acknowledged yesterday that businesses are “still cutting back on fixed investment and staffing, though at a slower pace.”

Capacity utilization, the proportion of industrial volume in use, rose in August to 69.6 percent from 68.3 percent in June, its lowest level since record-keeping began in 1967. The figure averaged about 81 percent from 2005 to 2007.

‘Cost Pressures’

“Slack is important to their thinking about inflation and inflation expectations,” said Mark Spindel, chief investment officer at Potomac River Capital LLC in Washington, a hedge fund with about $100 million under management.

“They are sending a clear message that rates will stay low for longer,” said Spindel, a former deputy treasurer at the World Bank’s International Finance Corp.

The weakness in the economy is “likely to continue to dampen cost pressures” and keep inflation “subdued for some time,” policy makers said yesterday. Public expectations for price trends are “stable,” they said.

At the same time, housing market has started to stabilize. Home prices rose 0.3 percent in July from the previous month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said this week. Housing starts rose in August to the highest level in nine months.

“Activity in the housing sector has increased,” the central bank said.

‘More Optimistic’

“They have gotten progressively more optimistic over the last several statements, and this is the most optimistic since the financial crisis intensified last September,” said Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York.

“The economic data will be improving quite sharply over the next few quarters,” said Maki, a former Fed researcher.

Yesterday’s affirmation that the Fed would buy the full amount of mortgage backed securities eased concerns that any reduction of the program might undermine a recovery in the housing market. The Fed’s purchases of the securities have pushed down mortgage rates, helping spur demand for homes.

“They probably recognize exiting is much more difficult than entering into the program,” said Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank AG in New York. “They’re very worried about what the reaction will be when it fades, so they’re pushing it into 2010,” he said. “For now, that’s pushed the problem ahead of them.”

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped to 5.04 percent in the week ending Sept. 17 from 5.07 percent the week before, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.

The Fed has announced $861.9 billion of mortgage-backed securities purchases and completed $685.1 billion. It’s bought $125.2 billion of agency debt and $289.2 billion of the planned purchases of $300 billion in Treasuries, which will end next month.

The tapering in housing debt purchases will begin today, the New York Fed said in a separate statement after the meeting.

[Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a7PUzPYyvn7M ]

Lord Sun defeats Rahu after being eaten

[This article was composed on July 22, 2009, But could not be published due to internet issues]

Well, had we been living in the age old era, the headlines of the newspapers would have been similar to the one above. But, this is not the truer side of the story. Yes, I am talking about one of the rare celestial phenomena which occurred today. I am talking about the solar eclipse.

Since past few days a lot of things were being discussed and written in news channels and print dailies. The astronomers predicted that this is going to be the longest duration total eclipse of the century, with the totality lasting up to 6 minutes and 44 seconds. The next eclipse which will pass this duration will occur in 2134. Therefore this event was a must watch as it was a once in a life time opportunity.A number of channels had organized a discussion on the causes and effects of eclipse, involving scientists and astrologers. While, astrologers believe that such celestial incidents have positive and negative effects on life of individuals and may even bring severe calamities. However scientists obviously denied the claim as there is no direct scientific evidence for the same. However, there are a number of astrologers (Jyotishi) who advice people of the ill effects of the phenomena. Generally, people are advised not to be asleep and eat anything during the period of eclipse. Pregnent women are advised to stay indoors and not to see the eclipse. They prescribe various pujas and other instruments to ward off evil spirits. A news channel aired a senior Jyotishacharya, who rubbished such claims and prescriptions as being made by (Ponga pundits) and said that these people do not really have knowledge of Jyotish and are misguiding people because they want them to be there customers.

Reasons for occurrences:
Scientific reason: Earth rotates around sun and moon rotates around moon. Sun's light illuminates both earth and moon. However when all three comes in a straight line, with moon being in between sun and earth, the moon blocks rays of sun and prevents them in reaching to earth. This is what we call eclipse.
Mythological reason: This is a bit interesting. According to Hindu mythology, Gods and demons were involved in Sagar Manthan (Sea churning), when a pot filled with nectar came out every body started fighting for drinking it, as one who drinks it would become immortal. Lord Vishnu thought that demons cause trouble to everyone, and if they become immortal, they will cause destruction of the world. So, he took the form of a beautiful woman and said everyone that everyone should sit in a que and then she will distribute it. However, Lord Vishnu served nectar only to Gods. Sensing the cheating a demon named Rahu-Ketu changed into dress of Gods and sat among them, and had the nectar. However soon Lord Sun and Moon identified, because of which Rahu-Ketu started running. Then Lord Vishnu cut his head using his Sudarshana Chakra. Thus the head was called Rahu and the remaining part as Ketu, the same is believed to be eating Sun and Moon every now and then because of his animosity with two deities.

The total eclipse was to be seen at a strip passing covering Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Parts of UP, Bihar, and north east in India. the remaining parts of India were to see the partial eclipse. Excited by a lot of media attention, I had also prepared myself to watch the eclipse in the morning. I took out my camera and charged the battery so that I may be able to take the picture. The timing of eclipse was from 5:21 AM to 7:30 AM.My room mate set an alarm of 5:15 AM. in the morning both of us got up together just to find out that the alarm had not went off as expected, but we had not lost much time as it was only 5:45 AM. Unfortunately, Hyderabad had been witnessing rains for past few days, and the weather was heavily clouded, so we had no chance to see the eclipse. Then we switched on TV, to enjoy at least there. First news. Surat which was supposed to be the first city to witness it was raining. Then news came in that there are clouds in almost all of Gujarat, MP, UP and Bihar. Then news came that Bhopal is also raining. Luckily in Varanasi the eclipse was visible as the cluods were very thin there. A small village in Bihar, Taregna was the center of all news till today morning as NASA had declared it the best spot to view the eclipse, however the clouds spoiled the party here too. A host of VIPs including state chief minister, MLAs, scientists, media person had camped here just to be disappointed.

The TV showed total eclipse at three locations, Varanasi, Tawang and a place in China. At approximately 6:21 AM, the moon covered the sun completely and all of a sudden Varanasi witnessed complete dark for about 4 minutes. In the end there was a beautiful diamond ring. Though the eclipse in Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) and China were clear, but they were not as spectacular as at Varanasi. Other places in Central and Western India could not see the eclipse, because of cloud cover, but these places also witnessed the complete dark during the period of total eclipse.

I have downloaded a few photographs of today's total solar eclipse at Varanasi from the internet (Source: TimesofIndia.Com), which I am showing here.

The end of second season of DLF IPL

Well, this was what happened when the DLF IPL's second season came to and end in South Africa yesterday night. In the nail biting final match the Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers by 6 runs. It was followed by firework shows not only the official one in South Africa but also unofficially by a number of fans in Hyderabad. The first I witnessed on TV courtesy Sony Max and the later live in Hyderabad itself.

Well I have been supporting the Team Hyderabad right from the start of the first season, but unfortunately it lost most of its matches in the first season to finish at the last spot. The first season was also not very good for this year's runner up RC, who finished at 7th spot last year just a place better than the Hyderabad.

This year IPL was moved to South Africa, because of security issues due to the general elections in India. But the organization teams' commitment ensured the tournament was no less successful at the new location.

Lets hope that the tournament gains more popularity in future and the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers retain the trophy the year after year.