Vote or Play - Set 2

Modi, Jaitley and the other poster boys of the BJP lead NDA have cashed in on the furore surrounding the Congress led UPAs stand on the IPL being played overseas.

The problem being... the decision was taken by the BCCI on the basis of the stands taken by the state governments. The centre had minimal say in the matter.

The respective state governments (viz. Mah and AP) felt that they would not be in a position to provide security cover. The BCCI could not possibly go on then, wishfully thinking that all would be well at such high density venues, if the decision was made to go on with the games.

The point to note hear is the sheer reluctance on the part of the respective state governments as well as the BCCI to see things as is - what is. The terrorist attack on the SL team in Pakistan has been elevated to the status of the prevalent conditions in the subcontinent.

That is NOT the case. Bombay (I refuse to call it Mumbai) bore the brunt of a terrorist siege. It took corrective action to the best of its abilities and so did the rest of India. Irrespective of the state or the centre support... the decision taken by India results in the world readily realizing that we are not a safe nation.

The world in general has us flagged. There is no evidence to suggest that these 'opinions' will not be extrapolated to other events. Ranging from FII investment, sovereign guarantee to hosting International game festivals, we are going to be viewed through tainted glass and judged with opinionated minds.

Moving the Indian Premier League overseas is dastardly enough... but reluctance in sprucing the security net and admitting to the extent of control possible are decisions that we might live to regret in the near future. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man - this was a crucial opportunity to proclaim to the world at large, that WE ARE IN CONTROL. We will do what it takes, but we will not succumb to threats. Sadly we've chosen to lay down our arms.

Th political undercurrents have disabled rationale thinking. I hope that its not too steep a price to pay.

Vote or Play

Heightened importance given to anybody/anything results in, inadvertently or otherwise, prudish behavior. The political saga in India is all set to unveil Act II. The politburo is geared up, the campaign boys are gung-ho, the ad-men are letting their thoughts go haywire, online presence is being broadened, caller lists are being sourced etc. They are working hard. Okay... so they are finally working hard. And very naturally, they expect attention.

A child on birth is spanked if its not wailing. As the child proceeds to grow, it uses this very trait for grabbing what it needs the most: attention. When we learn something new, we like to pass it on... not with the purpose of spreading knowledge (strictly speaking) but with the intention of letting the populace know about our recent tryst with something we ourselves deem "noteworthy".

We are all voyeurs at a certain level... however, we are exhibitionists and attention mongers at every level. Even the reticent shadow hugging kinds, want their audience to know about the very trait that makes them lie low. They want people to realize that they are reticent. Thus they end up being exhibitionists in their own little way.

The political circus, is demanding our attention. However, it needs to be commanding our attention. The Indian Premier League which was supposed to be conducted in the same period as the elections, has been vetoed to foreign shores.

The political parties have exhibited protectionism in their own little way. It is their domain that they intend on protecting... and they will do it at any cost. The troubling aspect being, political parties in the worlds largest democracy consider a sport (as mighty as it might be) to be a formidable competitor.

That cricket is overrated, is an oft repeated claim. However what lurks beneath is not the extent to which cricket is overrated but the depths to which other sports have plunged. It is a vicious cycle and more news breeds even more discussion and results in greater public involvement.

India has 42m first time voters this time around. Political parties across the nation are leaving no stone unturned in cashing in on these fledgelings. However what it does in the process is convey the notion that the average Indian would rather watch Dhoni blaze away than trudge towards the nearest polling booth.

I say this, 'cause I strongly believe that the security concerns are NOT the reason for the IPL being pushed elsewhere. Security is a ruse and grabbing eyeball share and mind space is the true intent.

The politicians want their hour of fame and they want it only for themselves. I do not know how this works elsewhere... but tend to believe that this is not an event restricted to our shores. The US presidential elections more or less put average life for all and sundry on the back burner.

While it is true that selecting the governing power to administer the manner in which the nation is run, is important, it seems like this importance, with every passing day is being created more and felt less.

The marketing extravaganza has not resulted in the average Joe/Ramesh having heightened awareness. It has resulted in him believing that the politicians and their associated parties are nothing more than petty merchants peddling their wares. The feeling is akin to the frown that clouds our face when contacted by a Customer Care Executive. By being bombarded with marketing gimmickry, the banks rendered themselves to be petty customer-mongers. The political melee has resulted in something similar.

Moving the IPL is not a bad move, provided it is is done with the right intent. A society that needs to be made aware that selecting the government is more important than watching a few games of cricket, is not one that is mature enough to select the government in the first place.

As was the case with moral policing... similar is the case with the elections. We are a mature nation. We do not need a nanny anymore. We might tinker around with toys now and then, but we will not swallow them anymore. Hence, get rid of the kid-gloves.

This prose is not directed towards undermining the political parties or the game of cricket. Huge mollah is involved in both... and they both need uninterrupted attention. My only point of contention is that both of them are mentioned in the same breath.

Until the show's done, I guess the nation is going to be on "Pause".

PS: If my claim on IPL being shunted across the seas owing to political pressures and not security concerns, is proven wrong... and it is genuinely a security concern, I have a case to present for that phenomena as well. More on that in the event of me being wrong.

Verbosity - does everybody need to have an opinion about this?

A lot is being said about the financial meltdown. I think we have plenty of scribes scribbling to their hearts content on reams and reams of paper.

Makes me wonder about the role of information in this meltdown. I think this started with the heightened degree of permeability of finance as an industry in itself.

No longer does it take an informed or educated guestimate to state an opinion on the status of markets, scrips, businesses (not necessarily in that order). Everybody has an opinion and everybody expresses it freely. After all freedom of speech is a long touted 'right' to have.

But when these opinions, lead to corresponding actions and altered perceptions is when things start going awry. The Rpower listing signaled a collapse which the Indian markets have yet to recover from. Not that Rpower was the cause... it just was the messenger, and we surely know that we should not blame the messenger for the news he delivers.

Meanwhile, I was told about this rickshaw-wala, who had subscribed to the Rpower issue... PAN card non-withstanding, income proof blissfully ignored... he subscribed. I, for his sake hope that he did not get allotted any shares.

Nevertheless, a wise one once told me.... the day the 'aam' populace starts subscribing to businesses hitherto unknown to them.... at previously unseen market highs... you know that a reversal is just around the bend.

I recently happened to watch this advertisement of bharti axa life, I imagine, regrading insurance in minutes. Wonder about the prudence behind such schemes. Where is the due diligence, the risk assessment, the medical record keeping, the disclaimer issuance etc. Sub prime loans, were loans granted to potential NPAs (known knowledge) with the sole purpose of being all inclusive. Come one, come all... everybody become a home owner.

The problem here is... it ain't that easy to build a home and it shouldn't be. Reform and progress is about overall inclusiveness.... cohesive growth... but not at the price of devaluing the very goal.

By making a house available to all and sundry, the very process of acquisition of a home was reduced to be 'no big deal'. Tim Harford in "The Undercover Economist" writes about the Power of Scarcity. Scarcity in its owns sweet way builds value... not only in tangible (monetary) terms but also in intangible (aspirational) terms.

The system is going through this much needed shake-up, to ensure that the 'outsiders' get weeded out. NINJAS have no place in a housing market, that intends on securitizing their receivables and masking their credit worthiness while passing it on. Rickshaw owners have no place in equity markets at 21,000 levels. Prudence lies not only in inclusion of all but also in exclusion of some.

Re-emphasize that equity is THE RISKIEST investment opportunity. It is not for all and sundry. Maintain its exclusivity. Create a position and an alley for everyone... but don't let the imbeciles ride on the highway.

Finance in itself, seems to have a direct impact on our everyday life a lot more than other industries eg. biochemistry, media, space science, defense, pharmaceuticals, plastics etc. Not everybody feels that he/she is an integral part of those industries, in spite of using their products on an almost daily basis. Seldom heard anyone talk about decentralizing mining mechanics, or structuring feed dispensers in a different fashion within a fermentation plant. That might well be the reason for these industries not wilting under the 'information overload syndrome'.

It's not that they do not feel the heat of a financial meltdown... but they seldom are the reason for a financial meltdown. Almost all the crashes that we have seen in recent memory find root within their own ever expanding circles. {IT however is an exception, to some extent}

Too many cooks, do most certainly spoil the broth.

PS: The econocalypse sketch is thanks to CLSA bits and pieces edition: 5th march 09

Going nowhere

Where is it that we head... but then the journey is what it is all about right...

'cause when we do get somewhere... it indicates ends... end of the journey... end of the hunt... end of the road....

I don't like ends...

Love the journey. MFLB, take me back. I wanna be back on the road, with you.

Kids are the root cause

Evolutionary mechanics never cease to amaze me. Darwinian theories of survival of the fittest have for long being embedded as long time explanations of why species gradually change and how some go extinct. Natural selection also explains how what is 'heritable' is carried along and the unnecessary appendages pruned along the way.

Everyone know about how some African apes got off trees and attempted to look over the grass. They were not strong, fast or gifted with any other behavioral trait, apart from perhaps the oldest of them.... survival of the fittest. To ensure that they could spot likely predators, these apes started standing tall to look over the tall grass. As they spent more and more time doing this, they began to notice that this act left their fore limbs to do tasks. So they began using tools and truly utilizing the opposable thumb.

These puny apes, thus began a evolutionary mechanism that gathered pace at an exponential pace. Malcolm Gladwel, talks about the 10,000 hour rule. Our ancestors were no different. As they began spending more and more time standing, their spines began getting shaped to facilitate this process. Their usage of tools and other techniques instigated their brains to think faster... think more and think in different factions along varied lines. As a result, their brains literally began to grow. Their brains grew in size as the evolution came along. However large brains created a hindrance as it would be fatal for both the mother and the child during childbirth.

Evolution's response to this was ensuring that 'human'(though I don't know what lead us to be called that) infants were born early on in their development. Most of the brain growth happens outside the mothers body. However this lead to the additional complication of the infants being completely helpless in their years. Apart from a few reflexes they could barely manage any other limb coordination.

This demanded that humans organize themselves into a society to ensure that their young ones are nurtured. Thus the primary purpose of a societal set up is to ensure that the young ones are cared for.