Novel initiative to check bogus voting during TN by Election

Naresh Gupta

CHENNAI: For the first time in the State, images of all voters, captured on web cameras at the time of polling, will be compared with their images available in the central server’s database of electoral photo rolls.

This will be done in the Tiruchendur and Vandavasi Assembly constituencies, where by-elections will be held on Saturday.

The comparison will be carried out by the control room set up at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Naresh Gupta, CEO, said, adding that any discrepancies found would be immediately acted upon.

The entire poll proceedings at polling stations of the two constituencies would be recorded live. Tiruchendur and Vandavasi accounted for 196 stations and 217 stations respectively.

After conducting a video-conferencing session with the District Election Officers of Tiruvannamalai and Tuticorin districts, Mr. Gupta told reporters that polling officials concerned should ensure entries in registers regarding production of documents for identification.

Apart from the Electors’ Photo Identity Cards, 13 documents such as passport, driving licence, Permanent Account Number card, issued by the Income Tax department, and Health Insurance Scheme Smart Card, issued by the Union Labour Ministry up to October 31, 2009, would be accepted.

Asked why family cards issued by the State Food and Civil Supplies department were not accepted for identification, Mr. Gupta replied that the Minister concerned had gone on record in the Assembly that surplus cards were in circulation.

The State had a high degree of coverage of EPIC, he said, wondering why there should be insistence on family cards.

In August, when the by-elections were held in five constituencies, there were no problems on this count.

Regarding complaints of distribution of money to voters, Mr. Gupta acknowledged that it was difficult to pursue such cases.

He had been getting a number of complaints such as distribution of dhotis or saris, exchange of tokens for liquor and recharge of mobile phone connections.

As for the distribution of money or materials, those who were indulging in such activities disappeared from the scene as soon as government officials went to the spot.

Security arrangements

Totally, 11 companies, five from the Central Reserve Police Force and six from the Karnataka State Reserve Police, had been ordered for deployment.

Already, six and a half companies had arrived in Tiruchendur and four companies in Vandavasi, he said.

Jai Maha-Pav

The Shivaji Flavour

The Shiv Sena has launched its own brand of Mumbai’s favourite street food, under the brand name Shiv Vada Pav, after the Bombay HC on Friday disposed of a petition challenging the Sena’s plan.

They will be sold through 125 special carts all over the city.

An estimated 2,00,000 vada pavs are sold every day in Mumbai, by 7,000 vada pav sellers
The Congress, having lost this culinary battle, is now contemplating appropriating another popular Maharashtrian snack, and selling it as ‘Congress Kanda Pohe’.

***
Take a mound of boiled potato sexed up with green chillies, coriander, garlic, turmeric and curry powder. Knead it well, dip a palm-sized ball in the standard besan-bhajiya coating, and slide it into bubbling hot oil. Then, flatten this humble vada ever so lightly to let out the steam, layer both the inner sides of the equally humble pav with butter, green chutney and perhaps tamarind chutney too, and slip the vada in between. That’s the vada pav, that’s all there is to it...honestly!

Now, there’s an added ingredient; it goes by the colour saffron. The vada pav, under the command of the Shiv Sena-run Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has been endowed with select ingredients from history, culture and politics.

Indisputably Maharashtrian by birth, but happily cosmopolitan by acceptance, the vada pav is now Shiv vada pav. At least, that’s how the Shiv Sena has rechristened it, in the process appropriating a tiny portion of culture. The BMC, where a bitter battle ensued for months between Sena corporators—who bulldozed their way through meetings—and the Congress which tried every trick in the book to stall the politically branded vada pav, is now preparing to issue 125 licenses for Shiv vada pav handcarts.

The licensing process was held up by a PIL in the Bombay High Court last year that challenged the Shiv Sena’s dream on grounds of hygiene, occupation of pavement space, and Supreme Court orders on street food and no-hawking zones. But with the HC having disposed of the petition last Friday, a couple of Shiv vada pav stall prototypes have already appeared at Shivaji Park, not far from Sena Bhavan. The vada and pav are handled with gloves, the oil looks less rancid than at streetcorner stalls, and the vada pav-wala is strictly Maharashtrian.

Actually, a Shiv Sainik. Through the latter half of 2008, the party, through its Vada Pav Vikreta Sangh, held a festival inviting 27 sellers to woo Mumbaikars with their individual recipes. One was chosen as the ideal vada pav, in taste, aroma and satisfaction. That recipe will now be the standard one for all the 125 handcarts.

Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray believes “this is a step towards globalisation of Maharashtrian food and employment of Maharashtrian youth”. The NCP state president R.R. Patil, on the other hand, was offended—branding vada pav after Chhatrapati Shivaji would be “an insult to the great emperor”, he declared. He obviously overlooked the fact that Shivaji beedi and Sambhaji beedi are the most popular beedi brands in the state. And, the Congress, having lost the culinary battle, hit upon the idea of branding kanda pohe, an onion and puffed rice snack that’s as Maharashtrian and popular as the vada pav, after itself. “We are not against the vada pav, we are against the Sena making it theirs,” commented a veteran Congress leader.

Over some eight decades, the vada pav has been the staple, affordable, calorie-unconscious, grab-it-and-go streetcorner meal across Mumbai. Last known, an estimated 2,00,000 vada pavs are served daily to Mumbaikars—from suited executives in business districts to rickshaw drivers. Some 7,000 vada pav-walas prepare them on the spot, at mobile kiosks that often spill over to pavements and roads. And yes, Mumbaikars across education, income and class have their own favourite vada pav-wala.

You could say vada pav is something of a religion in Mumbai, an intensely personal one at that. That’s why branding was a question mark until the Jumbo King chain challenged the traditional vada pav-wala eight years ago. Says Dheeraj Gupta, Jumbo King co-owner, “Shiv vada pav is welcome, there’s enough place in the market for three more branded players”. The chain, through pricing policies, caters to the higher end of the vada pav worshippers.

Its prices range from Rs 6 to Rs 25, while a street stall will give you the most delicious one for around Rs 7. More recently, the poor man’s meal was elevated to an exotic culinary experience during the annual Mumbai festival. The maida pav was replaced by a diet-friendly wholewheat bun, the potato was ‘carbed down’ with millet powder, spices were adjusted to sophisticated palates, and of course the gloves were in place. But a vada pav junkie would have scoffed at this five-star version.

The Shiv vada pav marks yet another attempt by the Sena to play food politics. Veteran ad-man Prahlad Kakkar observes, “The Shiv Sena started zunka bhakar stalls to offer wholesome food to poor Mumbaikars ten years ago, but zunka bhakar and poor man were soon forgotten. The Sena’s attempts fizzle out because they are insincere about it, and they are goons”. He has a point there. The zunka bhakar stalls, occupying prime space on pavements, quietly transformed into “Chineez” food stalls, many run by Shiv Sainiks.

The vada pav certainly did not need the Shiv Sena’s patronage to boost its popularity; it’s another matter that the Sena, having added its chauvinistic flavour to this typically Maharashtrian snack, is now counting on it to boost its political fortunes.

***

Article written by Smruthi Koppikar - Outlook India Magazine.

Berkshire Hathway- 2009 Annual Meeting Questions

I attended the Berkshire Hathaway Annual shareholder meeting last Saturday and had a chance to listen to the master investor for the second time. The discourse was not just entertaining but superlatively educative.

Probably sensing the mood of the crowd and the number of questions directed at few of his all time great investments Mr. Buffett turned Socratic and offered a firsthand view of the fundamental theses he employs while picking stocks. I would like to share with you some of the best questions that came across during the meet and the master’s responses for those.

-- - - - - -
You have often commented about the ineffectiveness of curriculums that impart financial knowledge, Can you elaborate?

In my opinion- “The Efficient Market Theory” doctrine has become highly fashionable, almost like a holy scripture in academic circles. Since the 70’s the theory has been propagating that analyzing stocks is useless because all public information about them was appropriately reflected in their prices. In other words the market always knew everything.

As a corollary, the professors who taught EMT said that someone who threw dart at the stock table could select a stock portfolio having prospects just as good as once selected by the brightest, most hard working security analyst. Amazingly, EMT was embraced not only academics, but by many investment professionals and corporate managers as well.

Observing correctly that the market was frequently efficient, they went on to conclude incorrectly that it was always efficient. The difference between these propositions is night and day.

In a way we at Berkshire are enormously indebted to those academics: what could be more advantageous in an intellectual contest – whether it be chess, bridge or stock selection- than to have opponents who have been taught than thinking is a waste of energy?

In the last few months we saw one of the worst crashes and in the last few weeks we saw one of the smartest recoveries in the equity market, how do we predict it?

Occasional outbreaks of those two super contagious diseases fear and greed will forever occur in the investment community. The timing though would be un-predictable. And the market aberrations produced by them will be equally unpredictable, both as to duration and degree. Therefore, it is futile to anticipate the arrival departure of either of the aforementioned disease. Our goal at Berkshire is modest; we simply attempt to be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.

Berkshire owns 80 odd firms ranging from GEICO to Dairy Queen to Benjamin Moore paint, what is the main mantra at Berkshire to acquire a firm?

Nothing as such. Of all the activities at Berkshire, the most exhilarating for Charlie and me is the acquisition of a business with excellent economic characteristics and a management that we like trust and admire. Such acquisitions are not easy to make but we look for them constantly. In the search we adopt the same attitude one might find appropriate in looking for a spouse. It pays to be active, interested, and open minded, but it does not pay to be in a hurry.

In the past, I’ve observed that many acquisition hungry managers were apparently mesmerized by their childhood reading of the story about the frog kissing princess. Remembering her success, they pay dearly for the right to kiss corporate toads, expecting wondrous transfigurations. In my early days as a manager, I too dated a few toads. They were cheap dates, I kissed and they croaked.

Since then we have adopted a strategy to seldom buy into companies that are turn around players, because turnarounds seldom turn. Unless until there is a very compelling reason that the market had overlooked. We try not to fall into the generally accepted conventions of acquisitions or mergers and do not practice the same rules that other acquirers do to buy into a firm.

When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is usually the reputation of the business that remains intact. You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will. Never invest in a business you cannot understand. I learnt it the hard way.

What is the way out- How can the real estate crisis be resolved?

Well, unfortunately there is no silver bullet to quickly get out of something that took us years to get into. With conservative estimates the US market still has 3 years worth of the real estate still unsold. Without that moving it is tough to estimate and predict the upward swing.

Are you satisfied with the government’s actions to jumpstart the economy?

Yes and No. The government has realized the gravity of the situation and has done all the necessary things. But serious situations demand seriously unified response. And there has not been any unified response from our elected officials. What’s happening in the financial world right now is nothing less than an Economic Pearl Harbor. And in 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attack we did not create 4000 odd ear marks on the declaration of war.

Moody’s the Credit rating agency recently downgraded your Aaa rating to Aa2? As a major shareholder of Moody’s, did Berkshire try to present its case?

No we did not. Even as a major shareholder or as part of the Board in some firms we do not have a decisive say in the firm’s major decisions. If we did had a say many of the Derivatives would not have got a high rating from Moody’s in the first place.

Berkshire is the holding company for nearly 80 firms and many of the firms might be valued far more if they were spun off, would you ever decide to spinoff any of the firms to generate extra cash? In fact Berkshire does not even have contracts with the previous owners that should make things easier.

We would never do that. There might not be any visible synergies between the firms Berkshire holds, but all the firms were built brick upon brick by its owners with lot of passion. There is lot of history, and personal relationship attached with each of our firms and we are very proud of the tradition each of the firms bring to Berkshire.

Besides, before integrating the firms with Berkshire, we always try to also bring in the owners as Executives as they are the best people to lead the firms they nurtured. We only buy to keep. We like to think of Berkshire as the New York Metropolitan Museum, we don’t throw away things just because they are old, or sell things because they would fetch us lot of money from a private collector.

It is true that we don’t create contracts when we buy a firm. We do not want relationships based on contracts. Just imagine, if we buy and they don’t deliver, no contract can save us. Our contracts are based on seamless web of trust, the Hollywood model wont work.

Our country is witnessing one of the worst economic slumps, how optimistic are you about the future?

United States took its first census in the year 1790; we were a little over 3.5 million people then. Someone told me earlier today that in this stadium right now there are 35,000 odd people. So we as a group are 1 % of the 1st census. Just 100 such groups fought, created and shaped a democratic, economic and social powerhouse called the United States. Just imagine, they did not have the technology, defense, imagination that we today have at our disposal but only had vision about how their country needs to be.

In the last century alone, we fought 2 major wars, had a crippling depression, oil shock, had lots of social and political unrest and still managed to increase the standard of living by 7:1 of an average American. The ingredients that have sculpted this country always unleash a human potential within us that generates superlative results especially when we are down. Take it from me; we will be better off 10 years from now than we are now, we will much better off 20 years from now than we would be 10 years from now.

You have always invested in firms that have a sustainable business advantage. Berkshire’s major advantage over competition is the leadership- you and Mr.Munger provide and you are not sustainable. Would you invest in Berkshire if you were an outsider?

However complimentary it might sound, unfortunately we are not the competitive advantage of Berkshire or any of its subsidiaries. We do provide guidance’s and help shape the vision but we don’t keep our managers on a tight leash to extract results. We do not endorse the quarter to quarter stupidity employed in many other firms that always expect better results each quarter irrespective of ground reality.

I have tried to quiz a few CEO’s in the past about the list of things they might do if the firm they lead, is owned by them. They have always managed to come up with a laundry list of things they would like to do.

We at Berkshire have always made sure that our executives never need to have a laundry list of things to do if they own the firm. We have encouraged our leaders to not allow themselves to be weighed down by the difficulties of the present but to be rather focused on the possibilities of the future.

We rather always encourage them to behave like owners and to motivate them to do so we have designed compensations according to their ambitions and capabilities. We realized pretty early that Managers eager to bet heavily on their abilities usually have plenty of ability to bet on.

The market has seen some huge changes in terms of valuation in the last few weeks; do you think the macroeconomic factors or the Fed’s policies might have signaled the bottom of this slump in March?

We do not know. We never make predictions about the market’s lows or highs nor do we care about the macroeconomic factors. We would buy a stock or business if it is trading at a discount to its intrinsic value and if the business model is predictable and simple. We just try to buy a stable, steady business that makes products, people never stop needing, recession or otherwise. There is no point in deploying high end valuation methods that takes into consideration interest rates and inflationary predictions if the business we are interested in is extremely overpriced.
Picking bottom is not our game, pricing and valuing is our game.

You have always been a critic of waste, how do you view the value of advertisement and brand building?

I think it was Joseph A. Campbell when asked about the huge expenditure on advertisement commented that- “On advertisements, we waste half of what we spend, Iam not sure which half”.

Advertisement is important and effective only when there is sync between the product’s potential and what the company thinks that products potential is. It took decades for Coca-Cola to develop an ad strategy and a brand exercise to take Coke to where it is now. I do not think that RC Cola can ever help a customer visualize an image of happiness or fun at a beach with a can of RC Cola!

I understand Brand building is a promise; we invest millions every year at GEICO advertising its core competence, which is low cost. And this year during a recession time our customer base has swelled at never before levels, mainly due to the brand recall of GEICO with low cost.

Iam a PHD candidate in Economics and over the years I have tried to develop an understanding of how most of the industries function apart from studying about the financial aspects of running and investing in businesses. What else do I need to know to be successful?

Investment success is not a matter of how much you know but how realistically you define what you don’t know and avoiding it how much ever irresistible that might be.

Investing is not about IQ it is about temperament. Avoid doing things that land other people in trouble. If you have read financial history, you would have noticed that most the crashes and crises occurred due to un-believable levels of greed and over confidence of people about their abilities. To make money that they dint have and dint need people essentially risked things that they did have and did need. That’s foolish. Today so many banks are on the brink of failure and so many homes are on foreclosure because the owners always thought the upward cycle would never end and risked things that were important to them and leveraged on it.

History has always taught us that if you risk something that is important to you for something that is unimportant to you, it is unwise.

--- ---- ---- -----
Some of his responses to questions were class act, I could not blog many of those questions mainly because I was listening to Mr. Buffett, spell bound.

His sense of timing is exemplary and legendary not just in his witty communique but mainly in his investment style. This year marked a set of historical investments from him when he invested a few billions in GE, Goldman Sachs, companies that he has always admired but never invested in. His sense of patience to wait when everyone was partying and throwing away huge amount of money on in-consequential deals, helped him in gaining huge pounds of flesh both from Goldman and GE in terms of value for his shareholders.

In essence, rather than blowing its ammunition hunting squirrels a few years ago, Berkshire was able to shoot the proverbial elephants walking by. With that he practiced exactly what he preaches-

Never count on making a good sale, have the purchase price to be so attractive that even a mediocre sale would give you great results.

Thanks,
Ravi Bhaskaran

OBAMAnomics

Saw the 100th day press conference of Pres.Obama on TV a couple of days back. No different from any other press briefings by the President so far, quitely impressive with no fanfare or fuss.

One statement that stood out during the conference was:

Upon asked whats humbling about the Presidency, the Presidents response was - "Things are never as bad as they seem nor as good as they are expected to be".

As observed by Jon Meacham the editor of the Newsweek - "Obama seems to have a firm grasp of the psychological and substantive challenges of the presidency. Case in point, his 2008 campaign proved that he possesses a superior sense of timing about how to balance euphoria and disappointments."

As written in the book- Khrushchev by William Taubman on former USSR President, Leadership in war is mostly about concrete tactical and strategic decisions. Leadership in a peacetime crisis involves making the right calls on policy—but at bottom, it's dependent on a subtle understanding of how to make people feel better so that they invest in the future.

The people need a vision. They need to see that the leader is on their side. And like seriously ill patients, they need a clear yet flexible action plan that takes them beyond blind optimism to well-founded hope.

Mr. Obama seems to have a good understanding of the psychodynamics of World and American politics and he is able to communicate very clearly his vision, atleast so far.

The Omaha Odyssey

Its that time of the year again when financial wizards as well as amateurs like me make their annual piligrimage to Omaha, NE. I plan to make my second trip to the abode of Mr.B later this week and I thought it was worthwhile to dust, read and post a 12 month old writeup I wrote just after hearing to Mr. Warren Buffett last May.

The wisdom and common sense he effaced during the meeting are attributes every investor must imbibe. More so during a "Downturn" year.

===================

I had the good fortune to attend the 2008- Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders meeting at Omaha, Nebraska last week and had a once in a life time oppurtunity to speak to Mr.Buffett.

It was a wonderful experience listening to and learning from the
Master Investor himself and all I can say is that he stands alone as
the reigning deity of financial world's Mt Olympus!

Having read about him, observed him and worshipped him for a few years
now, I think it is reasonable to believe that this guy is exactly what
he seems: a plain-speaking, tee totaling man of uncrackable integrity
who works really, really hard and sticks to his investing and
management principles through boom and bust which makes him a freak of
nature since he is above normal human tendencies.

The questions the shareholders threw at him for 7 continuous hours
ranged from finances, life, religion, career, politics, sports and
several other streams. And he answered everything with a Zen like calm
and confidence.

I tried to take some notes and here are some of the best questions and
answers which came across during the conversation between we mortals
and God.

Even if you are least bothered about investments and finances, I
insist, Pl read on.

-RB

================



What does it take to become a successful investor? Brilliance or Smartness?

Neither, Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. Once you
have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to
control the urges that gets other people into trouble in investing.

When do you deicide to invest in a firm?

The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into
temporary trouble. We want to buy them when they're on the operating
table. (Mr. Buffett bought Coke when it had its biggest fiasco after
launching New Coke; he bought American Express when it went through a
loss making phase in the early 60's)


What do you look for in people when they come to sell their firms to you?

I don't look for the usual credentials such as an MBA, a pedigree
(Harvard, Wharton), or cash reserves or market cap of their firm. What
I look for is just a passion in their eyes; I think that's the key. A
person who is hungry will always do well. I prefer it when people even
after selling stay on and work for the firm; they are people who can't
wait to get off their bed to get to work. Passion is everything; there
is no replacement for innate interest.

Mr. Buffett, you told us that Berkshire Hathaway has $ 45 Billion in
cash. Why aren't you investing?

Up until a few years back I had more ideas than money. Now I have more
money than ideas.

When do you plan to retire?

I love my job; I love it so much that I tap dance to work. Mrs. B, the
founder of Nebraska Furniture Mark worked until she was 104, she died
within 6 months of her retirement, that's a lesson to all my managers,
don't retire!

I personally am going to work 6-7 years after I die, probably that's
what they mean when they say- "Thinking out of the Box"!!


Why do stock market crashes happen?

Because of human nature for greed and insecurity. The 1970s were
unbelievable. The world wasn't going to end, but businesses were being
given away. Human nature has not changed. People will always behave in
a manic-depressive way over time. They will offer great values to
you.

What are the things that are taught wrong in Business school and the
corporate world?

I like such open ended questions, I think Business schools should
refrain from teaching their wards about profit making and profit
making alone, it gives a sense of 1 dimensional outlook to the young
students that loss is a curse. In reality, in the corporate world,
failure and loss making are inevitable. The capital market without
loss is like Christianity without hell.

I think they should teach the student on how to buy a business, how to
value a business? Not just on how to determine the price of a
business. Because price is what you pay, value is what you get.


Do you still hate Technology stocks?

With Coke I can come up with a very rational figure for the cash it
will generate in the future. But with the top 10 Internet companies,
how much cash will they produce over the next 25 years? If you say you
don't know, then you don't know what it is worth and you are
speculating, not investing. All I know is that I don't know, and if I
don't know, I don't invest."


How to think about Investing?

The first investment primer was written by Aesop in 600 B.C. He said,
'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' Aesop forgot to say
when you get the two in the bush and what interest rates are;
investing is simply figuring out your cash outlay (the bird in the
hand) and comparing it to how many birds are in the bush and when you
get them."


How do you feel after donating $ 40 Billion to the Bill and Melinda
Gates foundation? You are a hero to us!

I feel nothing. I haven't sacrificed anything in life. I have had a
good life. I donated only after I turned 75. I think I admire those
people who sacrifice their time, share their food and home, as the
people to be emulated not me. Besides, what is money before a man's
life?

What do you think are the pitfalls in donation?

I have never donated a dime to churches or other such organizations;
I need to believe in something before I end up doing that. I have been
observing the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for years now and Iam
confident they will do a fantastic job of making use of the money.

Iam a big believer in Outsourcing, others believed in me as an
Investor and gave their hard earned money to invest. I believe in Bill
Gates, he is a better donor than me.

Why do you work from Omaha and not Wall Street, New York?

Wall Street is the only place where people alight from Rolls Royce to
get advised by people who use the Public transportation system. Besides, I have worked in Wall St for a few years and I felt it is a place where hyper-activity is expected and valued but personally I believe to do well with your investments you have to practice inactivity.


You seem to be so well read, tell us how it all started.

My father was a stock broker, so we had all these financial books in
our library. He introduced me to those classics and I got into them.
Iam lucky that my father was not a fan of Playboy!

Reading is the best habit you can get. Well, you can learn from
teachers too, and have mentors but there are so many constraints
attached- they will talk fast, talk slow, they might talk like a pro
or they might be terrible communicators. Books are a different animal
altogether, I love reading!

The beauty about reading and learning is that the more you learn the
more you want to learn.


People who join Berkshire Hathaway seldom leave. How do you get along
well with all your executives?

I try to get quality people. I always say - Hire someone in your
organization who is better than you are. If you do that, you build a
company of giants. If you get people worse than yourself, you build a
company of dwarfs. And do not try to do everything yourself. Delegate
the jobs and look out of the window. The results will come. That's how
you build institutions. It happens only when you empower others,
believe in others. Iam an investor, Iam very secured at that, I have
no clue how to make Coca-Cola or how to dole out credit cards (Mr.
Buffett owns 8% of Coca-Cola and 13 % of American Express).

I understand the wisdom of the aphorism that you cannot please all the
people all the time.

Of Course, you will always find qualities that you don't like in
people around you, but if you observe carefully the love of the work
unites you both. There is no point in being obsessive about a bad
quality in a person, whom you otherwise respect.


Iam a small time businessman from Dallas, Texas, what do I need to do
to hit big time?

Be patient, Achieving your financial goals and dreams will not happen
overnight. As much as we would all really love to accomplish our goals
in a few years, this is an ongoing process. Defining your financial
goals is not a one-time task; you need to keep adding new plans at
different stages in your life.

We all admire the skills of Olympic ice skaters, pro golfers, and
concert pianists. But do we remember that they didn't acquire their
skills overnight? They had to practice hours on end for years to
achieve their dreams. The key to success is to continue learning
throughout your life with a voracious appetite.


I think it is marvelous that you have had a golden run with investing,
how did you do that?


My rule is to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when
others are fearful.

Besides, I call investing the greatest job in the world because you
never have to swing. You stand at the plate; the pitcher throws you
General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! And nobody calls a strike on
you. There's no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for
the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and
hit it.

Stay dispassionate and be patient. You're dealing with a lot of silly
people in the marketplace; it's like a great big casino and everyone
else is boozing. If you can stick with drinking Coke, you should be
OK. First the crowd is boozy on optimism and buying every new issue in
sight. The next moment it is boozy on pessimism, buying gold bars and
predicting another Great Depression, most people get interested in
stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no
one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well.

Mr. Buffett you have seen so many crashes and recessions, your take on
facing recessions and stock market crashes?

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people
would be librarians. Every scenario is different. But always remember,
Tough times do not last. Tough people do.


What is the 1 biggest advice you would impart to a young investor like me?


Think for a moment that you are given a car and told this is the only
car you would get for the rest of your life.

Then you would make sure that you car is taken care of well, it is
oiled and detailed every now and then. You would make sure that it
never gets rusted, and you would garage it.

Think of yourself as that car. You just get 1 body, 1 mind and 1 soul.
Take care of it well. Invest in yourself that would be my advice.


You personally know many of the Financial executives who are engineers
of the current turmoil in the financial world, surprisingly even after
record losses, those executives receive astronomical salaries and
bonuses and arrogantly declare that they deserve it, why dint you
advice them from making such decisions and what's your view on their
justification for their pay?



I like sharing my ideas but don't like imposing my ideas on anybody.
It doesn't make sense and is a waste of time. If somebody has decided
that they know everything that is there to know, nobody can help them.
The best way to learn and succeed is to know that we know nothing.
There is an entire universe out there and still some of us think we
can know everything.

In the world of investing a few people after making some money tend to
imagine they are invincible and great. This is the worst thing that
could happen to any investor, because it surely means that the
investor will end up taking unnecessary risks and end up losing
everything – arrogance, ego and overconfidence are very lethal.

Personally I don't feel too comfortable with too much extravagance,
because I always think like an investor. My thought process doesn't
see a lot of value in a fancy car or a designer suit. Thinking like an
investor always is very important to bring in a sense of discipline
and focus. Before reading balance sheets and investing you need to
make sure your outlook and mindset is that of an investor.

Never let ego, arrogance and over-confidence control you - not just as
an investor but also as a human being. You will never have internal
peace if you are unable to look at everybody around you with love,
compassion and understanding. Irrespective of who the person is, he or
she can teach you something you don't know. I have learnt so much from
people all around me and I wouldn't have been able to learn all these
wonderful things if I had not spoken to them with a smile.

To quote Sir Isaac Newton- If I have seen farther than others, it is
because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.


How do you make the Government eat out of your hands? How do you make
them agree to everything you do?

If the strategy of a private enterprise matches the policy of the
government, the government will be compelled to support you even if
they don't like you.



============

It was a 7 hour conversation and I could just capture some of the best
questions and answers.

As 37,000+ dazed, amazed and grateful shareholders trooped out of the
stadium after the meeting, I found myself recalling one of my favorite
quotes of former President Ronald Reagan-

"A man has to learn that he cannot command things, but that he can
command himself; that he cannot coerce the wills of others, but that
he can mold and master his own will: and things serve him who serves
Truth; people seek guidance of him who is master of himself".

Achu-tung Baby !

A Rediff.com article by Shenoy, T

Observant visitors to Kerala often stump me with two questions. First, how has a state so blessed by the rain god let its rivers run dry? Second, why doesn't India's most literate state not feature at the top of the software ranking?

The answer to both: Human folly.

Kerala was once at the forefront of both the electronic and the environmental revolutions. (By Indian standards anyway!) A quarter of a century ago, citizens came together to block the Silent Valley Project, raising their voices until not just Thiruvananthapuram but even Delhi had to listen.

And KELTRON -- does anyone even recall the brand today? -- was making the best television sets in India, even talking of branching into computers, when Gurgaon was little better than a desert on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway. Instead of capitalising on these, we Keralites frittered away these advantages.

Few thought the situation would improve when V S Achuthanandan took over as chief minister. The veteran's honesty and incorruptibility is beyond question, but could an octogenarian lead the state in the first decade of the 21st century?

The chief minister is surprising us all today. Through a combination of construction and demolition, Achuthanandan is giving Kerala a second chance.

Let me begin with the demolition job. The highlands of Kerala form one of India's great monsoon catchment areas; unbridled -- and utterly illegal -- construction in the hills was slowly destroying them. And with the construction lobby winning patronage from all sides of the political spectrum, nobody seemed to have a clue about how to stop them.

After going to the hill-station of Munnar, to see the devastation of the once verdant slopes in person, the chief minister of Kerala ordered a demolition drive. I thought this would be as half-hearted and shambolic as the sealing drive in Delhi. I was wrong.

The first structures to be demolished were giant towers installed by the mobile phone giants Airtel and IDEA. They stood, I believe, at the second highest point in Kerala.

Do not rush to blame the Communist chief minister for his supposed hatred of corporate entities. The cell phone companies had built on land whose ownership was claimed by the brother of the local CPI-M district secretary!

The party affiliation did not spare the demolition. The symbolism did not end there. The second entity slated for demolition was an illegal construction owned by the CPI, a member of the ruling Left Democratic Front. The party has its district office in the building. (There was also a hotel in the same place.) The party, I understand, owned the title to the land yet the actual construction was illegal.

Once again, the chief minister showed no mercy.

There followed, I was told, an amusing sequel. Enraged CPI workers raised slogans against the chief minister. With the same breath, they shouted slogans in favour of the Left Democratic Front ministry! They could do no less I suppose given that the revenue department is headed by a CPI functionary.

Speaking of revenue ministers, the third set of demolitions involved a 'resort' owned by a former revenue minister's relative. But the popular mood is staunchly behind the current chief minister. The next day, we were treated to the sight of the former minister addressing the media, blandly supporting everything that Achuthanandan had
ordered.

I was in Kerala while the demolition drive started. All of it received extensive coverage on both the electronic and the print media. Believe me, it was a treat to see Keralites watching it as avidly as, on other occasions, they might watch a cricket match or the election results.

The demolition drive cannot and must not be limited to Munnar. Vast tracts of Kerala's public property, from the beaches to the hills, has been taken over by the land mafia. Its political clout ran so deep that it made no difference whether there was a Congress or a Communist government in the state. In one place, the Kerala police no less found that 48 acres of their land had been taken over!

Achuthanandan is the first chief minister who has had the guts to take on the land sharks. He has set up a special team for the purpose, hand-picked men chosen for their integrity. But I hope everyone understands the chief minister is under formidable pressure.

The public, not just in Kerala but elsewhere, will have to demonstrate their support for the chief minister's policies.

Kerala's hills and beaches are national resources. Wipe Kerala's hills of their green cover, and you effectively cut the catchment area not for the state alone but for Tamil Nadu and even Karnataka. Encroach upon the beaches, and you will soon see that tourist dollars too dry up.

If demolition is one part of Achuthanandan's policy, then construction is the other. I refer to the green signal for the Smart City in Kochi.

Sections of the Left Democratic Front opposed it when the idea was mooted by the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Some farmers are afraid their land shall be taken over at rates below market prices.

The fears of the farmers must be assuaged at all costs. Kerala certainly cannot afford a Nandigram-like situation. But if -- and it is a pretty big 'if' -- this is possible, Smart City could be the fillip that puts Kochi in the same league as Bangalore and Hyderabad.

It could mean thousands of crores of rupees by way of investments, and create lakhs of jobs. As Keralites all over the world would attest, it wasn't any lack of affection for the state but sheer lack of opportunity that drove them to emigrate. Between the Smart City in Kochi and the TechnoPark in Thiruvananthapuram, I hope this is about to change.

If it takes guts to take on entrenched lobbies as Chief Minister Achuthanandan is doing in Munnar it takes equal courage to reverse one's own position. If the Left was a stumbling block in the path of the Smart City project earlier, then the chief minister is making amends.

Hopefully, Kerala can also learn from the mistakes made by pioneers. Bangalore is scarcely a 'garden' city any longer, and old-timers complain that Pune's charm have withered. India's policy-makers forget that Silicon Valley didn't just offer economic opportunities, California was actually a better place to live than some places in the United States. I am delighted that the chief minister understands that economic development cannot come at the cost of environmental degradation.

V S Achuthanandan's first days in office offered little to cheer about. But the past month or so offers hope that his administration has turned a corner. Should he continue in the same vein, I for one shall happily acknowledge that Achuthanandan stands right up there with the late Achutha Menon in the pantheon of Kerala's chief ministers.

Gap Minder

Came across this link from some web site yesterday -

http://www.gapminder.org/downloads/applications/

If you analyse the income distribution chart specifically, it's fascinating to see how much India has grown since 1984, metamorphically Mrs G's death.

If you counter it for each era of a prime minister say - 1984 (Rajiv), 1989 (V.P Singh, Chandrasekhar), 1991(PVV Rao), 1996 (Gowda, Gujral), 1998 (ABVP), 2004 (Dr Singh) - we have made fanstastic in-road's.

An Ode to Malai

Written By - Thaths Chandrasekharan my Drona in many aspects.

Swami woke up with a start as the train imperceptibly slowed down on its way into the station. The bridge a few hundred meters from the station had that peculiar deep rumble which never failed to wake him up. He stared out of the window to see the lights on the temple towers. He was in Chidambaram. The weekend was over. Back to College life in rural Tamil Nadu. Swami started life in general and monday mornings in particular.

Swami woke up his still dozing buddies in the compartment and collected his bag. He got off the train that had not yet come to a complete stop. He was greeted by the familiar sight of his beloved old platform and, what one of his freinds preferred to call, "Tingi Tingi" music blaring out of the station's public address system. He exchanged plesantaries with the friends he failed to meet at Egmore - the station they departed from. "Dei @#$%&&!!!" (You @#$%&&!!!) shouted one of his pals, "Yen da call pannala?" (Why didn't you call?). Swami hastily apologized and made a quick excuse up for not calling over the weekend.

Soon, bleary-eyed students trooped towards their hostels. The more chivalrous knights-in-polyester-trousers-and-nylon-teeshirts made a bee-line to the ladies compartment to help their distaff half with their baggage. Swami lit his first cigarette of the day - the last in the 20's pack that he had he had purchased from the 'potti-kadai' (local convenience store) near his home in Madras. Swami, a New Liberal, felt that helping women and its implications of the women not being able to help themselves was more sexist than the Old Sexist ways.

Swami hastily finished the last few puffs and felt the pangs of hunger deep inside his stomach. "Lets eat at the VLR (Vegetarian Light Refreshment) Stall," he heard his friend and confidante suggesting. They ordered a plate each of the piping hot 'Pongal' and devoured it with relish. Swami and his chum Mani hastened out of the station at 5:45 am. Their urge to attend class on that monday morning had nothing to do with their hurry. You would be in a hurry too if you had had a taste of that divine 'Pongal.' Despite, perhaps even because of, its divine taste, it had the unfortunate consequence of being one of the best laxatives known to mankind.

Swami blissfully entered the warm confines of his bed and drifted off into sleep having set his alarm to go off at 7:15 am. He would eventually promptly wake up at 11:00am.

Mid-morning: 8:00 am
At around 7:30am the student crowd from places like Mayavaram and Cuddalore starts pouring into the station from passing trains. They are the really loyal subjects of the Indain Railways. They travel everyday from their town by one of those tortoises (turtles if you have been in America too long) that go by such cryptic names as '520 Up Passenger.' They are proud of their trains and live an entirely different sort of life from the rest of the college students.

They are probably the best managers of time in Annamalai University. They do their homeworks on the platform waiting for their ride home and write their lab reports sitting at a table inside the Non-Vegetarian Light Refreshment Stall (NVLR) eating 'muttai parotta' (scrambled eggs and paratha bread). They are also an organised bunch. They constantly organize 'Train Days' when they deck their favorite compartment with flowers and distribute chocolates to their fellow travellers. As with any organised bunch, groupism is their plague. Swami witnessed two or three 'Train Day' functions being organized in the same semester by different factions of the train regulars.

Noon
A few 'days-callers' drifted into the station to have their lunch of dried 'Thayir Sadam' (rice and youghurt) and musty 'Vadai' (fried lentil patties) which even a rat would be ashamed to share a trap with. There are also a few "regular" students at the Annamalai University (like Swami) who are die-hard station addicts. Having nothing better to do at this hour of the day they spend a few minutes in the station (smoking, of course) on their way back from 'Maami mess' (The local Mom and Pop, in case you know the vernacular - the Uncle and Aunt). There are also the Thanjavur type of families waiting for the perpetually late Cholan Express.

There were also a couple of students who are going back to Madras to collect funds for their organization's upcoming event. Swami sweared at these students. "Lucky @$#%%^&$%!!" He said "They are going away on OD (On Duty - meaning they got credit of attendance and a possible 10% of the money they collected)!!"

Evening: 5:00pm
The Tea 'Kadais' (shops) serve tea briskly to the students returning from classes. The students prefer the tea in the station as the one served in the hostel is as transparent as "Silk" Smitha's garments. Swami drank his tea slowly (making loud hissing noises blowing on his piping hot tea) and drove the sleep induced by four hours of lectures away. Some students are still carrying their books while the ones who finished their classes earlier can been seen lounging around in their 'lungies' (sarong is the nearest "english" word that I can come up with). Swami and the ever accompanying Mani made it to the VLR and gobble up steaming Idli's and Poories.

Late Evening: 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Chidambaram Railway station is Austin's Sixth street, New Orleans' Bourbon street and New York's Times Square rolled into one. One should understand the positioning of the station. The train track metaphorically and geographically divides Chidambaram from Annamalai University. The station is the Checkpoint Charlie of Chidambaram. If Kipling were to know of the existence of the station he would not have made such sweeping claims like "And never the twain shall meet." A number of entrpreneur set up businesses at this point because they could appeal to a mized clientale - middle class families from Chidambaram and the rich students from the City. All sorts of businesses were carried on. Free Market Economy flourished. One could find old hags selling jackfruits, middle aged men selling magazines and twenty-ish women involved in human-kind's oldest profession.

Swami entered the station from the hostel side. The mechanics involved in any gathering of humanity was at play. Groups formed, merged, split, fought, collided, disappeared, re-formed and slowly entropied. Some eternal drifters like Swami moved on from one group to another and thus maintained neutrality.

Chidambaram is probably the only station in India where platform tickets are scoffed at. Swami recalled, with embarrassment, 'The Incident' - buying a platform ticket in his first year at Annamalai. He would be ostracized if word of this blasphemy got out. He guarded the shame zealously. "How could I have been so dumb?!" wondered Swami, "I should have known that I was doing something wrong when the ticketing clerk gave me that strange Are-you-out-of-your-mind look. I should have realised it when it took a full 15 minutes for the lady to find a platform ticket."

The groups coagulated around distinct areas of interest on the platform. Around the refreshment stalls, tea stalls, the "multipurpose store" and notably, around the women's waiting room. Swami slowly drifted along the platform continually moving himself towards the beehive of most activity - the multipurpose store. He stopped to gawk at the Tamil magazines on the stand. Mani, in perpetual hurry (not to be confused with the perpetually money minded Hari) and unable to appreciate the soft-porn art of Tamil magazines, dragged Swami away from the stand. Swami grabbed a few final glimpses of the pictures and drawings of starlets splashed across the covers of mags like Kumudam as he was inexorably dragged towards the center of the station.

The multipurpose stall was situated near the entrance. This stall sold all kinds of things - cigarettes, bananas, medicine, cool drinks, chocolates (love lorn students used to buy their quota of Amul Chocolates - a gift for someone they loved) and what not. There stood the 'Dwrapalakars (gate keepers).' No!! They were not employees of the Indian Railways. They were the students who were in financial doldrums. They lived life on the edge, bumming cigarettes and other things off people going home to Madras. Their philosophy - "One is always generous when one is going home." Swami had joined their ranks many a time.

Swami waltzed across the tracks to the other platform to greet other friends and to grab a gulp of some colored drink in a bottle from them. He then returned to the multipurpose stall and exchanged a few words with the shopkeeper with whom he was in first name terms (incidentally the shopowners name is Visu. And this has nothing, whatsoever, to do with this narration).

A couple of 'Yettu's' (police constables) were lazing around in the platform. Their pot bellies barely covered by their khaki shirts were objects many a joke among the student community. A few months after the 'Annamalai-nagar-police-station-incident' the jokes changed to other parts of the policemen's anatomy.

A bunch of students were returning from the local watering holes ranging from a pleasant evening at Nattiya - the local pub - to a quick gulp at MS Wines (aka Ganesh Wines). One of them endowed Swami with a bear hug and declared his undying loyalty and love. He even made profound statements like "You are the only one who really understands me." Swami mouthed the appropriate replies and escorted (arm-in-arm) his comrade out of the station.

Some local families had gathered in the station for 'Shenkottai Fast Passenger.' A misnomer if ever there was one. It neither went upto Shenkottai nor was it very fast. The only reason students still used this train was it was cheap and, more importantly, the journey to madras was overnight and they did not have to loose precious day time in the journey. The PA system started blaring out the same "Tingi Tingi" music. That, is Jaladarangam music, for the lesser informed. Swami's eyes started darting between the horizon (where he expected to see the lights of the train any moment now) and the "decent looking" teenager probably heading to meet relatives in Madras with a couple who appeared to be her parents.

A small group of foreigners walked beside Swami with their heavy backpacks. Swami and Co. immediately changed the medium of conversation to English from coarse college Tamil. "The problems that plague the society today are entirely due to man's inability to see Satre's Being from an objective standpoint while Freud himself says that Being is Nothingness." The foreigners (who went by the common name of "Americans" or "Hippies") had gone out of ear shot. Swami continues "Nasti figure illa macchi" (did she not have a great figure).

The train made its way into the station. Swami loved seeing the ancient ritual of "keys" being exchanged between the train driver and the person on the platform. As soon as the train pulled to its scheduled 7 minutes halt, a group of students started moving alongside the train and staring into every window. When they happened to notice a girl worthy of their time they stayed outside that window and practiced the mating rituals that resembles a peacock's preening dance.

The bell tolled and the train started departing after a shrill whistle. The crowd waited for the train lights to dim in the horizon and started its trek back to their hostels. Lumpy beds awaited them. They would doze off thinking about their future and dreaming their sultry dreams. They would wake up to another day with its set of troubles and triumphs. The only solid certainty in their lives was the station and 'Shenkottai Fast Passenger.'

Random Thoughts !

In Indian mythology, there is an interesting tale of an asura named Bhasmasura who
meditated on Lord Siva and performed severe penance. The Lord was pleased and granted him a boon. The boon bestowed upon the Asura the power of turning people to ashes with not more than a mere touch. However at first the sceptical Bhasmasura didn’t believe that Lord Siva would grant him such a powerful boon. Therefore he decided to test the validity of the boon on Lord Siva himself.

The Lord fled with fear and approached Vishnu and asked to rescue him from destruction. Vishnu decided to trick the Asura. He appeared before Bhasmasura in the form of an enchanting damsel named Mohini.

Bhasmasura was passionately excited and forgot his objective. He wanted Mohini to marry him. Mohini agreed, subject to one condition that he should promise her by touching his own forehead that he would not think of another women from then on.
Bhasmasura forgot the consequences of this and touched his forehead.

Momentarily he turned into ashes.

Mayawati - Scheming fire-band or a superstar ?

Few women in North Indian politcs have evoked so much disgust, respect and awe, strictly in that order, as BSP supremo and CM of UP in waiting- Ms.Mayawati.

Be it her decision to join a struggling, blasphemous political outfit called Bahujan Samaj Party way back in 1984 or her decison to not support the BJP led central coalition in 1999, Mayawati's persona has always been ambigous.

She started out as an anathema at first but fast grew into an agony aunt for political outfits looking for string support of M.P's to form a government. The 90's saw her rise as an alternative to the Etawah wrestler Mulayam singh yadav and she was brilliant in observing and portraying herself as the messiah of the downridden.

Interstingly her political career has swung like a trapeze artists rope - The same political outfits that make mockery of her are going out of their way in singing paens about her -

Now that the Bahujan Samaj Party has won a majority in Uttar Pradesh, opposition leaders are bending over backwards to mend ties with Behenji. But Maya memsaab is in no mood for charity. Consequently, her rivals are having to eat humble pie. During the counting, as the BSP took the lead, Salman Khurshid, the UP Congress chief, declared that his party had offered to support the BSP. By evening, the BSP had a majority, prompting Mayavati to scupper Khurshid’s pledge of support. Khurshid wasn’t the only one getting the cold shoulder from Mayavati. Raj Babbar, with one seat in his party’s kitty, was quick to back the BSP. When Mayavati heard this, she pretended as if Babbar did not even exist. Meanwhile, Ajit Singh, along with many other independents, also found that there were no takers for them this time around. But none dared to criticize Mayavati’s show of disdain. Instead, they chose to blame the electorate and the EC for their fate.

Could her change in fortunes, form a platform to the ideas of forming a 3rd front at the center by another brave and brash woman down south of the vindhyas ? Time will defi tell.

Warren's letter to his shareholder's - A sumptuous Buffett.

Even though I have been an ardent investor for the past 2 summers, Berkshire Hathaway never excited me because of it's enormity and my naive belief that investing in large corporation's is like placing faith in Indian Politicians.

Neverthless, accidently laid my hands on the AGM letter of Mr Warren Buffett 2 days back. I think Mrs Melinda Gates is right when she says an hour spent with Warren is equivalent to a day spent at a B School !

The letter was an epitome of what corporate communications is all about - straight, un ambigous, un-adulterated synchronization of what happened to 'BRKA/BRKB' last year and what might happen in the next 1 year. His witty anecdotes might seem cynicism to puritans but he delivers value not just to himself but thousands of his ardent devotees and followers.

Excrepts from his past writeup's -

On Multi tasking -

It reminds me of the tale of an elderly couple who had been romantically challenged for some time. As they finished dinner on their 50th anniversary, however, the wife – stimulated by soft music, wine and candlelight – felt a long-absent tickle and demurely suggested to her husband that they go upstairs and make love.

He agonized for a moment and then replied, “I can do one or the other, but not both.”

Motivating Employees -

I do this in the spirit of the farmer who enters his hen house with an ostrich egg and admonishes the flock: "I don’t like to complain, girls, but this is just a small sample of what the competition is doing."

Looking for new disruptive changes to the Investment portfolio -

Our exemplar is the older man who crashed his grocery cart into that of a much younger fellow while both were shopping. The elderly man explained apologetically that he had lost track of his wife and was preoccupied searching for her.

His new acquaintance said that by coincidence his wife had also wandered off and suggested that it might be more efficient if they jointly looked for the two women. Agreeing, the older man asked his new companion what his wife looked like. “She’s a gorgeous blonde,” the fellow answered, “with a body that would cause a bishop to go through a stained glass window, and she’s wearing tight white shorts. How about yours?”

The senior citizen wasted no words: “Forget her, we’ll look for yours".

More to follow, but if you are intrigued you can always read more about him from -
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ .

Thiruda Thiruda !!

Most of us who are in the Business Intelligence (B.I) field proclaim that B.I takes us the closest to Real time data and supplies us with spot-on Information about things.What I experienced today was something amazing and made me realise that the above said fact is not just lip service.

Many of you know that for the past month or so Iam camping at the Corp HQ of a Retail Chain. They are designing their 1st Data Warehouse and your's trulyhas been assisting them in doing so.Early this morning, we got a call from the Corporate Affairs about a case that happened lastevening at one of their store in Alabama. Someone came to return their product and claim refund. The clerk accepted the return and was about to ask what mode of refund the person would prefer, when she found a gun was being trained on her.The shop lifter looted what ever was available and skooted away.

A pretty normal case we see on T.V rite ?

This is where B.I came to the rescue !The stupid shop lifter (Mr X - henceforth) had left his receipt at the counter and the Corporate Affairs wanted us to probewhat little information we can find about him from that. Like any big chain in the US, my client has a detailed CRM program that captures information about it's clients, giving the information or not is your decision but Mr X decided to do so exactly 62 days back when he bought the product.

Within 10 minutes of the request, we were able to generate the shop lifter's Phone Number, Address, First Name, Last Nameand even his Fav color and Hang out spot ! The police feels they have never recieved such a detailed information about a thief, well all they had to do was go introduce themselves and arrest that goofy goon, I suppose !

I was ruing the fact why am I literally in the middle of nowhere, when most my friends are in SOHO,NY or So Co, Austin !

But this experience made the stint worth it !

Rantings of a Rambling Ragamuffin

It's been exactly 3 months since I created this blog !

Much water has passed since that portentous day !

Chandramukhi celebrated it's 600th day -

Statistics show that the unemployment levels in India have never been so low, ever. Still you will always find people who are out of work and out of intellecto!


Don Rumsfield steps down as Sec of Defense and Former President of Texas A&M Robert Gates takes over as the Top man at Pentagon

Being held responsible for a fateful and unethical war has it's own charm !
"Chief Architect - Vietnam II" - Rumsfield a former Princeton Univ wrestling champ has to wrestle with that epitaph & epithet ! As for Mr Gates, Go Aggies !!!


ING & IIM B presents a report on India's Pension schemes

Dutch Financial Powerhouse, ING & India's premier B School IIM, B'lore have presented a report, rather a book, on changes necc in India's Pension scheme ! 401k 'ed !!

Damien Martyn retires from International cricket

A fantastic career comes to a screeching,abrupt halt, much to the shock & astonishment of the Aussie team trying to reclaim the Ashes ! As interestingly pointed out by my good friend Kartik- How much has it got to do with his impertinent gesture to Mr Pawar, Chief of BCCI ? Only God knows !!

One of 'My Best Friends Wedding'

Had a detailed chat with Siva while he was returning back from his Uncle-in-Law's home. His marriage has been fixed for Nov 23. It's a pity I wont be able to attend it due to some committed tasks with clients. I promised myself to attend the reception where ever he hosts after they return from Desh.

My other good friend AJ is tying the knot as well in late Dec. Suddenly as in Lok Sabha, the have's are prevailing over we, have not's !!

Also had an hour long conversation with Atul, he has joined a new job and was pretty excited about it. I wish him good luck !

It was Kartik's b'day today. He is still put up at Calif interviewing with a few Tech Firms. As always, I believe something big is around the corner ! Lage Raho Kartik Bhai.

Got hold of the Jeremy Siegel book "Stocks for the Long Run" from the Keene library, though interesting and still too early to comment - It's definitely not in the league of "Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham ! No wonder the bloke is considered by Warren Buffett as his guru !

Neverthless, I thought Jeremy's book had an impressive foreword laced with witty yet thought provoking facts, yet nothing compared to the one which my own guru Dr Ken Case had written in the foreword of his book that was supposedly exclaimed by his wife Mrs Lucy after reading the first copy - Ken, if you know so much about Finance, why arent we rich " ?