My DREAM Car

For the past couple of months I am considering the option of buying my first car. As is true for all first things in life, the first car too has a special significance – It starts occupying your mind and thoughts to an extent that you start dreaming and believing in those dreams. 

Well there are many peripheral things associated with the first car, like your first four-wheeler license (a very painful process you have to go through), the first car loan (you cannot afford to buy a car on your own income and the banks will ensure that you cannot buy another car after taking the first loan) and off course deciding upon the model and brand.

The good old days, when Indian middle class aimed for nothing but a “Maruti” is over, today there are so many options that confusion is a small word to describe the sense of loss you are into when you start comparing models. Still the trust of average middle class Indian (like me) is very much on Maruti, so I decided to go ahead with an affordable model from Maruti’s stable – may be an “Alto” or “Wagon R” (Believe me, for someone working with Infy this in itself is an epitome of luxury). With every piece falling into place, the next logical move was to get the feel of my DREAM car and understand the nuances of financial implication.

So one day I decided to step into a showroom and asked my flat mate to come along with me. We reached the nearest Maruti showroom. We got down from the bike and entered the glittering glass structure. The latest models were parked behind the glass screen – including my small dream car. A lady sales executive approached us and very politely asked “May I help you” (offcourse with a beautiful smile). We were asked to sit around a glass-top table, and were given a single page form to fill. I resisted, saying we are here to just get an idea, but then this was not a vegetable shop and may be this is the way you shop for cars, so I filled the form.

After about 5 minutes another sales person came to us, this time it was a male. I was surprised, as to why the lady went away; I didn’t said anything to her, or maybe she was the bait to pull in the moolah! Whatever, the sales man greeted us and asked which car we are looking forward to – and the answer was pretty simple for me to give – Alto. He looked at my face and said, “Sir, you are working for Infosys and you want to buy Alto! Why don’t you look at our latest models – swift and dZire”. Even before I could say that its out of my budget, the sales man continued in his sprint, “Anyways you are getting a handsome salary hike in April, believe me your annual hike will be enough to buy this car”. I was shocked, until now the salary hike news reached us through newspapers, now the salesman also know these details before me! And how can a peanut salary hike be enough to buy Swift? My god! What impression do people carry about Infoscions – as if in Infy everyone has 1000 shares from 1994 IPO???

Then, the salesman took us to the standing Swift and dZire models and started explaining the details (He was convinced that I am going to move up the ladder and buy this upper segment model). I touched the beauty, went inside and took the driver’s seat and was feeling great. From that moment onwards I started the calculation for the incremental amount I need to pay to own this beautiful lady. Just then, the salesman asked me if I would like to take a test drive. I wish I could vroom out of the showroom, smashing the glass window like Tom Cruise does in his movies, but then I was jolted by the fact that I still have not started my learning classes. So I said “No”.

The common man within me put a tight slap on my face and said – be in your limits. So, I asked the salesman if he can explain me the details of an Alto, to which he replied “Yes Sir, sure… actually Alto is a stripped down version of Swift”. The salesman further added that last week he has delivered 23 Swift to Infoscions from his showroom. Hmmm… that’s the reason why Infy is building 2 additional floors for parking cars. But I am sure either all these 23 people would have been those with CRR 1+ and expecting a double digit salary hike or must have got married and Swift was part of the marriage package. Unfortunately, I do not fall in any of these categories; I am a common man working for Infy.

I replied to the common man within me, that if others can afford, I too can. I just need to cut corners here and there – I was speaking to myself. This was a brief phase when I was going through a feeling of confusion, hurt, surprise and loss.

I was hurt at “Alto” being called as “The stripped down version of Swift”, confused at the options available in front of me – a common man, surprised at how other fellow Infoscions can afford such cars and lost at the financial implications if I don’t control my instinctive buying vein. Then I told my both-self that I am here to get an idea and not to buy, so its better if I get details of all the models on display.

After spending about, 45 minutes at understanding the various models – Swift and dZire taking the lion’s share – we sat down on the table. The salesman got two glass of coke for us (probably Infoscions get this minimal treatment) and started explaining the financing plans. With all sorts of numbers flying around me, I asked a simple question – can you tell me the monthly EMI I need to pay if I buy an Alto, Swift or dZire (here I am asking for Swift and dZire – meaning I had fallen in the trap).

My friend knew my financial health, so he elbowed me gently to come to reality. At this moment I heard a doorbell. This was a familiar sound, but how can doorbell ring in a car showroom. I heard the same doorbell sound again. I opened my eyes and saw it was 7:15 AM in my watch and the maid was ringing the doorbell. I was dreaming about my DREAM car.

Later in the day, I checked the bank statement and my last pay slip. I cannot even afford the down payment for an Alto and was dreaming of dZire! Dreams are dream after all. 

14th February, 1994

I very well know the meaning and significance of 14th Feb, still I chose to put the exact date in the heading, coz until this date, 14th Feb was nothing but “Just Another Day” for me [It’s another matter, that 14th Feb is still “Just Another Day” for me :)]

Winter season was almost over and our school was bathed in spring sunshine. On the contrary, our classrooms were heated with fear and tension of final exams which was scheduled in mid-march. Especially for our class (class IX of DAV, Patna) the problems were piling up with every passing day. Our learned teachers decided to mark the whole syllabus for our final exams (probably the idea was to give us a feel of class Xth board) and to add to the woes, two of our teachers left the job in a matter of one month and so we got some replacements to fill the gap. One such replacement was this new mathematics teacher – who appeared to have come freshly out of his degree college and by some means got this job to screw our miserable lives further.

I and my friends realized that the only way to come out of this messy situation is to study on our own in groups, and we started utilizing every minutes at our disposal to study and complete the course – many a times it meant studying physics in mathematics class or geography in biology class, more so often when we had already covered the topic being taught in the class or when the topic wasn’t making any sense to us.

It so happened that on 14th Feb 1994 our new mathematics teacher was taking a post-lunch period, and as far as I can remember he was trying to enlighten us with some theorem on circles and tangents. Just before the start of this period one of my friends asked me to sit with him and together we decided to brush up the “Mole concept” in chemistry. I found this as a good option to get my chemistry right than wasting time on listening to this new guy, whose words failed to even make a tangent to my brain. So I went ahead and sat with my friend for this period.

The period began and within a few minutes the new teacher started drawing some geometric shapes on the blackboard along with his monologue description of the circular theorem. Without wasting time, we opened the chemistry book on our desk and diligently started with the chapter on Mole concept. My friend had a queer habit of making notes (he believed more on his “Touch” than “Sight”), and so he took out his pen and began to write. I noticed that he got a new fountain pen that day (It was a new pen which his father had gifted him). Unfortunately it was not working.

He tried all the tricks he knew to make the pen work, but it just didn’t worked. Since he was so fixated at making notes, I thought the only way we can move ahead with “Mole concept” was to make that pen work, so I asked him to let me try my skills at the new fountain pen. I cleaned the nib, and then shook the pen; still it was not working, so as a final solution I opened the back cover of the pen. This pen had a piston mechanism to fill the ink. At this point, my friend cautioned me to be careful, as the ink may spill over. Still I thought of making the ink flow out so that the pen starts working again. So I pushed the piston, a bit harder than what is normally advised. Ink came gushing out like a spring of blue color and sprayed on the shirt of the person sitting in front of me.

Within seconds I realized the person sitting on the front desk was a girl, who didn’t hesitate to walk up to the principal’s cabin on the flimsiest ground you can think of, and here I have dyed her white shirt with blue ink. I thought I am done for the day. Very soon I will have to pay for that extra force I applied on the piston. My friend saw this, and took the pen from my hand, but he too was clueless as to what to do next. I was evaluating the various excuses, when someone shouted from the last bench – “Holi mubarak ho”.

The news spread in the whole class at a pace faster than the petrol tank catching fire. Everyone started looking towards me and at the girl, with whom I supposedly played Holi. I tried telling sorry to her, but before I could open my mouth, someone decided to put the last nail in the coffin and shouted “Happy Valentine’s day Rahul”. I don’t think anyone was able to make out the meaning of this comment (Obviously I didn’t), except for some intellectuals sitting at the back and my new mathematics teacher.

By this time the class burst into laughter and there was commotion all around. This new teacher had to bring in order, so he asked for what has happened, and pat came the reply – “Rahul is celebrating a colorful valentine day” (someone tried to be intelligent and innovative at the same time). Anyhow, I was sure that I will be hanged to reign in the uprising of laughter in the class. The teacher came to my desk and asked me and that girl to stand up – my face turned red with embarrassment, while that girl was still in utter shock. I was asked to leave the class immediately, which I did without any argument.

While standing outside, I was thinking of the whole event, and then I saw my principal coming towards me. A fear gripped me – was the uproar so loud that it reached his cabin? I was praying for some miracle to happen, and then I saw the principal standing in front of me. He asked me why I am standing like this. I narrated the whole incidence; probably my reputation of being a good student worked and he took me inside the classroom, then he called the teacher and gave him a hint of my background, after which I was asked to take my seat.

In another 10 minutes or so the bell rang and the period was over, I was relaxed but still not convinced that I am out of danger zone. What if that girl decides to make an issue out of this and takes the matter back to the principal’s office? I had only one option and that was to go and apologize to her, and so I went and told her “I am Sorry”. I was still expecting the volcano to erupt, but surprisingly she said “It’s ok” (Don’t know if she too was among the group who knew the meaning of Valentine day, or if St. Valentine himself came to her and prayed for me). Hmmm… I didn’t knew what to say next, I just kept quiet and came back to my desk.

Later on when I realized the significance and meaning of 14th February, I wondered if this is the way one should be made aware of such an important day. Many 14th Feb has passed since 1994, still my first memory of valentine day lingers on my mind as a portent to keep me away from another “Colorful Valentine’s Day”. May be almighty has some other plans in store for me :):)

Hope you all enjoy 14th February with your Valentine!

Tea @ Terminal

For all those who have never been associated with Infosys Bangalore DC, the term “Terminal” might sound a bit unusual, so for your convenience just try to replace this name with any generic name for the place where you meet daily with your friends in office and do all the things which I am going to put in the text below. And believe me if you are not doing any of the below stuff then you are seriously ill and most likely it’s the symptom of “Hyper mal-working dementia” (Don’t worry I will take up the details of this disease in a separate blog).

Out of the various food courts, having tea at terminal has a special significance. Its not that the tea served here is tasty (Infact it’s the worst tea one could ever have), rather it’s the experience of this place which stands it out from all other places.

So what is special about terminal? I think the basic difference is in its architecture. The open space of terminal gives a sense of freedom from our “cubicle life”. Having a cup of tea, sip by sip, and discussing anything and everything on this earth with your friends makes us believe that “Freedom of speech” is still a virtue we posses by birth (though its limited to the table we occupy and is capped to the decibel level at which we talk).

Before I give u a sneak peek of gossips, let me tell you how the crowd gets pulled to Terminal for tea. Well tea is served here all during the day, however the crowd of tea lovers peak at around 3:30 PM and tapers at about 4:30 PM. So here is how it all begins –

3.15 PM (I get a ping on my communicator from my project mate)

• Chai ????
• Offcouse… chalo…
• Ask Bhat and Goel too
• Ok…
• I will be there in 5 min… come soon
• Coming… give me 2 mins…

3:22 PM I reach terminal where I meet the remaining team mates… then one of us will be stand in the queue to buy tea coupons while 2 of us will stand in the queue for getting the tea… and 1 person will go and grab a table… 

Terminal gets crowded by this time and there is queue everywhere, so effectively managing resources for the different tasks is the key thing in having a peaceful tea. Depending on the co-ordination and luck, we sit around a table in min 7 min and max 15 min, and then starts the mind refreshing session. Well I have been a veteran at the terminal food court and can actually recognize a person by the time when he / she comes to terminal and I think the same applies to me – many people can recognize me as the most seen faces at terminal (I guess I must have a top of the mind recall just after those food court guy sitting at the coupon counters). So I have been party to various type of discussions, and here I will list down the top FIVE topics which are discussed in order of their occurrence and relevance.

Generally the talk starts with something related to project (Its very difficult to get rid of work, especially when you are having tea/breakfast/lunch with your project mates). If its not a serious project issue then we switch topic in a matter of seconds (most of the times) but for serious issues (like major goof ups or escalations) tea time is just an extension of conference room meeting (and that is really bad).

From the list of general topics discussed at the table, the other most common one is “Crib”. If you want to crib about a new policy, salary hikes, promotions / performance ratings, workload or your manager / team mates, there cannot be a better place than this. Once started, everyone pitch in with his version of the same story. Unless someone sensibly changes the topic, even 5 cups of tea is less to listen out individual cribs. Still this is the hot topic every other day on most of the tables. In a way I think this is good, at least once during the whole day you get the option of venting out your anger with every sip and I am sure it acts as a psychological balm to our tensed nervous system.

At times the tea gossip is nothing but gossip (especially when the group is of same gender – only male or only female). In either case the topic of discussion is the hottest item (male / female depending on the gender) on the floor, someone sitting on the next table and is worth a discussion, or just a “bakra” from within the group (who probably has seen his/her own face in the mirror that morning). There is really no sense to these set of discussions but I think this is the most hilarious of the various types (except for the one who is being talked about, well most of the times). There is one special flavor to this type of discussion and the ingredient for that flavor is the age group. If those involved in discussion are “Just Married” category then its about – how to set up your house, where you can get the best deal for a new flat / car, and where to take your “other half” for the coming weekend. If the age group is of “New Parents” then topic scales up a bit and its about the various vaccines you need to get for your child, the best pediatric in the town etc. For the next higher set (in terms of age) of people, its about the cost of food items (Inflation is a major concern, which people in this category understands the most), children's school and their exams, and a few more thing I am not aware of (actually had very little opportunity to share tea with this set of individuals).

Then comes the latest happening news. Don’t confuse it with the prime time news or front page item of that day’s Times of India. I am referring to the latest on BB (Sorry once again, BB is the bulletin board of Infosys – a vibrant public mailing service within Infy and the soul soother for many, just google it and you will get an idea of what I am referring to). These are the happening topics which bring emotions to the fore and are mostly limited to a sport event (99% of times its cricket) or a movie / TV show. Sides are taken immediately and discussion may get heated up depending upon the degree of individual’s devotion to his idol / team and level to which his / her idol is being criticized in the group. Most of the time these topics are enough to pull the complete discussion through with everyone’s spirited and enthusiastic participation, or may even extend beyond the tea table and reach the desk once you are back to work.

There are few (like me) who genuinely come to terminal to have a cup of tea and get rid of the eternal sleep that cripples our senses during office hours (I know its unethical to sleep during office hours, so I try the ethical way to keep my senses awake). Well its difficult to have a cup of tea alone, so people like me need to rope in a few others. And when “Sleep deprived” people like us sit around the tea table, then believe me we discuss about the various “employee welfare” measures which company should implement to make our life (work life) better. Like providing a couch in every cubicle, allowing work from home on a regular basis, need for an hour of compulsory sleep after lunch (you wont believe, but in China, most of the manufacturing firm has an hour of compulsory sleep for its workers after lunch. We are also workers, and if it can happen in China then why not in India?). Well this list is too long even for the HR guys to read through, I don’t want you to take that pain, so chuck it.

Well, there have been “Eureka” moments at terminal too. Sitting with someone (most of the time “someone” I am referring to is an “intellectual”) and discussing a topic over tea can suddenly spark an idea which you cannot believe can happen otherwise. Sometime the idea strikes even from the bunch of brainless – like this one (Man! I am talking about this blog, really you belong to that bunch of brainless!). These are the moments which creates history, and I am very sure, many great discoveries, ideas and innovations can be traced back to one or the other table of terminal.

The next time you go for your “Tea @ Terminal” don’t waste your time discussing this blog. This was never an intention – I don’t want to update this blog with another type of tea time discussion.

3 x 2 Idiots

This is not about the Amir Khan starrer 3 Idiots (which I am sure most of you would have watched till now). It’s about the experience which 3 x 2 = 6 people (Me included) had between 26^th and 27^th December and I thought it worth to share with you all.

On 25^th evening 6 of us (Sorry, I can’t disclose all the namesJ) decided to go to Shivasamundaram for a one day excursion. It was a long weekend that too the last weekend of 2009, and it seems that the whole of Bangalore has decided to go out – we couldn’t get any vehicle, and had to cancel the trip. The mood was down. Two “long days” were staring at us and none of us had anything to do. As a solace, I proposed watching movie, and the obvious and unanimous choice was “3 Idiots”.

I took the responsibility of booking the tickets and searched all online booking sites for availability. Lo there were no tickets available in any of the multiplexes – PVR, INOX, Innovative, Fun Cinemas… all were booked till last seat and last show. Does this means we are going to idle away the whole day doing nothing (you hardly have any choices in Bangalore during weekends), but then I saw a glimmer of hope. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was seeing 6 vacant seats at Fun Cinemas for the 5:00 PM show. May be Jesus too felt bad on our plight and thought of cheering us with this generous gift. I immediately booked the tickets and called up all my friends, confirming the date and timing – 26^th December, 5:00 PM show.

The excitement and feeling of getting bored at home drove us to the theatre much ahead of time and all of us were there by 4:00 PM – 1 hour before the scheduled time!! We ended up this one hour discussing all sort of things – “3 Idiots” included. And then it was time to enter the theater, we stepped in with much excitement, bought popcorns and coke and headed straight to the theater. I showed my tickets to the staff and we took our seats – N9 to N14. Even before the trailers started, we were on our seats having popcorn and sipping coke.

The first advertisement slide was flashed on screen; this was followed by a national anthem. We stood and sung the anthem and then the upcoming movie trailer started. The first trailers were of “Rann” (the forthcoming Ram Gopal Verma movie) and believe me; in the excitement of watching “3 Idiots” we were enjoying this too. The trailer almost came to an end, when a couple came and told one of our friends (sitting at one of the ends) that seat N11 and N12 is theirs. How this can be true, the couple must have mistaken the row number, after all the light was dim inside the theater, and such mistake is quite obvious.

By then it was turn of Reliance advertisement with “All is well theme” the movie was about to start and this couple was unnecessarily bothering us. My friend stood up and asked to get their tickets re-checked with the theater staff. They had no options so they went to the staff members enquiring the details. In the meantime the next trailer of “Veer” came up. Along with the trailer came the theater staff, but we were least bothered to even to listen to him. But then someone has to represent our side in that unnecessary talk, so I came out of my seat as the representative (after all it was Salman’s trailer – the perfect 2 minutes to waste on such trivial issues).

I once again asked the couple “Are you in the correct screen? The same movie is going on in screen 3, please check your tickets” – another common error people commit in multiplexes. By this time the theater staff was checking our tickets and the last trailer before the start of movie was about to end. I was slowly reaching my boiling point, and then I heard a mumbling sound of the theater staff:

Theater staff (TS): Hmmm… the seat numbers are same!!

(I thought of saying – Thanks for the discovery)

Me: What kind of systems do you have? You can’t even issue correct tickets and you are running a multiplex! Who gave you the permissions?

TS: Sir, I think there is some problem, I need to check the tickets from our system, can you come with us?

Me: Why should I come with you? If there is any issue then go and solve it. Its your problem. (My tone rising with every word). I have paid the money and I want to watch the movie without any disturbance, do you understand that?

By then the last trailer was also over. The movie was about to begin. I was about to burst as a volcano on the theater staff, and then something happened. Something I never even thought of.

The theater staff said – Sir, you have entered the wrong show. Wrong show? What do you mean by wrong show? For a moment I thought I overheard the staff in the background sound, but then he reiterated – Sir, your ticket is not for today’s show. You have bookings for 27^th December – 5:00 PM show and today its 26^th December. You have entered the wrong show.

I checked the ticket, he was right.

His words banged our eardrums as if a scud missile has passed by our ears. We turned back towards the theater staff… “3 Idiots” started on the screen in front of us… and we (3x2) idiots were looking back – showing our back to the screen. Infact at that moment everyone around us was looking in our direction. Suddenly the popcorn became cold and stale, the coke tasted bitter and we were groping for words. Now what to do? Then one of our friends tried to “Patao” the theater staff asking to arrange for some seats (typical “Delhiwala”, forgot that this is Bangalore – I said to myself). At this time others were going through a series of mixed reaction – from embarrassment to anger to surprise and loss.

I was dumbstruck.

Now the casting appeared on the screen, but everyone (well almost everyone) was looking at us – somehow 3x2 idiots was more interesting than 3 idiots – we were doomed. We looked at each other, and a silent understanding spread across our mind, the best move was to leave the place, before a scene is created. We started to move out, with popcorn and coke bottles in our hand. I saw a contended smile on that couple’s face – they took their revenge. By the time we reached the exit door I heard a round of laughter erupting from the audience, I think they were laughing at us, maybe not. They might be laughing at something else (this is what I later told my friends to make them feel good). Whatever, it might be, we were moving out silently, and I was thinking of how to face my friends once we were out. I started thinking of excuses and explanations, but nothing came to my mind. It was a terrible mistake and that too with set of people who were already down with the way events had unfolded since last night.

We came out and silently sat in a cafeteria. I got some tea/coffee to calm the nerves, and then started the next round of discussion. I was obviously the free target, and I obliged by not defending myself. We discussed more such incidents which had happened with others in the group.

After spending about an hour, I asked if everyone is coming for tomorrow (27^th December 5:00 PM show) show. And to my surprise everyone was ready. The charm of Amir and the hype of 3 Idiots did the trick, and I was saved (I had booked all the tickets and it was my money at stake).

The “3x2 idiots” came back on 27^th December to watch the 5:00 PM show of “3 Idiots”.

Wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR. Will catch you again with some more nonsense in 2010. Till then enjoy

Double Dip

Well writing about one’s interest is always nice, and I am doing this after quite some time now.

In economics I had studied a concept of business cycle known as “The double dip depression” – a phenomena which has rarely happened in the global financial world. Unlike the regular sinusoidal curve of business cycles where a recession is followed by a phase of growth, the double dip recession is an economic condition where a recession is followed by a short spike in economic growth and then is followed by a prolonged depression.

I think you will be a bit surprised as to why I am talking about depression when the world economy is on the recovery path? I too wish a quick and healthy recovery of our financial world, after all my finances are also at stakes. Unfortunately, I have my concerns on the way things are unfolding.

In the early 2008 the global economy plunged into a financial mess which I think all of us are well aware of. The governments across the world came together and pumped taxpayer’s money in the economy to restore order. In a matter of 2 to 3 quarters, we started seeing signs of economic recovery; things became rosy as if the events of 2008 were nothing more than a bad dream. Today the confidence levels are high and we are almost convinced that the dreadful past is over.

I fear that we are missing out on the fundamentals of economic processes and this may cost us dearly. In my opinion the financial crisis was not just a crisis of business confidence or money supply. It had roots into the fundamental ways the world economy (esp the western economy) was progressing. The recession was a result of unviable economic behavior of western and emerging world. This crisis wasn’t built overnight, mortgage and swaps were not the root cause of this crisis, but were the effect of an underlying economic shift which was happening over a period of time but was being contained by the unviable economic policy of major trading blocks of world.

The governments acted to control the panic by increasing the money supply; this was the treatment for the symptoms and to be true this was necessary to control the fire at that time. The easy money was supposed to cushion the fall of economic system which had to be re-built later. This re-building exercise has to start by the acceptance of the new terms of trade and re-distribution of wealth. On the contrary, and more so out of panic, the central banks gutted the financial world with an easy money policy. The bailouts package crossed the thin line which distinguished good from bad.

I believe the overhang created by easy money supply has put us face to face with the famous dilemma of economics. On the one hand is Inflation and the other end is the growth. The artificial demand created by easy money has gradually fuelled Inflation in the major economies across globe. The movement of global crude, commodities and metals prices (Gold is inching to the level of 17k) in the past quarter is an indicator that easy money has acted as a feed to the inflation monster. Sooner the governments across the globe will have to wake up to the reality of taming inflation and will have to take the decision to shut this tap of easy money flow. Once this flow is tamed, it will impact the interest rates and a high interest rate regime will result into reduction in the global growth rate.

Unlike 2008, where the recession started from the financial sector and went on to impact the manufacturing (or to say the primary sector) of the economy, this time around, I believe the fall will start from the primary sector and will slowly go on impacting the other sectors of the economy. An increase in the interest rates will shoot up the cost of doing business, especially for the SME and micro enterprises. This segment has struggled a lot in the past couple of year and today when they see a ray of hope in the form of increased demand, however, the tightening of money supply will limit the amount of disposable income with individuals. As a result the consumer demand may dip. The dual problem of demand crunch and over supply is a perfect situation for the economy to spin into depression mode.

The western economy has a greater risk of falling into this trap add to this the dependence of BRIC on these economies for sustaining their own growth; the result could be a downward spiral for all of us. The current expectation is that BRIC countries will propel the world economy out of the possible depression. No one can say for sure, as to how much the BRIC economy will be able to propel this growth. Its not that the emerging countries can’t achieve this but then, they have their internal pulls which are difficult to negotiate in the immediate term.

Well, I don’t want to paint a completely pessimist view of the things to come. The above scenario, if at all comes, will not be as difficult to handle as it seems provided the government’s across globe show the same level of solidarity in fighting the inflation as was shown last year while fighting the monetary crunch. The debate has already started among the policy makers as to whether this is the right time to pull the lever. Indian prime minister, finance minister and RBI governor has already sent out feelers, that it’s the time for government to pull out and its impact was seen on the bourses the next day. Asian Development Bank has already warned that this might not be the right time for governments to come out, but then no democratically elected government take the risk of allowing the inflation monster to grow and eat into common man’s wealth.

I am not certain to whatever I wrote above, I wish this all turns out to be false, but I do think its necessary to have a word of caution while we plan our immediate financial planning. The way things are progressing over the past few weeks makes me uncertain a number of times, but then you can never judge the economy at a point of time in isolation, its always over a period of time that we come to understand the movement.

To the God’s Own Country

It’s a month since my last blog, and I thought of updating some serious, thought provoking stuff – to be precise something on the anniversary of Lehman Bros bankruptcy. But then, the better sense prevailed and I decided to share the treasured moments of the past week. Well it was a treasured week, because suddenly things started to move in life. There were some hilarious moments and some really tensed issues, and to top it all the pace was high – in short it was a period which needs some special mention, so let’s begin.

The last week was the only week of the year when the office was closed on Monday and Friday – effectively making it the most chilled out week of the year. The mood was relaxed and holiday was very much in mind, but where and with whom? This was a big question, and then while talking to Kunal – my ex-project mate, we planned a 3 day trip to Kerala – Gods Own Country. Slowly the group began to grow from initial 4 to 12 making it a gang. Now we had to decide the itinerary. The initial plan was Munnar – Thekkady, but before we could freeze our plans, there was the news of boat tragedy at Thekkady (Periyar Lake), and to make things worse, there was incessant rain in most parts of south India including Munnar. There was trepidation in mind, but there was a spirit to chill out and have fun and so we started our trip on Thursday night (1^st October, 2009) from Bangalore and headed straight to Munnar.

We were behind our schedule, but in a way it was good. The next morning we entered the Munnar valley and it was fortunate that we got to see it bathing in the morning sunshine. The sun was lazily peeping from clouds and the whole valley was filled with early morning dew and mist. In a short while we reached an altitude where clouds were below us. To add to this, the heavy rains gave birth to numerous springs in the valley. It appeared as if Mother Nature has bestowed all her glory in this small part of the world. I think “Pristine” is the closest, literature can define such beauty.

We reached Munnar city by 1.00 PM on 2^nd October, and rented a hotel. It was pouring continuously, still the intriguing beauty that laid outside the hotel window drove us out. We reached the “Rose Garden” built on the slopes of one of the hills. Each of the flowers was proudly telling the tale of Munnar. After spending about 45 min we had to move, we didn’t have enough time. We reached an elephant park, with a hope to take a ride through the woods, but the cost was high (Somehow they think that all tourist come with dollars stacked in their wallet). So the gang decided to just pose for a few pic and move ahead. Next stop was at a tea garden, and waking through the tea plantation is an experience in itself. I could imagine some of the bollywood movie’s song sequence, but then neither was I an actor, nor do we had any director.

While returning to the hotel we decided to head for Allepey the next day and spend a day in the Backwaters of Kerala. This was an idea no one could resist. Once into the city we got down from the van and went for some evening snacks and tea. By this time, the fog started to settle in, and tea with snacks was the perfect thing one can have.

The next morning we had to leave early so as to reach Allepey in time. The return journey was equally great, till we were in the Munnar valley. The moment we entered coastal Kerala, it became hot and humid. The temperature came to almost boiling point when we entered Allepey. I thought we could have better stayed at Munnar, at least it had beautiful climate and in first impression Allepey didn’t appeared to be that great as it’s mentioned in travelogues. I was soon to be proved wrong.

I was awestruck at the sight of backwaters. It’s a city in itself – something sort of Venice I think. Instead of tarred roads, there are wide water lanes criss-crossing at various places. The boat man has to blow horn to ensure the approaching boats do not collide (fortunately there are no traffic signals till now). Soon the boat started its journey through the water lanes and we could see the beauty around. For the initial half an hour there was almost silence in the boat as no one wanted dilute this experience with any blabber. There were coconut and palm trees marking the horizon. These again were inter-laced with vast paddy fields and many small houses on the shores. Soon it was lunch time, and fish was in the menu. To top it, no one in the gang liked the fish as much as I did. So I had a field day eating fish – 3 of them without even looking at anything else.

It was now 3.30 PM and cool sea breeze began to push the sail. The team gained momentum and chitchats started which became humorous with some undertone of seriousness at times. We played games, and I learnt some of the games which I never knew existed, but then human imagination is fathomless. The time went past until it was 6.00 PM and suddenly the boat came to a halt. We were surprised, isn’t the houseboat supposed to sail continuously! Else what’s the difference between a hotel room stay and houseboat stay? I think none of us actually cared whether the boat was moving or standing still, after all there was hoopla inside and all of us were involved. When the games and general leg pulling was over, we told scary – ghostly tales to keep the momentum. I proposed a night out, so that we can see the rising sun from backwaters. Unfortunately the batteries were down, and slowly junta slept by 2.00 AM. But I had decided not to miss this rare opportunity, and after a brief nap of an hour or so, I got up, and sat outside in the main deck of the boat.

It was dark all around and the ghostly stories of night flashed in my mind. For a moment I was scared, and then I saw the night sky. It wasn’t complete moon day, but I think someone heard my wishes, the sky was clear and moon’s shadow was clearly reflected in the silent and serene waters below. The tranquility was mesmerizing. I went inside and took one of the cameras and started clicking. I think clicking the moon that night was one of the most difficult snaps I ever took. After much effort I was finally able to capture what we call as the “Desktop screensaver”. Soon I could see the sky turning into light shade of red, just before the sun rise. I went inside and woke up Kunal (who along with me was very inclined to treasure this moment). Both of us sat with a camera each in our hands and clicked some of the best shots of our life. At the dawn, we saw people coming out from the nearby houses in their smaller boats, as if they are going for a morning walk.

In an hour or so, the sun was there in the sky calling all of us to come out of bed and plan for the last day of the trip. Yes, we were into the 3^rd day and no one realized this, at least I didn’t. The boat man prepared our breakfast and after sailing for a couple of hours took us back to the point from where we started.

Hmmm… so where next? It was still 9.00 AM on Sunday and we had some more hours with us. Finally we decided to end the trip with a visit to Athirapally falls. It was a couple of hours drive through the picturesque hills surrounding Thrisshur and keeping in mind the monsoon season, we expected some real fun. By 1.00 PM we reached our final destination. I had been to this place earlier, and knew that we cannot go down to the fall, but will have to limit our adventure to the flow of Chalakudy River. With full enthusiasm we reached the river bank and were about to take the first dip when security personnel came shouting at us. The water currents were high, so there were restrictions in entering the river, however we soon found a safe place to enter and have some fun with water. The water was cold and the sun above was equally hot making it the right moment to take the dip. We spent about an hour, and it was as relaxing as one can expect.

With a rejuvenated mind and body we came out of the river and headed for the van to start the journey back home. A journey ended and I believe another has started there. A start engraved in the numerous photos we clicked and time spent with each other.

A brother’s tale

(Disclaimer 1: The text below is part reality and part fiction. I leave it to the reader to decide which part is fiction as per their choice)

I still remember the first Rakhi, I think I was about 3 – 4 years old and my younger sister was about 2 years. I was dressed in a beautiful dhoti-kurta (My Masi dressed me in this and I remember coz there is a photograph of mine in the same dress). I was told that I will be given some sweets to eat with the condition that I have to fast till I get the Rakhi tied to my wrist. I agreed, at least for sweets, I had to. Then my masi helped my sis to tie the rakhi and after this I got the sweets, but what happened later, has in retrospect, set a very costly trend. My masi took out a 5 rupee note, put that in my hand and asked me to give it to my sister. I was told that this is the tradition. For sure my sis could not have made any sense of that currency note expect for putting it in her mouth and I also didn’t bothered – I was busy with the sweets.

The next year my youngest sis was born, soon she was taught the importance of Rakhi and its relevance et al. In the meanwhile I was taught the virtues of being the elder brother, the importance of Rakhi and every do’s and don’ts attached with this day. As we grow old, we started realizing the importance of those currency notes which exchanged hands on this day (Rakhi). My sisters began to plan what all things they wish to buy and accordingly the “More than inflation adjusted” Rakhi gift was decided. They used to argue with my father to get the required sum of money and my mother was always on their side. And I used to envy them, coz I was missing out on the gifts and was consolidated with JUST sweets.

In fact once I questioned the very idea of gifting sisters on Rakhi, and my mummy came up with some really interesting explanations. The most interesting being – By giving gifts to sister a brother is actually worshiping goddess Lakshmi, who in turn will reward me with more money. Now at the age of 8-9 years who cares for more money, I only wished some gifts for me. But I gave up on her arguments, there was no ways I could have convinced her of making me a party to this process, and resigned to my fate for this day.

This happened year after year – on the day (Rakhi) I used to wait (empty stomach) for my sisters to get ready, then with smile on their faces they would come with a beautifully laid “Thali”. I used to sit with the gifts (which was already negotiated, and there was no element of surprise) waiting for the whole thing to get over at the earliest. The process was completed with me getting TWO Rakhi tied to my wrist and some sweets while my sisters getting the gifts of their choice.

I never realized the true meaning of Rakhi, until the year 2002. This year I was at Mumbai, doing my masters. It was for the first time none of my sisters were there to tie the Rakhi. They sent it to me by post and then called me up on the Rakhi day, wished me luck and asked me to tie it on my wrist. After putting the phone down, I tied the Rakhi on my wrist. I felt something missing on that day. I felt bad, this was strange. I always thought of how not to give away the gifts and it was happening for the first time that I was not giving anything on Rakhi, still I was unhappy.

Then in 2004, I got my first job. This year my sisters were really happy – now their brother was earning. I too was happy after all now I could afford the gifts on my own – the typical elder brotherly attitude. I was thinking of buying gifts they asked for. How can this happen to me, the person who suffered on Rakhi day was now wished to do things he never wanted to do – Sometimes we behave in a completely IRRATIONAL manner. Unfortunately this time too I was not able to meet both my sisters together on Rakhi, it was a new job and getting a leave to go home for Rakhi was not possible. This year too I got the Rakhi through post, that feeling of emptiness was again there in my mind.

It just happened that after 2002 I have never met both my sisters together on Rakhi. Now when I can afford any gift they wish for, they don’t wish anymore like the way they did in our childhood. Now when I want to celebrate Rakhi not for the sake of sweets but for the RAKHI, I cant. All of us are so busy with our lives that we dont get time to celebrate this day. Its no one’s fault, and its not just Rakhi, we have virtually lost out on every single happiness of life. Well I don’t want to delve into the philosophy of “Happiness in life”, we all know what it means. The only truth is that – We realize the importance of something only when its not there!!

(Disclaimer 2: Please do not conclude anything from this, I wrote this to share my memories, and I presume most of brothers and sisters will agree to this if not on whole then atleast in parts)