Bharat Ratna: Vishy Anand

Vishwanathan Anand, retained the World Chess Championship challenge. Vishy has whipped Kramniks' a$$. Ok, that's my frustation of watching Kasparov making those higher than nigh statements after a really strong battle against a young Vishy eons ago. But that's history!

Vishy Anand, ruled the board in game 11, and gave away atleast two opportunities to take a more sombre line and take the game to a draw. That Kramnik fought very hard to make a opening towards a decisive end is highly commendable, he truly is the next superstar of Chess, but will probably never make it, as there's one bright shining light at the end of the tunnel, making him look ever so dull, and its' called the "Zillion watt Vishy Anand".

Emotions aside, a 6.5 - 4.5 drubbing marks the gaping hole that has developed between Vishy Anand, and the rest of humanity, its truly awesome to know that person at the pinnacle is an Indian.

Hes' by far India's true Bharat Ratna! Congratulations Vishy!

Love will keep us alive

Thanks Swapnali!

I was standing
All alone against the world outside
You were searching
For a place to hide

Lost and lonely
Now you’ve given me the will to survive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

Don’t you worry
Sometimes you’ve just gotta let it ride
The world is changing
Right before your eyes
Now I’ve found you
There’s no more emptiness inside
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

I would die for you
Climb the highest mountain
Baby, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do

I was standing
All alone against the worlk outside
You were searching
For a place to hide
Lost and lonely
Now you’ve given me the will to survive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

Love will keep us alive - Eagles

Remembering Toni

That's Lori Loughlin from Secret Admirer (1985), a teenage romantic comedy that more than made an impression. It was a beautiful cold night, and the whole movie, rather Toni, left me more than spell-bound, something that I kinda experienced very early on in my life.

The movie is really about Toni, and Lori plays the role to perfection, it hurts to know they are two different persons, rather ones' a character and anothers' a person, what shame.

I searched high & low for my own Toni, but I guess dreams always end when day breaks, and so it did for me. The harsh realities about what some girls represent, gosh, its' quite a pessimistic future for innocence and the quest for true love.

But then, life is full of surprises, admist the pessimism, Swapnali happened...

All said, I thought it wont be a bad idea to thank Lori Loughlin for giving me a truly unforgettable experience, of unconditional true love, the spirit of kindness, and the joy of togetherness.

Shopping Season 08: Endgame Begins!

The Grand Finale: Bear (B) vs Bulls (W) Championship of the Decade!

W: Chidambaram goes to town with "DECOUPLING"
B. Indian Inflation soars to double digits

W: Indian Markets Hit 21K
B: Seriously Deepening Credit Crisis Emerges through thick Clouds

W: Indian Real-estate market continues to clock a 50%-80% growth rate
B. Indian Rupee Starts with Super Slide

W: Indian FIN-MIN announces a 70K Crore Farmer Loan Waiver
B. US Economic Crisis Grips the American Financial System

W: India gets' entry into the Global Nuclear Club
B. Indian Economic Growth Forecast Downgraded to 7.2% for FY09 & 6.X% for FY10

W: Reserve Bank garners praises from WB & other states for its' exemplary role in fore-seeing economic crisis.
B: Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill lynch, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, AIG, B & B & Fortis disappear from the world in their true sense.

W: Crude hits the sub-$100 mark twice
B: Indian stock markets apes the road show currently going around the world to hit a new bottom for 2008

W: US Congress approves $700 Billion package, in an hope to control the storm.
B: US Congress sprays the $700 Billion package with monumental clauses.

Those were the moves so far, and in this game of chess, the end-game is approaching faster than anyone can visualize. There is only ONE outcome, a draw or a stalemate were ruled out way back, now from here on, its' winner takes all.

A few developments that will catalyse the end in Indian Context will be:
1. The Indian Shopping Season begins tommorrow, and you can almost taste the sense of thrill in the air, Honda City launches its' brand new edition, Real Estate in Mumbai finally relents, Malls, Traders, Brokers who were busy preparing for war during pitupaksha will finally begin their stampede from tommorrow. Diwali 08, has to see a strong buying season for the end-game to go in the favour of the bulls.
2. Crude has shown signs of relenting and possibly settling steadfastlily below $100, this will give the government a possible hope of doing election politics and bring down fuel prices, another crucial factor for the bulls.
3. Mutual Fund houses have been holding the Indian markets from a steep dive, but if the buying season's demand on liquidity leads to redemption pressure, it will be a major boost for the bears, they will have won 50% of their battle.
4. The US bailout is entering rough waters, especially given the fact that US faces elections soon, things can take a bad turn very quickly in the US, WE KNOW THAT FOR SURE!
5. Real-estate developers are facing a serious credit-crunch, if they start defaulting, then it'll possibly be the begining of an Indian Sub-Prime, rather an India Super-Prime Mortgage Crisis.
6. Reserve Bank of India is not lending support to the rupee even at 47:1, it possibly means they have read the writing on the wall, worst is yet to come. (Why do I see the bears dancing with joy?)

I can ramble on and on, bottom line, bring out your pop-corn and start embracing news - whatever it means to you - because, times will never get more exciting again in this lifetime.

Goodbye IE, its' Firefox+Chrome for me...

Blogging this via Chrome, it a genuine piece of brilliance that can only come from Google. The interface is clean and extremely intelligent, you can almost feel the amount of thought that has been poured into it, by folks who have a long history of producing brilliant internet apps.

Firefox has its place in the sun, rather it'll dominate my net-browsing sessions for a simple reason: addons. Nothing beats Firefox, not right now.

Makes me wonder what IE really has to offer?

XPS Finally Arrives

XPS 1530 is now part of my prized earthly possesions. The purpose of which is to help me stay put in this fast changing tech environment. My old PC, although still a worthy workhorse, was finding itself w/o support increasingly these days.

The goods and the bad about my new XPS,
Good
1. Its' Cool, Happening and very very powerful.
2. Vista is a toy so far, lets' see with Visual Studio and Eclipse running side-by-side...would be worth finding out.
3. Only game I tried was FSX, and it didnt perform very well, its' not a huge jump in terms of graphics performance...I've seen the things it had to offer.
4. Vista is paid for...and I am really patting myself for it. Besides the good looks, its' a real 21-st century OS, it almost feels like theres' a small little technician whos' able to guess what's wrong or where I can find some help. Beat that those so-called Linux "mainstream" OSes, you are still way outside the planetary system.
N. Cant remember the number in this list, doing this through a gadget?

Hell, I'll end this emotional outburst, and get back with a better review when I find some time.

CRR & Repo-rate actions of RBI

Dr. Y.V.Reddy announced the Credit Policy, and boy did the markets react or what? 550 points shaved off, and Udayan Mukherjee, the ever-optimistic bull, sounded gloomy for the first time I must add, in the years that I've followed him.

The last thng India needed was a tighter environment for equities, and th RBI with its' CPR actions has done just that. Interestingly Dr. Reddy outlined the following three reasons for Inflation:
1. Supply-side shortages - Fiscal policy issue.
2. Demand-side shortages - Monetary policy issue
3. "High-availability" of credit - Monetary policy issue

What he did not mention is the weighttages or the percentage contributions to Inflation of the above. Mr. FM has already clamped down on futures market in most food-grains like rice, oil etc. Besides the export of most of the "inflationary" commodities is already either banned completely or is curbed substantially.

The demand-side is where the action lies. By artificially inducing an environment to spend less, by making consumers pay much more (opportunity costs) for items is depriving the nation of consumerism. Why not simply remove the subsidies on farming and let the market then pay for the same? Inflation is a right-ful concern, but so are the basic needs of this generation!

Lastly, the diversion of funds from the sytem into the bank safe would mean the same, everyone has to shell out much more just so that poor sections can afford commodities that are having an intrinsic high value. That India is turning out to b a clamp for people with aspirations is very clear from the current actions of the RBI. This country is for labourers and black-money-proponents. Any other section is just meant for sucking value out of, to feed the classes above.

Highly disappointing day for the Indian Growth Story.

Remembering Ayrton Senna

The year was possibly late 80 or early 90, a time when India had not woken up to satellite television, and the world was still dark for an average Indian. The only window to sports outside were glossy sports magazines, and boy they left impressions.

One such magazine landed with me, and I was introduced to the phenomenon of racing called "Ayrton Senna". A wonderful story about a man, his machine and his sheer skills to rule speed. An ultimate boy wonder, a legend, and Ayrton Senna was at its' very pinnacle. The fascination grew to fanaticism when Ayrton Senna started appearing live on television sets and life seemed good when races captured the imagination of both the mind and heart.

The move to Williams was filled with excitement of witnessing history fortnight-after-fortnight. Senna's' wheels didn't turn to compete, they had only one goal, to win, and win with a margin. It appeared sometimes, he raced not with mortal racers but something far more than that. An era was unfolding.

Then the fateful day, the light suddenly gives way to darkness. I had never shed tears out of sheer grief till that day. It felt like something so dear to you and someone you took for granted has been so mercilessly taken away, that you are left hopeless.

Till date, I have never been able to accept any F1 driver as the champion, as the real champion lays in peace and the second-best continue to drive.

Rest in peace O lord.

Two cities under attack, will India reply?

This is serious!
Lets' vow not to forget the last two days. This no reality show that we are entertained with, nor are the victims and their wounds that are being aired live meant for TRPs. This is for real, if India was ever reeling under a need for definitive long-lasting action, its' now. For all the words that will be poured on this issue, I am shamefully adding mine, but in my case, I've an action plan.

1. Spend one hour daily surfing the internet for terrorist sites and newsboards. There is no doubt those behind the blasts are using the WWW for coordination. A billion eyes can surely catch them in the act.

2. Serious censorship is required on people like Mayawati, who try to communalize things like the Nuclear Deal! Senseless acts are causing India grave harm.
3. In-tolerance exhibited by Gujarat needs toning down, maybe its' time India learns its' religion management well.

4. Bring in watch-dogs for religious schools - dharmashalas, madrasas, convents et al. There needs to be a strong move to either ban them completely, or to bring them under tight scrutiny. Its' mindless to allow Education to be mixed with religion, especially charities.

5. Media should simply start ignoring these events. The only thing sought by the perpetrators is publicity, panic and fear. The media is giving them exactly these on the platter.

6. Restrain politicians from linking these events to politics. It started within an hour, with Mr. Advani asking for bringing back POTA. No act has ever been misused than POTA. it deserves to be abolished, and Mr. Advani should do some explaining what actions his' party's state-govts took when the intelligence about attacks was given to them.

7. Forget #6. That's impossible, I think the people of this country have to take upon themselves to rid the country of this menace.

8. Trace IPs, Ball-bearing sales, gelatin sales, cycle sales. Every citizen should note who in his neighbourhood has which vehicle, and who comes back without his vehicle after blasts. The nation needs to take responsibility.

9. If there are ghettos where the perpetrators live, then the entire ghetto is a culprit. All neighbours should be charged with crimes against humanity, and atleast lose their dignity, if not serve term or fine.

10. Lets' spread the word about the beautiful country, society, community we are all part of, lets' make hatred an endangered species.

Trust Vote: Thoughts

1. Bihar is blessed with some of the best politicians and brains within this country.
2. Crowning of the Congress GenNext is inevitable...
3. Congress successfully applied the time-tested methodology of "Use a thorn to remove a thorn", hell if it took money to bring brain-dead folks to toe the govt line, so be it. If MPs were indeed given money, it would represent the best investment UPA ever did.
4. Karated - A new phrase meaning, "to fall flat on your face on a rock-hard surface, while trying to maximize your ill-gotten fame". Undue lobbying almost always leaves you Karated.
5. Only P. Chidambaram has an organic human brain amongst all the politicians, remainder are just brain donation beneficiaries.
6. Do not surf using Linux, as that might corrupt your floor finish. No its' not absurb, atleast not to Mayawati, and her twistd logic.

Steal @ Croma, Malad

I saw one of the best deals in town on offer at Croma. A 32-inch Sony Bravia "V" series going for 39990. Yes, you heard it right, this is one of the best televisions in town and is going at a 15-20 % discount because Sony has launched a new line.

Go for it, the TV I've mentioned is technically superior to the LGs and Samsungs of the world.

That's the way the cookie crumbles

Inflation @ 12%
IIP @ < 8% (!!!)
Crude @ $130 (Riding down from $150)
Sensex @ 13K
Nifty @ 3850

What a story it has been in the last 35-40 days. Its' been all the way down south for all the bulls, their horns and their hoofs. Its' a no-hold-barred contest to hit rock bottom.

When even amateur economy watchers such as me can predict an imminent fall such as the one above, it becomes amply clear that bubbles and media-hype are true realities in todays day and age. Why even Idli-Dosa-Sambaram was tom-tomming his "de-coupling" theory, and one bull-rally (a hedge agasint the falling $ really) in crude & other commodities, and voila he forgets how "de-coupling" is even spelt.

What a dream team we had...but I guess they took the dream part too seriously, they kept dreaming while the Indian boat sailed through calm waters and into a torrential storm in the midst of no-where.

Good Luck in Elections!!!

Mumbai Indians: Les Miserables

What a team!

Disgusting, old, uncompetitive and above all pridelss! There is nothing to write about the character of this team. Its' is so very unrepresentative of Mumbai, a city of great talent, vision, dreams and hopes. The Mukesh Ambani XI unfortunately was allowed to use the name of a city, that never was meant for wealth-inheritors.

This city represents the go-getters, and for people who've got it easy, it will always be an alien. The Mukesh Ambani XI has done it again, a shameful defeat from the jaws of victory, that the Mumbai crowd poured its' heart into supporting this retirement plan for all current and future discards speaks greatly about the city, rathen than the team that used its name.

Hard Luck to you Mukesh Ambani XI, good luck next year!

Innocence Bleeding

Aarushi Talwar, a 14-year school student is butchered in the middle of the night in her own bedroom. Six days later, her father is arrested as the main accused. The TV channels are again at it, with 24/7 reporting (?) of the same clips over an over again. What led her father to take life away from his own daughter can possibly be never known, its' really difficult to imagine what a person like him really is made of.

That said, its' really the gruesome manner in which a father takes away life, shameful day of modern India.

My condolences to the innocent life lost to a moment of anger. My your soul rest in peace.

Inflation + IIP + Credit Cruch = Black Tuesday

What a week it's gonna be, expect the "leaders" to be down by 5%-7%, this on the back of some grave dangers that Indian Economy seems to be entering. Already there are news about "Food Riots" happening in various countries being reported by CNN (not a frivolous channel like Times Now or IBN-Vernacs etc.)

The earlier post about IIP hits home the underlying dangers lurking disclosure around 12-May. The Inflation has not only taken the steam out of the market, the FM+PM dream team appears exhausted by the unrelenting challenges thrown at the. By all accounts it appears to be in vain, rather like the last ditch efforts by a ship-crew trying to plug far more holes in it's walls than they possibly could imagine.

The farmers' subsidy, that golden liquidity, India has at its' disposal is about to be dispersed, and will be sucked away within days by hoarders, black-marketeers and politicians alike. Furthermore, credit-crunch all over the world means a 5% fall in Shanghai Composite, and a 3.5% one for HangSeng.

Wait and watch as the gloom of tuesday catches one and all on possibly the turning point of Indias' Bull Run.

Remembering Timothy Treadwell

Timothy Treadwell, a person who made a huge impression on wildlife enthusiasts all over the world, is remembered with fondness today, not for the controversy, or the tragic end, but for a way of life he discovered that billions never would. Stepping over that line that separates us - ordinary mortals - from that *something* that takes us ever so close to nature.

Leading the way with example, his unconventional approach to humanity and wildlife is as refreshing as most great people I've read about, alas he lived in times, where humans are hell bent on breaking the rules of nature and very little recognition goes by way of people who take the path less travelled.

I know you found peace, and pray that I find mine. Rest well.

Euphoria over IIP: Welcome to Fool's Paradise

7.4%

That's the latest inflation figure!

However as always, the business news channels are going ga-ga over the superlative performance of Indian Industrial Production in February. Hence its' worthwhile ruminating on the reality behind this numbers.

A. Overall growth, as shown in the sheet, is actually above the September 2007 mark in only 5 out of the 20 odd sectors, that means compared with September 2007 almost 15 sectors have either gone flat or bust. However, capital goods have indeed bucked the trend, and emerged as a sector with some real positive outflow. That's partially because government spending and most likely due to capacity planning initiatives for the next financial year. Overall, the gloom has only got darker. We did witness a slowdown in feb last year as well, which was cyclical, but this time its more genuine and almost out of the blue.

B. Sectoral: Manufacturing, is the darling of all industries, its' witnessing a major correction. Isnt a growing sector supposed to be going up? Comparing the feb numbers to last year same time, is correct, but factually speaking, we have declined over the feb figures as well.

The story of growth is highly debatable in the Indian context, especially given the fact that 70% Indians still earn Rs. 35 or less per day, and almost the same percentage spend less than Rs. 20 per day or less. That means the merely ensuring that they are sustained is gonna become a huge challenge

What it means for the common man is that, life just got tougher still. The government doesnt care a damn about the majority of its' populace, and is hell-bent on making India a capitalist country. Forget the government, the statistical organisation has presented charcoal in form that it almost might pass off as a diamond. A look around will clearly tell you what the real situation is. Real estate is booming, sucking away capital meant to fuel this growth. The serious growth inhibitor that it has become needs to be understood by the modern day government.

Today Kapil Sibal can go on air and talk about China having 8+ inflation and also cite that other third world counties are also going through the same inflation worries. However, one shudders to think what might happen if Oil crosses $120 and Indian government in its' bid to perform well at the next elections forgets its' fundamental duty - of sowing the seeds of a free market - and instead indulges in exceses to farmers and alike.

It's really a shame we are in such a situation inspite of 3 notable economist minds being at the helm. Let's hope and pray they get their policies right, and in connivance with the ever smart RBI help us ride this tide.

Positive Atheism

A MUST READ

Beautiful article, that goes into an in-depth analysis of what Atheism (Acceptance of Reality), is all about. It's not about disrespecting God, NO! Its' all about realising and recognising the bare and hard facts, and then living a life with that knowledge in a positive way.

Review: Dum Laga Ke - Malad, Link Road

I discovered this restaurant by chance, when we ordered biryanis at my friends place. To my sweet surprise, the biryani's were not the messy ghevda based ones, but authentic mughlai biryanis. Then, one friday, we all decided to eat out for lunch, and that was my second visit. That day, I had Egg Biryani (Tawa-Style), and have had the same 3 more times in the last two weeks.

Besides the above, there is a good variety of biryanis', tandoor based items, and a lot of the non-vegetarian stuff, which my dad loved. Me, being a lacto-ovo veggie, had to satisfy myself with just Egg biryani, paneer biryani and veg biryani.

Bottomline, if you love your biryanis', this place is a must visit.

A word of caution, this place is supposedly a franchisee of Borivali Biryani Center (BBC), but BBC is far worse than Dum Laga Ke, in terms of quality, and service.

Please not Lehman Brothers!

The US Markets are in a bad mood, Sunday was Bear Stearns, today there are loud rumors about Lehman Brothers, no less. Apparently, DBS Bank has circulated an internal email barring its' employees from taking fresh positions with LEH as the the counter party.

This and the fresh memory of Bear Stearns, and the remarkably resemblance of LEH to BSC's last two weeks has triggered a major sellof in LEH stock. However one particular news that may calm the markets is that the Feds latest move will enable even Investment Banks to avail of emergency funding from FED similiar to what commercial banks enjoy today. That will certainly help LEH get that crucial short-term backing. Tomorrow, would be a crucial day for LEH, when they announce their Q1 earnings. My sincere hopes are pinned on some solid positive news from LEH about their performance in Q1'08.