Soulful Rediscovery

Long time. Been almost a year since I blogged.

Life has changed, surely. I got hitched. And, I feel the itch to write. Rather, to rediscover. And, I'll write down to do that. In general, I'm content for now. But, I know its not good. Let me just go through the motions and identify the path traversed.

The run up to the D-day was too long. Seven years and putting an enormous amount of energy into it is not easy. It had become my goal for the past 3 years, atleast. You know, the GOAL. Perhaps, I should not have kept it as the goal. For I now realize, having tied the knot, I am content with my existence. I need to do something. But, perhaps, given the depth of crap I had to go through in the run-up, perhaps I had to set it up as THE goal to keep myself going. To achieve it. To prove it. To break the caste-barrier. I had to do it. So, then, in hindsight, the fight was good. Let me rather put it as, moving on to the next fight. The only problem is, I need to find a cause to fight. It could be my demons, something I want to achieve. I think its going to be intensely personal.

Sometime ago, for about 4 years, I had a motivation to achieve in the community space. I took to writing. But, I figured that a lot of folks in the social enterprise space are frauds- to some extent or the other. And, the group for which I was writing for. I really don't know what has happened to them. Hubris? What matters is passion. Not, fancy degrees from colleges of journalism. Not, eloquent English with flawless grammar (sic). Passion, clarity of thought & persuasion. I think that defines good writing. You write to persuade someone to do something. You write to explain stuff which is not clear. You write to incite passion. You write for fun. I'm talking about serious reality writing in the context of social change. Not about comedy/fiction/business writing - which is different. So, do I still have the passion for that. Yes, I do. But, I do not feel like proving myself all over again. I dont feel a need to it. I'm finding other ways to contribute to social change. I have taken to marathon running for a cause. Mentoring and in general, being socially good to the underpreviliged in daily life. India offers enough opportunities for that.

Now, I need to re-ignite the fire. And, it has to last long. In the recent past, while my energies were directed to the nuptial activities, I'd set short term goals.

• Identifying the music I can relate to and enjoy. 
• Identifying the movies I can relate to and enjoy.
• Identify the alcohol I enjoy. Ale beer. There's nothing like it.
• Training for a marathon and completing it.
• Getting certified in scuba diving
• Reading a lot of varied topics & identifying the authors I love. Identifying the genres I like to continue reading
• Tastefully setup a house.
• Be a smart investor. Take clever bets.
• Continuously develop my knowledge of economics. I find it intriguing for it seems to be the binding thread that defines human actions.
• Lead a peaceful family life with reduced scope for conflicts.

The driving factor behind the last reason is that it can otherwise consume the energies you'd rather spend on things of your interest. I think the above activities tend to define a persona. And, perhaps, that's what I am trying to do. To define myself for the future - at a personal level.

Now, I've kind of broken free. Some kind of a trance I am in now. Surrealistically ethereal. There is peace. But, I need to destroy the peace to jump. I need to do something new. I need to calculate the risks I can take. The larger goal I need to achieve. Digging my past, one thing was clear. I wanted to be a ceo. And, build an organization. And, grow it. To do that, you need to lead people. And, sell something to someone. Create value. When, How, where, what.....???

Ok, I need to work within the constraints of this world. I need to convince people of my next move. I wish I could do without some convincing. But, it actually helps in tempering the ideas. Now, I need to leverage my past and make the next small move. A move, which over time will prepare me for the bigger leap. May be, after I leap, it may not seem so fulfilling. But, still the leap can thrill me to no end. I need to experience it. All over again. It happened when I did well academically. It happened when I led the placement team to 100% in 2 years. It happened during the nuptial knot. All of this in the past 11 years. I need to feel it again. Its my drug. But, I have a subconscious feeling that the next shot will be when I'm 42. That is 13 years from now. I hope this blog lasts that long :P.

Ok, this has been a session of confession. As is the usual, it was not intended at an audience. So, if you read till here, thanks! Else, thanks. 

The art of selecting/buying diamonds

This is just for my own reference. In case it helps someone, great. So far, the process of buying diamonds has been rather opaque, leading to ignorant buying @ incorrect pricing. I hope to improve on that. Hence, this effort.

The four important characteristics of diamonds are called the 4C's - colour, carat, cut, clarity - in order of importance.

Colour of a diamond
A diamond's colour is determined on a relative basis, by comparing it with a panel of naturally coloured diamonds. All diamonds have some colour, ranging from very pale yellow to the slightly yellow. Pure colorless diamonds are as rare as are coloured diamonds such as pink diamonds. Lesser the yellowness, higher the price is a thumb rule. Also, beware of coloured diamonds such as pink - be sure that they are diamonds in the first place!

Carat of a diamond
The simplest to measure and quantify, carat is equivalent to one fifth of a gram. Diamonds are priced on a geometric progression, if carat is the criterion i.e, if a diamond weighs three carats, it will be doubly priced as a diamond weighing two carats.

Cut of a diamond
The most crucial aspect, which gives diamonds their beauty. Diamonds can be well cut, deep cut, uncut, and hopelessly cut. You know which one of these is my contraption. A well cut diamond allows light to pass through from one face to the other, and be perfectly reflected back. This is the sparkle you see in diamonds.
If not well cut, the light will be reflected elsewhere and won't sparkle in the eyes of the looker. That sucks. Diamond cutting is an art and cannot be automated. It takes years of experience for a person to produce well cut diamonds. The ability to develop well cut diamonds also depends on the nature of the rough diamond, its shape, its size etc.

Clarity of a diamond
Diamonds are formed deep inside the crust of the earth over several hundreds of years. During
this process, they develop feathers and inclusion. These stuff are determined using 10X magnification. They can make the diamond look blurred or diminish its ability to produce perfectly reflected light.
Hence, lesser sparkle. The scale, from worst to best is - s , i , vs, vvs, and perfect - depending on the number of inclusion. Very easy to cheat a customer on this parameter.

Ideally diamonds are to be worn on platinum jewellery, so that white light is reflected and you can admire the beauty.

The worst part, inspite of the above guidelines, is that most jewellers do not provide the 4C specification for each jewellery. It is provided as a blanket guidance for the entire range of jewellery. Thus, asking you to trust them. Still, it provides some scale of comparison across jewellers, and transparency to the buying process.

RCB. Duh.

After the first few matches of IPL 4, it makes easy number crunching to prove why RCB is like a child who struggles due to parental issues.

IPL 1, VJM allowed Dravid to select the ultimate test team. Next, he made KP the captain. The other extreme. Flamboyance in life dictates all business decisions. We know it happens to us, any mortal. Finally, there was no body else. So, he turned to Kumble who did a great job, ably helped by Ross, Robin & Vinay.

Cometh the auction, all those who helped RCB do the best in IPL 2,3 were bid with adolescent intentions. You know who was at the table taking the decisions. Kumble was restrained to the dug-out through a deal - he was elected the KSCA president. And, then they picked Vettori to lead- who has led the NZ team to glory (I mean, except during the world cup).

AB & Dilshan, great players in their own right, had led DD to glory in IPL 2,3. Yes, you got it. They cant turn it around just by themselves. You need some local boys to perform. But, then you pick Tiwary & Pujara and ask them to bat at 5,6. Funky thought process.

I think Ravi Shastri gulped a few KFs and suggested to the Richie Rich Sid that Pathans have it in their genes - immense cricketing potential. He would have also mentioned that they are like most MBAs. Their mentors always claim high potential which remains to be discovered till the potents hit the grave. That makes excellent case for Asad Pathan in RCB.

And, then there's the latest senstation - Mayank Agarwal. Only problem is his senses are not fully in place yet, for he hasnt played a Ranji match yet. He smacked some big runs in gully cricket and flashed his pan in Australia.

Mithun picked up wickets in his first Ranji season and then figured that he's the next best express fast bowler in India. Oh my god! That sits lightly on his shoulders. And, then he stopped performing in the next Ranji, never mind the IPL. He adjusted himself to the average Indian pace bowlers' benchmark which is non performance.

So, that calls for the final nail in the RCB coffin. Hardcore Bengaluru fan I am. But, RCB - I need to shift camps.

For now, I'm with Pune which is winning due to great performances from all players and nothing exceptional from the captain. Sahara, being the Indian team sponsor for a long time, perhaps knows how to manage cricket teams - i.e., not to over do it. Keep it simple stupid.

Taekwondo

This blog is just for my reference. The article here seems like calm determination.

http://www.socatkda.com/documents/Beginning%20TaeKwonDo%20Training.pdf

So, I've to remind myself. Practice.

Why did recession happen?

Till now, I have not read a more convincing article on the reasons behind recession. This article paints the complete picture.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w15404.pdf

Beautifully articulated with specific data points and no global gas. And, if you have a nominal knowledge of macro-economics, you can afford to swagger about your knowledge of recession with this article.

In summary its this: (China refers to BRIC)

1. Chinese save like crazy : Why ? Govt policies & cultural matters. 12.5% of all loans in China are consumer loans. Of these, 80% are home loans. Automobile purchases are low on credit. House purchases have 30% downpayment. Retiral savings are very important.

2. Sudden rise in supply of Labour : Results in transfer of income from the inefficient in the US to the labour power in China (efficient or not).

All the labour save up their money in the banks. Savings need to be invested. So, the large banks which accumulate these savings buy safe assets in the US. Safe assets are US corporate debt, treasury bonds, sovereign wealth funds. No investment into US companies. The chinese, dubai did try acquiring ports in the US, oil firms (Dubai Ports, Unocal). But, political pressures killed em. The stock market crash of 2000 in the US also affected.

Quoting from the report : During this period China quickly emerged as the US’s fastest growing creditor, second only to Japan in size: In 1994 China held $18Bn in US assets (almost exclusively Treasuries) which grew to $92Bn in 2000 (roughly $72Bn Treasury debt and $20Bn Agency debt) and $922Bn in 2007 (roughly $466Bn in Treasuries and $376 in agencies with the balance in corporate debt and equity), almost 25% of China’s GDP.

This huge trade imbalance would've appreicated the Chinese currency. But, the Chinkis bought dollars in troves and neutralized the Yuan's rise. Thus, Chinese now have a huge dollar reserve. And, Yuan is not expensive.

Corporate & Agency debt. What the heck is that. The chinese basically pumped money into US mortgage markets, Fannie Mae et al who got money at cheap rates. Thus, the got into big time lending. Leading to big time real estate buying between 2000 & 2007. Leading to the housing bubble. Thus, the US households believed that they were actually rich. So, the average American lost job or got lesser salary but bought real estate which was cheap. And, then couldnt pay EMI's. And, got effed.

I think the situation in India is freakingly similar. Rising govt debt and rising real estate prices. Oh my god, is it going to come crashing down!


Quoting the article :

It is important to note, however, that the behavior of US households during 2000-
2007 can be rationalized if households firmly believed that past rates of house price
appreciation were sustainable, and did not realize that they (or their children) would be
liable for paying down the US government external debt eventually. Understanding the
fundamental forces driving housing prices is not easy and it is reasonable to assume that US
households took home price increases to be permanent.


Am still reading the article, more in the next posting! Quite a heavy article but intelligent it is.

Lanka Diary - Sigiriya et al

After the thrilling Scuba diving expedition, we were off to more mundane tourist matters. Travelling into the island, we set off for Ravana Ella.

On the way, we wanted to visit Hambanthota to take a look at the new chinese port. Pretty obvious, we werent allowed to take a glance of the monstrous port that is coming up there. Hambanthota is Rajapaksa's constituency/home town. And, it was a poor noman's land till recently. Now, it seems to be the next Colombo down south. The port is giving chills to Singapore's trade. The second international airport in Sri Lanka is coming up here. There's a cricket stadium being built. And, we could see a lot of export industries being encouraged too. That's some development, Chinese style scale. Rajapaksa, hats off for being a game changer. Ended the war & onto development. (There are brickbats always, anyways.)

After Hambanthota, the rain gods suddenly lost patience with us. In about 30 minutes, it was raining crazy and the roads were flooded. It was pitch dark and eerily scary to drive any further. We decided to halt at the nearest visible hotel for the night - whatever be the quality. Accidentally, I spotted a board in the dark and suggested that we may want to try. But, there seemed to be no roads & no light in the near horizon. So, Scooby instilled some guts into Prabhat (on the wheels), to take the road less travelled. Thankfully, within 100 metres, we could spot some light and there was a hotel indeed. We discovered the name of the place - it was Wellawaya, at the foothills of Ella.

Hospitality was at its best and the rooms were great. We found an Indian (Tamilian) staying there and he soothed our nerves. He was a regular at the hotel and assured us that this was a safe, great place to live the night. The accidental detour was a surprise! We were served the best Sri Lankan food in our entire journey and had a sound sleep that night.

We started off early next day at 5:30 am to Ella. It was a good decision not to travel at night, as the road uphill was strewn with rocks & land slides.

The latter part of our journey was spent criss crossing Lanka on roads and enjoying the incessant rains. And nothing much to speak about, other than Sigiriya. Must place to visit as there arent too many similar structures else where in the world.

A rock structure amidst complete greenery at 200m high is admirable as are the gardens and other rock formations. The frescoes have pretty much been destroyed and just a few remain. Just for reference, the Eiffel Tower is 300m high amidst a bustling city.

Nuwara Eliya-Kandy was a serious let down, and pales in comparison to Munnar. It might be a good idea for honeymoon couples to enjoy the only developed hill station at Lanka. Nothing much for others.

Colombo is just like any other city brimming with the mercenary nature of the mortal mankind. Mt Lavinia was like an Indian beach, filled with filth and crowd.

So, the verdict is out - if you have 4 days to spare and you dont exactly enjoy Goa due to the crowds, Unawatuna is a great deal. And, it can be very cost effective too. If you have 10-15k INR to blow, enjoy a world class beach at Unawatuna rather than booze it over at Goa.

Chennai - Colombo return flight - 4 to 5k INR
Katunayake - Unawatuna - 6k INR taxi fare. If bus, then even cheaper.
Unawatuna acco for 4 days - 5k INR or even cheaper (mind you, not shacks - good acco)

Lanka Diary - Day 4 : Scuba Diving!!

The best part of the entire holiday. It was time for Scuba diving! After having negotiated a good deal with Rohanna from Sea Horse, it was just too exciting. We were advised to have a light breakfast and given a fairly long de-briefing session by Rohanna.

And, we set off into the ocean amidst a steady drizzle. The sea was rough thanks to heavy rains the previous night. Our motor boat was riding the sea waters akin to a horse ride with the bumps providing the thrill. Dude, it was slightly scary for a first timer. But, the jat strongman booed away my calls for caution. Hold on, Scooby Doo had just started to unfold! Gee hee!

We had to dive into the sea water on our backs. I saw a few others do it and then before my brain could react and tell me it was dangerous, I just jumped ! I mean it was a conscious attempt to beat the fear. Thankfully, the experts were waiting to set me straight in the sea and it was all fine. I started my descent down into the water guided by one of the divers. I knew there were three divers with us. Underwater, all three of them came to me, one by one, and asked if I was doing ok. I didn’t understand this routine and thought this must be part of their sortee or something. I was too engrossed at my first sighting of the underwater beauty & the life beneath there. It was just out of the world! Such colourful fishes, a star fish, corals, rocks. Oh my god! I couldn’t believe myself. It was too good. As I was guided deeper, we saw a 20 year old ship wreck, a lobster & more corals.

There were also some disgusting maggi covers, polythene wrappers there. Screw the dirty homo sapiens. It was like a beautiful painting of Monalisa smeared with black tar.

Now, I finally sighted Vivek and thought may be they were showing him something which I hadnt seen. Cursing my own fate at being unlucky, I tried desperately to absorb all that was in my eye sight - turning to all directions as if asking my brain to record this!

We'd gone down to about 10 metres and then came up to breathe fresh air. It was a great experience for 45 minutes! And, while on the boat - on the way back, I got the whole picture. Fear had overcome the strongman and had to be coaxed, relaxed by two divers - before he got into the act. So, what happened was, I was guided by one diver while Scooby Doo had two. VJ, now baptised as Scooby Doo! I was mocked at by the divers for not flapping my fins and giving him a tough time to navigate underwater!

Nevertheless, Scooby has vowed to become a certified scuba diving professional & I don’t see any reason he wouldn’t do it. It was a great experience! And, I'm going to get back to Unawatuna to do more Scuba diving.

All is well that ends well. And, it was quite an event - Sagar getting into Sagar!

The previous day, we'd cycled from Unawatuna towards Matara, the land of the Marauding Jayasurya. We travelled quite a distance on the Galle road, which runs through the length of the coast from Colombo till Hambanthota. The road is very good for cycling and the climate was brilliant too - what with a occasional pleasant drizzle to cool us down. Cycled upto Ahangama Model school and relaxed on the beach behind the school before cycling back.

On the way back, we had a boat ride on the Koggala lake. We were taken to the cinnamon island there. 90% of the world's cinnamon is produced in Sri Lanka. We saw how it was made from a raw branch to the finished product. It was all man-made! On the boat, a guide came along and he was a big fan of Salman Khan! He was waiting to watch Dabang on the pirated CD network which throngs Lanka big time.
There were mangroves all along the lake, which was also said to have many crocodiles. Eeks!