The 'Weak' End

Once, a friend asked me which day of the week I liked the most.

"Sunday", was my instant reply.

"No, it should be Saturday", he tried to correct me.

"Why?”

"Because, throughout Saturday, the thought of a Sunday at the doorstep would be so refreshing," he explained. "Though, you might be enjoying your Sunday, at times you would also be complaining about the next-in-line Monday.”

I knew he was right.

That was quite some time back, when I was working in an Indian start-up. Now, it is the five-day a week corporate culture that I follow and hence there is a change in the preferences.

The most-preferred day is Friday now.

It brings in all the excitement of the weekend ahead. Plans are made, resolutions are taken.

Then, again, the same thing.

The day starts very late. Take breakfast at the lunch time and that obviously delays the lunch by another two hours. Then comes the afternoon nap in the evening and by the time it is over, the day is over too.

Then there is Sunday. Though there is an attempt to improve things a little bit by adhering to strict deadlines for daily chores including getting up, the day is melancholically poised and ends like a long yawn.

So, there goes the two-day weekend.

Then, the wait starts for the next weekend.

This may go on and on I feel, till the day of my retirement. Things won't improve even if I get a three-day weekend.

When chocolates replace Indian Rupee…

The ‘much-appreciated’ Indian Rupee has become a thorn in the flesh for the ‘much-depreciated’ US Dollar – a fact.

Now, how many of us know our good old Fifty paise / One Rupee coins have fallen victim to a certain kind of modern-day barter system?

The Fifty Paise/One Rupee coins are being fast replaced by certain chocolate or mouth-freshner brands. You know the names.

This has happened to most of us: Shoppers, with a quick pretended look of apology, hand those brands over to you as a consolation for the money. I can’t imagine a smarter sales method that that.

The profit-taking happens out of the blue for you and it totally stumps you. There is no time to react.

Still, I have protested against this barbarian barter system. And in return, I have received not the money, but some cruel and funny looks.

Now I have a vision. Why only the shoppers are allowed to do this barter system? I would carry some chocolates next time I step out of my house for shopping and I would try to exchange it for the coins.

For example, if the bill is Rupees 101 and I would hand over one chocolate along with the 100 Rupees note to the salesman. Understand me, I don’t have the change and this is the same chocolate you had given it to me last week since you didn’t have the change. You can very well accept it and push it out again through your next customer.

Would they accept it ever? You tell me.

It is not just a matter of money. It is the ethics. It is the decency that should be kept in any trade. But what is happening is an insult to the customer community.

Indifferent winter upsets Bangalore's cold-cream merchants

My Mumbai friends tell me the city is shivering presently and the temperature even hit the 4 degrees mark last week.

Sitting in an unusually hot Bangalore, which received a cold shoulder from the winter goddess this season, I start thinking about global warming.

The symptoms of utmost cold, like shivering, were alien to this city this year.

Still, some of my colleagues wear sweaters to office, and I admire their optimism.

They must be hoping against hope that the cold wave would hit them any time!

It was last winter that I migrated to Bangalore from Mumbai and I still remember my office cabby finding it difficult to navigate the cab in the thick fumes of snow at 1 am.

Also, last year, I helplessly watched my wife splurging on creams and allergy medicines. Dry skin, you know?

But this year, no such difficulties.

Bangalore is no more the techy's Ooty I guess.

“Whaaat an IPO saabji…!”

I hate to come back with another posting on stocks, but the topic looks very tempting today.

The day started with watching Anil Ambani getting vocal about the trust shown by retail investors in his Reliance Power IPO and how auspicious the day is for him. The mood looked upbeat.

Then it was 9:55 am, he rings the BSE opening bell marking the debut of Reliance Power in bourses, the stock, with a listing price of 450 opened at about 550, touched about 600 and then it plunged to the 380s.

All these happened in mere 60 seconds!

Anil and his bankers had already fled the scene, avoiding the media and it looked like even the media was too stunned to react and catch him.

Then, for me, it was a painful exercise of tracking the stock on a minute-by-minute rate.
All day long, I have been witnessing its pathetic fall to the 350 levels.

Reliance Power IPO story would be etched in the memory of most of us for a long time to come. In the long run, the stock may even reach past the 1000 mark. But, for the hype it created, the mad rush it generated and above all, for disappointing investors on the first day itself, the stock has made it into the history books.

a choppy day

'Choppy'.....isn't it a nice word? Not one for those stock exchange players when they hear business channels keep screaming "The market remained extremely volatile and choppy trade brought the sensex down by xxxxxxx points".

The same is happening today at the Bombay Stock Exchange and I have never seen a day as volatile as today in my recently-launched 'retail investor avatar'.

My stocks are deep in the red and I curse and swore for having held on to some of my costly gems when they were doing good just the day before yesterday. I was chanting the 'long term mantra' then.

Now I have realized one thing: When the water is rising, pick up your belongings and run and when the sun start shining, field them again .......NOOOOOO

It should be like this: When the water is rising and you feel like now it won't rise further....jump into it......fish for better returns...buys stocks at cheaper rates......and when the sun starts shining and you feel like it wont shine further.....pick up your catches and withdraw from the scene until the water starts rising again.

Now the trick is in deciding the utmost points of the water level as well as the sun shine.

I wont agree with all the talk going around on global economy impacting the Indian stock exchange much. It had been happening all the time and now why this sudden setback? I think someone is playing out there.....might be another Harshad Mehta or (without naming anyone) I would guess there is a sibling-rivalry impacting our poor lives.

Whatever.....the Indian market has turned very dirty after all those indications of a rosy future.

People like me r still holding on because.......we are addicted to it and this addiction makes us think that there would be a better tomorrow.

Reliance Power IPO is launching Monday and I am keeping my fingers crossed....I have my humble share of 17 ....sweet 17 I would call it......let's see how it survives these market-teasers..

*******now that you have inaugurated it*******

After considering n number of blog names, I have finally zeroed in on this one. There were an amazing number of unique blog names I had thought over, but unfortunately all of them were already taken. And I found 99 percent of those blogs complete inactive after an initial posting. Blogspot should do something about it, I guess. After a period, these inactive blogs should be deleted so that other interested people can go for those names. What say?

Now, I sincerely hope, I won't be among those idle human beings. Here, let me serve you, my knowledge, ignorance, thoughts, ideas, blunders, experiences, recipes and photographs.....

welcome...!