I was introduced to online trading by Indiabulls in August 2004. The Indiabulls trading screen was a snapshot of the BSE trading screen and was very easy to operate. The trading was almost real time – a gap of maybe 5 seconds between the BSE time and the online trading time. Once my account was set up and I had transferred shares into my linked demat account as margin, I was ready for day trading. I had no intention of doing day trades – my initial thinking was to use the online trading facility for investing in shares in the short term and supplementing my professional income with short term profits. I was doing reasonably well having made about Rs. 70000 odd in three months. All trades made were confirmed by an e-mail received from Indiabulls, also I could download all contracts and bills for my records from their site. Being an accountant, documentation has always held importance for avoiding tax headaches at a later date.
Sometime in November 2004 I got an e-mail from Indiabulls stating that I had made some four thousand odd rupees in a futures transaction. I was surprised, as I had not initiated the transaction and was averse to futures and options as I did not understand it then. I called up my relationship manager and he told me that he had seen the idle margin in my account and had done the transaction on my behalf. I really freaked out – I asked him what right did he have to play with my money, what if there was a loss – how would he expect me to take the loss? No answer – I escalated the matter – as to me this was a clear breach of trust and misuse of my margin available with Indiabulls. My relationship manager was changed and they told me to keep the profit – though I told them that it was not mine to take as the transaction was not done by me – they convinced me to let bygones be bygones and trained me a bit on futures trading. I guess that was the game plan – to get another client sucked into volume transactions by giving him the feel of futures.
I fell for it and completely stopped my short term trading and switched over to day trading in futures! Now futures trading means trading in lots of designated shares, trading in the Nifty or the sensex. The futures trading cycle lasts for about a month and always closes on the last Friday of the month. If you have any open position at the end of the month, you need to roll it over to the next month by paying additional margin, if required. Most novices trade in long positions (meaning “buy”). Each lot of a share would vary in number, though the approximate value would be around Rs. 5 lacs.
The more I got a hang of it the more I became addicted to it. It was like actually trading in money. Everyday I used to wait for the opening bell and start trading, sometimes making money sometimes losing money. One day in January 2005 took the cake, the market was very volatile and it was expected to fall. I used to trade regularly in lots of Syndicate Bank as it used to operate in a Rs. 10 band and in a given time span. I went short in Syndicate Bank shares and the market fell, I covered my position and went short again and bought back when it fell further, I repeated this process about three more times with the market continuing to fall and Syndicate Bank also falling. During this time I was completely glued to the computer screen, just staring at the ticker as it moved up and down. My blood used to race and heart pound with each downward move. This was like a high which you probably experience with drugs, it was amazing. In one day, by the end of trading I had made about Rs. 1.5 lacs! and I was in a state of complete euphoria! The next day, I came to office and started the computer and logged into my Indiabulls account and found that I still had a short position open (one lot of Syndicate Bank was 8000 shares). I started sweating, market was yet to open, and I desperately checked my account for all trades made the previous day as I was sure in my mind that I had completely squared off my positions. On verification, I was proved right, all trades made that day had been squared off, but I had an open position from the earlier day, which I completely forgot about in the rush and euphoria of hitting the jackpot (for me – in those days – it was a jackpot you see)! That day the sensex opened 100 points up and never looked back for the entire month! I had started sweating in tension because the price at which Syndicate Bank was trading was way above what I had sold it at! I waited desperately for the market to go bad, if not at least for Syndicate Bank to fall, but that was not to be. In fact I ultimately ended up losing more than two times the amount I had made in all those earlier trades. On March 31, 2005 I completely stopped futures trading and changed my philosophy to long term investments with which I have had no regrets. The “kick” I got out of futures trading is enough to last me a lifetime.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Padma Shri Awards 2009
The Padma Shri awards are given by the Government of India generally to Indian citizens to recognize their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Social Service and Public Life. It is the fourth in the hierarchy of civilian awards after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Uptill the year 2008, 2059 people have been given the Padma Shri since its institution in 1954.
The sports awards for the year 2009 have created a controversy as the Olympic medal winners who were short listed have been removed from the final list of awardees. This to my mind is gross injustice to the sportspersons – boxer Vijender Kumar and wrestler Sushil Kumar. In fact these two had created Olympic sporting history as far as India was concerned, by giving two bronze medals to India on the same day at the 2008 Beijing Olympics along with Abhinav Bindra’s shooting gold. We have never won anything apart from the 11 hockey gold/silver/bronze medals, wrestling medal to Jadhav (Helsinki) in 1952, Dr. Karni Singh bronze in shooting in 1964(Tokyo), bronze to Leandar Paes (Atlanta) in tennis, Karnam Malleswari in 2000 (Sydney) in weight lifting the silver medal to shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the Athens Olympics in 2004.
In the sports section we have Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh who have been given awards. Dhoni may have won the T20 world cup, is a great captain for the future with a sensible head on his shoulders – but has he achieved enough to be given the fourth highest civilian award? What about Harbhajan Singh? His career has been raked by controversy and bad behavior – so what are we encouraging? Are the achievements of these two individuals in a team game played by a handful of nations in the world in any way superior to the achievements of Boxer, Vijender Kumar or Wrestler Sushil Kumar? These guys have won an individual bronze at the Olympics, the greatest sporting extravaganza on earth in which almost every country in the world participates! Their contribution is far greater in furthering the cause of sports in India than anything the cricketers can ever do. Cricket has the money power and the glamour to go with it – but that definitely does not justify the Padma Shri to Dhoni and Harbhajan above Vijender and Sushil. Unfortunately in India the masses and the politicians/bureaucrats preparing the final list of awardees only see cricket as our national game to the detriment of all other sports including hockey, which is supposed to be out national sport.
The sports awards for the year 2009 have created a controversy as the Olympic medal winners who were short listed have been removed from the final list of awardees. This to my mind is gross injustice to the sportspersons – boxer Vijender Kumar and wrestler Sushil Kumar. In fact these two had created Olympic sporting history as far as India was concerned, by giving two bronze medals to India on the same day at the 2008 Beijing Olympics along with Abhinav Bindra’s shooting gold. We have never won anything apart from the 11 hockey gold/silver/bronze medals, wrestling medal to Jadhav (Helsinki) in 1952, Dr. Karni Singh bronze in shooting in 1964(Tokyo), bronze to Leandar Paes (Atlanta) in tennis, Karnam Malleswari in 2000 (Sydney) in weight lifting the silver medal to shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the Athens Olympics in 2004.
In the sports section we have Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh who have been given awards. Dhoni may have won the T20 world cup, is a great captain for the future with a sensible head on his shoulders – but has he achieved enough to be given the fourth highest civilian award? What about Harbhajan Singh? His career has been raked by controversy and bad behavior – so what are we encouraging? Are the achievements of these two individuals in a team game played by a handful of nations in the world in any way superior to the achievements of Boxer, Vijender Kumar or Wrestler Sushil Kumar? These guys have won an individual bronze at the Olympics, the greatest sporting extravaganza on earth in which almost every country in the world participates! Their contribution is far greater in furthering the cause of sports in India than anything the cricketers can ever do. Cricket has the money power and the glamour to go with it – but that definitely does not justify the Padma Shri to Dhoni and Harbhajan above Vijender and Sushil. Unfortunately in India the masses and the politicians/bureaucrats preparing the final list of awardees only see cricket as our national game to the detriment of all other sports including hockey, which is supposed to be out national sport.
Hooliganism in the name of activism
I have been a BJP voter for as long as I can remember, but the so called activism by right wing off shoots of the “hindutva” parties has left me hanging my head in shame. Whether it is the hooliganism perpetrated by the Sri Ram Sene in Mangalore on Saturday, the vandalization of churches in Bangalore by members of the same group earlier or the bullying tactics of the MNS in Maharashtra in 5 star hotels or the Mumbai University – these acts are beyond condemnation. I strongly suggest that these people should be hospitalized and checked for psychiatric / schizophrenic symptoms – that is the only thing that can condone such ridiculously violent behavior. Maybe these guys have been molested in their youth, denied basic human rights for their behavior to become inhuman and animalistic – I think I am being impolite to the animals as they also indulge in violence only to fill their stomachs – these guys seem to be indulging in violence to satiate some other base instinct which only psychiatric help might divulge.
No amount of justification or explanation can justify such wanton acts of depraved violence in the name of protecting Hinduism. Hinduism definitely does not propagate violence against women – in fact the woman is respected as a mother – someone who gives life. I wonder what the mothers of such mentally deranged lunatics have to say about their progeny now. I am sure their heads would also be hanging in shame over the acts of their children. Our culture, right since ancient times has been pluralistic – all one needs to do is go to the various temples all over the country and look at the sculptures. I really won’t be surprised if this bunch of lunatics goes and vandalizes our ancient heritage.
The Government of the day sits silent and watches impotently while these acts take place. What kind of news channels do we have which encourage such behavior by going live with such acts. “Breaking News” is something which each news channel wants to portray and they go to any lengths to telecast depraved acts. In the media war, eyeballs and TRP ratings have become the be all and end all of news telecasting – ethics while telecasting has been thrown out of the window.
The acts of the MNS should be viewed criminally as these are becoming too frequent, perhaps emboldened by the complete inaction of the state government. Unfortunately in India, dirty politics wins any day over public interest! These guys had gone undercover after 26/11 and have now started coming out of their holes to show their muscle. Their muscle during the attacks had become flab perhaps showing their true nature – that of cowards!
These people can only act as mobs – as mob mentality prevails – giving them in their opinion the anonymity to get away with violent acts. Ask any of these jerks to come alone if they have the guts and try doing what they have done – I am sure they will be thrashed by the public and trashed into the nearest municipal dustbin.
I strongly suggest that if any more such attacks take place, the public should get together, then and there and teach these guys a lesson which they will never forget. It is fear psychosis which drives these people – if you do not show fear – you take away their biggest weapon thus exposing them as impotent morons which in reality they actually are! The moment the element of fear is taken out of the equation – the public will win. All they have to do is get hold of one character and thrash him – believe me the rest of the goondas will run because they are used to dishing it out and cannot take it in the same coin. Let me narrate an incident which took place about twenty five years ago while I was going to the Bhandup guest house of the BMC with my uncle who was always at loggerheads with the Shiv Sena. While on the way a group of these goons probably got to know that my uncle would be going to the guesthouse – so they had blocked the road and were shouting slogans against my uncle, threatening violence with hockey sticks and bamboos. The driver of the vehicle got scared and started reversing when my uncle told him to stop the car. After the car stopped, my uncle got out of the car and advanced towards this bunch of trouble makers and shouted in Marathi “if anybody has the guts let him come forward and try and touch me”. His voice resonated and echoed in those sylvan surroundings, perhaps scaring the goons so much that they quietly dispersed with their tails between their legs. I am telling you all it needs is the courage to stand up to these guys and you will see them run away – fear is what fuels their tyranny – stop being afraid and you win the battle.
No amount of justification or explanation can justify such wanton acts of depraved violence in the name of protecting Hinduism. Hinduism definitely does not propagate violence against women – in fact the woman is respected as a mother – someone who gives life. I wonder what the mothers of such mentally deranged lunatics have to say about their progeny now. I am sure their heads would also be hanging in shame over the acts of their children. Our culture, right since ancient times has been pluralistic – all one needs to do is go to the various temples all over the country and look at the sculptures. I really won’t be surprised if this bunch of lunatics goes and vandalizes our ancient heritage.
The Government of the day sits silent and watches impotently while these acts take place. What kind of news channels do we have which encourage such behavior by going live with such acts. “Breaking News” is something which each news channel wants to portray and they go to any lengths to telecast depraved acts. In the media war, eyeballs and TRP ratings have become the be all and end all of news telecasting – ethics while telecasting has been thrown out of the window.
The acts of the MNS should be viewed criminally as these are becoming too frequent, perhaps emboldened by the complete inaction of the state government. Unfortunately in India, dirty politics wins any day over public interest! These guys had gone undercover after 26/11 and have now started coming out of their holes to show their muscle. Their muscle during the attacks had become flab perhaps showing their true nature – that of cowards!
These people can only act as mobs – as mob mentality prevails – giving them in their opinion the anonymity to get away with violent acts. Ask any of these jerks to come alone if they have the guts and try doing what they have done – I am sure they will be thrashed by the public and trashed into the nearest municipal dustbin.
I strongly suggest that if any more such attacks take place, the public should get together, then and there and teach these guys a lesson which they will never forget. It is fear psychosis which drives these people – if you do not show fear – you take away their biggest weapon thus exposing them as impotent morons which in reality they actually are! The moment the element of fear is taken out of the equation – the public will win. All they have to do is get hold of one character and thrash him – believe me the rest of the goondas will run because they are used to dishing it out and cannot take it in the same coin. Let me narrate an incident which took place about twenty five years ago while I was going to the Bhandup guest house of the BMC with my uncle who was always at loggerheads with the Shiv Sena. While on the way a group of these goons probably got to know that my uncle would be going to the guesthouse – so they had blocked the road and were shouting slogans against my uncle, threatening violence with hockey sticks and bamboos. The driver of the vehicle got scared and started reversing when my uncle told him to stop the car. After the car stopped, my uncle got out of the car and advanced towards this bunch of trouble makers and shouted in Marathi “if anybody has the guts let him come forward and try and touch me”. His voice resonated and echoed in those sylvan surroundings, perhaps scaring the goons so much that they quietly dispersed with their tails between their legs. I am telling you all it needs is the courage to stand up to these guys and you will see them run away – fear is what fuels their tyranny – stop being afraid and you win the battle.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Satyams 13000 ghost employees
Subsequent to my earlier post on the Satyam episode it has been established that Satyam had only 40000 employees and around 13000 employees were fake generating around Rs. 20 crore per month for Mr. Ramalinga Raju! The question is how were these ghost employees created.
The banks follow or are supposed to follow strict KYC norms (Know Your Customer)before opening a bank account. You will understand what I mean if you have ever tried opening a new bank account. The bank requires your Income Tax PAN, your photographs, identity proof as well as residence proof for opening a new account. If 13000 fake employees have been created and the salary was being paid by cheque to these bank accounts implies that a very well thought out fraud was taking place. This fraud would require a lot of agencies being hand in glove to make it successful. The investigators would first need to see whether all the Income Tax PAN numbers created were genuine, if so - whether 13000 different photos, addresses were used to create such ID's. It boggles my imagination to think how so many different photos and addresses could have been generated for opening the account. I suspect that same photos and addresses would have been used for different names.
Once fake PAN's ID's have been created, I am sure someone from the banks were taken into confidence to create the fake employee accounts. Creating 13000 fake accounts cannot be done without the connivance of someone from the bank.
The other issue is Rs. 20cr per month for 13000 employees implies an average salary of Rs. 15384 per employee. Makes me wonder how this money was withdrawn from these accounts - it becomes a full time job for a team of people to ensure that cash is withdrawn or cheques issued so that the money is transferred to designated accounts. This happening over a period of time consistently implies that the banks monitoring personnel were lax and negligent in reporting the fact that money from salary accounts is moving only in a specific manner. One or two persons transferring money to a particular account can be understood - but 13000 accounts!! Either the bank staff is too gullible or was hand in glove in perpetrating the fraud.
The banks follow or are supposed to follow strict KYC norms (Know Your Customer)before opening a bank account. You will understand what I mean if you have ever tried opening a new bank account. The bank requires your Income Tax PAN, your photographs, identity proof as well as residence proof for opening a new account. If 13000 fake employees have been created and the salary was being paid by cheque to these bank accounts implies that a very well thought out fraud was taking place. This fraud would require a lot of agencies being hand in glove to make it successful. The investigators would first need to see whether all the Income Tax PAN numbers created were genuine, if so - whether 13000 different photos, addresses were used to create such ID's. It boggles my imagination to think how so many different photos and addresses could have been generated for opening the account. I suspect that same photos and addresses would have been used for different names.
Once fake PAN's ID's have been created, I am sure someone from the banks were taken into confidence to create the fake employee accounts. Creating 13000 fake accounts cannot be done without the connivance of someone from the bank.
The other issue is Rs. 20cr per month for 13000 employees implies an average salary of Rs. 15384 per employee. Makes me wonder how this money was withdrawn from these accounts - it becomes a full time job for a team of people to ensure that cash is withdrawn or cheques issued so that the money is transferred to designated accounts. This happening over a period of time consistently implies that the banks monitoring personnel were lax and negligent in reporting the fact that money from salary accounts is moving only in a specific manner. One or two persons transferring money to a particular account can be understood - but 13000 accounts!! Either the bank staff is too gullible or was hand in glove in perpetrating the fraud.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Reality and Perception
What appears as a fact today is deemed to be real, but the same fact tomorrow may not appear to be real due to disclosure of other related facts. Reality also differs when seen through different eyes and through ones perception of the so called reality. Have you ever recalled an event in your memory, a place you may have visited or an object you have visualized and then you actually the event occurs or you visit the place or see the object and then realize that it is not in any way close to what you thought about it. You my think of visiting a tourist resort or watch a movie based on descriptions given by friends, and then when you actually visit that place or watch the movie you find it to be completely different than what you imagined it to be! This is because you were trying to see what your friend saw – what you perceived was your friends reality hence your reality of the place visited or movie seen is different from that of your friends. For instance if you taste something bitter for the first time, for e.g. beer, you would not want to drink it again. This is because the reality at that point is that beer tastes bitter and is difficult to swallow. The same beer drunk repeatedly begins to taste nice – you say you have now developed a taste for beer! So the perception that beer is bitter has now been overtaken by the reality that beer is cool! So now tell me is perception more real than what we perceive to be real? Confusing? Interesting? I will leave you to ponder over it.
Over time your outlook on life changes with experiences – both good and bad – this again leads to a change in your perception of reality. Reality is the fact of existence of events that have occurred and are indelibly etched in your memory. Its all a mind game really – ultimately what you perceive to be real will be the reality for you till circumstances make you change your opinion on what you perceived. So now your perceived reality changes to the new set of circumstances as you are seeing things with either more information and facts made available to you which tells you that earlier what you thought was completely wrong! This happens very often with the police force when they come up with announcements based on limited facts only to do an about turn when new facts turn up.
A simple way to try and understand this is to think about something which you consider to be a problem right now. Having thought of this problem, instead of calling it a problem – try calling it a challenge! What can you learn from this challenge? How do you think this challenge is going to benefit you, your experience of life and that of others? The moment you think of a problem as a challenge your perception of the problem changes and your mind starts thinking of a solution to the problem as now your mind considers the problem to be a challenge. It is how you program your mind to confront life which will give insight on what you can achieve in life. Based on your approach you will realize whether you can be considered to be a solution provider or for whom the perceived problem always appears to be bigger than the solution!
Pause for a moment and think about what you think is real…… Your reality is actually your perception of it. Or is that just my perception of what the difference between reality and perception is? :-)
My reality will always be my perception of it. There is no right or wrong with perceptions, no absolute truth except my experience of what is right or wrong based on what life teaches me.
There is a saying “ just as history is written by those that have murdered heroes and razed down nations, the vision of reality is nothing more than what our eyes or rather our mind, wants it to be.”
This could bring us to discuss “subjective reality”. A glass can be half full or half empty depending on your outlook – optimistic or pessimistic – how you view the glass is your reality which is subjective. It is precisely for this that misunderstandings are a given in any relationship, irrespective of the strength of the bond between two people. The same incident, same gesture, same emotion may be perceived in different ways by different people according to their subjectivity. Thus you can safely say that reality is as real as you deem it to be.
In Vasubandhu’s thesis the concept of Reality as Consciousness (metaphysical idealism) is explored. The external world is an IDEA, i.e. a construction of consciousness, mind, thought and perception. There are, in fact, no objects external to consciousness, no non-mental realities. If the objects of consciousness have no external existence, then, contrary to actual experience any idea could arise at any time or place, different minds could “perceive” different objects at the same time and in the same place differently and objects could function in unexpected (surprising, unpredictable) ways. While dreaming you experience reality, in the sense that events in your dreams actually transpire at a later date giving you the feeling of déjà vu. Thus you say that your dreams have come true.
It is a fact that I have written this note on my blog – this is reality, it exists – but what you read and understand could be your perception of my reality. What do you think?
Over time your outlook on life changes with experiences – both good and bad – this again leads to a change in your perception of reality. Reality is the fact of existence of events that have occurred and are indelibly etched in your memory. Its all a mind game really – ultimately what you perceive to be real will be the reality for you till circumstances make you change your opinion on what you perceived. So now your perceived reality changes to the new set of circumstances as you are seeing things with either more information and facts made available to you which tells you that earlier what you thought was completely wrong! This happens very often with the police force when they come up with announcements based on limited facts only to do an about turn when new facts turn up.
A simple way to try and understand this is to think about something which you consider to be a problem right now. Having thought of this problem, instead of calling it a problem – try calling it a challenge! What can you learn from this challenge? How do you think this challenge is going to benefit you, your experience of life and that of others? The moment you think of a problem as a challenge your perception of the problem changes and your mind starts thinking of a solution to the problem as now your mind considers the problem to be a challenge. It is how you program your mind to confront life which will give insight on what you can achieve in life. Based on your approach you will realize whether you can be considered to be a solution provider or for whom the perceived problem always appears to be bigger than the solution!
Pause for a moment and think about what you think is real…… Your reality is actually your perception of it. Or is that just my perception of what the difference between reality and perception is? :-)
My reality will always be my perception of it. There is no right or wrong with perceptions, no absolute truth except my experience of what is right or wrong based on what life teaches me.
There is a saying “ just as history is written by those that have murdered heroes and razed down nations, the vision of reality is nothing more than what our eyes or rather our mind, wants it to be.”
This could bring us to discuss “subjective reality”. A glass can be half full or half empty depending on your outlook – optimistic or pessimistic – how you view the glass is your reality which is subjective. It is precisely for this that misunderstandings are a given in any relationship, irrespective of the strength of the bond between two people. The same incident, same gesture, same emotion may be perceived in different ways by different people according to their subjectivity. Thus you can safely say that reality is as real as you deem it to be.
In Vasubandhu’s thesis the concept of Reality as Consciousness (metaphysical idealism) is explored. The external world is an IDEA, i.e. a construction of consciousness, mind, thought and perception. There are, in fact, no objects external to consciousness, no non-mental realities. If the objects of consciousness have no external existence, then, contrary to actual experience any idea could arise at any time or place, different minds could “perceive” different objects at the same time and in the same place differently and objects could function in unexpected (surprising, unpredictable) ways. While dreaming you experience reality, in the sense that events in your dreams actually transpire at a later date giving you the feeling of déjà vu. Thus you say that your dreams have come true.
It is a fact that I have written this note on my blog – this is reality, it exists – but what you read and understand could be your perception of my reality. What do you think?
Do some members of the Police understand their Role
Two incidents reported in the Press today highlight the fact that some members of the Mumbai police do not have a clue as to their role while policing this vast city.
In the first incident the Police were silent spectators while the Shiv Sena goons vandalized and terrorized a 5 star hotel, namely Hotel Intercontinental Lalit at Sahar in the guise of unionism and trying to restore the jobs of the so called 11 youth who lost their jobs. If the management has sacked 11 people they must be having valid reasons, even if they don’t, there are more civilized ways to protest with adequate legal remedies available to the sacked employees which can help re-instate them. Are these politicians people friendly or they just interested in their petty political gains which could help them garner some funds? We have not yet got over the 26/11 terror attacks and here we have our own home grown goondas terrorizing and vandalizing another 5 star hotel. It has been reported in the Press that the police were silent spectators while the acts of vandalism were in progress. Were they scared – or were they told not to interfere by the politicos? Are we ruled by law abiding people or are we ruled by goondas? Why were the police so lethargic in taking action? The Chief Minister in an earlier incident also was hesitant in taking action against the culprits and in this case has also chosen not to speak on the incident. Shiv Sena’s Suryakant Mahadik was being bellicose when he stated that Bal Thackeray had helped Lalit Suri in building the Hotel and now his wife was not letting them set up a Union for hotel employees. If this is the reason given, then Mahadik should be thrown behind bars for taking the law into his own hands. If and when our police gather the confidence and the guts to act without fear or favour, I would then say that India has a chance to improve.
The other incident involved police over-activism in arresting a law abiding citizen who protested the Prime Ministers convoy holding up traffic on Saturday for over 45 minutes. I can understand this persons frustration in having to endure an unending wait for some VIP traffic convoy to pass – and then letting out the frustration in a civilized manner. All he did was get out of his car and ask the cops why citizens were made to suffer unfairly whenever VIP traffic movement happens. On posing this question the cop was so incensed that he ordered the arrest of the individual and booked him for unlawful assembly and assaulting a public servant! May I remind these police officers that it is the ordinary citizen who pays their salary by contributing to the State and Central taxes. As part of the aam junta, this gentleman, Sushil Rane had every right to ask the police why he should be inconvenienced. Are we a police state or a democracy? Probably what got Inspector Waghmare’s goat was that a dozen other people supported Mr. Rane and he could not handle the pressure – so what does he do – slaps a false case and puts the man in jail overnight. Mr. Rane was released the next day on a bail bond of Rs. 15000. If VIP’s have to come to Mumbai, then they should travel by helicopter without inconveniencing the public – as it is Mumbai’s roads are a perpetual disaster with some utility or the other digging the roads up, flyovers being constructed, concreting taking place and if none of these activities are happening then somebody just dumps debris on the road effectively reducing its motorability to half.
The above two incidents highlight the fact that the police really do not know their role in policing this city. We need to give them training in effective handling of all kinds of situations such as resisting political pressure, riot control, soft skills, stress management, and above all we need to tell them that we live in a democracy where people have rights and the police force is one of the arms for protecting democracy and not for being a mute spectator when democracy is being abused nor for abusing democracy by misusing their power.
In the first incident the Police were silent spectators while the Shiv Sena goons vandalized and terrorized a 5 star hotel, namely Hotel Intercontinental Lalit at Sahar in the guise of unionism and trying to restore the jobs of the so called 11 youth who lost their jobs. If the management has sacked 11 people they must be having valid reasons, even if they don’t, there are more civilized ways to protest with adequate legal remedies available to the sacked employees which can help re-instate them. Are these politicians people friendly or they just interested in their petty political gains which could help them garner some funds? We have not yet got over the 26/11 terror attacks and here we have our own home grown goondas terrorizing and vandalizing another 5 star hotel. It has been reported in the Press that the police were silent spectators while the acts of vandalism were in progress. Were they scared – or were they told not to interfere by the politicos? Are we ruled by law abiding people or are we ruled by goondas? Why were the police so lethargic in taking action? The Chief Minister in an earlier incident also was hesitant in taking action against the culprits and in this case has also chosen not to speak on the incident. Shiv Sena’s Suryakant Mahadik was being bellicose when he stated that Bal Thackeray had helped Lalit Suri in building the Hotel and now his wife was not letting them set up a Union for hotel employees. If this is the reason given, then Mahadik should be thrown behind bars for taking the law into his own hands. If and when our police gather the confidence and the guts to act without fear or favour, I would then say that India has a chance to improve.
The other incident involved police over-activism in arresting a law abiding citizen who protested the Prime Ministers convoy holding up traffic on Saturday for over 45 minutes. I can understand this persons frustration in having to endure an unending wait for some VIP traffic convoy to pass – and then letting out the frustration in a civilized manner. All he did was get out of his car and ask the cops why citizens were made to suffer unfairly whenever VIP traffic movement happens. On posing this question the cop was so incensed that he ordered the arrest of the individual and booked him for unlawful assembly and assaulting a public servant! May I remind these police officers that it is the ordinary citizen who pays their salary by contributing to the State and Central taxes. As part of the aam junta, this gentleman, Sushil Rane had every right to ask the police why he should be inconvenienced. Are we a police state or a democracy? Probably what got Inspector Waghmare’s goat was that a dozen other people supported Mr. Rane and he could not handle the pressure – so what does he do – slaps a false case and puts the man in jail overnight. Mr. Rane was released the next day on a bail bond of Rs. 15000. If VIP’s have to come to Mumbai, then they should travel by helicopter without inconveniencing the public – as it is Mumbai’s roads are a perpetual disaster with some utility or the other digging the roads up, flyovers being constructed, concreting taking place and if none of these activities are happening then somebody just dumps debris on the road effectively reducing its motorability to half.
The above two incidents highlight the fact that the police really do not know their role in policing this city. We need to give them training in effective handling of all kinds of situations such as resisting political pressure, riot control, soft skills, stress management, and above all we need to tell them that we live in a democracy where people have rights and the police force is one of the arms for protecting democracy and not for being a mute spectator when democracy is being abused nor for abusing democracy by misusing their power.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A new President - Lots of expectations
Yesterday was a historic day with the swearing in of the first non-white President in the worlds oldest and most powerful democracy. The celebrations and party before the swearing in showcased the hopes and expectations of a nation mauled by economic scandals, recession, banking losses and a multitude of bankruptcy filings by some of the largest corporations in the US leading to unprecedented job losses. The world has seen a global economic meltdown triggered by events which transpired in the US. There are problems in the Middle East and Afghanistan/Pakistan plus the Bush created mess in Iraq to take care of.
Mr. Obama is definitely going to have his hands full and his acceptance speech was serious and hopeful of tackling the various issues over time. It was probably one of the most inspiring speeches given in modern times. Hope our politicians learn something from Mr. Obama! He has selected a high powered team of individuals with the strength of character and with high levels of integrity much in advance of the swearing in so that he could hit the deck running so to say. The filtration process for selecting his team was one of the most stringent and transparent that any politician has probably ever undergone. Speaks volumes for the way he intends to set high standards while being in public office. Wish I will see this happening in India in my lifetime. In India, unfortunately, muscle amd black money power is more important an asset to land a seat in Parliament - not integrity and a law degree.
Mr. Obama has his work cut out to set the economy straight in the coming days and restoring the confidence of the citizens of the world in the banking institutions which have betrayed the peoples trust and confidence by introducing complex derivative products and over leveraging leading to the sub prime crises which has cost the world dearly.
Mr. Obama will have to set his sights on the Middle East peace process and ensure that peace and sanity is restored in the Gaza strip as well as in Israel. The Hamas should be made to see sense and made to stop firing missiles into Israel, because to my mind that is one war that Hamas is not going to win. The Israelis will inflict ten times the damage that the Hamas initiates which will just lead to the loss of lives of innocent victims, young and old.
The next target needing his immediate attention further east is Iraq, he needs to extricate his nation from the major mess created by his predecessor. The entry into Iraq was based on falsity and misinformation fed to the rest of the world, which subsequent events post invasion have irrevocably established. Lots of young American soldiers have lost their lives to feed the ego of a maniacal President in the name of terror. Lots of innocent Iraqis have lost their lives and the Iraqi nation has been left in a shambles. The new President should do all in his power to stop this madness and help bring Iraq into the comity of nations and help it stand on its feet again as an independent and responsible democratic nation.
The real global headache is still further east, namely Pakistan. The US got into Afghanistan to catch Osama bin Laden and a wily Pakistani dictator took advantage of the so called war on terror to fund his nation and his ambitions. All the billions of dollars pumped in by the US so far has not gone into fighting terror or in building the Pakistani economy, but is being mainly utilized for arming itself to its teeth to fight India. The new President should realize that Pakistan is heading towards becoming a failed state – and a nuclear armed failed state will become the worlds biggest headache, if not one already! It is in the interest of the world that Pakistani democracy is supported and the ISI and its hidden jehadi agenda tamed so that the earth becomes a safer place to live in. The only way to do so is to withhold financial support till such time that Pakistan does not fall in line and dismantle the terror training camps existing over there. Pakistan itself has been a victim of terror – the terrorists will look inward if they cannot find an outlet elsewhere – as they are like man eating tigers – once having tasted blood, only blood will satiate them. All help must be given to rein in and dismantle all terror training camps conducted clandestinely and in some cases openly by elements in Pakistan.
I pray that Mr. Obama has the courage and the vision to take his nation and the world forward to prosperity and happiness for all today and in the future. God Bless.
Mr. Obama is definitely going to have his hands full and his acceptance speech was serious and hopeful of tackling the various issues over time. It was probably one of the most inspiring speeches given in modern times. Hope our politicians learn something from Mr. Obama! He has selected a high powered team of individuals with the strength of character and with high levels of integrity much in advance of the swearing in so that he could hit the deck running so to say. The filtration process for selecting his team was one of the most stringent and transparent that any politician has probably ever undergone. Speaks volumes for the way he intends to set high standards while being in public office. Wish I will see this happening in India in my lifetime. In India, unfortunately, muscle amd black money power is more important an asset to land a seat in Parliament - not integrity and a law degree.
Mr. Obama has his work cut out to set the economy straight in the coming days and restoring the confidence of the citizens of the world in the banking institutions which have betrayed the peoples trust and confidence by introducing complex derivative products and over leveraging leading to the sub prime crises which has cost the world dearly.
Mr. Obama will have to set his sights on the Middle East peace process and ensure that peace and sanity is restored in the Gaza strip as well as in Israel. The Hamas should be made to see sense and made to stop firing missiles into Israel, because to my mind that is one war that Hamas is not going to win. The Israelis will inflict ten times the damage that the Hamas initiates which will just lead to the loss of lives of innocent victims, young and old.
The next target needing his immediate attention further east is Iraq, he needs to extricate his nation from the major mess created by his predecessor. The entry into Iraq was based on falsity and misinformation fed to the rest of the world, which subsequent events post invasion have irrevocably established. Lots of young American soldiers have lost their lives to feed the ego of a maniacal President in the name of terror. Lots of innocent Iraqis have lost their lives and the Iraqi nation has been left in a shambles. The new President should do all in his power to stop this madness and help bring Iraq into the comity of nations and help it stand on its feet again as an independent and responsible democratic nation.
The real global headache is still further east, namely Pakistan. The US got into Afghanistan to catch Osama bin Laden and a wily Pakistani dictator took advantage of the so called war on terror to fund his nation and his ambitions. All the billions of dollars pumped in by the US so far has not gone into fighting terror or in building the Pakistani economy, but is being mainly utilized for arming itself to its teeth to fight India. The new President should realize that Pakistan is heading towards becoming a failed state – and a nuclear armed failed state will become the worlds biggest headache, if not one already! It is in the interest of the world that Pakistani democracy is supported and the ISI and its hidden jehadi agenda tamed so that the earth becomes a safer place to live in. The only way to do so is to withhold financial support till such time that Pakistan does not fall in line and dismantle the terror training camps existing over there. Pakistan itself has been a victim of terror – the terrorists will look inward if they cannot find an outlet elsewhere – as they are like man eating tigers – once having tasted blood, only blood will satiate them. All help must be given to rein in and dismantle all terror training camps conducted clandestinely and in some cases openly by elements in Pakistan.
I pray that Mr. Obama has the courage and the vision to take his nation and the world forward to prosperity and happiness for all today and in the future. God Bless.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
SCMM 2009 Marathon Experience
We left home at 5.15 am, my wife, younger daughter Vallari and myself for VT. We had to take the route via saath raasta to JJ Hospital and thence to the Police Commissioners office. As we had left early parking was no problem. We parked the car and walked all the way to Gate number 3 which was our entry point for the Corporate Challenge. There was pretty decent security, with screening of people entering the holding area for the participants, this led to long lines at the entry points. As I had come early, I got in well in time, some of my colleagues who came late had to stand in long lines and missed the start time for the half marathon and had to rush off without warming up. We had 16 people running the half marathon from our company and 27 participating in the Dream Run. As usual we had quite a few drop outs but I guess these guys missed out on the experience once again. We were running for a cause to support “Project Crayons” an NGO which works for the underprivileged girl child – Health, Education and Rights (HER) and 13 of our runners were running for Light of Life Trust. We also had a message on our T-shirts which said “Remember 26/11, Enough is Enough, Do not Participate, but Contribute to a Positive Change”. I am confident we will do just that in the coming days.
After doing stretches for ten to fifteen minutes it was time for the race to begin, this time the organizers had a separate holding area for chip holders which made life less complicated. Last year I was trampled upon by the hoards which were let free by the organizers and had to run with both my toe nails damaged - towards the end last year I was running in excruciating pain. This year was much better, I helped a couple put on the timing chips in the dark, just before the race started, encouraged another veteran like me (his first time) that he should not worry and he will definitely finish the race. I met him after the race and congratulated him - he had a huge smile of satisfaction on completing the distance.
At sharp 6.45 am we were let free, the chip holders had to run about 500 metres to the start line - when I reached the start line it was 6.48am. This year it was way too warm and humid for a comfortable run as compared to last year. After the four kilometer mark I was completely pooped and had to walk for some time before running again. I have been training early in the morning and finishing my run before sunrise. I guess this also makes a huge difference - one should train in similar weather conditions to get an accurate assessment of one’s running ability.
I took the race kilometer by kilometer and resisted drinking any water till about the 7km mark, after which I took water regularly, finishing more than twenty bottles by the time I finished the race. The climb up Peddar Road, after Babulnath was painful as it is quite steep and long. I saw the lead runner in the half marathon half way up the bridge at Peddar Road and cheered him on, about 200 metres behind were the second and third placed runners and then the other lead runners, I shouted a cheer for all of them. After doing the climb, the downhill run to Haji Ali was a pleasure. A young kid offered me an orange which was a welcome relief and really helped in stopping my mouth from drying up. As a veteran, one gets an extra cheer and calls for buck up, you can do it, which is really encouraging. I saw Anil Ambani surrounded by a group of his employees on his way back opposite Lala College. I am sure he would have finished in around 1 hour 45 minutes – something I look forward to emulating in due course. I passed the 11.3 km mark, the turn back marker at around 8.15am. I was running past NSCI when I saw a young colleague, Mahesh, on his way towards the half way mark. By this time the sun was up and I had started developing a blister on my left foot. With last years experience, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ran slowly to protect the foot and ensured that the blister did not fully develop. This made my balance 9km much slower than I would have liked. I had planned on completing the run in around 2 hours 15 to 20 minutes, but that was not to be, I managed in around 2 hours 40 minutes.
As I was going up Peddar Road, I met another young colleague, Sudhir and told him to buck up and not run like he was old!
On the way up the hill my right calf muscle started becoming stiff and I again started walking as I had just recovered from a calf muscle injury which had happened on 1st January, 2009. It was a suspected muscle tear / muscle spasm which was extremely painful and had left me with a limp for 3-4 days. An orthopedic surgeon who stays above my flat, Dr. Deepak Govekar had told me to take muscle relaxants and had given stretching exercises, had told me to wait for a week at least before thinking of running. He had also said that it takes 6-8 weeks for a muscle injury to heal completely! This had left me quite down in the dumps, as I had been training pretty regularly since September last year. I was to start running again on the 10th of January, so on the 9th I went for a long walk and on return home did some stretching exercises. While doing this I felt my calf muscle jump and the pain started all over again. I went to visit my friend, the orthopedic surgeon and he told me to forget running this year. I asked him whether physio-therapy would help, and he said it would. He recommended Ultra Sound treatment along with SSF with calf and hamstring stretch exercises. From 11th January I started this treatment at Dr. Tripti Verma’s clinic at Bandra. Every morning I used to leave home at 7.45am to be at her clinic at 8am for the treatment and exercise. This took half an hour and thereafter I left for office. I thank both the Doctors and Neha, Dr Tripti’s assistant for doing a wonderful job and getting me up to speed to run the marathon. I ran 3km on Wednesday, 6km on Thursday and 10km on Friday, rested on Saturday and the half monty today. Without their help I would not have been able to run and I am really grateful to them for helping to put me on the road again!
On the home stretch, I met some of the Dream Runners – Venky, Navita, Praveen, Vibin and Vaibhav. As I was now trying to protect injuries, I was sure Mahesh would have passed me on the way to the finish. At the finish I met Mahesh and he said he had just come in, so I guess we finished close to each other. There were a lot of first time half marathoners from our company, and I congratulate each of them for completing the run. I am sure each of them will agree with me with the sense of satisfaction and sense of achievement that the run gives on completion in a decent time. I hope they all train harder and run the half marathon again next year, and those who did the Dream Run graduate to run the half monty next year. Another hope is that all my young friends will do slightly more than they did this year in running for a cause! If I could have inspired more of my young colleagues to run the half marathon this year as compared to last year, I hope I can inspire them to raise funds for the under-priveleged also. They need to realise asking for donations for a cause is not akin to begging for money and making statements like I did not have the time do not hold water. If in my position I can, then I am sure all my young friends too will be able to find time to do what is right!
You can view the snaps on : http://picasaweb.google.com/gmbfca12/SCMM2009
After doing stretches for ten to fifteen minutes it was time for the race to begin, this time the organizers had a separate holding area for chip holders which made life less complicated. Last year I was trampled upon by the hoards which were let free by the organizers and had to run with both my toe nails damaged - towards the end last year I was running in excruciating pain. This year was much better, I helped a couple put on the timing chips in the dark, just before the race started, encouraged another veteran like me (his first time) that he should not worry and he will definitely finish the race. I met him after the race and congratulated him - he had a huge smile of satisfaction on completing the distance.
At sharp 6.45 am we were let free, the chip holders had to run about 500 metres to the start line - when I reached the start line it was 6.48am. This year it was way too warm and humid for a comfortable run as compared to last year. After the four kilometer mark I was completely pooped and had to walk for some time before running again. I have been training early in the morning and finishing my run before sunrise. I guess this also makes a huge difference - one should train in similar weather conditions to get an accurate assessment of one’s running ability.
I took the race kilometer by kilometer and resisted drinking any water till about the 7km mark, after which I took water regularly, finishing more than twenty bottles by the time I finished the race. The climb up Peddar Road, after Babulnath was painful as it is quite steep and long. I saw the lead runner in the half marathon half way up the bridge at Peddar Road and cheered him on, about 200 metres behind were the second and third placed runners and then the other lead runners, I shouted a cheer for all of them. After doing the climb, the downhill run to Haji Ali was a pleasure. A young kid offered me an orange which was a welcome relief and really helped in stopping my mouth from drying up. As a veteran, one gets an extra cheer and calls for buck up, you can do it, which is really encouraging. I saw Anil Ambani surrounded by a group of his employees on his way back opposite Lala College. I am sure he would have finished in around 1 hour 45 minutes – something I look forward to emulating in due course. I passed the 11.3 km mark, the turn back marker at around 8.15am. I was running past NSCI when I saw a young colleague, Mahesh, on his way towards the half way mark. By this time the sun was up and I had started developing a blister on my left foot. With last years experience, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ran slowly to protect the foot and ensured that the blister did not fully develop. This made my balance 9km much slower than I would have liked. I had planned on completing the run in around 2 hours 15 to 20 minutes, but that was not to be, I managed in around 2 hours 40 minutes.
As I was going up Peddar Road, I met another young colleague, Sudhir and told him to buck up and not run like he was old!
On the way up the hill my right calf muscle started becoming stiff and I again started walking as I had just recovered from a calf muscle injury which had happened on 1st January, 2009. It was a suspected muscle tear / muscle spasm which was extremely painful and had left me with a limp for 3-4 days. An orthopedic surgeon who stays above my flat, Dr. Deepak Govekar had told me to take muscle relaxants and had given stretching exercises, had told me to wait for a week at least before thinking of running. He had also said that it takes 6-8 weeks for a muscle injury to heal completely! This had left me quite down in the dumps, as I had been training pretty regularly since September last year. I was to start running again on the 10th of January, so on the 9th I went for a long walk and on return home did some stretching exercises. While doing this I felt my calf muscle jump and the pain started all over again. I went to visit my friend, the orthopedic surgeon and he told me to forget running this year. I asked him whether physio-therapy would help, and he said it would. He recommended Ultra Sound treatment along with SSF with calf and hamstring stretch exercises. From 11th January I started this treatment at Dr. Tripti Verma’s clinic at Bandra. Every morning I used to leave home at 7.45am to be at her clinic at 8am for the treatment and exercise. This took half an hour and thereafter I left for office. I thank both the Doctors and Neha, Dr Tripti’s assistant for doing a wonderful job and getting me up to speed to run the marathon. I ran 3km on Wednesday, 6km on Thursday and 10km on Friday, rested on Saturday and the half monty today. Without their help I would not have been able to run and I am really grateful to them for helping to put me on the road again!
On the home stretch, I met some of the Dream Runners – Venky, Navita, Praveen, Vibin and Vaibhav. As I was now trying to protect injuries, I was sure Mahesh would have passed me on the way to the finish. At the finish I met Mahesh and he said he had just come in, so I guess we finished close to each other. There were a lot of first time half marathoners from our company, and I congratulate each of them for completing the run. I am sure each of them will agree with me with the sense of satisfaction and sense of achievement that the run gives on completion in a decent time. I hope they all train harder and run the half marathon again next year, and those who did the Dream Run graduate to run the half monty next year. Another hope is that all my young friends will do slightly more than they did this year in running for a cause! If I could have inspired more of my young colleagues to run the half marathon this year as compared to last year, I hope I can inspire them to raise funds for the under-priveleged also. They need to realise asking for donations for a cause is not akin to begging for money and making statements like I did not have the time do not hold water. If in my position I can, then I am sure all my young friends too will be able to find time to do what is right!
You can view the snaps on : http://picasaweb.google.com/gmbfca12/SCMM2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
An Indian Fable and PWC
There is a very nice story which is a part of the Indian fables. Let me narrate the story to the best of my ability.
Once upon a time there lived a King who was very handsome and vain about his looks and clothes. He liked to wear expensive silk and muslin dresses with jewelry embroidered into the clothing. He was a good ruler but being vain and proud was sometimes not too well inclined towards the masses. His preference for expensive clothes and jewelry was well known in his kingdom. In the kingdom there were two very clever robbers who decided to take advantage of the Kings vain attitude. The two of them approached the King by attending his weekly durbar. At the durbar, when it was their turn to speak, they told the King that they had come from Persia and had heard about the Kings liking for quality clothes through travelers and that they were tailors by profession. They said they had the skills and god given gift of preparing the most beautiful and exquisite clothing for royalty. They proceeded to describe the kind of clothes they make and hearing the description, the King was so captivated and taken in that he commissioned their services for stitching clothes for himself with the condition that the design made for him would not be repeated for anyone else. The two robbers agreed readily.
The King asked the robbers what material they would require for starting their job and where they would like to work. The robbers told the King that they would require the best silk and muslin as well threads of gold and silver which would be woven and stitched into robes and for making the dress also a certain quantity of diamonds, rubies and emeralds everyday. They said that their task would take one month to complete and that they would require one large room away from the Palace and so secluded that no prying eyes should be able to see the magic of their art. They also said that they would start work at sunset and quit at sunrise so that no one disturbs them while working. They also told the King that their work would be available for review every Sunday. The King readily agreed to all this. The robbers then told the King that there is one small problem – the King was irritated and said what now. The robbers told the King that theirs was a God given skill and only those people with honesty in their hearts and no ill will to others would be able to actually see the dress they have stitched. They said that those people who were liars and crooks would not be able to see their work of art as that was what the Gods had told them when they were imparted their skills. The King said that all the people in his Kingdom were honest and that should not be a problem. On hearing this, the robbers said they will start their work the next night.
The robbers embarked on their swindle with joy in their eyes – every evening they used to get the finest silk and muslin cloth, rolls of gold and silver thread and jewels as requested. They were served the best food and wine to keep them comfortable. The robbers used to enjoy the Kings hospitality and just before daybreak carry all the cloth, threads and jewels with them to their hide out outside the Kingdoms boundary. They did this for the whole week and when Sunday came, the King came to review what work had been accomplished. He was shocked to see an empty room and the two robbers, but he remembered what the robbers had said that only those who were honest and clean of heart could see the clothes. So he just swallowed his anxiety and proceeded to ask the robbers to display their work. The robbers immediately got up and pretended to go and pick up dresses from the table and started describing the work in such glowing terms that the King really believed that the clothes must be there and there was something wrong with him that he did not believe these men. He went off very satisfied. The next day he told his Ministers about the clothes and described them in the same glowing terms as what the robbers had told him.
Next week, the same story, the robbers enjoyed the King’s hospitality during the night and made off with the goodies just before daybreak. Again on Sunday, when the King came, he saw nothing, but dared not say that he could not see the clothes. Again the robbers described the progress made and how the clothes would look really regal and go with the King’s personality. The King was really impressed and went away satisfied. Again he described to his Ministers in glowing terms about his regal robes, this left the Ministers wanting to see what kind of magical clothes were being created for their Sire. The robbers meanwhile had told the King that he could bring others to see their creation only when the clothes were ready to be worn. The third Sunday again, the King saw nothing and went away happy that his clothes were turning out to be magnificent based on the description provided by the robbers.
On the last Sunday, the clothes were fully ready, and the King came to view them along with his Ministers. The robbers went next to the King pretended to robe him with the clothes and described them in the same glowing terms. The King exclaimed how beautiful they were and so light that he could hardly feel the cloth on his skin. Now the Ministers also did not see any clothes, but dared not voice their thoughts because their King had described his clothes in glowing terms – so they also ended up praising the skills of the two tailors and the beauty of the clothes. All the Ministers and King congratulated the two on their magnificent creation and the King to show his satisfaction gave each a 100 gold coins for their efforts. The robbers were very happy and left with their reward.
The next day the King decided to wear the new clothes and display the same throughout his kingdom by riding in his open chariot ! When the King came out, he was stark naked – but no one dared to voice their thoughts and everybody said how beautiful the clothes looked. As he traversed his kingdom, a little boy shouted “Our King is naked, our King is naked”. That is when the King realized he had been taken for a ride and it took an innocent child to point out his situation.
That is exactly what PWC has tried to do – they have been stripped but are trying to hide their modesty by trying to clothe themselves with Mr. Ramalinga Raju’s letter and various guidance notes issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants!
Once upon a time there lived a King who was very handsome and vain about his looks and clothes. He liked to wear expensive silk and muslin dresses with jewelry embroidered into the clothing. He was a good ruler but being vain and proud was sometimes not too well inclined towards the masses. His preference for expensive clothes and jewelry was well known in his kingdom. In the kingdom there were two very clever robbers who decided to take advantage of the Kings vain attitude. The two of them approached the King by attending his weekly durbar. At the durbar, when it was their turn to speak, they told the King that they had come from Persia and had heard about the Kings liking for quality clothes through travelers and that they were tailors by profession. They said they had the skills and god given gift of preparing the most beautiful and exquisite clothing for royalty. They proceeded to describe the kind of clothes they make and hearing the description, the King was so captivated and taken in that he commissioned their services for stitching clothes for himself with the condition that the design made for him would not be repeated for anyone else. The two robbers agreed readily.
The King asked the robbers what material they would require for starting their job and where they would like to work. The robbers told the King that they would require the best silk and muslin as well threads of gold and silver which would be woven and stitched into robes and for making the dress also a certain quantity of diamonds, rubies and emeralds everyday. They said that their task would take one month to complete and that they would require one large room away from the Palace and so secluded that no prying eyes should be able to see the magic of their art. They also said that they would start work at sunset and quit at sunrise so that no one disturbs them while working. They also told the King that their work would be available for review every Sunday. The King readily agreed to all this. The robbers then told the King that there is one small problem – the King was irritated and said what now. The robbers told the King that theirs was a God given skill and only those people with honesty in their hearts and no ill will to others would be able to actually see the dress they have stitched. They said that those people who were liars and crooks would not be able to see their work of art as that was what the Gods had told them when they were imparted their skills. The King said that all the people in his Kingdom were honest and that should not be a problem. On hearing this, the robbers said they will start their work the next night.
The robbers embarked on their swindle with joy in their eyes – every evening they used to get the finest silk and muslin cloth, rolls of gold and silver thread and jewels as requested. They were served the best food and wine to keep them comfortable. The robbers used to enjoy the Kings hospitality and just before daybreak carry all the cloth, threads and jewels with them to their hide out outside the Kingdoms boundary. They did this for the whole week and when Sunday came, the King came to review what work had been accomplished. He was shocked to see an empty room and the two robbers, but he remembered what the robbers had said that only those who were honest and clean of heart could see the clothes. So he just swallowed his anxiety and proceeded to ask the robbers to display their work. The robbers immediately got up and pretended to go and pick up dresses from the table and started describing the work in such glowing terms that the King really believed that the clothes must be there and there was something wrong with him that he did not believe these men. He went off very satisfied. The next day he told his Ministers about the clothes and described them in the same glowing terms as what the robbers had told him.
Next week, the same story, the robbers enjoyed the King’s hospitality during the night and made off with the goodies just before daybreak. Again on Sunday, when the King came, he saw nothing, but dared not say that he could not see the clothes. Again the robbers described the progress made and how the clothes would look really regal and go with the King’s personality. The King was really impressed and went away satisfied. Again he described to his Ministers in glowing terms about his regal robes, this left the Ministers wanting to see what kind of magical clothes were being created for their Sire. The robbers meanwhile had told the King that he could bring others to see their creation only when the clothes were ready to be worn. The third Sunday again, the King saw nothing and went away happy that his clothes were turning out to be magnificent based on the description provided by the robbers.
On the last Sunday, the clothes were fully ready, and the King came to view them along with his Ministers. The robbers went next to the King pretended to robe him with the clothes and described them in the same glowing terms. The King exclaimed how beautiful they were and so light that he could hardly feel the cloth on his skin. Now the Ministers also did not see any clothes, but dared not voice their thoughts because their King had described his clothes in glowing terms – so they also ended up praising the skills of the two tailors and the beauty of the clothes. All the Ministers and King congratulated the two on their magnificent creation and the King to show his satisfaction gave each a 100 gold coins for their efforts. The robbers were very happy and left with their reward.
The next day the King decided to wear the new clothes and display the same throughout his kingdom by riding in his open chariot ! When the King came out, he was stark naked – but no one dared to voice their thoughts and everybody said how beautiful the clothes looked. As he traversed his kingdom, a little boy shouted “Our King is naked, our King is naked”. That is when the King realized he had been taken for a ride and it took an innocent child to point out his situation.
That is exactly what PWC has tried to do – they have been stripped but are trying to hide their modesty by trying to clothe themselves with Mr. Ramalinga Raju’s letter and various guidance notes issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Countdown to the Mumbai Marathon 2009
We are just six days away from one of the single largest sporting events in the world – the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2009. I am sure most of us have been training vigorously for the event – each in his/her own way.
This is for all you people who do not find time to keep themselves fit – I had promised my friends in college that 25 years hence I would still be running – guess what guys I have kept my promise. The older I grow the younger I get. The upside is it helps me raise the pledges for the charity of my choice. Also remember all you guys who do not find time to exercise – there are 24 hours in a day and with proper time management everything is possible – a good healthy run in the morning gives you the testosterone rush to take you through the rest of the day – far better than sitting in front of a TV and exercising your thumb on the remote – don’t you think? Most of us are so desperate to try and get ahead in life by trying to earn a living that they forget that ultimately their health is their wealth. No amount of money can help get your health back if you don’t take care of it when it is required. So guys, if you are not running this years marathon – make a resolution for the New Year and start running so as to enable you to participate in next years event. Believe me you won’t regret your decision.
Those running the half and full marathon hopefully have been training hard for the last three months at least. For Dream Runners – it is just the experience of participating which will give them a high – just ensure that you don’t get pushed around or trampled too much. It is worse than entering a peak hour Virar local – and you get a free, unwanted body massage before the race commences – those will probably be your longest five-ten minutes! But all told the experience is something one should go through. The Dream Run has a very festive atmosphere, with fancy dress participants, people running for a cause, NGO’s promoting their cause and this year will be all the more poignant as, I am sure a lot of participants will be carrying a placard or making a statement on the 26/11 terror attack. I feel it is necessary to show the world that we care and will not take the attack lying down. Hence, I feel that if you are not participating in the run, you must line up on the route to cheer the runners and wish them well and encourage them to complete.
The cheer from all spectators should be a loud “COME ON – BUCK UP – THAT’S THE SPIRIT – GREAT GOING – COME ON”. This, along with continuous clapping as the runners pass by really cheers the runners and peps them if they are faltering in their run – specially the longer distance runners. You will see the young and old, fat and skinny, professional athletes and amateurs all running with gusto and the joy of participating in one of the most exhilarating and self fulfilling events in the world.
The marathon is all about “YOU” the runner, as you are competing against yourself – if this is your first marathon, you will realize you completed the run in a given time, and the challenge next year will be to try and run faster and inside the previous years time. The marathon is all about setting personal goals, achieving personal glory, getting a personal high, it is about fitness, fun, and willingness and desire to achieve un-thought of goals – be they for charitable organizations or making a statement to society on the events which have passed which are all necessary to strengthen the city’s and countries moral and social fabric.
Running does not require anything but a good pair of running shoes and the desire to run along an open road. Remember, running on the road is way different from running on the grounds/treadmills, the surface is harder - running on asphalt is easier on the knees and muscles than running on cement concrete. Hence, your running shoes need to be with sufficient cushion to absorb the shock while running long distances, the shoes should be a correct fit –leaving about a centimeter at the front for your toes not to get damaged, your socks should be tight and a perfect fit on your feet as loose socks will cause friction while running and most likely result in extremely painful blisters. Do not run the race with new shoes, as blisters will then be guaranteed – you need to break-in your shoes for at least a month before the actual race. Please run with shoes which you are used to and comfortable in.
I still remember last years half marathon, where I bumped into Dhanraj Pillay and Robin Singh. I took the opportunity to tell him that I was a big fan of his not only for his hockey playing skills which are legendary but also for his guts in taking on the establishment which I thought was destroying the hockey climate in the country. There was an army runner who ran the 21 km with a fifteen foot bamboo pole carrying the Indian tri-color which showcased the individuals strength and stamina in completing the race – not once did he walk – he jogged the entire distance non-stop. That was truly inspiring! Another experience which is imprinted on my memory is seeing the front runners for the half marathon prize money on their way back. I had reached Jaslok Hospital, when I saw four individuals literally flying across the surface – I stopped my run to see them pass and cheered them on shouting “WAY TO GO GUYS, GO FOR IT”. That was a sight to behold, reminded me of my youth when I used to run 15 rounds of Shivaji Park in an hour and fifteen minutes and still beat the hell out of Ruparel College’s 400 meter champ in the last quarter mile!
Please go to www.geodesic.com anduse the free SMS service to encourage you near and dear ones. And all the best with your run. STAY FIT AND ENJOY YOUR MARATHON EXPERIENCE.
This is for all you people who do not find time to keep themselves fit – I had promised my friends in college that 25 years hence I would still be running – guess what guys I have kept my promise. The older I grow the younger I get. The upside is it helps me raise the pledges for the charity of my choice. Also remember all you guys who do not find time to exercise – there are 24 hours in a day and with proper time management everything is possible – a good healthy run in the morning gives you the testosterone rush to take you through the rest of the day – far better than sitting in front of a TV and exercising your thumb on the remote – don’t you think? Most of us are so desperate to try and get ahead in life by trying to earn a living that they forget that ultimately their health is their wealth. No amount of money can help get your health back if you don’t take care of it when it is required. So guys, if you are not running this years marathon – make a resolution for the New Year and start running so as to enable you to participate in next years event. Believe me you won’t regret your decision.
Those running the half and full marathon hopefully have been training hard for the last three months at least. For Dream Runners – it is just the experience of participating which will give them a high – just ensure that you don’t get pushed around or trampled too much. It is worse than entering a peak hour Virar local – and you get a free, unwanted body massage before the race commences – those will probably be your longest five-ten minutes! But all told the experience is something one should go through. The Dream Run has a very festive atmosphere, with fancy dress participants, people running for a cause, NGO’s promoting their cause and this year will be all the more poignant as, I am sure a lot of participants will be carrying a placard or making a statement on the 26/11 terror attack. I feel it is necessary to show the world that we care and will not take the attack lying down. Hence, I feel that if you are not participating in the run, you must line up on the route to cheer the runners and wish them well and encourage them to complete.
The cheer from all spectators should be a loud “COME ON – BUCK UP – THAT’S THE SPIRIT – GREAT GOING – COME ON”. This, along with continuous clapping as the runners pass by really cheers the runners and peps them if they are faltering in their run – specially the longer distance runners. You will see the young and old, fat and skinny, professional athletes and amateurs all running with gusto and the joy of participating in one of the most exhilarating and self fulfilling events in the world.
The marathon is all about “YOU” the runner, as you are competing against yourself – if this is your first marathon, you will realize you completed the run in a given time, and the challenge next year will be to try and run faster and inside the previous years time. The marathon is all about setting personal goals, achieving personal glory, getting a personal high, it is about fitness, fun, and willingness and desire to achieve un-thought of goals – be they for charitable organizations or making a statement to society on the events which have passed which are all necessary to strengthen the city’s and countries moral and social fabric.
Running does not require anything but a good pair of running shoes and the desire to run along an open road. Remember, running on the road is way different from running on the grounds/treadmills, the surface is harder - running on asphalt is easier on the knees and muscles than running on cement concrete. Hence, your running shoes need to be with sufficient cushion to absorb the shock while running long distances, the shoes should be a correct fit –leaving about a centimeter at the front for your toes not to get damaged, your socks should be tight and a perfect fit on your feet as loose socks will cause friction while running and most likely result in extremely painful blisters. Do not run the race with new shoes, as blisters will then be guaranteed – you need to break-in your shoes for at least a month before the actual race. Please run with shoes which you are used to and comfortable in.
I still remember last years half marathon, where I bumped into Dhanraj Pillay and Robin Singh. I took the opportunity to tell him that I was a big fan of his not only for his hockey playing skills which are legendary but also for his guts in taking on the establishment which I thought was destroying the hockey climate in the country. There was an army runner who ran the 21 km with a fifteen foot bamboo pole carrying the Indian tri-color which showcased the individuals strength and stamina in completing the race – not once did he walk – he jogged the entire distance non-stop. That was truly inspiring! Another experience which is imprinted on my memory is seeing the front runners for the half marathon prize money on their way back. I had reached Jaslok Hospital, when I saw four individuals literally flying across the surface – I stopped my run to see them pass and cheered them on shouting “WAY TO GO GUYS, GO FOR IT”. That was a sight to behold, reminded me of my youth when I used to run 15 rounds of Shivaji Park in an hour and fifteen minutes and still beat the hell out of Ruparel College’s 400 meter champ in the last quarter mile!
Please go to www.geodesic.com anduse the free SMS service to encourage you near and dear ones. And all the best with your run. STAY FIT AND ENJOY YOUR MARATHON EXPERIENCE.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Trying to understand the stock markets in India
This article is dedicated to a young friend of mine who has too optimistic a view of the stock markets and never sells when he should and then keeps wondering what happened when the markets collapse. He then walks around with a shell shocked look on his face which tells you he has missed the bus – again and again.
I have lived through three stock market boom-bust cycles starting with the Harshad Mehta days (1990-1992), followed by Ketan Parekh (1999- 2001) and the collapse which happened post January 18, 2008. The Harshad Mehta days were different from the other two because in those days physical delivery of shares was required – there was no dematerialized scrips then, you see. We used to have firm allotment of shares to NRI applicants of IPO’s so as to bring in scarce foreign currency. Those were the days when India had gone virtually bankrupt and had just about a months foreign currency reserves – in fact the Indian Government had to pledge it’s gold to finance it’s short term foreign currency obligations. That was in 1991 - the wake-up call leading to the reforms introduced by Dr. Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister that subsequently fueled the economy whose growth story reflects in the fruits we enjoy today.
For delivering shares sold one had to have a valid transfer form duly discharged – these transfer forms used to be valid for one year or the date of book closure whichever was earlier. No market operator would lodge shares for transfer unless he was a long term investor. So the shares used to do the rounds of various brokerages till the date of book closure or validity of the transfer form. On the expiry/or book closure date coming close, the brokerages would not accept delivery of the shares and would ask you to lodge the shares for transfer. All blue chip companies would effect the transfer within 30 days, but most of the fly by night operators who came to the market for easy money would take up to a year to transfer the shares. In those days, share prices used to move just on the rumor that the Big Bull was investing in XYZ scrip. ACC had crossed Rs. 10000 per share. There was a company called Ensa Steel which had crossed 450 without any fundamentals at all. These were scrips operated by Harshad Mehta who got his hands on to funds from State Bank of India by obtaining ready forward credit (basically a short term loan) which one bank used to give another with government securities as the pledge – just like a pawnbroker lends against jewelry. The borrowing banks actually sells the securities to the lending bank and buys them back at the end of the period of the loan, typically at a slightly higher price. It was this ready forward mechanism which was misused by Harshad Mehta and his group with great success to channel money from the banking system into the stock markets. This escalated in multi level marketing style with more and more money coming into the market based on non existent securities – till the balloon burst once it was exposed by Ms. Sucheta Dalal in mid 1992.
That is when the markets collapsed in a manner never seen before. I still remember, “paanwalas”, “raddiwalas”, taxi and auto drivers and vegetable vendors used to talk about investing in shares. There is a cardinal rule to follow while investing – when the hoi polloi start recommending shares to buy, the time to sell is well nigh. In all this, stocks with good fundamentals also got burnt, but the fall of such shares was not as steep as the fall of the manipulated shares. Lots of fly by night operators came with IPO’s in the range of Rs. 3-5 crores and disappeared with the money once the markets collapsed. This was the scam which raised an outcry from the public for more regulation forcing the Government to form SEBI on lines of SEC in the US. This scam forced the Government to form the NSE and forced companies to de-materialise their shares within a given time frame.
With the advent of online trading and demat shares the concept of physical delivery became history in the early nineties. A friend of mine began trading online on the NSE terminal when it started – the first day he made Rs. 60,000, second day he made in excess of Rs. 2 lacs. This was 1994, I told him, please stop, people do not make that kind of money in a year, you have done it in two days. He told, me I have got the knack of it and am confident of not losing any money. That was it – next day he came to office pretty late, I was waiting for him – he looked tense and was sweating profusely. I asked him what happened. He said he had lost Rs. 15 lacs that day. This was sometime in January that year, and subsequently during the pre budget trading , he tried to recover the loss and lost another Rs. 15 lacs and during the course of the year he lost about Rs. 70 odd lacs! Can you believe it – this was initially sheer greed which was followed by desperation and tenacity to recover the losses without understanding the market dynamics. Another cardinal rule – Never take the stock markets for granted as they can deliver a body blow when least expected.
In 1999-2001 period it was the turn of Ketan Parekh to milk the stock markets using benami people to buy and sell shares – misusing funds of Global Trust Bank and Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank to promote what were then known as the K-10 companies. He operated by ramping up the shares of the K-10 companies in collusion with the promoters. At that point in time also markets went up without keeping in step with reality. He was caught and arrested for price rigging after which the prices of these scrips crashed causing banks also to lose large sums of money. This was the second time I was witness to unwarranted euphoria with respect to the stock market. In this time period I used to buy and sell heavily, but with the grace of God, I did not lose money, in fact I made a few thousands – but the brokerage I paid must have been ten times that. After this scam I kept away from stock markets for a long time. Another cardinal rule - Never trade without having stop losses in place.
With the slight maturing of our markets and with the economy growing rapidly, the stock markets introduced futures and options and derivative trading. Now I found people who barely understood the stock markets being introduced to futures trading by marketing executives of various brokerages selling the concept by luring unwary people through greed. The usual refrain used to be “Sir, you only need to put the margin of 10% and trade in market lots - you could make ten times the money you would make through an ordinary trade”. With this line 90% of the people get sold on the concept through greed, without understanding that they could also lose ten times the money, which is what invariably happens! Who makes money? Guess? The broker of course – buy or sell he gets his commission and the marketing guy who made you a sucker gets his salary and bonus – who lost? – you!!
The Indian stock markets though “regulated” are not for ordinary investors. I would not even trust mutual funds – as they need to pay salaries and bonuses to their senior management – all that comes out of your hard earned money regardless of whether the fund is doing well or not. Who loses – again you – as the Net Asset Value (NAV) of your investment would probably be trading below your cost. The best thing to do is to set aside some portion of your savings and invest in certain blue chip “A” group companies. You can bet your bottom dollar that you will get at least a 25% annualized return on your investment over a two year horizon. In January 2008, I was telling friends that the markets would touch 8000 no one believed me – they were all talking of 30000 levels for the sensex!! If you look at the charts or the market cycles you will notice a 8 year cycle of tops and bottoms. We had hit the top based on huge FII investments through 2006 and 2007. The government and markets were ecstatic that the India growth story was solid and “India was Shining”! If you had been following the FII investment cycle you would have noticed that invariably the markets would fall in December as the FII’s had to pay dividends and redemptions to their investors! But this did not happen in 2006 and 2007 - I have a theory that hedge funds and hot money started coming into India through these funds – so everything was a “buy” order. When such huge sums come in to the markets there is nothing a lay investor can do – but to be sure of his stop loss position or be a long term investor. The funds manipulate and move the markets in whichever direction they want – fancy derivative products are introduced which I doubt even if the fund managers understand! The best thing to do - exit the market and sit on the cash – because in such a scenario CASH IS ALWAYS KING!
Suggestions for investing:
1. Never listen to “tips” – they invariably come from people who want to sell their shares to you;
2. If you trade short term – always have a “stop loss” in place;
3. If you are confident of a scrip – always buy/sell at “market” price and don’t set a limit;
4. Do not get greedy – if you get your desired profit – please exit – investment opportunities keep coming;
5. Money in the bank is much better than paper profits – invariably when your investment is climbing you keep tabulating your profits – and when the market goes the other way you keep telling your self “I did not sell at that price” so why should I sell now and end up a loser as the price goes below your cost. Now the rationalization is - why should I sell at a loss?
6. Invest long term by studying the industry, the company and the management profile – you will not lose money.
7. Never trade in the FNO segment or in derivatives, unless you have a thorough understanding of the products.
I have lived through three stock market boom-bust cycles starting with the Harshad Mehta days (1990-1992), followed by Ketan Parekh (1999- 2001) and the collapse which happened post January 18, 2008. The Harshad Mehta days were different from the other two because in those days physical delivery of shares was required – there was no dematerialized scrips then, you see. We used to have firm allotment of shares to NRI applicants of IPO’s so as to bring in scarce foreign currency. Those were the days when India had gone virtually bankrupt and had just about a months foreign currency reserves – in fact the Indian Government had to pledge it’s gold to finance it’s short term foreign currency obligations. That was in 1991 - the wake-up call leading to the reforms introduced by Dr. Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister that subsequently fueled the economy whose growth story reflects in the fruits we enjoy today.
For delivering shares sold one had to have a valid transfer form duly discharged – these transfer forms used to be valid for one year or the date of book closure whichever was earlier. No market operator would lodge shares for transfer unless he was a long term investor. So the shares used to do the rounds of various brokerages till the date of book closure or validity of the transfer form. On the expiry/or book closure date coming close, the brokerages would not accept delivery of the shares and would ask you to lodge the shares for transfer. All blue chip companies would effect the transfer within 30 days, but most of the fly by night operators who came to the market for easy money would take up to a year to transfer the shares. In those days, share prices used to move just on the rumor that the Big Bull was investing in XYZ scrip. ACC had crossed Rs. 10000 per share. There was a company called Ensa Steel which had crossed 450 without any fundamentals at all. These were scrips operated by Harshad Mehta who got his hands on to funds from State Bank of India by obtaining ready forward credit (basically a short term loan) which one bank used to give another with government securities as the pledge – just like a pawnbroker lends against jewelry. The borrowing banks actually sells the securities to the lending bank and buys them back at the end of the period of the loan, typically at a slightly higher price. It was this ready forward mechanism which was misused by Harshad Mehta and his group with great success to channel money from the banking system into the stock markets. This escalated in multi level marketing style with more and more money coming into the market based on non existent securities – till the balloon burst once it was exposed by Ms. Sucheta Dalal in mid 1992.
That is when the markets collapsed in a manner never seen before. I still remember, “paanwalas”, “raddiwalas”, taxi and auto drivers and vegetable vendors used to talk about investing in shares. There is a cardinal rule to follow while investing – when the hoi polloi start recommending shares to buy, the time to sell is well nigh. In all this, stocks with good fundamentals also got burnt, but the fall of such shares was not as steep as the fall of the manipulated shares. Lots of fly by night operators came with IPO’s in the range of Rs. 3-5 crores and disappeared with the money once the markets collapsed. This was the scam which raised an outcry from the public for more regulation forcing the Government to form SEBI on lines of SEC in the US. This scam forced the Government to form the NSE and forced companies to de-materialise their shares within a given time frame.
With the advent of online trading and demat shares the concept of physical delivery became history in the early nineties. A friend of mine began trading online on the NSE terminal when it started – the first day he made Rs. 60,000, second day he made in excess of Rs. 2 lacs. This was 1994, I told him, please stop, people do not make that kind of money in a year, you have done it in two days. He told, me I have got the knack of it and am confident of not losing any money. That was it – next day he came to office pretty late, I was waiting for him – he looked tense and was sweating profusely. I asked him what happened. He said he had lost Rs. 15 lacs that day. This was sometime in January that year, and subsequently during the pre budget trading , he tried to recover the loss and lost another Rs. 15 lacs and during the course of the year he lost about Rs. 70 odd lacs! Can you believe it – this was initially sheer greed which was followed by desperation and tenacity to recover the losses without understanding the market dynamics. Another cardinal rule – Never take the stock markets for granted as they can deliver a body blow when least expected.
In 1999-2001 period it was the turn of Ketan Parekh to milk the stock markets using benami people to buy and sell shares – misusing funds of Global Trust Bank and Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank to promote what were then known as the K-10 companies. He operated by ramping up the shares of the K-10 companies in collusion with the promoters. At that point in time also markets went up without keeping in step with reality. He was caught and arrested for price rigging after which the prices of these scrips crashed causing banks also to lose large sums of money. This was the second time I was witness to unwarranted euphoria with respect to the stock market. In this time period I used to buy and sell heavily, but with the grace of God, I did not lose money, in fact I made a few thousands – but the brokerage I paid must have been ten times that. After this scam I kept away from stock markets for a long time. Another cardinal rule - Never trade without having stop losses in place.
With the slight maturing of our markets and with the economy growing rapidly, the stock markets introduced futures and options and derivative trading. Now I found people who barely understood the stock markets being introduced to futures trading by marketing executives of various brokerages selling the concept by luring unwary people through greed. The usual refrain used to be “Sir, you only need to put the margin of 10% and trade in market lots - you could make ten times the money you would make through an ordinary trade”. With this line 90% of the people get sold on the concept through greed, without understanding that they could also lose ten times the money, which is what invariably happens! Who makes money? Guess? The broker of course – buy or sell he gets his commission and the marketing guy who made you a sucker gets his salary and bonus – who lost? – you!!
The Indian stock markets though “regulated” are not for ordinary investors. I would not even trust mutual funds – as they need to pay salaries and bonuses to their senior management – all that comes out of your hard earned money regardless of whether the fund is doing well or not. Who loses – again you – as the Net Asset Value (NAV) of your investment would probably be trading below your cost. The best thing to do is to set aside some portion of your savings and invest in certain blue chip “A” group companies. You can bet your bottom dollar that you will get at least a 25% annualized return on your investment over a two year horizon. In January 2008, I was telling friends that the markets would touch 8000 no one believed me – they were all talking of 30000 levels for the sensex!! If you look at the charts or the market cycles you will notice a 8 year cycle of tops and bottoms. We had hit the top based on huge FII investments through 2006 and 2007. The government and markets were ecstatic that the India growth story was solid and “India was Shining”! If you had been following the FII investment cycle you would have noticed that invariably the markets would fall in December as the FII’s had to pay dividends and redemptions to their investors! But this did not happen in 2006 and 2007 - I have a theory that hedge funds and hot money started coming into India through these funds – so everything was a “buy” order. When such huge sums come in to the markets there is nothing a lay investor can do – but to be sure of his stop loss position or be a long term investor. The funds manipulate and move the markets in whichever direction they want – fancy derivative products are introduced which I doubt even if the fund managers understand! The best thing to do - exit the market and sit on the cash – because in such a scenario CASH IS ALWAYS KING!
Suggestions for investing:
1. Never listen to “tips” – they invariably come from people who want to sell their shares to you;
2. If you trade short term – always have a “stop loss” in place;
3. If you are confident of a scrip – always buy/sell at “market” price and don’t set a limit;
4. Do not get greedy – if you get your desired profit – please exit – investment opportunities keep coming;
5. Money in the bank is much better than paper profits – invariably when your investment is climbing you keep tabulating your profits – and when the market goes the other way you keep telling your self “I did not sell at that price” so why should I sell now and end up a loser as the price goes below your cost. Now the rationalization is - why should I sell at a loss?
6. Invest long term by studying the industry, the company and the management profile – you will not lose money.
7. Never trade in the FNO segment or in derivatives, unless you have a thorough understanding of the products.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Satyam and Balance Sheet Manipulation
Today’s “honest” disclosure by “Satyam” Mr. R. Raju in his resignation letter submitted to the Board of Directors of Satyam and filed with SEBI and the stock exchanges is at the outset the outpouring of the frustration of managing an organization which has “grown” bigger than it’s boots to keep its investors happy, is how I would look at it. The holes which the disclosure has put in the audited financials, corporate governance and regulatory oversight are too big and far too many to be ignored. The issues raised by the disclosure have a wider import and impact on industry as a whole and on the software business in particular.
Valmiki – a dacoit by profession was struck by remorse and was advised by Narad muni to meditate on the word “Rama” - as Valmiki could not say “Rama”, Narad advised him to say “Mara” which is what he had been doing – but in a continuous chant it sounded “Rama”, thereby achieving the objective. Similarly Mr. Raju after the “Mara” phase is trying to enter the “Rama” phase! But at what cost? He has completely betrayed the trust of 50000 plus employees putting their career at stake in one fell stroke, wool pulled – willy nilly – over the auditors eyes, investors conned and the Government and others taken on a “runaway, uncontrollable tiger ride and getting of the tiger would mean being eaten up”!
We are talking about a sum in excess of Rs 5000 crore, that is in excess of US$ one billion which is non existent! That is an amount which is too huge to digest – can’t just disappear right? How can this happen? Investors and ordinary shareholders will be asking this question. One of the top four in the software industry in India, and probably one of the top 25 globally! The company is listed in the US, it is subject to US laws, so why this obfuscation of numbers? Why take this huge risk at all? When decisions are taken in the Board, I am sure a cost benefit analysis is carried out, the pros and cons are weighed. If the pros far exceed the cons then only crucial decisions are taken. So what is it that convinced the Board to do what it has done?
As per SEBI Corporate Governance norms all listed companies are to have non-executive and executive directors on the Board. Most companies appoint big names as their non-executive directors for marketing purposes. The question is, do these people understand the business? Do they understand the industry? Do they understand numbers? Why then do they lend their names as independent directors? Is it just the sitting fees which they get along with undisclosed perks? Do these people not have a responsibility to ask tough questions of the executive board? Has SEBI looked into this? Has it thought through the basic requirements for oversight? There are far too many questions and very few answers. In fact I would say, the answers would be unpalatable and would not be easy to swallow.
We come to the question of the role of auditors. Auditors are an easy target. 20-20 vision is always perfect in hindsight. Let me tell you, if the management is hell bent on manipulation of records, there is no way an auditor can smell a rat in the ordinary course of audit. But not figuring out that Rs. 5000 crore in cash is non-existent is either sheer negligence or complete complicity – which the auditors would need to clarify. Take the case of the big four. Why are they just the big four today? A few years ago they were the big six. Scandals and legal suits have reduced them to the big four. In 2006 the big four reportedly have cumulatively paid fines in excess of US$ 1.2 billion to the SEC. Do you know why? Just imagine if they were reduced to the big three – what would happen? The attest function would then become a non starter. Who would want to certify the accounts of listed companies. Definitely not the small audit firms, they do not have the financial clout to manage malpractice suits. Hence to protect investor confidence, the SEC let the big four off realizing full well that having one more firm falling by the way side would affect industry as well as investor confidence to such a degree that it would not be possible to recover.
Let us look at the issue from Mr. Raju’s perspective for a moment. Why would a person who has built a company over more than twenty years to the size and reputation it enjoyed do what he has done. For one, there is investor pressure. Big money is involved. When billions of dollars come in as investment, then the management feels it is morally bound to show impressive figures to the investors to keep them happy! How do you do this? Mr. Raju has managed to show you how it is done. If Rs. 5000 crore cash is not there, that means either the debtors are inflated or the liabilities are grossly understated thus overstating the profits which are not backed by cash inflows. Which brings us back to the basic question? Were the auditors doing their duty? Or were they just like the President of India – attesting whatever was presented to them by the Board. Interesting isn’t it? It suddenly becomes a vicious circle. You can only get money if you show impressive figures. So you end up window dressing the balance sheet, initially in small measures, and as pressure builds up you find that the window is too small and you end up dressing up the entire building. Who gains? Who loses? At the end of the day what has happened – the investors have lost big time, the auditors have been shot in the head, the Indian business environment has taken a hit, there is a big question mark on issues of corporate governance in India, foreign investors and business partners will be taking a re-look at the India story and a whole host of other issues!!
What should be the approach of the Government and ICAI? The Companies Act which is being rewritten should take a look at corporate governance issues. The CEO / CFO certification, auditors and company secretary certification on corporate governance should have greater emphasis on the nitty gritty of compliance processes. There should be a whistleblower protection program for grant of immunity for senior management who would like to expose corporate fraud. Rotation of auditors should be made mandatory. Joint audit for large cap companies should also be made mandatory to bring some semblance of control and sanity in the credibility of financial statements. The ICAI should look at bringing out specific guidelines for audit of software companies. Investors and analysts should look at operating cash flows instead of the traditional profit and loss account and balance sheet.
What happens to Satyam and it’s stakeholders? In my views the regulatory authorities, like Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax, Customs, Excise etc will come down on them like a ton of bricks. What worth will the scrip be? 50000 plus employees lives just cannot be ignored – can it. The Government will probably try to bring in a stake holder to take control of the company. But which stake holder will come in with legal and compliance issues hanging over the company like Damocles’ Sword? The path to follow would be for the Government to give immunity to the new stakeholders to clean up the Company books with the consent of the regulatory authorities and with guarantees that the neither the new management nor the new stake holders will be penalized financially or otherwise for doing what is right. As far as the old management is concerned let the law take it’s course meting out exemplary punishment for all acts of commission and omission. An example should be made out of this disclosure, so that if there are other companies out there which indulge in such mal practice, are scared out of their pants and end up cleaning their books. If that happens – then one can say that some good did come out of this disclosure after all.
What happens if investors in the US decide to sue the Company – already there is hatred for Indian BPO and KPO companies as these are perceived to take local jobs! The damages which the company will end up paying will push the company into bankruptcy and liquidation. So many losers – I don’t see any winners.
As far as the investors are concerned I would like to point out what Warren Buffet says as regards investing in software companies. He does not invest in software at all because he does not understand the business! He says he can understand something which is tangible but not something intangible. Software under no circumstances is measurable. Steel production is – the input output ratio will tell you how much of iron ore and the other product mix is required to give a certain grade of steel. The bill of material tells you exactly how many units of various raw material need to be input to give you a finished product – but in software everything is ethereal – ghostly. You just go by what management tells you – as you yourself do not have the knowledge or competence to contradict the management! So basically it boils down to TRUST!! Apart from the house of TATAS how many business houses can you really trust in the public domain? If you know the answer please let me know.
Valmiki – a dacoit by profession was struck by remorse and was advised by Narad muni to meditate on the word “Rama” - as Valmiki could not say “Rama”, Narad advised him to say “Mara” which is what he had been doing – but in a continuous chant it sounded “Rama”, thereby achieving the objective. Similarly Mr. Raju after the “Mara” phase is trying to enter the “Rama” phase! But at what cost? He has completely betrayed the trust of 50000 plus employees putting their career at stake in one fell stroke, wool pulled – willy nilly – over the auditors eyes, investors conned and the Government and others taken on a “runaway, uncontrollable tiger ride and getting of the tiger would mean being eaten up”!
We are talking about a sum in excess of Rs 5000 crore, that is in excess of US$ one billion which is non existent! That is an amount which is too huge to digest – can’t just disappear right? How can this happen? Investors and ordinary shareholders will be asking this question. One of the top four in the software industry in India, and probably one of the top 25 globally! The company is listed in the US, it is subject to US laws, so why this obfuscation of numbers? Why take this huge risk at all? When decisions are taken in the Board, I am sure a cost benefit analysis is carried out, the pros and cons are weighed. If the pros far exceed the cons then only crucial decisions are taken. So what is it that convinced the Board to do what it has done?
As per SEBI Corporate Governance norms all listed companies are to have non-executive and executive directors on the Board. Most companies appoint big names as their non-executive directors for marketing purposes. The question is, do these people understand the business? Do they understand the industry? Do they understand numbers? Why then do they lend their names as independent directors? Is it just the sitting fees which they get along with undisclosed perks? Do these people not have a responsibility to ask tough questions of the executive board? Has SEBI looked into this? Has it thought through the basic requirements for oversight? There are far too many questions and very few answers. In fact I would say, the answers would be unpalatable and would not be easy to swallow.
We come to the question of the role of auditors. Auditors are an easy target. 20-20 vision is always perfect in hindsight. Let me tell you, if the management is hell bent on manipulation of records, there is no way an auditor can smell a rat in the ordinary course of audit. But not figuring out that Rs. 5000 crore in cash is non-existent is either sheer negligence or complete complicity – which the auditors would need to clarify. Take the case of the big four. Why are they just the big four today? A few years ago they were the big six. Scandals and legal suits have reduced them to the big four. In 2006 the big four reportedly have cumulatively paid fines in excess of US$ 1.2 billion to the SEC. Do you know why? Just imagine if they were reduced to the big three – what would happen? The attest function would then become a non starter. Who would want to certify the accounts of listed companies. Definitely not the small audit firms, they do not have the financial clout to manage malpractice suits. Hence to protect investor confidence, the SEC let the big four off realizing full well that having one more firm falling by the way side would affect industry as well as investor confidence to such a degree that it would not be possible to recover.
Let us look at the issue from Mr. Raju’s perspective for a moment. Why would a person who has built a company over more than twenty years to the size and reputation it enjoyed do what he has done. For one, there is investor pressure. Big money is involved. When billions of dollars come in as investment, then the management feels it is morally bound to show impressive figures to the investors to keep them happy! How do you do this? Mr. Raju has managed to show you how it is done. If Rs. 5000 crore cash is not there, that means either the debtors are inflated or the liabilities are grossly understated thus overstating the profits which are not backed by cash inflows. Which brings us back to the basic question? Were the auditors doing their duty? Or were they just like the President of India – attesting whatever was presented to them by the Board. Interesting isn’t it? It suddenly becomes a vicious circle. You can only get money if you show impressive figures. So you end up window dressing the balance sheet, initially in small measures, and as pressure builds up you find that the window is too small and you end up dressing up the entire building. Who gains? Who loses? At the end of the day what has happened – the investors have lost big time, the auditors have been shot in the head, the Indian business environment has taken a hit, there is a big question mark on issues of corporate governance in India, foreign investors and business partners will be taking a re-look at the India story and a whole host of other issues!!
What should be the approach of the Government and ICAI? The Companies Act which is being rewritten should take a look at corporate governance issues. The CEO / CFO certification, auditors and company secretary certification on corporate governance should have greater emphasis on the nitty gritty of compliance processes. There should be a whistleblower protection program for grant of immunity for senior management who would like to expose corporate fraud. Rotation of auditors should be made mandatory. Joint audit for large cap companies should also be made mandatory to bring some semblance of control and sanity in the credibility of financial statements. The ICAI should look at bringing out specific guidelines for audit of software companies. Investors and analysts should look at operating cash flows instead of the traditional profit and loss account and balance sheet.
What happens to Satyam and it’s stakeholders? In my views the regulatory authorities, like Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax, Customs, Excise etc will come down on them like a ton of bricks. What worth will the scrip be? 50000 plus employees lives just cannot be ignored – can it. The Government will probably try to bring in a stake holder to take control of the company. But which stake holder will come in with legal and compliance issues hanging over the company like Damocles’ Sword? The path to follow would be for the Government to give immunity to the new stakeholders to clean up the Company books with the consent of the regulatory authorities and with guarantees that the neither the new management nor the new stake holders will be penalized financially or otherwise for doing what is right. As far as the old management is concerned let the law take it’s course meting out exemplary punishment for all acts of commission and omission. An example should be made out of this disclosure, so that if there are other companies out there which indulge in such mal practice, are scared out of their pants and end up cleaning their books. If that happens – then one can say that some good did come out of this disclosure after all.
What happens if investors in the US decide to sue the Company – already there is hatred for Indian BPO and KPO companies as these are perceived to take local jobs! The damages which the company will end up paying will push the company into bankruptcy and liquidation. So many losers – I don’t see any winners.
As far as the investors are concerned I would like to point out what Warren Buffet says as regards investing in software companies. He does not invest in software at all because he does not understand the business! He says he can understand something which is tangible but not something intangible. Software under no circumstances is measurable. Steel production is – the input output ratio will tell you how much of iron ore and the other product mix is required to give a certain grade of steel. The bill of material tells you exactly how many units of various raw material need to be input to give you a finished product – but in software everything is ethereal – ghostly. You just go by what management tells you – as you yourself do not have the knowledge or competence to contradict the management! So basically it boils down to TRUST!! Apart from the house of TATAS how many business houses can you really trust in the public domain? If you know the answer please let me know.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Teenage Anecdote 2 - Jam fruit plucking
This is the second anecdote from my teens which I had said I would write about in my previous post.
I had gone to stay for my summer vacations at my aunt's house in Churchgate. My aunt sent me back to Matunga on some errand. Once I reached my residence, I found a group of friends sitting down near the water tank. The summer vacations had just started and the 'jam' fruit tree was full of sweet, luscious jams. I saw them eyeing the fruits longingly and wishing they could get their hands on it somehow. Now the tree is located in the Ruparel College vice principals garden, which in turn is a part of Ruparel College's botanical garden. Ruparel College at that point in time had still not shut for summer vacations and students and staff were still around, which is what makes this narrative all the more interesting.
I joined the group and asked them why they do not just cross over the wall and get the fruits. They were actually too scared and said what if they were caught. I told them if we are caught, we will solve that problem then - but first let's get our hands on the 'jam' fruit. Two guys, Prasad and Tushar volunteered to accompany me across the wall. I told them I will climb the tree with a bag for the fruits, Tushar (who was quite plump) was to stand guard duty and Prasad was to pick fruits which fell to the ground.
With the game plan in place we clambered over the wall to get at the fruits. I shimmied up the tree and started plucking fruits and putting them in the bag. Fruits which fell down were being bagged by Prasad. We were at it for about ten minutes, when some students spotted us and called the security guard. Tushar saw them coming a bit late (so much for our security) and shouted a warning. He hid in the gutter - basically a gap between two walls (our boundary wall and the college boundary wall) between which a small rain water nullah ran. I had already gone up the tree and onto the balcony of the vice-principals bungalow, which was just a ground floor structure. Now this bungalow had two sections - one of which was vacant and the other occupied by the vice principal of the Arts College. By the time the guard and student entered the garden Tushar and I were out of sight and Prasad was spotted jumping over the wall - but by the time the guard reached the wall and tried to spot him, Prasad had disappeared. Luckily he did not look in the gutter, else Tushar's goose would have been cooked. They asked the others sitting and waiting for us whether they had seen anybody running away - all of them inncocently answered in the negative.
That left me stranded on the terrace with the bag full of 'jam'! I could hear the animated conversation down below, with the students correctly telling the guard that there were three of us, and one person was on the tree - but guess what I had disappeared from the tree. They did not realise I had gone onto the terrace by jumping from the branch onto the terrace wall and thence onto the terrace! The students along with the guard started searching the garden trying to spot us - the search went on for about fifteen minutes after which my patience had started running out. I saw the three students and guards discussing the matter below the tree - that's when I decided to make a run for it from the other side of the bungalow. This meant I had to lower myself on to the window ledge and from there jump onto the ground - maybe a ten foot jump! Putting the plan into action, I lowered my self onto the ledge (which I thought was cement as it looked like a cement ledge from the top). The moment my feet touched the ledge I removed my body weight from my hands which were on the edge of the terrace to my feet (which I thought were on solid ground), there was a huge crashing sound of the ledge collapsing (made of asbestos you see), and me landing on the ground - luckily on my feet. I heard voices coming from the kitchen in the bungalow and the sound of the guard and students running to in the direction of the noise. This galvanised me into action, and my next step was a leap onto cement support wall for the coconut tree near the boundary wall, the next step onto the wall and the third step into the Society. This sequence of events must have been over in about three seconds flat. By the time the family of the Arts section vice principal, students and guards reached the spot I had disappeared. They did not spot me at all - I went with the bag of jams to the ground floor flat. After about an hour, after things had quietened down, Tushar got out of the gutter and came and joined us. We distributed the 'jams' amongst the group and had a good laugh over the entire course of events.
A week later, I met the vice-principals son on the road (he too was a friend of ours) and he told me that some people from our building had come and flicked 'jam' from their compound and one of them had broken their window ledge. I said, is that so, I wouldn't know, as I have been staying in my aunt's house in Churchgate for the past two weeks. He probably realised I was pulling a fast one, but he was a good natured guy and just left it at that.
I had gone to stay for my summer vacations at my aunt's house in Churchgate. My aunt sent me back to Matunga on some errand. Once I reached my residence, I found a group of friends sitting down near the water tank. The summer vacations had just started and the 'jam' fruit tree was full of sweet, luscious jams. I saw them eyeing the fruits longingly and wishing they could get their hands on it somehow. Now the tree is located in the Ruparel College vice principals garden, which in turn is a part of Ruparel College's botanical garden. Ruparel College at that point in time had still not shut for summer vacations and students and staff were still around, which is what makes this narrative all the more interesting.
I joined the group and asked them why they do not just cross over the wall and get the fruits. They were actually too scared and said what if they were caught. I told them if we are caught, we will solve that problem then - but first let's get our hands on the 'jam' fruit. Two guys, Prasad and Tushar volunteered to accompany me across the wall. I told them I will climb the tree with a bag for the fruits, Tushar (who was quite plump) was to stand guard duty and Prasad was to pick fruits which fell to the ground.
With the game plan in place we clambered over the wall to get at the fruits. I shimmied up the tree and started plucking fruits and putting them in the bag. Fruits which fell down were being bagged by Prasad. We were at it for about ten minutes, when some students spotted us and called the security guard. Tushar saw them coming a bit late (so much for our security) and shouted a warning. He hid in the gutter - basically a gap between two walls (our boundary wall and the college boundary wall) between which a small rain water nullah ran. I had already gone up the tree and onto the balcony of the vice-principals bungalow, which was just a ground floor structure. Now this bungalow had two sections - one of which was vacant and the other occupied by the vice principal of the Arts College. By the time the guard and student entered the garden Tushar and I were out of sight and Prasad was spotted jumping over the wall - but by the time the guard reached the wall and tried to spot him, Prasad had disappeared. Luckily he did not look in the gutter, else Tushar's goose would have been cooked. They asked the others sitting and waiting for us whether they had seen anybody running away - all of them inncocently answered in the negative.
That left me stranded on the terrace with the bag full of 'jam'! I could hear the animated conversation down below, with the students correctly telling the guard that there were three of us, and one person was on the tree - but guess what I had disappeared from the tree. They did not realise I had gone onto the terrace by jumping from the branch onto the terrace wall and thence onto the terrace! The students along with the guard started searching the garden trying to spot us - the search went on for about fifteen minutes after which my patience had started running out. I saw the three students and guards discussing the matter below the tree - that's when I decided to make a run for it from the other side of the bungalow. This meant I had to lower myself on to the window ledge and from there jump onto the ground - maybe a ten foot jump! Putting the plan into action, I lowered my self onto the ledge (which I thought was cement as it looked like a cement ledge from the top). The moment my feet touched the ledge I removed my body weight from my hands which were on the edge of the terrace to my feet (which I thought were on solid ground), there was a huge crashing sound of the ledge collapsing (made of asbestos you see), and me landing on the ground - luckily on my feet. I heard voices coming from the kitchen in the bungalow and the sound of the guard and students running to in the direction of the noise. This galvanised me into action, and my next step was a leap onto cement support wall for the coconut tree near the boundary wall, the next step onto the wall and the third step into the Society. This sequence of events must have been over in about three seconds flat. By the time the family of the Arts section vice principal, students and guards reached the spot I had disappeared. They did not spot me at all - I went with the bag of jams to the ground floor flat. After about an hour, after things had quietened down, Tushar got out of the gutter and came and joined us. We distributed the 'jams' amongst the group and had a good laugh over the entire course of events.
A week later, I met the vice-principals son on the road (he too was a friend of ours) and he told me that some people from our building had come and flicked 'jam' from their compound and one of them had broken their window ledge. I said, is that so, I wouldn't know, as I have been staying in my aunt's house in Churchgate for the past two weeks. He probably realised I was pulling a fast one, but he was a good natured guy and just left it at that.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Teenage Anecdote 1 - Runaway Cycling Expedition
I would like to share two interesting incidents which occurred in my teens. The first one relates to a cycling expedition and the other to a "jam fruit" plucking incident from Ruparel College botanical garden. The "jam fruit" incident will be in the next post.
Cycling Expedition
It was January of 1979, Sunday - nice and cold, and my circle of friends (Two Girish's, Vivek, Arvind and Yeshwant) was extremely fit. We used to exercise at Talwalkars and I used to train for the half mile and mile event for University and State. In those days I used to run 15 rounds of Shivaji Park in one and a half hours. Five of us decided to take our bicycles and go to Vashi Creek bridge and return. Of these four bikes were relatively new, and one was an old bike but in good condition. We used to service our bicyles ourselves and decided to carry a puncture repair kit just in case. Of the five, Yeshwant was not into physical fitness like we were, but neither was he a pushover (he had the old bike). We left at 5.30 in the morning from our residence at Mahim and reached Thane creek bridge in half an hours time. In those days the traffic was pretty light, not bumper to bumper which one sees today! Roads were pretty decent and we made good speed. Once we reached Thane creek bridge we decided to return, but one of our friends, Vivek, said that we should go to Vashi and return (there was no New Bombay in those days). As it was only 6am, we agreed and off we went cycling away.
The scenery was beautiful, there was no construction activity and it was more of open land with trees and shrubs all the way to Vashi, we reached Vashi in another 40 odd minutes. We, felt it was still too early to return, and Vivek suggested that we should head for Panvel (this is a good 50 km from our house). Being in our teens, and thinking only for the moment we all agreed, and started riding towards Panvel. The less fit amongst us, even though game, by now had started complaining, and Vivek the guy who goaded us on to Panvel, kept telling us that Panvel would come just after the next upturn on the road. I do not know how many upturns in the road came and went, but as a means of motivating us it helped, and then we thought that having come so far there was no point in turning back! We reached Panvel by 7.40 am, had breakfast and tea and embarked on our way back. By now, some of us had started mouthing the fear of parental consequences on return, as nobody at home knew where we were and we were sure that a search would be launched if we did not return by 10am, as our residential society had a history of fatal and non fatal accidents every year since we moved in to stay in 1970.
The sun had come up now, and though not cold it was slowly becoming warm. We must have been riding for about half an hour when the Yeshwant's old bike developed a flat. We congratulated ourselves for carrying the puncture repair kit. We all got down from our bikes and like too many cooks spoiling the broth, that's exactly what we proceeded to do! I removed the tyre, Yeshwant and Vivek went to look for water and container to locate the puncture. Luckily they found an abandoned hut close by to a creek, and returned with a "ghamela" full of water. By the time they returned, I had removed the tyre, the other Girish took the air pump and pumped air into the tube, then we placed the tube in the water and located the puncture. Eureka, we said, and took out the rubber solution tube, spare rubber and stuck it onto the punture area, sealed it with the heat press. Guess what - puncture repaired in 15 minutes flat and it was just past 8am! only. We put the tube back into the tyre and fit the wheel back onto the bicycle. The last thing to do was now to fill air and be on our way again! When we went to fill the air, we had another Eureka moment!! - we did not know where the valve tube was! - without which the bike is as good as punctured. We started blaming each other - and like I said earlier too many cooks spoil the broth!! we were now well and truly grounded, as we could not abandon our friend and proceed. Our hunt for the small piece of tube on that vast expanse of land continued in sheer futility or for lack of anything better to do. We started trying to thumb down the intermittent truck which passed by but nobody was willing to stop and give us five a lift! As time passed we started becoming more and more desperate, realsing that, if and when we reached home, we would all be in BIG TROUBLE. It was now past 10 am and well and truly hot, and Arvind had gone onto the middle of the road trying to talk to two foreign female hippies who were headed for the Rajneesh Ashram in Pune. That is probably the best thing he had done since we left our residence! because he felt something under his foot and when he bent down to pick it up it turned out to be the valve tube!! You can imagine how happy we were, we all did a major gig in the middle of the road, and the two firangis thought we had gone nuts as we were all dancing right in the middle of the road!! We fixed the valve tube, filled air in the tube and set off on our return journey - one relieved bunch of teens!
We were now cycling furiously trying to make up for lost time, but with the heat, and one slightly less fit person, we had not yet come to the end of our little adventure! As we approached the hill near Vashi, Yeshwant had begun panting, we did not realise the seriousness as we were quite ahead of him, thinking he will catch up. I was the closest to him, as I thought that someone needs to keep an eye on him. I was half way up the hill and when I looked back, I did not see a bicycle in motion - I stopped and saw that our friend had thrown his bicycle on the side and was lying down flat on the road! I whistled and shouted to the rest of the group saying that one wicket was down. We went back and gave him water and asked him to get on the bike - he refused - kept saying that you guys go, I can't ride any more. This was just too much for us - as we were already late and if we went without one of our friends we would probably have been history! We gave him water, massaged his legs and said come on lets go you can make it etc. But we could see he was in bad shape and would not be able to make it. That's when we decided that he should just sit on the bicycle and we would pull him in turn all the way home. Ultimately that's what we did, three of us (Arvind, Girish and myself) pulled him from that point onwards all the way back home. The fourth guy, Vivek - the guy who made us come to Panvel - knew that there would be trouble at home, so he cunningly went ahead and quietly slipped home.
In the meanwhile, there was panic back home, the parents had launched a search party. Only the other Girish had informed his family that we may go all the way to Panvel -and my mom on finding that out informed everybody else. In those days a telephone in the house was a big thing, so communication was through our man servant who had to go up and down telling everybody that we may have gone to Panvel. Yeshwants father was on his scooter looking for us on the road. When we spotted each other it had just passed 1 pm - his father went ahead and informed everybody that we had returned. The scene on our return was something to be seen - There are 52 flats, and almost all the balconies were full waiting to see the bunch of teens who had gone on the escapade. We got bouquets(for our daring) as well as brickbats (from angry parents for our foolhardiness). I was wearing real tight shorts - and one of the enduring memories was a comment from a girl - "aiyya ardhi chaddi!" (meaning half pant). Yeshwant, whom we pulled all the way back lives above me on the second floor - and I was witness to one very emotional scene on the way up. His mother had come down - and on seeing him - just started crying! On seeing his mother cry, he said "Aiee tu radtes" (Mom - you crying) and he too promptly started crying.
For me - my elder brother freaked out on me and so did Mom. In fact after that event I was not allowed to touch my bicycle for a month!
There were some lessons we learnt on that trip - a) Never give up hope; b) Working as a team lessens the burden; c) any difficulty can be overcome with determination and d) do not trust anybody blindly (this was because of Vivek, who goaded us onto Panvel - but did not have the decency to give a helping hand to Yeshwant and was too scared to face parental wrath that he went ahead and slimily slunk home).
Cycling Expedition
It was January of 1979, Sunday - nice and cold, and my circle of friends (Two Girish's, Vivek, Arvind and Yeshwant) was extremely fit. We used to exercise at Talwalkars and I used to train for the half mile and mile event for University and State. In those days I used to run 15 rounds of Shivaji Park in one and a half hours. Five of us decided to take our bicycles and go to Vashi Creek bridge and return. Of these four bikes were relatively new, and one was an old bike but in good condition. We used to service our bicyles ourselves and decided to carry a puncture repair kit just in case. Of the five, Yeshwant was not into physical fitness like we were, but neither was he a pushover (he had the old bike). We left at 5.30 in the morning from our residence at Mahim and reached Thane creek bridge in half an hours time. In those days the traffic was pretty light, not bumper to bumper which one sees today! Roads were pretty decent and we made good speed. Once we reached Thane creek bridge we decided to return, but one of our friends, Vivek, said that we should go to Vashi and return (there was no New Bombay in those days). As it was only 6am, we agreed and off we went cycling away.
The scenery was beautiful, there was no construction activity and it was more of open land with trees and shrubs all the way to Vashi, we reached Vashi in another 40 odd minutes. We, felt it was still too early to return, and Vivek suggested that we should head for Panvel (this is a good 50 km from our house). Being in our teens, and thinking only for the moment we all agreed, and started riding towards Panvel. The less fit amongst us, even though game, by now had started complaining, and Vivek the guy who goaded us on to Panvel, kept telling us that Panvel would come just after the next upturn on the road. I do not know how many upturns in the road came and went, but as a means of motivating us it helped, and then we thought that having come so far there was no point in turning back! We reached Panvel by 7.40 am, had breakfast and tea and embarked on our way back. By now, some of us had started mouthing the fear of parental consequences on return, as nobody at home knew where we were and we were sure that a search would be launched if we did not return by 10am, as our residential society had a history of fatal and non fatal accidents every year since we moved in to stay in 1970.
The sun had come up now, and though not cold it was slowly becoming warm. We must have been riding for about half an hour when the Yeshwant's old bike developed a flat. We congratulated ourselves for carrying the puncture repair kit. We all got down from our bikes and like too many cooks spoiling the broth, that's exactly what we proceeded to do! I removed the tyre, Yeshwant and Vivek went to look for water and container to locate the puncture. Luckily they found an abandoned hut close by to a creek, and returned with a "ghamela" full of water. By the time they returned, I had removed the tyre, the other Girish took the air pump and pumped air into the tube, then we placed the tube in the water and located the puncture. Eureka, we said, and took out the rubber solution tube, spare rubber and stuck it onto the punture area, sealed it with the heat press. Guess what - puncture repaired in 15 minutes flat and it was just past 8am! only. We put the tube back into the tyre and fit the wheel back onto the bicycle. The last thing to do was now to fill air and be on our way again! When we went to fill the air, we had another Eureka moment!! - we did not know where the valve tube was! - without which the bike is as good as punctured. We started blaming each other - and like I said earlier too many cooks spoil the broth!! we were now well and truly grounded, as we could not abandon our friend and proceed. Our hunt for the small piece of tube on that vast expanse of land continued in sheer futility or for lack of anything better to do. We started trying to thumb down the intermittent truck which passed by but nobody was willing to stop and give us five a lift! As time passed we started becoming more and more desperate, realsing that, if and when we reached home, we would all be in BIG TROUBLE. It was now past 10 am and well and truly hot, and Arvind had gone onto the middle of the road trying to talk to two foreign female hippies who were headed for the Rajneesh Ashram in Pune. That is probably the best thing he had done since we left our residence! because he felt something under his foot and when he bent down to pick it up it turned out to be the valve tube!! You can imagine how happy we were, we all did a major gig in the middle of the road, and the two firangis thought we had gone nuts as we were all dancing right in the middle of the road!! We fixed the valve tube, filled air in the tube and set off on our return journey - one relieved bunch of teens!
We were now cycling furiously trying to make up for lost time, but with the heat, and one slightly less fit person, we had not yet come to the end of our little adventure! As we approached the hill near Vashi, Yeshwant had begun panting, we did not realise the seriousness as we were quite ahead of him, thinking he will catch up. I was the closest to him, as I thought that someone needs to keep an eye on him. I was half way up the hill and when I looked back, I did not see a bicycle in motion - I stopped and saw that our friend had thrown his bicycle on the side and was lying down flat on the road! I whistled and shouted to the rest of the group saying that one wicket was down. We went back and gave him water and asked him to get on the bike - he refused - kept saying that you guys go, I can't ride any more. This was just too much for us - as we were already late and if we went without one of our friends we would probably have been history! We gave him water, massaged his legs and said come on lets go you can make it etc. But we could see he was in bad shape and would not be able to make it. That's when we decided that he should just sit on the bicycle and we would pull him in turn all the way home. Ultimately that's what we did, three of us (Arvind, Girish and myself) pulled him from that point onwards all the way back home. The fourth guy, Vivek - the guy who made us come to Panvel - knew that there would be trouble at home, so he cunningly went ahead and quietly slipped home.
In the meanwhile, there was panic back home, the parents had launched a search party. Only the other Girish had informed his family that we may go all the way to Panvel -and my mom on finding that out informed everybody else. In those days a telephone in the house was a big thing, so communication was through our man servant who had to go up and down telling everybody that we may have gone to Panvel. Yeshwants father was on his scooter looking for us on the road. When we spotted each other it had just passed 1 pm - his father went ahead and informed everybody that we had returned. The scene on our return was something to be seen - There are 52 flats, and almost all the balconies were full waiting to see the bunch of teens who had gone on the escapade. We got bouquets(for our daring) as well as brickbats (from angry parents for our foolhardiness). I was wearing real tight shorts - and one of the enduring memories was a comment from a girl - "aiyya ardhi chaddi!" (meaning half pant). Yeshwant, whom we pulled all the way back lives above me on the second floor - and I was witness to one very emotional scene on the way up. His mother had come down - and on seeing him - just started crying! On seeing his mother cry, he said "Aiee tu radtes" (Mom - you crying) and he too promptly started crying.
For me - my elder brother freaked out on me and so did Mom. In fact after that event I was not allowed to touch my bicycle for a month!
There were some lessons we learnt on that trip - a) Never give up hope; b) Working as a team lessens the burden; c) any difficulty can be overcome with determination and d) do not trust anybody blindly (this was because of Vivek, who goaded us onto Panvel - but did not have the decency to give a helping hand to Yeshwant and was too scared to face parental wrath that he went ahead and slimily slunk home).
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