28.5.10
An interesting analogy caught our eye this morning. We all have been brought up on a healthy dose of the 'ant and the grasshopper' story as kids in school. The story ends quite vividly. Winter comes, and the ants thrive on the resources they have worked hard to collect all summer. The grasshopper, for all his frolicking during that time, dies a sad death as winter intensifies and he has no food to bank on. Something uncannily similar is happening in the world today. But with one big difference. The ending may not be so similar after all. The ants are the Germans, Chinese and Japanese. The grasshoppers on the other hand are American, British, Greek, Irish and Spanish.
The ants have been producing enticing goods that grasshoppers want to buy. What the ants have been getting in return for selling their wares has been mostly been grasshopper debt. Promises that the grasshoppers will pay back in future their debts to the ants. But as the ants have realised, a consumption binge based on leverage can go on for a while. But not forever. The day of reckoning has now arrived. And the grasshoppers have nothing to pay the ants. So some of them print more money (Americans), and some try to convert to ants by slashing their fiscal deficits (Greeks). The former then end up paying back the ants with a currency of lower value. The latter leads to huge write offs as some grasshoppers die in the process. Either ways, the ants have turned out to be the losers. The new moral of the story? Do not lend to grasshoppers!
Credits:Equitymaster.com
Friday, May 28, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Fooling the Gullible
10.5.10
Street smarts , they say , are best learned on the streets. What better place can there be than the tough streets of Mumbai? If you can survive the rough and tumble in this city, chances are you can do it anywhere on earth. The lessons learnt here can be useful in far flung areas of your life later. You must have the wisdom and the intelligence to draw an analogy and corelate.
One of the earliest con games I have seen has left a lasting impression and comes back again and again as a reference point in many of the sophisticated fast ones that are pulled on us from time to time. Be it book building, price rigging. circular trading or what have you.
Roughly 40% of this megapolis' population has no choice but to commute by local trains. Besides your workplace, much of your time and energy is spent in getting from one place to another. Most other activities, from buying vegetables or undies or sundries on the way back home to downing a beer are ancillary activities to this commuting.
Among the longest foot overbridges on this network is the one at Matunga. It starts on the Western Rly side and ends on the Central Rly side, and is a goodish km+ long.When the traffic is thin, this overbridge can give you the creeps. It has the typical " Nikaal, Ghadiyal nikaal, nahin to cheerke rakh doonga" ambience.
This foot overbridge is also home to enetrpreneurs hawking newspapers, flowers, lemonade, undies/hankies, lottery tickets etc. This is commonplace at most stations.
The more enterprising guys turn a trick called teen patti. It is a typical "get rich quick!" lure. To set shop, all that is needed is a pack of cards and a box of sorts toplace these cards. And most important, cronies who impersonate members of the general public.
This is how the trick goes: The bloke deals the cards and gets himself surrounded ( almost hidden ) by half a dozen of his cronies. This small crowd is the nucleus to garner the attention of the passersby. The bloke lets a couple of his cronies win, curses them for impoverishing him, discourages them from playing more and says others also should be given a chance. Couple of his cronies move away to create an impression of authenticity. Once the system is cranked, there is a steady stream of gullible fools who are ripped off subtly. They even have a trick to assess how much cash the bakra is carrying. One of the bloke's cronies will ask for change of a large denomination note ( if this note is a dud , then a double whammy ! ). Anyone from the crowd who volunteers change is targeted for a rip off. The usual trick is to let him earn a profit on small wager, induce him to raise the stakes and finally zilch!
......... To be continued
Street smarts , they say , are best learned on the streets. What better place can there be than the tough streets of Mumbai? If you can survive the rough and tumble in this city, chances are you can do it anywhere on earth. The lessons learnt here can be useful in far flung areas of your life later. You must have the wisdom and the intelligence to draw an analogy and corelate.
One of the earliest con games I have seen has left a lasting impression and comes back again and again as a reference point in many of the sophisticated fast ones that are pulled on us from time to time. Be it book building, price rigging. circular trading or what have you.
Roughly 40% of this megapolis' population has no choice but to commute by local trains. Besides your workplace, much of your time and energy is spent in getting from one place to another. Most other activities, from buying vegetables or undies or sundries on the way back home to downing a beer are ancillary activities to this commuting.
Among the longest foot overbridges on this network is the one at Matunga. It starts on the Western Rly side and ends on the Central Rly side, and is a goodish km+ long.When the traffic is thin, this overbridge can give you the creeps. It has the typical " Nikaal, Ghadiyal nikaal, nahin to cheerke rakh doonga" ambience.
This foot overbridge is also home to enetrpreneurs hawking newspapers, flowers, lemonade, undies/hankies, lottery tickets etc. This is commonplace at most stations.
The more enterprising guys turn a trick called teen patti. It is a typical "get rich quick!" lure. To set shop, all that is needed is a pack of cards and a box of sorts toplace these cards. And most important, cronies who impersonate members of the general public.
This is how the trick goes: The bloke deals the cards and gets himself surrounded ( almost hidden ) by half a dozen of his cronies. This small crowd is the nucleus to garner the attention of the passersby. The bloke lets a couple of his cronies win, curses them for impoverishing him, discourages them from playing more and says others also should be given a chance. Couple of his cronies move away to create an impression of authenticity. Once the system is cranked, there is a steady stream of gullible fools who are ripped off subtly. They even have a trick to assess how much cash the bakra is carrying. One of the bloke's cronies will ask for change of a large denomination note ( if this note is a dud , then a double whammy ! ). Anyone from the crowd who volunteers change is targeted for a rip off. The usual trick is to let him earn a profit on small wager, induce him to raise the stakes and finally zilch!
......... To be continued
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Fine print in Insurance Policies
2.5.10
We may be blissfully unaware of the following risks which are out of our control and could present a nasty surprise in case of a mishap.
We may be blissfully unaware of the following risks which are out of our control and could present a nasty surprise in case of a mishap.
The following occurrences/accidents are not covered under this policy (read the policy wording for an exhaustive list):
- Suicide or accidents resulting from attempted suicide, regardless of mental or psychological state;
- Accidents resulting from obvious intoxication or use of narcotics, medicine or harmful substances (unless administered on the advice of a physician);
- Medical accidents except those occurring during the treatment of an injury sustained in an accident covered under the policy;
- Accidents occurring in war or warlike operations, or civil disorders and uprisings, including revolution, rebellion, strikes, labor movements, civil commotion or fighting;
- Accidents occurring during the commission or attempted commission of unlawful acts;
- Accidents resulting from intentional actions of the insured presenting serious danger to himself/herself, except the rescue of people in danger;
- Injury or Disease directly or indirectly caused by or contributed by ionizing radiation or contamination by radioactivity from any nuclear fuel or from any nuclear waste from burning nuclear fuel;
- Injury or Disease directly or indirectly caused by or contributed by the radioactive, toxic, explosive or other dangerous properties of any explosive nuclear equipment or any part of that equipment;
- Accidents occurring during the practice of a sport, or time or endurance competitions;
- Loss sustained while flying in any aircraft or device for aerial navigation except while riding as a passenger (but not as a pilot, operator or member of the crew) in or on, boarding or alighting from a certified passenger aircraft provided by a commercial airline on any regular scheduled or chartered flight, and operated by a properly certified pilot flying between duly established and maintained airports;
- Accidents occurring while serving in any branch of the Indian military or armed forces whether in peace or war;
- Accidents resulting directly or indirectly, contributed or aggravated or prolonged by childbirth or from pregnancy;
- Accidents sustained while participating in contests of speed using a motorized vehicle or bicycle;
- Any opportunistic infection and/or malignant neoplasm, if at the time of the accident or sickness the Insured had an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or having an antibody positive blood test to HIV (Human Immune-deficiency Virus). Opportunistic infection shall include but will not be limited to pneumosystis carinii pneumonia, organism of Kaposi’s Sarcoma, central nervous system lymphoma, and/or other malignancies now known or which become known as causes of death in the presence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome;
- Any Pre-existing condition;
- Congenital anomalies and conditions arising out of or resulting therefrom;
- Participating in skydiving/parachuting, hang gliding, bungee jumping, scuba diving, mountain climbing, pot-holing.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Short Family Holiday
My daughter Nandita is moving from 9th std to 10th std, which means virtually no summer holiday this year because of special classes, tuitions etc. The day immediately after her exams got over, her cousin Radhika along with her mum ( whom Nandita gets along like a house on fire ) came over from Dharwad.
My wife's cousin Karthiki is married into the family of Dr Baliga who is settled in Chowk near Karjat. We dropped in there for a day on Fri. The sensible thing to do to reach this place in summers is to take an early morning train to Karjat and then hop into rick or tum-tum to Chowk. But the day got off to a lazy start and we could reach Swargate for a bus ride only by 9.30. Around 10 we got a blessed bus that takes the old highway and dropped us at walking distance from our destination by 13.30. We polished off 2 litres of water and 4 half ltr bottles of soft drinks among the five of us during the journey.
The next half hour was spent koochying the new born daughter of Karhiki. Sharanya is a bundle of joy. After a lazy lunch we all had a lazier nap in the afternoon. The evening talk session went on till 1 in the am.
In the morning we all got up at crack of dawn and made it to Karjat before 8am. A rixa ride from Chowk to Karjat costs Rs 125 and they aramsey accomodate 5 people. We took Indrayani from Karjat to Pune at 8.15 and reached Pune before 10am. Everyone was agreed that although we were standing all the way, this journey was better than the earlier bus journey.
After polishing off some South Indian breakfast at Hotel Sagar opp stn, we made it to Kothrud by 11.30. All in all, a small but pleasurable trip.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
1024 Sahyadri Express
In the bygone days, the glitterati and the hoi polloi from Pune used to travel to Mumbai by train. Why because the notorious Bhor ghat used to make even Lamborghinis travel at 10kmph, that too if you were lucky. Many are the hapless road travellers of yore who have spent an entire night in the infamous traffic jams.
Enter the expressway and, hey presto! everything has changed. It is almost infra dig to travel by train now. You can vroom to outskirts of Mumbai in 2hrs and even AC public transport will take you there in 3 hrs max. You now dont plan a trip to Mumbai. Even by public transport. You micro manage your destination to Thane, Mulund, Sion, Dadar, Mantralaya, Borivali and what not.
All said and done, train journeys are more C1 C2 friendly. ( The spinal cord vertebrae, silly! ) And of late, easier on the purse too. Moreover, the ceetees in the tunnels and the monkeys at Monkey Hill are perks on the house.
For some reason, the Rlys dont seem to recognise the growing clout of the suburbs in Mumbai. Almost all the morning trains leaving Pune stop at Kalyan and then snobbishly zoom past Thane to Dadar. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get to downtown.
I had some work in the Eastern suburbs last week and decided to travel by easy paced, conveniently timed Sahyadri Exp. USP: halt at Thane. From there you can now take AC city buses, my fav mode of transport in Mumbai. VFM, safe, comfy and C1C2 friendly ( courtesy air suspension.)
The junta traveling by this train are a relaxed and earthy suburban lot. It has a lot to do with the train's halt at Pimpri, Dehu, Talegaon, Karjat, Neral etc. And yes, most of them dont flaunt gizmos in their ears. That makes them eager and willing to strike up a conversation. That is my favourite timepass while travelling. Start a debate on a random topic in a motley crowd.
( Corruption or cricket come in very handy). Then lapse into listen mode! Beats MP3 anyday.
Enter the expressway and, hey presto! everything has changed. It is almost infra dig to travel by train now. You can vroom to outskirts of Mumbai in 2hrs and even AC public transport will take you there in 3 hrs max. You now dont plan a trip to Mumbai. Even by public transport. You micro manage your destination to Thane, Mulund, Sion, Dadar, Mantralaya, Borivali and what not.
All said and done, train journeys are more C1 C2 friendly. ( The spinal cord vertebrae, silly! ) And of late, easier on the purse too. Moreover, the ceetees in the tunnels and the monkeys at Monkey Hill are perks on the house.
For some reason, the Rlys dont seem to recognise the growing clout of the suburbs in Mumbai. Almost all the morning trains leaving Pune stop at Kalyan and then snobbishly zoom past Thane to Dadar. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get to downtown.
I had some work in the Eastern suburbs last week and decided to travel by easy paced, conveniently timed Sahyadri Exp. USP: halt at Thane. From there you can now take AC city buses, my fav mode of transport in Mumbai. VFM, safe, comfy and C1C2 friendly ( courtesy air suspension.)
The junta traveling by this train are a relaxed and earthy suburban lot. It has a lot to do with the train's halt at Pimpri, Dehu, Talegaon, Karjat, Neral etc. And yes, most of them dont flaunt gizmos in their ears. That makes them eager and willing to strike up a conversation. That is my favourite timepass while travelling. Start a debate on a random topic in a motley crowd.
( Corruption or cricket come in very handy). Then lapse into listen mode! Beats MP3 anyday.
Kanda Pohe at 3:30 am
1.4.10
Pune is a campus city with hordes of students. Hence Pune has its night owls. Nal stop is where the mighty Symbians ( include its neighbors Law college, FTII, BMCC ) and the MITians converge. Nal stop is where Law college Road ends ( there is one way traffic, so it definitely does not start here ) and melds into Karve Road.
The night owls are an interesting lot.During exam times, they study hard. So they keep awake. During other times , they hang around with friends. So they keep awake. Pune goes into a police induced curfew around midnight. Forget about booze, even a cup of chai or a cigarette is impossible after that.
Bang on the corner of Nal stop is a joint called Amrut Bhavan. This is non descript by day. But Gosh, you gotta see the action here in the wee hours. Like addicts fighting withdrawal symptom, you can see night owls falling over one another for their chai and cigarette at the rear window ( this is in the building staircase ) even before the front shutters are opened. The action starts here 3ish ( am ). And that is the big deal. Much before the upma and the sheera is getting readied at Khau Galli opp Mrityunjay temple in Kothrud.
This is the time of the day when the newspaper network is getting ready for the last mile. And this is what gives this place its legitimacy so early in the day. The cops have a benign presence. Nothing happens for free. Quid pro quo is delivered in the patrol vehicle to the sahibs. Alongwith a complimentary newspaper.
Women power is making its presence here too. Earlier, there used to be the occassional chick with boyfriend/colleague/classmate. It has now progressed to groups of poultry coming on their own. Many times 3 to a 2 wheeler. Very soon we will have solo appearances at 3:30 am for the kanda pohe and chai. If not in Pune, where else?
The early bird can catch his chai at other places like Shivaji Putla and Khau Galli. But nothing is as early as Nal stop. Not even Shivajinagar, not even Swargate. Station? Maybe! But station isnt Pune.
Long live Nal stop! And Long live the night owls!
Pune is a campus city with hordes of students. Hence Pune has its night owls. Nal stop is where the mighty Symbians ( include its neighbors Law college, FTII, BMCC ) and the MITians converge. Nal stop is where Law college Road ends ( there is one way traffic, so it definitely does not start here ) and melds into Karve Road.
The night owls are an interesting lot.During exam times, they study hard. So they keep awake. During other times , they hang around with friends. So they keep awake. Pune goes into a police induced curfew around midnight. Forget about booze, even a cup of chai or a cigarette is impossible after that.
Bang on the corner of Nal stop is a joint called Amrut Bhavan. This is non descript by day. But Gosh, you gotta see the action here in the wee hours. Like addicts fighting withdrawal symptom, you can see night owls falling over one another for their chai and cigarette at the rear window ( this is in the building staircase ) even before the front shutters are opened. The action starts here 3ish ( am ). And that is the big deal. Much before the upma and the sheera is getting readied at Khau Galli opp Mrityunjay temple in Kothrud.
This is the time of the day when the newspaper network is getting ready for the last mile. And this is what gives this place its legitimacy so early in the day. The cops have a benign presence. Nothing happens for free. Quid pro quo is delivered in the patrol vehicle to the sahibs. Alongwith a complimentary newspaper.
Women power is making its presence here too. Earlier, there used to be the occassional chick with boyfriend/colleague/classmate. It has now progressed to groups of poultry coming on their own. Many times 3 to a 2 wheeler. Very soon we will have solo appearances at 3:30 am for the kanda pohe and chai. If not in Pune, where else?
The early bird can catch his chai at other places like Shivaji Putla and Khau Galli. But nothing is as early as Nal stop. Not even Shivajinagar, not even Swargate. Station? Maybe! But station isnt Pune.
Long live Nal stop! And Long live the night owls!
Dignity to the Ragpicker
31.3.10
The other day, 23.3 to be precise, I was travelling Mum Del by Garib Rath. Due to rush season, couldn't manage a berth and was traveling chair car. Half my compartment was full of lower middle class looking ladies and the placards stacked on the racks were a giveaway that this was a group headed for some kind of morcha in Delhi. It is only when some volunteers from an NGO which was organizing them turned up that we realized they were rag pickers heading for a national rally. Like this, there were more groups expected from all over the country.
The normal image associated with this community is shabby, unkempt persons ( mostly women ) rummaging through the smelly filth of dumping grounds/landfills.This lot in the train was quite clean and well turned out .The volunteers informed that most of them have either drunken husbands or are widowed due to death of spouse to drugs/alcohol or many of them are abandoned by their husbands. They single handedly raise their children. If the husband is around, more often than not, he has a parasitic role in their lives rather than being a help.
Interesting aside was that almost 1/3 rd of them were carrying mobile phones and were quite informed about charging/roaming etc. For identification on e tickets, many of them flashed PAN cards. Their average daily income varies from Rs100 to Rs 250 on a lucky day.
Illiteracy is rampant and skill sets so poor that they are not capable of taking up any other profession. Within their families, working as a housemaid, for which there should be perennial demand in places like Mumbai, is taboo. All of them want decent education for their children and do not want the next generation to take up the same profession.
Demographically, most ragpickers in Mumbai, who recycle almost 30%! of Mumbai's waste hail either from the Nasik region of Maharashtra or from Andhra and Tamil Nadu. The Maharashtrians tend to send their children to schools, but the South Indians let their children loiter or supplement income through begging at signals etc.
I am not very sure what the purpose of the rally was and what their demands are. They want recognition as a profession, government patronage for self help groups, sanitation facilities and potable water at the dumping grounds. They also want review of plans for mechanised waste management Hats off to the educated volunteers and social workers of the NGOs who are trying to give dignity to these people!
The other day, 23.3 to be precise, I was travelling Mum Del by Garib Rath. Due to rush season, couldn't manage a berth and was traveling chair car. Half my compartment was full of lower middle class looking ladies and the placards stacked on the racks were a giveaway that this was a group headed for some kind of morcha in Delhi. It is only when some volunteers from an NGO which was organizing them turned up that we realized they were rag pickers heading for a national rally. Like this, there were more groups expected from all over the country.
The normal image associated with this community is shabby, unkempt persons ( mostly women ) rummaging through the smelly filth of dumping grounds/landfills.This lot in the train was quite clean and well turned out .The volunteers informed that most of them have either drunken husbands or are widowed due to death of spouse to drugs/alcohol or many of them are abandoned by their husbands. They single handedly raise their children. If the husband is around, more often than not, he has a parasitic role in their lives rather than being a help.
Interesting aside was that almost 1/3 rd of them were carrying mobile phones and were quite informed about charging/roaming etc. For identification on e tickets, many of them flashed PAN cards. Their average daily income varies from Rs100 to Rs 250 on a lucky day.
Illiteracy is rampant and skill sets so poor that they are not capable of taking up any other profession. Within their families, working as a housemaid, for which there should be perennial demand in places like Mumbai, is taboo. All of them want decent education for their children and do not want the next generation to take up the same profession.
Demographically, most ragpickers in Mumbai, who recycle almost 30%! of Mumbai's waste hail either from the Nasik region of Maharashtra or from Andhra and Tamil Nadu. The Maharashtrians tend to send their children to schools, but the South Indians let their children loiter or supplement income through begging at signals etc.
I am not very sure what the purpose of the rally was and what their demands are. They want recognition as a profession, government patronage for self help groups, sanitation facilities and potable water at the dumping grounds. They also want review of plans for mechanised waste management Hats off to the educated volunteers and social workers of the NGOs who are trying to give dignity to these people!
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