Love Life to Live a Life is My Way

(Beware! Extremely lengthy Post, one of the lengthiest so far!)

After a short stint in the Corporate world it was time to get back to the student life and what better way to start that off than interacting with 83 fresh minds (few of them straight from the corporate world and others still fresh enough). Before the academic session began, it was indeed fun to have the (Official) Ice Breaker session with the new entrants into the campus. Ice breaker session was a success and flop in itself, success in the sense that it broke some ice among the juniors or at least among the seniors around and the juniors (few of us at least) and a flop because it was not that well planned due to lack of time and spontaneity, but I strongly believe it was fun and everyone enjoyed a lot minus my jokes. Then it was summer internship presentations which spanned across for 5 days, it felt even hectic and tiring than having a faculty speak for hours... Jokes apart all my friends had done really nice projects and had put in a lot of effort to bring out the best reports but listening to so many people continuously on different issues ranging from renewable energy to stock market to weather insurance would get any one sleep in the speed of thought. But overall it was an extraordinary learning experience for most of us, especially for the once who entered the corporate world for the first time.

While things were settling down again in the campus a lot of activities and interactions were happening and being planned with the juniors in the Campus including introducing them with the norms of the institute, giving them an overview of the activities and events that happen in the institute and much more. But two most interesting things happening were the innumerable ice breaker sessions that were being conducted at anyone’s discretion and convenience and the hi-drama Book Review presentation (I was unavailable for which Sigh!). The Book review thing was indeed something which changed life in the campus and its aftermaths can still be felt day in and day out without any doubt. Lots of things spoken off and lots of them ignored; faces, names and thoughts seen and understood. Still I would just say whatever that happened was not good and things could have been dealt with a bit more carefully if at all there was no “I” factor which without any doubt was existent. All said and done, life moves on!

Amidst all this drama and experience there was other important stuff happening which was choosing electives for the term and the puzzle of why this and why not that. At the end of all the speculation in the mind I had selected 5 of them which everyone had to and I think those were the best 5 I could have had from the options available. Let’s see how I faired in each of them or how much justice did they do to me.

International Finance – It was indeed an international experience, almost a world tour from a single place. And no, I can’t ever forget the group with which I had to do the Project. The process and approach followed to choose the project topic, the methodology of doing it, the ways of reasoning things, it was quite an experience and all of us did realize and understand it. Overall it was No Pain, No Gain.

Project Finance – High expectations I had of this elective but dint put the required effort so dint gain to the extent I wished to. Things got a little boring beyond a point of time and most of it must be attributed to the laid back attitude towards the elective. But overall a really important one and it did make sense.

Financial Derivatives – Started off in a great way, infact this was the elective I was looking forward to in the term, but dint actually get a hang of various things, quite a few reasons behind it including more questions than answers, dint have the fundas at place when most required i.e. during exams (still fear that I may be screwed). Over all not a huge value add as expected but surely did make various things clear and improved understanding of certain things.

Asset Pricing – The expectations from this elective was quite unclear when it took off and still remains the same way. But the elective surely did teach about the trade off between incentive and work (the incentive to attend the last class was, there was a quiz + an assignment to be submitted + an article to be read when there was FD exam in the same morning). The course covered certain aspects some of which made sense and the rest seemed to be just another model. Overall a good paper in terms of theoretical application, I dint find much practical orientation but was a nice experience.

Product Management – This is the one elective where I was a unique fellow in the batch, no other Finance majoring student dared or wished to take this elective for reasons known to all. But I infact took it more as a challenge and dint want to miss on the learning opportunity of such an important paper. To my mind it definitely made sense apart from all the GAS and it did add value and at the end of the course I was and am Glad I chose this elective. The most important aspect of this elective with regard to me was, I spent most of my time on this elective than the total time I spent on the other 4 electives, that shows the level of interest it generated in me, but there were hiccups in this paper as well including the re-do mania. Overall I felt this was the best elective I had taken in this term.

Overall all the electives were thought provoking and did add value some way or the other minus the lack of effort from my side.

During Freshers Party '08

Beyond all the academic activities, there was much more that I was involved in both in terms of organizing and participating. And these activities consumed most of my time in the past few months. To begin with was the Fresher’s Party ’08 “Rang De India”, which I was completely involved in organizing as well as Hosting, yes I was back in the hosting arena and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was fun hosting the event with Rashmi, though most of our preparation had to go for a toss because the juniors turned up just 2 hours late and there was so much on the platter that we had to cut down on a lot of fun filled stuff! But over all it was a wonderful experience minus the lack of participation from the juniors in a few games which took a lot of time for us to make sure that at least the required number of people participate in every game. I still can’t forget the final meeting we had in my class to decide about the fresher’s party and after so many long and short discussions and plans we got this one finalized and hosted.

While all this was being planned there was another thing we were involved in which was something new at IFMR, the interviews to select representatives for Clubs was a new way our batch opted for to get the best people for the job. It was even a learning experience for us being on the other side of the table, just made us realize how difficult at times it could be even to be on the other side(as interviewer) of the same table. With all the speculation and hype around it I assume we did a decent job without any prejudice or bias what so ever.

Before I go any further I couldn’t resist sharing the dream which a few of us saw but weren’t able to realize before this term, it was about the CEO Summit which we planned about for more than 2 months, lot of ideas, too many meetings, innumerous obstacles and obviously speculation, the result we weren’t able to organize the so called “Varchaswa” (not sure if the spelling is right). There are few of them who worked damn hard for it and also got screwed at places but the lack of certain essentials had lead us to drop the idea completely and I was one of them who suggested to call it off looking at the situation we were in, but still it remained a dream, something we thought we could pull off some how!

What if we weren’t able to pull the CEO summit off, we still have Abhyudaya to show all our charisma and zeal. So the juniors rightly started off work on Abhyudaya early this time, at least earlier than we did. The work has been going on at some pace which I feel is a bit slower; work is going on well though. There have been a few ups and downs with Abhyudaya even by now and things look quite complicated at the moment looking at the condition of the world economy and financial markets. But I can tell you, as ever Abhyudaya is coming up with newer and nicer events and I hope we make it lot better this year too. Will surely come up with more on Abhyudaya soon! This must have made it clear to an extent that I am game for Abhyudaya even this year, without any doubt.

I haven’t ever mentioned about TEC earlier, I think I can do that now; it’s the entrepreneurship club at IFMR, started a few months back by some 20 of us. It has been on my mind for quite some time and I have been trying to get something productive and new out of this initiative, though we haven’t done anything special so far apart from a couple of events, never ending number of meetings which only quite a few attend and a couple of issues of the magazine which was ought to be issued every month. It has given quite a few learning’s to me personally as well, I initiated the idea with a lot of passion and commitment which I think I have at the same level even now. But without contribution and collaboration nothing succeeds is a major learning in the last 8 months of my endeavor for TEC as its representative. I would not blame anyone for not being active or so, but it’s true that something of my interest and passion might not be of someone else even if they have committed to do things. So I had to slow down my pace and am trying now to somehow keep it as active as possible and there are at least few whom I can name in a moment who are quite active and supportive and I am sure they will take it ahead and not let it die once I am out.

There’s another thing which I and a few others have been driving hard in the campus, which faced a set back early this year and since then even after various attempts the few of us haven’t been able to set it back due to lack of effort (I wont say lack of time). I feel bad that for the past 2 months or so we haven’t been able to do much about it, but still are trying to get it back while something else has caught up in the campus. Am not naming what I am talking about since its still a conspicuous thing for most of them in the campus that I am involved in, and am not being a coward by not disclosing it, I am just trying to maintain the level of privacy involved so that it does not become that easy for people to actually know, though most of them know who and what, and can also say by reading this what I am talking about. I still remember the days when I heard left and right about this particular thing but did not mention a word that I was a party to it, but again I wasn’t being a coward, was just trying to maintain the professionalism we had decided as a Team (the few of us), but yea I will surely talk about it some time soon, though it doesn’t make a difference even if I do that now, but I don’t want to spoil the fun.

Between all this how can I forget the high profile meeting that we had which spelt out a set of new rules in the campus, I couldn’t resist my laugh for rules like going home before 9pm and taking permission if one wanted to stay back beyond that. I couldn’t even compare this with my school days where I used to go home only beyond 6 after all the sports and activities while classes used to get over by 3 or 4. While here the amount of group work and activities involved at least don’t give me an opportunity to go home before 9 most of the times (for those of u who think I don’t do either of it, we can talk about it later)

And when we talk about meetings, my favorite and all time best meeting in the last 3 months without any doubt has been the one on the Clubs issue, I know the outcome of the meeting has been interpreted in a different way than I would subscribe to, but that’s part of the system and am game to take all that comes up. But as I have been making clear time and again to different people, my intentions and agenda were clear and I put forward what the right thing was so that people don’t confuse things. But I also know quite clearly that if things don’t work out the way they are expected to, I am the one who’ll be looked for just because I was the one who drove the issue forward and I still stick to my point, as I had just put across the facts and never initiated the talk on vitamin M or the quantum of it to be precise. But as known it was and is being seen as my victory and not of the issue in hand something which I don’t subscribe to, but yes I agree that I played a major role in the overall dialogue but never bothered about the quantum of vitamin M, I just stressed on the need and the why part. May seem like I am defending myself or what so ever which I don’t need to anyway, but still it makes me relaxed if I make my point clear.

After Convocation with Seniors and Friends

Leaving aside all the controversial stories there were few other important occasions that happened in due course including the Convocation of my seniors which saw the presence of biggies like Mr. Vaghul (Chairman ICICI Bank and IFMR) and Mr. Sundaram (Director, Hindustan Level). The seniors were all merry after getting their graduation certificates and just gave me a feeling of how close I was to this moment in my life (assuming I would clear all, ha ha). The alumni meet was another joyous day with a new record set of the maximum attendance so far at IFMR, it again required a lot of thought and effort to pull it off well and the few of them involved did it really well apart from the issues they had to face till the end. I would still like to mention here that, the plans for it were initiated long ago than the actual plans began by the authorized team, but again due to some lack of action and response it lead to the death of all those ideas and plans. But yes the one that was conducted received a lot of praise and acclaim which it absolutely deserved and I am hoping next year when I am supposedly an alumni it would be even better and bigger.

In a Jolly Mood after the Alumni Meet

Issues of placements have been on a high all through and will be the same way till all of us get placed, but so far things have been quite complicated and this is something which everyone is bothered about unlike other things and strangely this is something I am (at least so far) least worried about unlike other things. So hoping for the best, don’t want to put salt on what ever has happened and take names and issues from the past. So I am just wishing things to be smooth and easy, and not as hyper tensive as they have got.

Participation in the event of NITIE on MAK lubricants was really fun; the overall experience was really exciting as it made us (Bharat & me) think in real terms for the first time and not getting selected was not that disheartening because I did expect that and the meeting with the BPCL official couldn’t be forgotten.
The visit to New Life Charity also was a refreshing experience, the time spent with the kids was really special.

Outside New Life with Kids and Friends

To sum things up I have got a new name in the campus which most of them address me with, all this is the result of the amount of interaction I am involved in and I know the importance of all that as most of u know too. And thanks for the new nick folks! But trust me you may not call me that way soon! Over all the first few months of the final journey at IFMR have been fabulous, days are just passing like hours and I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey so far and hope to keep it the same way! Adios till next time.

P.S – This write up was not to highlight any particular issue, it’s just a usual practice which I have been following of summarizing all that I have been involved in and share the same, so if anything in the above has hurt you or made u happy or something, please leave a comment LoL, am expecting a few at least to this article.

Friendship as a Commodity

At a stage in life when I have more than two times the number of friends I had just 2 years back. This thought hit my mind on a lazy day when I was just trying to recollect as it is holiday time now, whom all am I supposed to call and say a Hi, whom all am I supposed to meet and know what's up in their life and whom all I am in good contact with now should I give some time and space for a while. During this duration of recollecting names and times we spent, I got this concept of marketing hit on to the other side of my brain.

According to what I have learnt in Marketing, every product has 5 levels in which it can be placed and there are various factors which determine which level the product belongs to (Core benefit level, Generic Level, Expected Level, Augmented Level and Potential Level). Don’t worry I am not going to talk about the concept much, just wanted to lay a platform for the thought that hit my mind.

So to further delve with this thought I just tried to place a few friends in this product level framework and I was clearly able to see how a friend moved from the Core Benefit level to the augmented Level and now is back at the Generic Level. To explain this better I’ll try and share an illustration – Say friend X and I studied together in School and were just classmates for a lot of years where we being friends was at the Core Benefit Level i.e. every other classmate was a friend by default whether I spoke to him or not, so by default every class mate becomes a friend in the system.

Then came times when we shared (X & I) certain things in common, say we used to reach school at the same time or we used to sit adjacent to each other and then we started saying each other hi when we met in the mornings and used to wish each other goodbye when we used to leave for home in the evening. Here we reached the Generic Level where we went beyond the Core Benefit level and we were no more commodities like friends, we had something more than just commodity like treatment in our friendship.

Say after a few weeks since we sat together we started talking each other, sharing each others thoughts and so on, sat together on the lunch table and so on, here we reached the Expected Level where one meets his friends everyday talks to him, tells him what happened last evening and discusses other issues of life but with a pause at times. And then slowly as we remained at the Expected level for a while we reached the final year of school and then we felt we have had great times and so we started sharing more with each other, we went out together, met on weekends, called up each other to know what's up, have I studied or not, cleared doubts, and so on and so forth. This was a stage when there would not be a day when we did not speak or meet up more than once, we used to share secrets both personal and family level. And we were really best friends as one likes to call and this was the time when we reached the augmented level from the expected level.

Then there was this day when school got over, both got into different colleges (we tried a lot to get into the same college, but fate dint allow) and then the really nice friendship existed but the level of interaction slowly started fading away as both got busy into our own college lives and other things. So we started meeting only on weekends or may be call up on weekends if we weren’t able to meet and here we were back at the expected level from the augmented level. And it went on for a while and then the frequency decreased from a week to a month for us to meet or talk. I had my own set of new friends and other things going on in life and same was the case with him.

We still shared a good level of understanding, but then our friendship surely started going to the generic level from the expected level as the frequency decreased even more from a month to several months or may be just certain occasions when we used to meet/ talk. So currently we are at the Generic Level and we cannot go to the Core Benefit level until we actually stop thinking about each other even once in a while. The day when it takes a moment for me to think of this friend, that day he will fall into the Core Benefit level and would be known as “was a friend” types and our friendship will become a commodity as it does with lot many friends whom I even don’t wish on occasions but still they are my friends.

So getting back to my thought I just realized I have so many friends whom I share a really nice rapport with but most of them I am not in touch with at least not frequently. So I was somehow able to clearly see a lot of them in different levels both the new ones and the oldest ones. Few of those might be subjective but to some extent I could see for myself that how certain people sailed from the Core Benefit level to the augmented Level very fast while others were in and around the expected level and how these levels changed in the course of time.

Then I tried to figure out what are the main aspects which determine the increase or decrease of level of my friendship with someone. And it stood out quite clearly that TIME and EFFORT were the key aspects which determined where one stood. The time and effort could be from the other person’s side or from my side but it surely did matter (time and effort can be expended in today’s context in various ways such as calls, chats both on mobile and internet, meeting each other and a few other ways). There are certain people whom I like to spend time with and also extend some effort to keep the rapport on in different ways because I like to be friends with them and at a higher level. There are also people who try to spend some time and effort on me which I may acknowledge or ignore depending on which level I like to have them in. So at the end of the day it depends on both me and the other person that which level do we actually take our friendship to and rest is just the matter of time as the level may rise and fall in the passage of time.

There are also friends who have risen to the augmented level, then fell to the Generic Level and are now back at the Augmented level so this interplay of levels will go on in life but what matters is how important is the relationship to the two of us and how much understanding do we have irrespective of what level of friendship we have in terms of the product level.

So a Big HI to all my friends irrespective of which level you are in, and now you can start wondering which level do u actually think we are in???

Cheers

Yo!!

P.S – I haven’t dealt with the potential level at all because that’s a subjective area, something which is potential may be augmented to someone else and most importantly potential level is always open as once u reach the potential level you indirectly fall to the augmented level as something else becomes potential by then. So generally speaking I feel augmented level is the peak which I could analyze things in as potential level is at any point empty or at least gets empty very soon.

Also this framework can be applied to any relationship, though I just tried it on friendship.

Just another post

Hi.....
Its again been a while since i last posted ... so just thought to put across what all is in my mind at the moment and would come up with a couple of posts soon.

The markets (Indian Stock Market) are bleeding and investors have one of the worst times of their lifes with no end in sight or no clue where the numbers are headed to ?? Everyone has their own version of a story after the markets actually fall and all predictions and recommendations seem to be euphoria.

It rained very heavily this afternoon and streets were flooded with water, had to stay back at college for a couple of hours but rain never seemed to take a break, so i just left for home when it slowed down a bit and was caught in a waterlogged street with water to the level of my waist (almost). so had to pull(push) the bike along for some distance as it would actually not run with so much water having gone inside it .. somehow reached home in an hours time with so much traffic around while usually it makes only 15 mins to reach home.

The coming week seems to have quite some things to be taken care of .... plans and thoughts are always made but how many of them actually get executed is quite subjective... lets see ....

Lot of things need some good amount of attention and effort in the coming days/weeks including Abhyudaya, Placement, Certain important occasions at home and much more.

Just dropped in to share whatever was in mind (ignored a few things from actually writing it down), so that it makes it easier for me to get set for a real nice post soon ! so till then, Adios !! take care !

OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY

The blood bath of money going on all over the world is depressing and people around the world have started losing faith from financial institutions and markets. The losses being accumulated are huge and unimaginable. Amidst all this different governments are trying different ways to safeguard their people and institutions money and life. Quite ironic but yes the governments are literally trying to save life’s of thousands of people and through monetary support they are getting them back to business. So it is something which comes naturally during all this bailouts and waivers going around in the world that it’s all about Other People’s Money (whether it is being lost or being used to safeguard).

In early 2008 Government of India passed a Bill in the Parliament to waive of loans worth sixty thousand crores of millions of farmers throughout India. There was a huge hue and cry throughout the country for and against the bill passed during the budget for financial year beginning April 2008 but none of the political parties dared to oppose it since it was a matter of millions of votes and the bill got successfully passed with another increase in the waiver amount later which required beyond seventy thousand crores in total. And as per my assumption the waiver scheme must be going on well and a good amount of the fund should have been cleared of by now as it has been more than 6 months since everything was approved.

Now lets come to the latest rescue operation which got approved by the Fed and Government of United States of A. US has approved a bailout plan worth $700 billion to save various financial giants in the US of A including insurance companies, investment banks, government agencies and so on. Again the bailout plan was being contested by various parties as being unnecessary and huge. The bailout has just been approved so it may take some time to actually see how well it is being executed and how much does it help those institutions to get back on track and make a living on their own.

It seems individuals and institutions make mistakes or fall prey to circumstances and lose huge money and then governments have a huge role to play in their rescue. Could these individuals and institutions have been more cautious when they made such huge investments, or is it just that the circumstances led to their current situation. In all the arguments for and against these rescue plans one underlying feeling among the people is, whose money are they using in rescuing these individuals and institutions, it’s the tax payers’ money! Where else will the government get money from. So it seems logical for the governments all over the world to be more proactive and have better mechanism to handle such situations. What if the 60K crore waiver does not improve the situation of the farmers of India, what if the $700Bn bailout does not improve the condition of the financial giants of US. Is there something that these governments have thought about for such negative outcome, or is it just that they feel once they rescue these institutions from their liquidity issues their role is over. Or will these governments again in the future go for few more such waivers or bailouts. It’s important that everyone understands that when we talk about all these rescue operations, we are talking about “OTHER PEOPLE’s MONEY” so we better deal with it appropriately.

Long Break , Dont know Y ??

Hi All

Its been long since i last posted, almost a month since my last post :( , don't know why but somehow either did not get time or motivation to do so. feeling a bit sad for not having posted for such a long while, had a lot of things in mind to write about but never was able to get it done. Will be back soon with a couple of posts.... Just wanted to say a HI and I am here !
So keep watching !!

Comments, feedback's and suggestions welcome... it may help in fact to come back soon with posts.. so pls feel free to express anything you feel.
Cheers !!

Competition – Facing the heat

Routine instances in our life exhibit to us various complex issues in a very straight forward way. The issues just stare at you and you come to know, oh this is what it is! Taking one such example which is, like a fresh dikashun of coffee (am sorry for the people who don’t know what the coffee dikashun is) to me. It’s about the plethora of events coming up at IFMR in the upcoming week.

All the clubs at IFMR have been planning to hold an event or the other of theirs since some time now including the TEC club, but none of them was able to launch an event for so long when there were no events being conducted at all. I could only see one reason for this mass dumping of events apart from the natural reason for which it is being conducted. The reason which I am speaking about is Competition; I think you would agree with me when I make this statement. All clubs have been planning for quiet some time now and it’s almost high time for each of them to actually launch their event and conduct it as soon as possible that too in a grand manner as it is going to be the first for each of them for this academic year.

I ascertain the reason to be competition just because of the fact that, once a club member comes to know that X club has launched its event or is looking forward to conduct its event on x date, there is a sense of ego or feeling of loss (loss of opportunity of being first, or for being slow/late). Now the above reason brings in a spirit of competition that, hey even I need to launch my event soon, its high time, X club who started after us is already ready with their event, why do I remain behind, let me fix a slot one day before club X. This sense of competition is good at times but at times it may just be due to the ego. But whatever it is competition is very important in the world, it helps in various ways and results in great creations at times if dealt with appropriately.

The above stuff is written following the incident which I faced today when I saw the marketing club members working on their event, finance club members preparing the poster/invite for their event and most importantly after seeing the mail from the HR club who have already launched their event (but not disclosed the date yet :D). All this made me even more geared up to finally launch the event by TEC, as the event was already ready but due to some reason or the other which was getting delayed from being launched. But after seeing these plethora of events coming up we have booked a slot for the TEC even before few others just to ensure that we don’t end up being in the zone of the late latifs. And the sense of competition has reinforced in us the spirit to do well.

So do you think we have learnt what competition does to one? Its kicks at your back and then you get only 2 options Do or Die!!!

By the way TEC’s event is on 1st September 2008 at 17.00, be there and face the competition!!! And then you’ll know what’s facing the heat!!

(This article is some how also in connection to me trying to keep the blog as active as possible and updating it regularly, would soon try to do something interactive. Keep watching)

Just like that

Hmmm was just thinking if I could make the Blog a bit more active or interactive so to say. But there are questions all around as soon as I think of it, questions like, how can I make it active, what all shall I try to do, how often do I think to update it, how will I make it interactive, to make it interactive I need response from others, who will respond to my blog, why will they do so, if at all they do how long will it go on, will I be able to live up to the expectations, I already write so bad, how will others bear such writing and so on and so forth.

But then I thought when Amitabh Bachan, Amir Khan and others can do it, why not me, what if I am not as big a star as they are, what if I haven’t become something in life, is it necessary only to do it if u r big enough, is it necessary for 100’s of people to respond and react everyday, they have their own world, I shall have my own, what if there is no response, why do I need one, I do it for my satisfaction so why bother if get a response or not, but what do I get by updating the blog everyday with what ever stuff I am thinking of, may be it may work like a diary, but I can maintain a personal diary in that case, that too a hand written one, or even an online one, so why do I need to share it with others on the blog, why this sudden urge, am I looking for popularity, I am trying to seek attention, why at this point in time am I trying to seek attention, or is it just someway I want to be active or again interactive so to say, I am puzzled. I get an idea, I get another counter intuitive question and there I am confused.

Lets see if I am convinced enough to go ahead and if at all I am, whether I have something worth the time and effort to share regularly, all depends on my day to day activities and how interesting or boring they end up being.

Let’s see…. At least this way, I have updated the blog today with this idea. Now back to the thinking mode; will be back soon. By the by what do u think, is it a good idea or a bad one, should I or should I not, if yes then in what ways, if no why so? Keep thinking…

ILLNESS + DILEMMA = MiSery (Medical Science)

I have an old relationship with Illness and Dilemma hand in hand for a long time. The instances have taken toll on me and at times I was just inches away from the operation theatre when it was in no ways required. I could share with you a couple of them to empathize with me for the kind of dilemma I have been in, in the past and the highs and lows associated with them.

I was about 10-12 yrs old and was suffering from fever for almost half a month and had severe pain over the period in my back and stomach as the days increased, so apart from the fever this became a major concern for me and my parents. So to deal with the same we consulted with a couple of doctors who gave different opinions amongst which one of whom being a well respected and experienced one who after examining me, in a very firm tone asked my parents to admit me immediately, so that I could be operated early next morning and he would cancel his other appointments to operate me for APPENDIX. As soon as I heard this I was in a state of shock thinking about operation and stuff at such a young age and was very nervous but could not speak a word in front of the doctor there. But my parents told the doctor that we shall go home and get back to him through telephone after talking to others at home and left the place. And after coming home my parents were somehow convinced that we needed another opinion so decided not to talk to the doctor until we consult some one else. So the next day we went to another experienced doctor whom after a long wait we were able to see at his home, as it was a Sunday. He just examined me for a minute or so and said that I don’t have any appendix or anything and I am completely alright, just a tonic will make me alright soon. And trust me I felt cured already after having heard that I don’t have APPENDIX and I would not be subjected to any operation or so. And I think I was alright in 2 days after seeing this doctor and felt like I had got a new LIFE that day. Such a major twist in the tale just in a matter of less than 24 hours.

The next instance is a recent one, I had met with an accident and hurt my knee as a consequence of which. For almost 3 months I was under the impression that it was just a strain in my knee, which would be alright soon. But days passed by, I consulted half a dozen or more doctors, everyone having their own story analysis about my recovery. At the end of 3 months I underwent an MRI scan which was the only way to figure out what was actually wrong with my Knee and then we came to know that I had a Ligament tear in my knee, now the concern was what to do with this tear. Again I had a series of opinions from over half a dozen of different specialists throughout the city, with opinions varying from requirement of an operation to just physiotherapy will do and so on and so forth. Finally I haven’t undergone any operation, just took some physiotherapy and thial malish treatment of Kerala’s fame. I haven’t recovered from my ailment but still getting operated was a difficult decision but somehow got convinced that I can recover without operation if I follow certain exercises regularly (which I haven’t followed for long now, laziness and boredom being the reason and may be that’s why I haven’t recovered fully yet). But the whole episode of consulting doctors went on for about a year or more and as it can be seen, every visit used to bring different experience and outcome making life even more difficult.

Now coming to the present, I am suffering from some fever for about 15 days or so and have consulted 2 doctors so far (both of them are my Family doctors, whom we consult normally), and both have different opinions about my illness, where one says I am suffering from Chikengunya, the other claims it cannot be Chikengunya. So here I am again confused but not yet cured. I am no game for Science, and I am only concerned with getting back to normal and that too ASAP, I think I have had enough as it has already been half a month of suffering and I have taken enough number of tablets of different sizes and colors.

Just wish that I am cured of what ever illness I am suffering from, whether one medical book looks at it in one way and the other looks at it in yet another way. All I want is freedom from illness and if science itself is confused with its verdict then how am I to solve this riddle every time. How do I know who is right and why? I think the doctors irrespective of their exact study, learn the same basic science, if they can differ every time then how do I know whom to agree with and what treatment to undergo. Is there a solution?

(I am not trying to blame either science or the doctors in question, just trying to highlight how different incidents changed my life and could have had serious implications on my life. I am basically confused as to what is to be done in such circumstances when an individual is in a fix. And just to make things clear, I have not been taking opinion of different doctors just for the heck of it; I have actually done so, only after a reasonable period of time, when the former doctor’s medication failed to cure my illness. I believe firmly in science but am just concerned with differing views which has implications on ones life, views can differ in any field or context, but when the stake is so high, what must one do with differing views, how to handle the catch-22 situation)

Derivative - Is it Lucrative ???

I as a novice in this world of finance, with dreams to study and understand such a great product of finance which lures trillions of dollars every year in to the financial markets look at things in a completely different way. To begin with I understand derivatives to be instruments to HEDGE an underlying exposure a company/individual has interest in and fears the loss of value in the future. So to avoid/minimize this loss the company/individual undertakes Futures/Options route to mitigate or minimize the potential risk.

As per my understanding derivatives and related markets (futures and options) were introduced to address the following issues

- To have a platform or meeting place for the two ends to meet, and to minimize the substantial part played by middlemen in trade of commodities and other assets.
- To have a better method of price discovery through such exchanges where the demand and supply in sync with other factors will lead to appropriate price of the asset.
- To help the parties involved to mitigate or minimize the risk of value erosion, supply/demand and other risks in reference to their interest.

But so far of what ever I have learnt and seen in this short tenure, I haven’t yet been convinced with the working of the whole system as such. The issues I confront everyday while I deal with the subject are as follows

- If this concept was to make the 2 ends meet and minimize the role played by middlemen, then why are the exchanges allowing parties not involved in that particular trade or having exposure in the underlying allowed to trade in the commodity (Speculate) and make things even more complex (I know the first response to this will be for liquidity, would come to it later!).

- If these exchanges/ markets are for better price discovery, then again how can speculators in such markets help for the same, I believe only the parties having interest/ exposure in the underlying can help in a better price discovery and not novices like me, who don’t know a thing about the underlying at the first place.

- If all the above is done for the sake of liquidity and opening up of the financial markets and the economy in the world in a big way, my question is where are we answering the real issues for which such innovative financial products were developed.

To be able to explain the above concerns I would like to share certain examples I have come across so far which have provoked me to delve deeper into this subject and understand it better.

The case of MGMR (Metallgesellschaft), which clearly shows how the derivative contracts led to its risk in the underlying quadruple, I believe if it was not hedged the losses would have been far lesser than it were due to the hedged position. I simply think that when MGRM was already locked with the underlying contracts its only fear was that its underlying should not be affected in value or other ways, so it undertook several other derivative contracts and locked itself further more, which only led to increase in the number of ways it was locked than the number of ways it should have been able to come out of the losses (risks). And we see the result of it, a reputed company owned by several financial giants (German banks) had to liquidate due to the risk management techniques which infact increased the risk not only of the underlying but of the company as a whole leading to an uncalled liquidation with losses not just from the underlying but from various other ends including the derivatives, liquidity and many more ways.

I have studied 12 ethanol producing companies of US during my summer training (April – June 2008) and have found that most of them have huge losses (unrealized) on their derivative transactions which have reduced their profitability in an industry where there are various other factors which are already making life difficult for the companies, over which such derivative contracts are not making life any easier. Ethanol companies generally undertake derivatives contract in two underlying commodities namely Corn and Ethanol, the dynamics of the industry have changed a lot in the last 2 years and again as mentioned earlier I feel these companies would have faired better even without such contracts. The more time they spend looking after the risk management, the more they loose their time to concentrate on their underlying business itself (to me it seems like loosing from both ends).

Another important example to support the view is of the Crude oil prices which have soared to the level of $147 in July08 from about $70 in a year’s time. According to various research reports 60% of the increase in crude prices is due to speculation by various big players who are throwing money in crude to make money, which is leading to notional increase in demand of crude which subsequently resulted in increased price due to high demand (notional). Today the crude price again is at about $113(August 15 2008); the volatility of such an important commodity to the whole world is uncalled for, as it is leading to such levels of inflation in the world making food, travel to be even a rich mans dream. The main reason for such volatility in Crude prices as mentioned earlier is speculation, where in parties who do not have any exposure of the same playing dirty games in the exchange and leading to such worse condition of the world. Now again I feel the same question raises, where has the availability of such contracts helped to hedge the risk or even in price discovery. It has infact done things the other way round, the risk increased even more in the world level, prices were not discovered but infact were (are) being dictated by giants with huge liquidity who are moving the market the way they want (why should millions of people in the world get affected, just because several giants want to make money from such activities). I don’t think anyone can convince me in this context (at least no one has been able to so far).

I am not questioning the ability of this product (derivatives) to help minimize the risk but my only concern is that it’s not able to safeguard your interests always (most of the times). One must realize that such contracts are taken to limit the down side, while we must also remember and understand the fact that it’s a zero sum game, if one party earns, the other looses. Infact as seen in various situations such contracts are even leading to limit the upside and the company remains exposed to the downside i.e. in case the company was not hedged it would have made much more money when the price increased, while in case the company is hedged it earns only a limited predetermined profit because of the so called derivative contract, while in the downside also the same applies, as in when the company is not hedged it looses only the value of the asset to that extent, while when it is hedged it looses in terms of the value of the asset plus also on the investments or upfront expenses it had done to undertake the derivative contract.

One important thing one must remember in all these arguments is that one takes a derivative or any other contract after making certain assumptions about the movement of the price of the asset, what I want to say is, if you already have a view of the movement and your derivative contract is also to augment that view then what’s the need of it at the first place, as you can just follow your view and you can make money. The problem only comes when your assumptions turn out to be wrong and then neither does your view help nor does the augmenting derivative contract. I believe a contract can only help me, if and only if it is able to take away any possibility where my view goes wrong because I would anyways make money in other ways without the contract through my view and actions following the same.

To sum it all up, I am not game for these lullabies that this financial product was started with such and such intention and it is the best way to mitigate risk and so on, yes I like the concept and the innovation but still its not able to address the main issue which it was supposed to address so I don’t think its worth a thing to boast about or at least in that context (context that it helps to mitigate risk, price discovery bla bla). I think I need some more time to understand it better, need to do some more R&D before I come to any final conclusion but this whole write up was to sum up my initial relationship with such a novel concept.

Do feel free to comment, criticize or rectify me where ever I am wrong, as mentioned in the start I am a novice trying to understand and learn and I believe there is no better way of learning than to express your thoughts and build on it with guidance from other stalwarts.

Individuals of Mass Destruction

When Mohd. Azahrudin was found guilty of fixing a match of Cricket; he was banned for life from taking part in any form of cricket, because his deed of selling himself to lose that match was considered to be a sin of the greatest order in Cricket. I am curious enough to know what kind of a punishment or action would be taken against those MPs who were kind enough to sell themselves (or buy others) and the pride of the country in the view of an important decision concerning the future of the country for a few crores (Cash for Vote in Parliament of India on 22nd July 2008).

Various ministers termed this incident in different ways ranging from “Black day in the history of Indian Parliament” to “Political Prostitution”. I don’t know how better to react to such an act which is quiet common but got highlighted in the media and in real in the parliament on camera for the first time ever in history.

I feel ashamed to be eligible to vote with such kind of wicked politicians our country has got. Votes sold for power (vote here refers to the trust vote and ministries refer to Sibhu Soren whose deal with the UPA was to get Coal ministry for himself and the seat of CM for his son among other things), cash and what not. No ideology, no ethics, how better do you expect such people to lead the country and expect growth while they are busy trying to fill their own houses with bundles of Rs.1000 notes.

Most astonishingly the kind of MPs we have, if we check their track record or criminal record to be precise, it would not be a big surprise to know that most of them have at least some or the other kind of criminal or civil cases against them for all kinds of illegal activities. What can you expect from a country where the highest number of criminals or wrong doers is sitting inside the most respected place (The Parliament) of the country deciding the good, bad and the better of a billion helpless people? I just don’t understand the constitution of the country in this regard, very simply because when a normal citizen cannot get a job in a good company if he/she has any kind of bad track record in terms of criminal cases or so, then how can a person who has to lead the nation and decide its future become an MP with such a black mark. I just can’t understand how such an important aspect is not taken care of while making the eligibility criteria for election.

I view such irresponsible and corrupt people as IMDs (Individuals of Mass Destruction). Yes they are 1000 times more fatal than terrorists (who at least do what ever they do with clear motive, explicit demands and warnings). So I feel I am not wrong in calling such people IMDs, as they have the license to do it once they are elected to the parliament and as seen often many of them have only done that in some way or the other. When such an act of selling the country for money takes place in the temple of the country what can you expect from any political party. I feel pity on Azahruddin, he just sold a match but these dirty selfish politicians are out to sell the country’s future with such brutal acts.

(The write up is in context to the issues which happened on the Trust Vote day at the Parliament for the Nuclear Deal and goes on to express the view on Indian politicians)