The world as I see it today

Since 11/02/16

Almost all indexes of the world have been or a tear.

The week was a significant, China was closed thanks to lunar new year.

Just before Kyle Bass a hedge-fund manager, came heavy at the Chinese Economy. This article best illustrated the position to me.  After reading through this and various other articles, i went on tradingeconomics.com clicked on foreign exchange reserves. A bout of insecurity led me to inquire about India’s foreign exchange reserves.

It did come to my surprise, India’s foreign reserves denominated by the dollar are 1/9th of china’s. Took me a while to digest it. When i still reasoned with myself, i double-triple checked google for a million to trillion calculator. India has .35 trillion fx reserves as compared to china’s 3.2.

I wondered if there could be a run at the chinese banks/economy with it’s vast warchest, which nation would be safe ? If the yuan is to “catch up” 30-40 % will it also not force it’s trading competitors to adjust their currencies. What could happen if some-one declares a propoganda war like this on India ?

According to PBOC GovernorZhou Xiaochuan China currently contributes 25% of the world GDP. It’s massively unfair of western media to blame all problems of the world to China/Russia/Iran/Saudi Arabia. Perhaps, here in India we too have become biased, I’d like to think, it is mostly due to we have become american-ised thanks to music/sports/films it does not hurt we speak and think in the same language. If you sit back and watch the world now, a lot of it seems to be misleading. Excellent piece this one. I read it few times.

Another one, a contrarian view of Oil, Dr.Mamdouh Salameh thinks Oil will bounce back, or it HAS to bounce back. Most interesting, about the article was his view about America working hand in hand with Saudi Arabia and in collusion with Iran and russia. Re-iterating the oil price has very little to do with economics but political actions and reactions of key players. Listening to Bloomberg/CNBC you would not think Saudi Arabia and America are allies.

 

 

 

Drawing bridges.

It’s a futile exercise.

Assaying to compare players from different generations. Every generation brings it’s own cadre of what’s defined as great,good,average,poor. A test average of high 40’s in the last decade was considered to be of a great. Now the benchmark would be above 52.

With shorter boundaries(newer adaptations of the sport) grass which is well groomed to make the ball race towards the boundary could be foremost reasons for the uptick in average’s of the batter today. Not to forget, technological innovation of helmets to those who played before the 1980’s. You don’t have many cases of fractured skulls or broken jaw these days atleast while batting. Lighter pads, thicker bat’s.

We hardly have the statistics that Baseball employs in it’s assessment of players. But those little we do have should be used to draw bridges.

Disclaimer : Player X was one the favorites growing up.

Player Y is my favorite player today.

My perceptions of these players and what they have achieved for their country was skewed. It could be for 2 reasons.

1. Recent memory tends to heighten your leanings.

2. Advent of T20 cricket which X missed out on as you could easily deduce from his strike-rate. Although, he probably would have flourished in the format.

Both of these players are primary One-Day International players. both of them have captained India. X -13 matches : Y in 12.

Not accounting for fielding, bowling and overall Cricket IQ. If it were to be a conquest between them for all three aspects. Viewers of different generation could vote eitherway. X was one of the best Indian ground fielder’s in his time if not the best. Y is considered to be in similar vein. Disposition of both cricketers can be classified as team player, happy and peppy. Judging just by the numbers above us. It would not be unfair to nudge Player X ahead of player Y and you would not be chastised for doing so. But when the names of those players are revealed I would in a heartbeat take Y over X.

Although after seeing the numbers. One would also offer more respect to the numbers achieved and understand the greats of the game.

X – AJAY JADEJA

Y – SURESH RAINA.

I have a cunning plan

The number of times MSD has punctuated Chesteshwar Pujara batting in at number 3 in this Indian Team circa 13-14. Isn’t really batting at no.3, atleast out of Indian conditions. He comes in the 1st five overs.

I think, there is a strong possibility in Rohit Sharma playing in this test match, which would mean instead of losing a bowler, we might be losing Gautam Gambhir. Tactically, in this Indian team we have 3 players who are capable of putting down anchor in Vijay, Pujara, & Rahane. I see, gautam in only contributing on that end, his body language in the second innings was self-interested. Or through out for the matter. Not, that Sharma brings in energy, but if you are going to bet on someone saving a match for you or someone who is capable for winning a match for you, you choose the latter when down 1-2 looking to level the series in the ultimate test.

That would be my gambit.

1. Sharma for Gambhir

2. Ishant for Pankaj.

On Advertisements

I make an conscious attempt to disregard advertisements which try to appeal to the irrational within you. Their objective being to make an emotional connect with their audience. Why are you trying to connect, with me. I ask ?  I dislike the insurance ad’s. The whole lot. One’s which tell you to leave something back for your kids if something were to happen to you, then turn around and  preach you never know how those kids will end up and treat you once your old and weak, so save something for yourself now. It’s a very Raju Hirani thing to do. STOP APPEALING TO MY EMOTIONS !

I feel threatened by such attempts, almost manipulated. You need to make an emotional connect with me to sell something ? You do ?

Then, I think. It’s fair game to make it my objective to stonewall. I make an deliberate attempt not to entertain such ads and to not purchase what ever they are selling. On principle.

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This Google Ad concerning Mr.Shyam Negi manages to break my guard.

There are many times we take our liberties for granted. Almost everything is ridiculed. We don’t flinch in trivializing ourself and our polity. Do we like being a joke? Why is it acceptable to stay as one ? These elections are huge and yet their fate appears to be written in the Indian English Digital Sphere. All of us have an opportunity to choose which India would we like to live in and not be swayed with the notion all around us this is how India is going to be.

Let’s not settle.

 

Men are fools

“You know nothing, Jon Snow” said Ygritte.

The same could be said about this man.  as you would read in this Indian Express article which suggests a woman dumps a child of premature birth conceived out of adultery either to hide her shame or to save herself from unnecessary questioning.

As a man, as a husband. How do you not know your wife is pregnant ? Safe to assume there isn’t an open line of communication between the two and they probably haven’t been intimate for many months.

As a mother, how do you ever justify abandoning your child. Even if it is from natural birth not legal.

This is the very article.

http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/2639108

Climb the walls

When someone whom you think you can have a mutual relationship of trust and comfort, betrays your belief in them. It pricks.

Thankfully, as we get older. If we pay attention, we realize things about ourselves, and if we’d like to make peace with ourselves, its best to recognize them.

There is little you can do about how people choose to treat you. You cannot enforce your sensibilities to anyone else. I think, the correct way of going about is choosing to address the issues you have concerns with. But, its hard to do so, when you are mocked in the process.

I am blessed with a healthy disregard for dishonest people. And equal disgust for people who don on a person suit to hide their true fittings. Alas, the longer we live, the suits are more enamored than the other.

Either, build higher walls or get yourself a suit which tailors your surroundings.

I like my castle. Climb the walls if you must, they were high to begin with.

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I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.

 

Keep me in your heart for a while

Nana passed away on 7th of February, 2014.

There is a whirlwind of emotions for all the members of family. My Nana flew about 200 people over a distance of 5000 kms to Bangkok, Thailand for his grandsons and my cousins wedding. We all knew his health was on the decline ever since he had a brain stroke about a month back

Nana was a 1st Generation businessman – hard-working, perceptive, overweening with ambition, a man who enjoyed wielding power & influence and as is with most people who are used to orchestrating dozens of teams of people around them, struggled to adapt when age robbed him of his mobility and consequently his ‘hold’ on those surrounding him. Having a significant impact on his psyche.

‘The Wedding’

I have no doubt in my mind, he used the wedding as a goal to get himself better. This is a man who would occupy his mind with mental arithmetic. He would walk into your room and inconspicuously try to calculate the area of your house. He would observe you and everything you say and consider his words carefully. I know, he wanted me to do or being open to do certain things which he thought were best as a grandfather, but he would never ambush me into a situation or force down his beliefs on me as was and is the case with most of his peers. He knew exactly whom to push and whom to pull back in line.

I may have written about this earlier on this platform. But, I will do so again for this man deserves it. The hierarchy.

1. Like

2. Love

3. Respect

With respect being the peak.

You do not necessarily need to clear 1 and 2 to get 3. This was a life lesson I learnt from Nana himself. He did not need to graduate from stages 1 & 2 to achieve 3. Or,

I didn’t necessarily love him. I did not look eye-to-eye with him. I did not fancy his world-wise ways. I did not like his penchant for extravagance. I maintain an antipathy with status-quo. I did not care for limiting his interests to his community. I did not like he chose to be deprived of his usual honor when he dealt with family.

1st Birthday Party.

But, I did respect him.Noticed, I didn’t write I ‘had’ to respect him. It’s unheard of from his generation. I’m going to remember nana for two primary reasons

1. He was a self-made man with a large immediate family and a much-much larger extended family. When I was young, my mother would often tell me how nana would travel in trains in South India without tickets and thus as a result spent a large chunk of his journeys in the toilet where the ticket collector would miss him. How nani did not have saree’s to wear so she would dye nana’s old lungi and wear it as one.  Growing up, at the peak. he was the solitary bread-winner for eight brothers and two sisters and their families , having to deal with 4 children and a wife of his own.

Nana managed to create massive wealth for his immediate family, some of his brothers have surpassed him in wealth generated. To surpass his legacy will be a challenge.

2. Family.

It’s odd. because this was also his achilles heel. He did not necessarily have a blind spot when it came to family. He knew when he was being taken for a ride. But, he would still not deviate from ‘family first’.  One could argue that’s worse. But, for better or worse he stuck with this particular maxim and I do not know anyone who has done more for the benefit of this family than my nana did. Maybe his death could be a tool for unifying his house. I know he would want that most of all.

If your life is to be valued by the number of people and their families you touched and navigated. My nana would be at the top of the list.

There were more than 600 people who come for his antim sanskar in about 10 hours from his passing away. My dada drove about 450 kms to be there one final time for his confidant. Nana was ’37 born. Dada ’31. Can not understand nor elaborate as to how he is dealing with his loss and reinforced notions of his own mortality.

There will be a Shraddanjali  kept on monday, I would imagine many more will come.

We all will miss you

The Age in Marri’age’

This month has been an significant one.

Most of my contemporaries have crossed 26 about a year back, as such a quarter of their theoretical life span has been spent. Many of them have embarked on a new chapter of their lives with partners. It’s a game-changer, marriage.

From the outside looking in, one is likely to see people with stunted emotional development taking a leap frog. I find, myself making mental notes and asking me am I remotely close to where they are ?

If you are single. it is easy to get trapped in the race-game. As you get older, you will find more and more of your peers starting off the blocks ahead of you, their development and their journeys also are likely to have a head-start. I met, an ex in one of our common friends weddings, and both of us inevitably had the same discussion. Which progressed to – When is right time to get married ? She had a number, I didn’t.

Ideally, like everything in life. The best of habits should start early. In my journey so far the closest I have come to marriage or making a lifelong commitment (same thing) had been at 16. After that, I have never truely felt the need to make such a commitment again. I find myself asking me. Is it a bit like missing the bus ? Plenty of them do come around. Does one ever feel like hoping onto a new one ?

I suppose with women, there is an added pressure of their biological clocks. Which may put a time-cap on their decisions. But can there be a time-limit on when you will find your soul-mate ? Surely, either you find one – or you don’t. Do you compromise ? Should you compromise ? Does one tend to settle as they get older ? Yes, these arguments are made by a school boy caught in an much older and weaker body who has fought lessons from life and society and refused to learn from most of them.  On the flipside, will you have the very rationale at 40 ? Or at 60, when most have grand-kids and claims to carry forwards their respective legacies. Will you still be strong to have ‘principles’ is it worth the price for ‘scruples’ ?

I do believe, the above paragraph becomes void when you find love. For my sake, I sincerely hope love finds me once more before I turn 90.

You will also find people who have come a long way since you knew them ten years ago, and have managed to carve out a more polished identity, you will find yourself happy in their success and their respective stories. But, I do suspect there will be envy. Embrace it, before it catches you unawares. And, if you continue to feel shortchanged, then make sure you do everything in your power to make good on what’s missing in the next quarter of your lives.

On the whole weddings are a plus. You get to see elaborate masks, you get to eat good food, that’s a date in itself if you happen to be a people watcher.

Fuel me.

It’s within everyone’s rights to have their own opinions, but what Chuck said out there was out right disrespectful. Granted, there aren’t too many players who do play 16years of basketball, so the sample size is small. But, there is a stark difference between the drive benchmarks between kobe bryant and everyone who was on that panel. Yes, father time reaches us. But, there is no one. Period. NO ONE. that works as hard on his game, diet, and attitude towards basketball.

When chuck says, father time gets to us all. I read that as a great player rationalizing why he was washed up during his rockets days. Stockton, Grant hill & steve nash played relatively well into their late 30’s and early 40’s. That’s because of the dedication they had towards their diet, sleep, and game. O’Neal, Barkley, Smith aren’t recognized for the same. It’s face-off of talent vs hard-work.

Ofcourse, the latter 3 have put in their dues. Their resumes show that, but they haven’t made their names because of that.

When kobe came in 17, a lot of people wrote him off. All he had was flashing slashes to the rim. You do not improve your jump-shot on talent alone. You do not reconstruct your game after multiple surgeries on your right knee on talent alone. You do not wash off 20-30 pounds in a year on talent alone. And you certainly do not climb the mountain on talent hill.

Kobe Bryant is a rare pure breed of athlete.

And it pisses me off when people much lower in the hierarchy write him down.

If I am kobe bryant.

I would be watching this every night before sleeping.

There is a difference between him and them. And he needs to show it.