As the month of March draws to the close, as ta typical Libran does the best during a crucial period of decision making...brood, sit-over, over think, over analyse without arriving at a decision. Its been a difficult week as I am coming to the fact that in a few days I will be partying myself from something close to the heart, a place I was born, grew and became a citizen off. as I prepare myself to pack myself off in a few weeks, I was getting all nostalgic of this place, and places I used to roam around. Last week I visited the DLFH SEZ facility might be the last time for me, then went to Gokul Chat. Was pretty deeply hurt for the fact that this place had a special place in my heart, partly due to my visits to this place to eat, partly due to the shopping-backed snack during my 4- years of engineering and a bit of my special time here too. Then been to Mehdipatnam. Yaa there was a glimmer of hope that I could somehow someway catch a glimpse of my ex, for the last time. Been longing to meet and express my feelings and tell how badly I needed to express and see her and let go of all the emotions deeply tied down, buried deep inside.
More so at office an amazing nostalgia begins to surround as the organisation I've somewhat proudly been associated and somewhat cursed it for not keeping upto my expectations did seem to be becoming an oblivion of the futures past. My disassociation with the company as it becomes inevitable has started to pinch me terribly hard. The people I've been with at the company felt deeply bonded and entrusted to a few of them quite emotionally, and being with them did make me comfortable and happy. And probably thats the precisely the same things which I am running away from
Running away from the comfort, support, love, and care of the well wishers. I do know I need to rediscover myself, spend and gain my own experience and way of solving problems. I hope being alone makes me come out transformed as a more improved person than I am today. More exposure less of dependence I believe should do atleast a small wonder. So as the countdown to move on begins, and lookout for new beginning, the past which has its own good and bad, and the nostalgia all around is holding me back, and very true I happen to sway around in a infinite space of suspended animation beyond the very constraints of time.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Movies that I was watching
Over the last week, was lying in my sofa couch, switched on the TV and popped in the DVD which was lying around with me for over 6 months. Not a high romantic movie bluff by any standards, except for a few of Julia Roberts movies.
The basic plot revolves around Marissa, a mother of ten year-old boy and a maid in a posh hotel in New York. While trying on a guest's designer clothes, she encounters Chris, a local politician who mistakes her for a guest.The film is briefly amusing when Marissa is trying to avoid Chris at work. Though not the best of the romantic comedies, the movie had my interest in for a while. It had a touch of fantassy of Cindrella and a bit from my favourite romantic movie of all Notting Hill. What was touchy is the mentality of Marisa in trying to avoid the Senator while having fallen for him, for the very reason that the fitment is not good and unacceptable by the society. The climax where Chris finally meets up with the love of her life and accepts the reality is the touchy part, though not unique to many of the movies in the genre.
Ever since I have returned back from Mumbai, I've fallen in love with the place and the fascinated started with the Mumbai's life-lines the Mumai Local. The Xulfi song from the movie was also quite catchy with me. The movie revloves an incident with a call centre employee who misses his last ride home but goes through unimaginable twists in that short period of a few hours. The movie potrays the hardships of the people of Mumbai and its immigrants. It depicts the hardships of the people and their means of overcoming the same craving for small moments of happiness. A few glimses of realities of life, corruption and underworld were comicaly presented in the movie.
A feel good movie, and ever gorgeous Neha Dhupia, ensured that she can sizzle wearing just a Salwar in the entire movie. At end of the movie of gets a feeling of why the life can't be like a jackpot, very easy money, easy girl and easy life are made available at the door step.
On the whole though these two were not much hyped or talked about movies they still were a feel good movie to just relax and enjoy without expecting much of a roller coaster ride in emotions etc.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Bearish after the Bears collapse (The beginning of the end of dollar hegemony)
Credit Crunch fears sending markets for a spin downwards and investors sentiment round the world turned ziffy with the US Sub-prime credit situation claiming another victim. This time its
Bear Stearns; Founded in 1923 and employing some 15,500 people worldwide, Bear Stearns was one of the “big five” Wall Street investment banks. In 2005-2007, Bear Stearns was recognized as the “Most Admired” securities firm in Fortune magazine’s. The second largest US underwriter of mortgage bonds, With the de facto collapse of Bear Stearns, however, the housing and credit market collapse has claimed one of the titans of Wall Street.
Credit Bubble
The underlying problem is the vast credit bubble that was inflated on the basis of reckless and intrinsically unviable home loans and other forms of speculation, including leveraged buyouts and a vast expansion in unregulated credit markets that delivered unsustainably high returns on investment. The immense fortunes amassed by the uppermost echelons of the US population on the basis of such parasitic financial operations have created, as their consequence, a social and economic disaster of historical proportions, threatening tens of millions of Americans, and hundreds of millions more people around the world, with pauperization.
How it started for Bear Stearns ..
Last July, the collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds as a result of the bursting of the US housing bubble sparked a crisis of confidence in the credit system that has gathered steam and expanded in scope to threaten the viability of some of the biggest banks and financial institutions .
The explosive growth of the derivatives market, in which Bear Stearns and other brokers and banks are major participants, has heightened anxiety about so-called counterparty risk( fear that the bank on the other side of a trade will not be able to cover positions if need be). The CDS (credit default swaps) market, which has grown to a notional value of $US45 trillion, has yet to be tested by a major disruption. There has been a potential CDS counterparty problem where we have more buyers than qualified sellers. With Bear having such a large CDS counterparty position, one can't expect to have that $US45 trillion market come apart. Since late Thursday(13th March 2008), anyone looking to unwind a credit derivative position with Bear Stearns won't be able to, since no one wants to face the firm as a counterparty
Speculation about Bear Stearns problems gained momentum amid turmoil in the agency mortgage bond market on the back of the collapse of hedge fund Carlyle Capital Corporation in which Bear Stearns had a major exposure. Carlyle Capital Corporation, a $22 billion publicly traded investment fund controlled by the Carlyle Group, had beenone of the profitable and well-connected private equity firms in the US. CCC has been facing margin pressure and was unable to finance the trades. Once you have a run on the bank you are in a death spiral and your assets become worthless. The stock which once traded at 170$ levels had corrected to below 30$ and now its been valued around 2$,.
At 30$ the stock is 60% below its book value of 80$. Re-winding back 8-years ago when ex-CEO Mr. James Cayne’s hinted — that he would only sell the firm for four times its book value — was even then a flight of financial fancy. Wall Street investment banks rarely command such a premium to their book value, given the inherent and unpredictable risks of their business. And this has been proven beyond doubt in the present days frenzy.
For now, the prospect of a new wave of consolidation in the financial services industry seems remote. That is because would-be acquirers and everyday investors alike have lost faith in the values that Wall Street firms are placing on their own assets. Credit ratings agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings both slashed Bear's credit ratings to triple-B, near the bottom of the investment-grade ladder before junk, and Moody's Investors Service cut its rating to Baa1.
Question will be raised on the high leverage such companies have, Bear Sterns is among a highly leveraged company with 33:1 ratio in terms of leverage of Debt to equity. At such cruical moment Capital structure of the firm itself is to be challenged and cost of assets it has.
The Fed's Action of Friday (http://wsws.org/)
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday took emergency action to prevent the collapse of Bear Stearns, the fifth largest US investment bank and one of the world’s largest finance and brokerage houses.
Invoking a little-used provision added to the Federal Reserve Act in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the US central bank agreed to allow the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to insure an infusion of credit to Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase. Under the terms of the “secured loan facility,” to extend for up to 28 days, the risk of a default by Bear Stearns will be borne by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, not JP Morgan Chase. The latter will serve essentially as a conduit for the cash provided by the US central bank.
This mechanism was used because only commercial banks, so-called depository institutions, can borrow directly from the Fed’s discount window. Bear Stearns is not a depository bank, and hence the Fed was obliged to invoke a provision of the 1932 amendment to the Federal Reserve Act that applies when “unusual and exigent circumstances exist and the borrower is unable to secure adequate credit accommodations from other sources.”
Who's next ??
Today morning when the US markets opened, all the brokerages were sharply lower, with Goldman Sachs down 6%, Morgan Stanley off 8% and Merrill Lynch down 9%. Indeed, investors are taking a grim view of the prospects for other investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. Next to Bear Stears, Lehman is the smallest and least diversified brokerage firm on Wall Street, so there are worries that it will be the next firm to come under attack as firms that trade with Lehman pull back in a bid to protect themselves.
Citigroup, one of the US's largest banks, is now trading below its book value. Lehman Brothers, at $39, is trading just below the book value it reported at the end of last year. This year, Bear’s stock is down 65 percent and Lehman’s has sunk 40 percent.
Indicative of the broader reverberations from the Bear Stearns collapse, the share price of Ambac Financial Group, the world’s second-largest bond insurer, fell 93%, on widespread fears that the company will not have sufficient capital to meet claims from its creditors.
And analysts are speculating that Lehman may not play a big enough role in the markets to justify a Fed-backed bailout like the one at Bear Stearns. And while Bear’s peers on Wall Street are not yet in such dire shape, they have surely accepted the reality of leaner times and lower valuations in the months to come.
Very true that this has been proven time again since the Great American Depresion and Oil Shake that the fact is thatBanks and brokerages are a house of cards built on the confidence of clients, creditors and counterparties; If one where to take chunks out of that confidence, things can go awry pretty quickly, pack comes crashing down.
Impact on India
The timing of the move made its urgency clear: If Bear could have held out until March 27, it could have borrowed directly from the Fed itself under a new program announced.
The maximum size of the loan is not predetermined, but is limited by how much collateral Bear Stearns can provide to satisfy the Fed’s requirements. The loan by no means assures Bear Stearns’s survival. More likely, it was granted in the hope that it would buy time for a more orderly disposition of the firm’s fate and head off a panic response by bankers and investors to its demise.
The impact on hedge funds dealing with the bank could be that those that rely on the bank to finance trading and hold securities would be stranded and could be looking to other banks for trading and financing. Bear Sterns has interests in more than 15 companies--from real estate, infrastructure, energy to capital goods. The investment bank has maximum exposure in RPG Transmission at 8.93 per cent, trading in the counter is suspended at the moment and on the lower side, 1.06 per cent in Hindustan Construction Company. Bear Stearn's has already sold off close to 900 (250 on Friday & 650 on Monday) crores of equity in the Indian markets, and in situation where the markets have so little cushioning to offer, the companies in which Bear Stearns had its interests in would go down along with its sell-off.
Bear Stearns forced to sell off assets at fire-sale prices to raise cash needed to meet creditors’ demands, the value of untold billions in assets held by other financial institutions would drop, leading to more margin calls from creditors, further institutional collapses, more panic selling of debt and securities—a vicious spiral to the bottom with the potential of a breakdown in the entire capitalist financial system. Brokers in India are already feeling the pain; The BSE benchmark Index Sensex witnessed its 2nd largest fall in its history recording a fall of 951 points due to the sell off. Investor sentiment (mine included) has been beaten down heavily and this will continue untill a few more institutions fall off.
Companies like India Bulls, Motilal Oswal, ShareKhan have had deep corrections with dropping trading volumes and huge market risk, this happend to be just a prelude of what will hit out markets.
All these developments and the impact of the same in terms of market reaction locally all prove that the So-called De-coupling is far from reality for the Indian markets as we continue to out perform in terms of fall we exhibit in comparision to markets globally.
Bear Stearns; Founded in 1923 and employing some 15,500 people worldwide, Bear Stearns was one of the “big five” Wall Street investment banks. In 2005-2007, Bear Stearns was recognized as the “Most Admired” securities firm in Fortune magazine’s. The second largest US underwriter of mortgage bonds, With the de facto collapse of Bear Stearns, however, the housing and credit market collapse has claimed one of the titans of Wall Street.
Credit Bubble
The underlying problem is the vast credit bubble that was inflated on the basis of reckless and intrinsically unviable home loans and other forms of speculation, including leveraged buyouts and a vast expansion in unregulated credit markets that delivered unsustainably high returns on investment. The immense fortunes amassed by the uppermost echelons of the US population on the basis of such parasitic financial operations have created, as their consequence, a social and economic disaster of historical proportions, threatening tens of millions of Americans, and hundreds of millions more people around the world, with pauperization.
How it started for Bear Stearns ..
Last July, the collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds as a result of the bursting of the US housing bubble sparked a crisis of confidence in the credit system that has gathered steam and expanded in scope to threaten the viability of some of the biggest banks and financial institutions .
The explosive growth of the derivatives market, in which Bear Stearns and other brokers and banks are major participants, has heightened anxiety about so-called counterparty risk( fear that the bank on the other side of a trade will not be able to cover positions if need be). The CDS (credit default swaps) market, which has grown to a notional value of $US45 trillion, has yet to be tested by a major disruption. There has been a potential CDS counterparty problem where we have more buyers than qualified sellers. With Bear having such a large CDS counterparty position, one can't expect to have that $US45 trillion market come apart. Since late Thursday(13th March 2008), anyone looking to unwind a credit derivative position with Bear Stearns won't be able to, since no one wants to face the firm as a counterparty
Speculation about Bear Stearns problems gained momentum amid turmoil in the agency mortgage bond market on the back of the collapse of hedge fund Carlyle Capital Corporation in which Bear Stearns had a major exposure. Carlyle Capital Corporation, a $22 billion publicly traded investment fund controlled by the Carlyle Group, had beenone of the profitable and well-connected private equity firms in the US. CCC has been facing margin pressure and was unable to finance the trades. Once you have a run on the bank you are in a death spiral and your assets become worthless. The stock which once traded at 170$ levels had corrected to below 30$ and now its been valued around 2$,.
At 30$ the stock is 60% below its book value of 80$. Re-winding back 8-years ago when ex-CEO Mr. James Cayne’s hinted — that he would only sell the firm for four times its book value — was even then a flight of financial fancy. Wall Street investment banks rarely command such a premium to their book value, given the inherent and unpredictable risks of their business. And this has been proven beyond doubt in the present days frenzy.For now, the prospect of a new wave of consolidation in the financial services industry seems remote. That is because would-be acquirers and everyday investors alike have lost faith in the values that Wall Street firms are placing on their own assets. Credit ratings agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings both slashed Bear's credit ratings to triple-B, near the bottom of the investment-grade ladder before junk, and Moody's Investors Service cut its rating to Baa1.
Question will be raised on the high leverage such companies have, Bear Sterns is among a highly leveraged company with 33:1 ratio in terms of leverage of Debt to equity. At such cruical moment Capital structure of the firm itself is to be challenged and cost of assets it has.
The Fed's Action of Friday (http://wsws.org/)
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday took emergency action to prevent the collapse of Bear Stearns, the fifth largest US investment bank and one of the world’s largest finance and brokerage houses.
Invoking a little-used provision added to the Federal Reserve Act in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the US central bank agreed to allow the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to insure an infusion of credit to Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase. Under the terms of the “secured loan facility,” to extend for up to 28 days, the risk of a default by Bear Stearns will be borne by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, not JP Morgan Chase. The latter will serve essentially as a conduit for the cash provided by the US central bank.
This mechanism was used because only commercial banks, so-called depository institutions, can borrow directly from the Fed’s discount window. Bear Stearns is not a depository bank, and hence the Fed was obliged to invoke a provision of the 1932 amendment to the Federal Reserve Act that applies when “unusual and exigent circumstances exist and the borrower is unable to secure adequate credit accommodations from other sources.”
Who's next ??
Today morning when the US markets opened, all the brokerages were sharply lower, with Goldman Sachs down 6%, Morgan Stanley off 8% and Merrill Lynch down 9%. Indeed, investors are taking a grim view of the prospects for other investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. Next to Bear Stears, Lehman is the smallest and least diversified brokerage firm on Wall Street, so there are worries that it will be the next firm to come under attack as firms that trade with Lehman pull back in a bid to protect themselves.
Citigroup, one of the US's largest banks, is now trading below its book value. Lehman Brothers, at $39, is trading just below the book value it reported at the end of last year. This year, Bear’s stock is down 65 percent and Lehman’s has sunk 40 percent.
Indicative of the broader reverberations from the Bear Stearns collapse, the share price of Ambac Financial Group, the world’s second-largest bond insurer, fell 93%, on widespread fears that the company will not have sufficient capital to meet claims from its creditors.
And analysts are speculating that Lehman may not play a big enough role in the markets to justify a Fed-backed bailout like the one at Bear Stearns. And while Bear’s peers on Wall Street are not yet in such dire shape, they have surely accepted the reality of leaner times and lower valuations in the months to come.
Very true that this has been proven time again since the Great American Depresion and Oil Shake that the fact is thatBanks and brokerages are a house of cards built on the confidence of clients, creditors and counterparties; If one where to take chunks out of that confidence, things can go awry pretty quickly, pack comes crashing down.
Impact on India
The timing of the move made its urgency clear: If Bear could have held out until March 27, it could have borrowed directly from the Fed itself under a new program announced.
The maximum size of the loan is not predetermined, but is limited by how much collateral Bear Stearns can provide to satisfy the Fed’s requirements. The loan by no means assures Bear Stearns’s survival. More likely, it was granted in the hope that it would buy time for a more orderly disposition of the firm’s fate and head off a panic response by bankers and investors to its demise.
The impact on hedge funds dealing with the bank could be that those that rely on the bank to finance trading and hold securities would be stranded and could be looking to other banks for trading and financing. Bear Sterns has interests in more than 15 companies--from real estate, infrastructure, energy to capital goods. The investment bank has maximum exposure in RPG Transmission at 8.93 per cent, trading in the counter is suspended at the moment and on the lower side, 1.06 per cent in Hindustan Construction Company. Bear Stearn's has already sold off close to 900 (250 on Friday & 650 on Monday) crores of equity in the Indian markets, and in situation where the markets have so little cushioning to offer, the companies in which Bear Stearns had its interests in would go down along with its sell-off.
Bear Stearns forced to sell off assets at fire-sale prices to raise cash needed to meet creditors’ demands, the value of untold billions in assets held by other financial institutions would drop, leading to more margin calls from creditors, further institutional collapses, more panic selling of debt and securities—a vicious spiral to the bottom with the potential of a breakdown in the entire capitalist financial system. Brokers in India are already feeling the pain; The BSE benchmark Index Sensex witnessed its 2nd largest fall in its history recording a fall of 951 points due to the sell off. Investor sentiment (mine included) has been beaten down heavily and this will continue untill a few more institutions fall off.
Companies like India Bulls, Motilal Oswal, ShareKhan have had deep corrections with dropping trading volumes and huge market risk, this happend to be just a prelude of what will hit out markets.
All these developments and the impact of the same in terms of market reaction locally all prove that the So-called De-coupling is far from reality for the Indian markets as we continue to out perform in terms of fall we exhibit in comparision to markets globally.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Void, the current state of mind (life??)
As I lay on my bed, sleepless I felt soo void, soo incomplete and soo much empty than ever before. My soul longs for a good friend whom I can be myself. The sense of void within myself is soo much that I its seems to add so much directionless and indecisiveness to life. My current state of affairs at the current zuncture of time is nothing great and nothing seems to be moving even a millimeter; Its seems as though everything has come to a standstill, I see no pressure from anywhere neither professional nor personal. No sense of urgency life's so mono-tonous vibes all-round, its not even black and white it looks all so grey, ripped off its life, excitement to that matter even sadness seems to stay away from me. Only definition I can put at this moment might be loneliness or high sense of spirituality (nah!).
Life seems so directionless that even the winds of inspiration and path towards future seemed to be covered up, as though in middle of doldrums, my life is just waiting for the right winds to set sail to unknown places of happiness and excitement. A roaring forties might be just a few metres ahead but to reached those few metres seems life a big task. So much for the suspended animation of life, I don't even know what toll it is taking on my life and race towards life's ambitions, which seems like nothing.
I hope I come out of this place of nowhere, like in the movie "The Matrix" am in construct program, where one can load anything, though the reality is there is nothing, my construct program is also looks like not functioning for now, need to kick start and reboot the same. The construct program for me would a dream world and world of imagination and aspiration to train and set myself up for the future. Hope this goes ahead in full stream.
Life seems so directionless that even the winds of inspiration and path towards future seemed to be covered up, as though in middle of doldrums, my life is just waiting for the right winds to set sail to unknown places of happiness and excitement. A roaring forties might be just a few metres ahead but to reached those few metres seems life a big task. So much for the suspended animation of life, I don't even know what toll it is taking on my life and race towards life's ambitions, which seems like nothing.
I hope I come out of this place of nowhere, like in the movie "The Matrix" am in construct program, where one can load anything, though the reality is there is nothing, my construct program is also looks like not functioning for now, need to kick start and reboot the same. The construct program for me would a dream world and world of imagination and aspiration to train and set myself up for the future. Hope this goes ahead in full stream.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Regular blogging could improve your social life
Just happpened to come across this interesting piece of article from the web. Thought of posting and documenting the same, for my blogging habit picked me up from the shambles of life I as getting into after the turn of events that I had during the last part of 2007. I had my sense of being alone, socially withdrawn, professionally written down, mentally and physically stressed out. The blogging which I revived after the course of events actually kept my focus and concentration very much away from not so obvious and obnoxious twists ahead. Helped me regather and take a few steps towards unfulfilled dreams. Though I am not fully 100% out, but the blogging a few times made me a better person, without eating into other peoples time.
Anyways Here's the Article
Sydney, Mar 4 (ANI): A new Australian study has found that blogging can boost people's social life, by making them feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with their friendships, both online and personally.
This evidence is the result of two related studies, conducted by the Swinburne University Technology in Melbourne, Australia, which found that after two months of regular blogging, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who didn't blog.
In the first study, researchers Susan Moore and James Baker compared the mental health of people intending to blog with that of people not planning to blog.
The study, published in the latest issue of the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour, involved messaging 600 MySpace users a survey link; of which 134 completed the survey, 84 intended to blog and 50 didn't.
"We found potential bloggers were less satisfied with their friendships and they felt less socially integrated, they didn't feel as much part of a community as the people who weren't interested in blogging ... they were also more likely to use venting or expressing your emotions as a way of coping," News in Science quoted Moore, as saying.
"It was as if they were saying 'I'm going to do this blogging and it's going to help me,' " she added.
The follow-up study, which is yet to be published, was conducted after two months and was sent to the same group of users; only 59 individuals responded.
Those that originally intended to blog reported feeling more satisfied socially as a result of being a part of a group of like-minded individuals. Those same individuals expressed a feeling that they could rely on others for help as well.
On the whole, all MySpace users contacted felt more at ease and less stressed after spending 2 months of steady social networking on the popular site.
"So going onto MySpace had lifted the mood of all participants in some way. Maybe they'd just made more social connections," Moore said. (ANI)
(http://www.yahoo.com/)
Though, just blogging might not be the best of the answer and the support I got. I had lot of support all through the current phase of life. From my parents, to relatives (Vanadana, Ramana, Balaji, Sreenu, Sudha, Vanimavayaa, Maheshmavayaa, Peddamma, Tatha, my brother by his invisible presence) collegues (Shankar, Adivi, Venkat, Kamal, Divya, Naaz, Amol, Amit, Vasu, bosses - Munish, CK Rao, Arun & Manda to some extent in their own unique way), friends (Ramya, Ram, Tarak, Naresh, Madhu, Duggu, Madhavi), well wishers like Divya, Ajay and Rama Aunty, and my own confused little sister Sreelekha, and last Poorni whom I am indebted to with my life for all the the troubles whoz very survivability instincts boosts me up.
Anyways Here's the Article
Sydney, Mar 4 (ANI): A new Australian study has found that blogging can boost people's social life, by making them feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with their friendships, both online and personally.
This evidence is the result of two related studies, conducted by the Swinburne University Technology in Melbourne, Australia, which found that after two months of regular blogging, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who didn't blog.
In the first study, researchers Susan Moore and James Baker compared the mental health of people intending to blog with that of people not planning to blog.
The study, published in the latest issue of the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour, involved messaging 600 MySpace users a survey link; of which 134 completed the survey, 84 intended to blog and 50 didn't.
"We found potential bloggers were less satisfied with their friendships and they felt less socially integrated, they didn't feel as much part of a community as the people who weren't interested in blogging ... they were also more likely to use venting or expressing your emotions as a way of coping," News in Science quoted Moore, as saying.
"It was as if they were saying 'I'm going to do this blogging and it's going to help me,' " she added.
The follow-up study, which is yet to be published, was conducted after two months and was sent to the same group of users; only 59 individuals responded.
Those that originally intended to blog reported feeling more satisfied socially as a result of being a part of a group of like-minded individuals. Those same individuals expressed a feeling that they could rely on others for help as well.
On the whole, all MySpace users contacted felt more at ease and less stressed after spending 2 months of steady social networking on the popular site.
"So going onto MySpace had lifted the mood of all participants in some way. Maybe they'd just made more social connections," Moore said. (ANI)
(http://www.yahoo.com/)
Though, just blogging might not be the best of the answer and the support I got. I had lot of support all through the current phase of life. From my parents, to relatives (Vanadana, Ramana, Balaji, Sreenu, Sudha, Vanimavayaa, Maheshmavayaa, Peddamma, Tatha, my brother by his invisible presence) collegues (Shankar, Adivi, Venkat, Kamal, Divya, Naaz, Amol, Amit, Vasu, bosses - Munish, CK Rao, Arun & Manda to some extent in their own unique way), friends (Ramya, Ram, Tarak, Naresh, Madhu, Duggu, Madhavi), well wishers like Divya, Ajay and Rama Aunty, and my own confused little sister Sreelekha, and last Poorni whom I am indebted to with my life for all the the troubles whoz very survivability instincts boosts me up.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
My Road Accidents
Its been a while that I've been involved with a road accident. As long as I remember the last of accidents for me happened once in 2003 December during my initial days of purchase of my Bike, where I skit on the oil-dampened road when I applied brake and along with my some dozen other motorists fell. Fun but scary when the tyres had no traction with the road due to the oil that leaked on to the wet road. Anyways a few scratches on the silencer guard and guess thats about it.
The more serious accidents happened in 2002 while driving Chetak, I was so engulfed in a conversation that I happened to miss the application of sudden brakes by the car driver in-front of him and rammed into the same with full force. Had extensive damages to the front mud-guard of the Chetak. Earlier one was in 1998 when was hit by another scooterist when I was trying to cross road after being let out for the day at college. Badly hit on the leg & hips and wasn't able to walk for a week. From then probably dumped my classes with Tetrahedron academy.
Anyways the reason I was blogging all these are due to the latest incident that happened on Saturday 23rd Feb 2008. Yesterday was on my way to City Centre, Banjara Hills with my cousin in the evening. On a 100cc with a combined body weight of 220kgs on the bike on an uphill road proved a costly mistake. As I was traversing, one of the cars was climbing up ever too slowly and in an haze, gazing at the driver tried to out maneuver him, but ended up hitting another Car coming in the opposite direction head-on. With the body weight so high I couldn't control the bike and couldn't react in time to avoid the collision, while the Car we just over-took came from behind and hit us on the other end. We were sand witched between the two cars. Though mini-hatches at that moment they appeared as two monster trucks to me. The bike took a beating on the crash-guard, both front & rear brakes. Foot rests, arm grips and rear-view mirror.
AS for our state our Speed of 20kmph or so ensured that we escaped with minor injuries. My cousins Knees and ankles where squeezed enough and for now he finds it painful to limb u stairs. For me sustained a injuries on both my elbows, the impact of me hitting the cars on either side, lead way to large 4x4 dents to the car sheet on the sides. Apart from this took a hit on right shoulder, lower right abdomen, right lower rib, both the ankles, both my palms, and left index finger. Not much of bruises are visible, except for the badly scratched right elbow and ankles. 
The car which rammed us from behind, actually ran over my left ankle completely, spraining it and cutting through the skin. If we were in excess of 40kmph we would have definetly ended up in a hospital emergency ward.
The car which rammed us from behind, actually ran over my left ankle completely, spraining it and cutting through the skin. If we were in excess of 40kmph we would have definetly ended up in a hospital emergency ward.Anyways am still feeling pains in various places, and yet to recover, but not using any suppressant/pain killers. Prefer not to use unless required. I do agree that I was a bit enraged at the slow driving but shoud have kept my view on the ground on the oncoming traffic. I could say that I broke my 5 years old record of being accident free, and just fueled to my Parents fears on my driving skills.
Hey, but got to tell you that off late I've been really zipping on very fast on my bike. While I was working in Gachibowli, DLF SEZ, I used to try to beat my own time of reaching office and travelling back home on the busy 25 km stretch. They where times when I hit 90+ kmph and it was highest for me on any bike. On return to home, used to travel back home in around 15min travelling in the midnight roads.
I feel my risk taking, and recklessness has gone up a lot probably due to the simple fact that I have no strings attached and no one that I am responsible. Earlier things where different and was more concisous of my personal well-being as people where on a look-out for me and would be hugely impacted if things were to go wrong. But for now its only my parents and no onle else. And I would love to live patch of life on the edge, guess things will not work on a similar lines when one has responsibilities and some-one to look for.
Anyways enjoy driving and but ensure you always return home safe.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Fall or Rise of Cricket
The outward side, who place and profit want,Watch to surprise and labour to supplant;
While those who taste the sweets of present winnings
Labour as heartily to keep their innings.
On either side the whole great game is play'd -
Untry'd no shift is left, unsought no aid;
Skill vies with skill, and pow'r contends with pow'r ,
And squint-eyed prejudice computes their score.
Wondering what is this about?? This is a poem written on Cricket as early as 1756. This is an era where Cricket where played in the lush green plains of England with English nobles pitted against each other. The Cricket as game was always a game of honour and more a Gentleman's game than any other game for long. The players where deemed to be of utmost Gentlemen cadre, polished and sophisticated in their own ranks. More of knighthood than anything else in the world. 
With the ashes and bodyline bowling of the ashes tour things started to sway a bit away from the usual Gentleman's clause. Admid protest and uproar the game kept building and developed and grew in popularity especially in the world where the British Influence was maximum. India the pride of British Empire which ruled the country for more than 400 years, sowed the seeds in this country which today has becoming the breeding ground for cricket. The nation alone generates more sponsorship than all the countries put together. Its not ironic to say that today India's contribution to the cricket in commercial value is not less than 75% of all. And with large number of expatriates and immigrants in other location cricket as a sport is surely going to touch new shores.
(Snap 1882: A newspaper obituary on the death of English cricket which appeared after England lost the 1882 Test Match against Australia. The bales were burnt and the ashes placed in an urn to become 'The Ashes' for which Australia and England compete.)
With the ashes and bodyline bowling of the ashes tour things started to sway a bit away from the usual Gentleman's clause. Admid protest and uproar the game kept building and developed and grew in popularity especially in the world where the British Influence was maximum. India the pride of British Empire which ruled the country for more than 400 years, sowed the seeds in this country which today has becoming the breeding ground for cricket. The nation alone generates more sponsorship than all the countries put together. Its not ironic to say that today India's contribution to the cricket in commercial value is not less than 75% of all. And with large number of expatriates and immigrants in other location cricket as a sport is surely going to touch new shores.
Feb 20th 2008, is the day when the media and Cricketing world witnessed the biggest spectacle out of the Cricket Ground. The highly publicised IPL or the BCCI's Indian Premier League auction of close to 80 cricketers for the 2 month T20 events. Drama, glamour, careers, and huge moolah all lined up for this event. Its huge changing times for the game of cricket. Not only it is that money started pouring in, but also the game got the fancy of lots of business tycoons and celebrities. The format of the game has had a tremendous change from a 5 day format to a 60-each one day format to a 50 over each one-day format, to the now popular T20 format. There where other formats which fizzed for a short time like the Super 6's didn't make an impact in world cricket. Probably ICC had a wrong timing and location when it started encouraging in countries whee cricket is very new. As for the T20 BCCI has got it all correct, having lost the ICC world-cup 2007, the out performance of the team under MS Dhoni came in quite handy. The rival ICL provided the opportunity and set the base-work, though ICL is yet to capitalise on the first mover advantage, the IPL is going to deliver a near-fatal blow to ICL, how these two rivaling companies will see the face-off is yet to be seen. Chances are that the sponsors of teams and ICL are to be open to looses they stand to make in this format of the game atleast in the next few years.
But still the question lingers, are we going way too fast for such a spectacle, isn't it always slow and steady wins the race. Making so much of investments on a format of a game which is still in its nascency returns, what is return on investments and cashflows for the sponsors/owners of the teams. Though the BCCI has played it safe and locked in its cash-flows, without any bit of investment from its side, there is a lot to left to be recovered by the respective owners of the team who need to deploy their money and recover the same too. A huge risk, but its worth taking; risk er the investment larger the returns from the investment. If we were to consider the football club model, like an English Premier league of which the IPL is a similar replica, chances are that in a country full of cricket fanatics, everyone stands to gain by such a mode of game.
As for the players we need to understand, how fame and short term money will effect the players performance in the long term. If a person sees a potential in a shorter format of the game why would one slog for the more traditional format of the game where money might not be as high. The importance of the other formats might loose the fizz, due to this very reason. Also would domestic Ranji players be left out and get frustrated, possibly yes. They would stuck at a phase were some of the more younger and more aggressive players stand to get paid more slogging in a smaller format, whereas the senior Ranji players make nothing. The differences in the domestic scenario will rise along with the rivalry and politics and corruption round the game.
Early sponsorship, huge money inflows is always set to corrupt the passion of the people, there are always people who argue on either side of point saying that if its not in the their prime then when are they going to earn, once retired they have few options of cash-flows. Agreed when think of cricketers of an era beyond our memories, these cricketers the pioneers of the game are in a miserable state of finances and conditions with little or no pension from any cricketing or Governing body, would these Veterans be helped. I don't think playing charity matches for them and giving short-term incentives does any good. The IPL should pioneer the concept of respecting and bringing in the local veterans of the game and pay homage during this events and provide some livelihood to local forgotten heros. Its a noble cause and would be well taken by the people from all the circles.
As for the players we need to understand, how fame and short term money will effect the players performance in the long term. If a person sees a potential in a shorter format of the game why would one slog for the more traditional format of the game where money might not be as high. The importance of the other formats might loose the fizz, due to this very reason. Also would domestic Ranji players be left out and get frustrated, possibly yes. They would stuck at a phase were some of the more younger and more aggressive players stand to get paid more slogging in a smaller format, whereas the senior Ranji players make nothing. The differences in the domestic scenario will rise along with the rivalry and politics and corruption round the game.
Early sponsorship, huge money inflows is always set to corrupt the passion of the people, there are always people who argue on either side of point saying that if its not in the their prime then when are they going to earn, once retired they have few options of cash-flows. Agreed when think of cricketers of an era beyond our memories, these cricketers the pioneers of the game are in a miserable state of finances and conditions with little or no pension from any cricketing or Governing body, would these Veterans be helped. I don't think playing charity matches for them and giving short-term incentives does any good. The IPL should pioneer the concept of respecting and bringing in the local veterans of the game and pay homage during this events and provide some livelihood to local forgotten heros. Its a noble cause and would be well taken by the people from all the circles.
In an era where much foul is being made on the physical fitness standards, family life, partying by the players lot over the amount of over-play or amount of cricket these players play, concerns which were raised earlier on the impact of the fitness levels seems to have suddenly hushed down. No one really raised this on how to balance the domestic season, the international seasons, County for some and the now the T20 format. Earlier a cap for players tests and one-dayers was floated now suddenly that seems to have completely lost. The players themselves have withdrawn on the statement and comfort. Its simply amazing that players, coaches, and ex-cricketers failed to put this perspective in the minds of commercial Savvy BCCI. If they don't voice it loud the risk is that the players careers might falter due to injuries and lack of recovery time between majors, impacting their long term career. So to say a long lustrous career would be indefinitely cut short, if this is not curbed India stands to loose its best players for real tourneys like the ICC world cup or the ICC champions cup
Another angle is on the national integrity front, for a nation like ours cricket is surely one which gets the spirit of Nationhood, the feeling of one India going. The cricket is one sport which unites the country like no other, where the countries valour was decided not just on the frontiers but on the cricket pitch. Now with such kind of a vested power in the game, isn't impotent that a disintegrating effect might also gulp down the current generation where there are already problems on regionalism in many pockets of the country threatening to destroy the very concept of the sub-continent and free-life. Rivalry among the cities might shoot-up leading large scale rioting and rampage as in case of club-football, where rival fans where seen battling it out on the streets after the match. Are we even equipped to understand and take-care of such consequences I guess no. For such incidents are only but flared up flash -news frenzy media personnel, adding more to carnage. The environment is just not conducive for such large scale rivalry. And who knows these grounds might act as catchment areas of recruiting people into the cadres of a pro-Mumbai political party or a pro-TRS party. It might undo a lot which our forefathers of the nation has planned. What Sharukh in Chak-de India preached about being an Indian before anything else is been undone for a selfish money laundering exercises like IPL, its well thought of and executed commercial venture but a bad nationalist venture. Some might argue saying or rather asking s to be optimistic on the same and sight situations where all the club players during the world cup season go back and play for their respective countries and that's one event which unites the country per se; But people fail to realise the peculiar situation we are in and the kind of collateral damage we will sustain if this is unchecked. Controlling the spirits or intra-rivalry once its flared up beyond controllable limits is impossible. With the amount money being invested, kind of legal binding contracts the stake-holders and layers are signing alike will make it highly difficult for anyone who wants to undo the negatives of the sport. And moreso with the amount of media cover, airtime the IPL is set to receive its impeachable that things will always be under control and ignored if small things where to go wrong. Other question would this tourney threaten the integrity of the core Indian Cricket team, that's to be seen, hopefully not, but we need to wait and see the same.
Internationally other Cricketing nations would see and cry more foul on the game than ever. BCCI with its ever growing financial can flex it muscles to bully out any other rival Board, this might integrate the other Boards against BCCI, as was the case already demonstrated by Cricket Australia, international contracts are set to be rewritten due to the same. This might also effect ICC's plans of developing and spreading the sport in other new territories if cash flows are getting reversed to a domestic T20 format. Though this format would ensure seat occupation ratios go up and the eyeball in front of the TV go up, would it really get world-wide audience acceptability like the Spanish or English Football Leagues, I still say we are way too early and its no good news for ICC.
Another angle is on the national integrity front, for a nation like ours cricket is surely one which gets the spirit of Nationhood, the feeling of one India going. The cricket is one sport which unites the country like no other, where the countries valour was decided not just on the frontiers but on the cricket pitch. Now with such kind of a vested power in the game, isn't impotent that a disintegrating effect might also gulp down the current generation where there are already problems on regionalism in many pockets of the country threatening to destroy the very concept of the sub-continent and free-life. Rivalry among the cities might shoot-up leading large scale rioting and rampage as in case of club-football, where rival fans where seen battling it out on the streets after the match. Are we even equipped to understand and take-care of such consequences I guess no. For such incidents are only but flared up flash -news frenzy media personnel, adding more to carnage. The environment is just not conducive for such large scale rivalry. And who knows these grounds might act as catchment areas of recruiting people into the cadres of a pro-Mumbai political party or a pro-TRS party. It might undo a lot which our forefathers of the nation has planned. What Sharukh in Chak-de India preached about being an Indian before anything else is been undone for a selfish money laundering exercises like IPL, its well thought of and executed commercial venture but a bad nationalist venture. Some might argue saying or rather asking s to be optimistic on the same and sight situations where all the club players during the world cup season go back and play for their respective countries and that's one event which unites the country per se; But people fail to realise the peculiar situation we are in and the kind of collateral damage we will sustain if this is unchecked. Controlling the spirits or intra-rivalry once its flared up beyond controllable limits is impossible. With the amount money being invested, kind of legal binding contracts the stake-holders and layers are signing alike will make it highly difficult for anyone who wants to undo the negatives of the sport. And moreso with the amount of media cover, airtime the IPL is set to receive its impeachable that things will always be under control and ignored if small things where to go wrong. Other question would this tourney threaten the integrity of the core Indian Cricket team, that's to be seen, hopefully not, but we need to wait and see the same.
Internationally other Cricketing nations would see and cry more foul on the game than ever. BCCI with its ever growing financial can flex it muscles to bully out any other rival Board, this might integrate the other Boards against BCCI, as was the case already demonstrated by Cricket Australia, international contracts are set to be rewritten due to the same. This might also effect ICC's plans of developing and spreading the sport in other new territories if cash flows are getting reversed to a domestic T20 format. Though this format would ensure seat occupation ratios go up and the eyeball in front of the TV go up, would it really get world-wide audience acceptability like the Spanish or English Football Leagues, I still say we are way too early and its no good news for ICC.
Today Cricket is the World's Second most popular sport. The future looks bright, with cricket catching on in more and more countries and the ICC constantly expanding. Cricket is a dominant sport in East Africa, Southern Africa, The Carribbean Islands, The Middle East, South Asia, Oceania, and is growing all over. Cricket is rising fast in Argentina, Afghanistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, Botswana, Kenya, Netherlands, Estonia and many more countries. The future looks promising and cricket will probably remain a very popular sport through out. The clear winner in the scenario is not the game of Cracker but rather Controlling board in the name of BCCI(Board of Cricket Control in India) which benefits in financials at cost of a spirit of the sport, spirit of the nationhood, and passion of the sport. BCCI has to play this very carefully else it will be the undoing of the great cricketing nation.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Lets Change the world
Every one of us must have heard in some form or the other about the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in Garden of Eden. This story is told in the book of Genesis, chapters 1, 2 and 3, with some additional elements in chapters 4 and 5.
God creates Adam from the dust of the earth and breathes life into him. Later, he makes Eve from Adam's rib, to keep company. The serpent tempts Eve into eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and she gives the fruit to Adam, too. God expels them both from the Garden of Eden and curses them to live a life of mortals. They have children, Cain, Abel, Seth, and others, who then populate the world. The serpent in Christian theology represents Satan, and the Fall establishes original sin. Muslims honor Adam as the first prophet.
Ok, why am I talking all this, the Original Sin of Man led to his expulsion from the Oasis of God. towards suffering and dishonour, but man of today I feel still continues to garner more and more sin on his forehead. Every biblical teaching, every verse in Quran, teachings of Budha, Holy scriptures of the Hindu's all talk about peace, harmony and co-existence. They all preach us a way of life, which is to set for us a divine path to Nirvana, to attain the highest-level of existence, but we over the years seem to be deteriorating for the worse. Every religion of the world has a dooms-day prediction in-built and what alls happening point us to that dooms-day scenario. The Christians would call it the Armagedon or the Judgement day, the Hindi term it as end of Yug or era. And almost enevitabaly claims a wash-out turn-off events on the dooms-day scenario.
Why is that we all seem to be staring at the barrel whats going wrong with this race and this era ?
The Kal Yug, ("Age of Kali", "age of vice"), is one of the four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the cycle of Yugas, as described in Hindu scriptures, the others being
- Satya Yuga,
- Treta Yuga
- Dvapara Yuga.
Kali Yuga is associated with the apocalypse demon Kali, not be confused with the goddess Kālī, as these are unrelated words in the Sanskrit language. The "Kali" of Kali Yuga means "strife, discord, quarrel, or contention."
Todays world is a true reflection of all these. People might claim that the world is more orderly and less chaoitic than it was for many many years back. Is that true. A few years back wars used to happen in the Battle-fields at the front-lines, now where are those battle-lines. War, fighting continue on there rampage in their own back-yards for many many unfortunate familes. Poeple in civilised world and developed economies like the 3 monkeys know nothing. Civil-wars rampage many African countries threatening the once Land of Gods to extinction. The countries which are rich in natural heritage are robbed and stripped naked-off their natural resources and treasurs under the name of globalisation, world economy, world trade leaving the local population discplaced and cluessless. Countries like India, China which are supposed to be the cultural epicenters among the world Civilisations are falling apart from their cultural heritage which they are proud-off on similar lines of an Aztec or similar native American tribes whose culture went extinct with arrival of explorers and colonies.
World today is becoming smaller and getting well connected. But the dangers attached to this are also becoming much clearer, easy access of information, easy exhange of cultures, ideas and thoughts. It sounds good doesn't it but what we don't realise is we are slowly but surely leading to an erosion of our core values and traditions. Many today if asked how is culture different from tradition would have no answer, in the same way a few years from now difference between different cultures would be lost.
Clear and present Danger
Balance of Power -
Every era, every period of time the polical certainity or the uncertainity lies on the balance of power that plays around in the environment. As for the Newton's law "For every action there would be an equal and an opposite recation". Never in the world there was a time that this didn't happen and when it doesn't happen it reminds of a silence before the storm. And always competition is always good. Even God has Competition doesn't he Satan in Christianity, Rakhasas in Hinduism right. Its important for this balance of power to exist, else the void left behind would be soon be claimed by elements of Greed and opportunists. Take the instance of end of Cold War, with no power play in existence, US might is exhibited everywhere. Afghanistan, Iraq and what all to follow ?? Vietnam, Korea, Central America have all been in wars and after end of it they still recovering.
Afganistan today after 2001-2002 outbust of Taliban is a hot-bed of Drug and Narcotic trade. One-third of the world Poppy plantation are illegally cultivated here to create Heroin, Cocainne and supply to the rest of the world. On exit of Russian, and takeover of Taliban, the Cocainne production was contained to a large extent due to the hardcore religious fundamentalism of Taliban, which in some way was good for the Taliban. But after the Taliban where thrown out they now have resorted to Cocainne trade to fund their activities and sustain themselves. Narcotics are in high demand in Western countries, and thats what they wanted to destroy using the new found weapon. The trade routes are through the Irag, Pakistan, to Africa, Mexico and few former Soviet countries. The cases of drug abuse have been on a rise and set to consume atleast half of the young Western population in the next Decade if situation doesn't improve.
As this wasn't sufficient slowly but surely the developing economies are falling a prey to the same mistakes the Western ecomies have made, Drug abuse in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India is also on a steep rise. Unlike the western economies its the man on the street who are getting ot lay their hands on these dangerous substances.
Cocainne, Heroin might not be the only drugs around a new cheap and more powerful (dangerous) Meth(methamphetamine - chemical used in pharma products) is on prowl. Discovered in Japan for many years it had no use till it was pressed into millitary service to keep its soldiers awake and high on energy continously for long hours. Its widely used during the Japanese kamikaze suicidal attacks. Its currently used by lots of labourers and sex workers in Thailand and is commonly known as Yaba there. Meth is more scenical and leads to more fatalities due to sheer presence and availability on the streets. Its effect last longer and kick stronger than that of Coke, sometimes atleast 10 times of that. A person stays high for more than12 hrs on the usage of the substance. The chemical compound clones the naturally occuring chemical in the brains nerve endings called the dopamine, this replicate compound increases the nerve firings by atleast 10 times, giving a high and feeling of high energy flow for prolonged period of time. Even more dangerous is the free availability and production of this in a backyard using few indegenious things and some headache medicines.
Hunger for high, hunger to reach to state of extreme senses, that people get into destroys the very being in humans the Spirit. The Spirit of life of people who get into this addiction are lost. People are stripped off everything they ever had. This for many looks like a true triumph of Satan(atleast on the way) for its going to get its Souls to take control of and rule the world. Narcotics, drugs and substance abuse is a bigger and know evil we all need to unite against and fight. There is no stopping on count of many brothers, sisters, sons and daughters of men are lost, how many lives get effected down the value chain right from the farmer and his family who makes the living on Poppy alone to the middleman who assumes risk of smuggling in the material and the underworld criminals who combines with a friendly neighbourhood boy to supply his material on the streets, schools, colleges and clubs round the world. As syndicate grows, it feeds innuberable branches of the value chain making it harder and harder to set loose and destroy this tree.
Another recreational drug, LSD has remained popular among certain segments of society. Traditionally, it has been popular with high school and college students and other young adults. LSD also has been integral to the lifestyle of many individuals who follow certain rock music bands. Code named Acid, its availability and popularity is on rise in India too.
In a few Eurpoean countries, legal drug usage centres have been made available where hygenic facilites, needles are provided and medical assistance made available to curtail and keep track fo drug overdosage which potentially could lead to death. These Euporean countries neither have money nor resources to contain the trade and illicit usage of the narcotics, leading to legalising the usage and avoid the backlash of its citizens incase of failure of the enforcement agencies.
Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are increasingly sucking our children into a black hole of addiction. For those who don’t know, pseudoephedrine is the decongestant commonly found in many cold medicines such as Sudafed and Nyquil. It is also a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine(Meth), a highly addictive stimulant that has become the No. 1 priority for law enforcement in many American states. While 80 percent of the drug is produced by illegal labs in Mexico and the Central Valley of California, teenagers looking for ways to pay for their addictions, or just to make a quick buck, have been making methamphetamine in home laboratories from the cold medicine, using commonly available ingredients to cook crstal meth.What’s such a powerful drug doing in cold medicine? Manufacturers began using it after other formulations were banned or were found to be dangerous. Ephedrine, a chemically related drug, was commonly found in herbal sports products until 2003 when the FDA banned it. At the time, the supplement industry cried foul because the drug’s cousin was still in cold medicine. Not sure why the FDA thinks pseudoephedrine is any safer, though it does work for many adults. Stricter controls have to be enforced before it snowballs into a bigger evil.
Whatever the drug may be, whatever place of origin might be, legal or illegal the narcotics trade and usage all-over the world is on a rise, and with the pace at which globalisation is happening these drugs will only have new takers, new shores to touch and new trade routes established. Unless this ever flourishing trade is stopped and citizens of the world unite and be responsible to themselves and world we are slowly but surely headed towards self-destruction or the dooms-day scenario. World economies will tumble as more and more of its youth and Gen-X fall victims to this potent drugs, slowly but surely the gloom will engulf the world if not taken care of.
A concious effort worldwide is the only way to bring this down, For sometime its prudent enough to pull down the greed, differences, selfishness among us to fight for a cause, a cause of humanity, a fight to protect ourselves from self-destruction and Judgement day. Things can't be achieved in the four closed walls of a church or long cresent top Minarets of the Mosque, its inside us, its our will to change the world. We need to make an effort to be sensitive to needs of the world. This is a lovely planet and as a responsible inhabitants of this place we need to fulfill our duties lest the back lash of forces of nature would hard and long for us all to repent.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Sleep sleep little baby...
It's 3.45am, and am awake and writing this blog, for past 2 1/2 hours I was fighting hard, real hard to sleep, but my mind has thoughts of its own, some unfinished business which haunts it. While the body wants to rest in peace, by mind doesn't and while my bed mouns for a noiseless, moment-less transistion to dream world fast.
I tried hard to get out of my thoughts going through my daily ritual after returning back from office by watching TV before dosing off, this didn't seem to be working. All kinds of thoughts lingering in my brain tinkering my grey cells a lot. Well seems like there will be no peace of mind and rest for it. Thoughts on my next career move are the ones thats been bugging me a lot for most of the time.
These thoughts have been triggered by plans for my next move of a change of location and company. They should do me some good in terms of putting back things on a back-burner and start rebuilding and making up for the lost ground. For now I am on a new client assignment, which happens to be among the top 5 investment banking organisations, this is the kind of role which I was looking forward for sometime. But 2 years seems to be a long wait in the company like Genpact where pays are low and investing 2 more years to master the IBanking processes is seems to be some kind of a gamble. If it clicks it will pay off rich dividends in terms of expereince, exposure and next move would well orchestrated financially. Tactically looking though, what I would have to consider as an opportunity would be loss of x% jump in salary that I would stand to loose by going to taking up my Mumbai offer, though which is high paying for my experience, but I would be getting functionally getting stuck in an oblivion of a BPO sector Quality Function without domain expertise. I at this moment couldn't capitalise on Domain expertise knowledge base of Insurance for long and media Domain where I worked last was probably is taking me no where. Being functionally sound and able seems to have got a disadvantage in itself on a long term, though tactically functional application plays a big role.
Apart from this a few on-site opportunities in consuting appears a few days away from negotiations and if that where to click its sure shot work abroad situation, and at present juncture am a bit apprehensive of that situation of adapting to lots of new things and that too without much domain knowledge, consulting wholy from a functional standpoint still is very tricky.
Heads filled with lots of thoughts with a few options in hand
Big QUESTIONS
1. Should I chase money - For I wanna own a car of my own now and clear off few of my credits
2. Should I chase the domain - Ibanking is something which I fancied for a while, and wanted to build my expertise on these product lines
3. Should I chase Location -
a. Mumbai - Was on high priority for sometime, now with thoughts and lots of consultations that seems to be out. And for the Raj Thakery phenomenon, Mumbai appeard scary.
b. Abroad - Looks like heading abroad for location change seems good, but I still have no clue on working abroad and the kind of support I need from profesional circles for such assignments.
For now Iam so much inclined to complete my Ibank assignment and ask my MBB for re-allignment from Finance to Ibanking Services, for I am enjoying my contribution and if everything falls in place I could work out my certifcations and also build domain expertise. I really pray I get a hike of 15% for this shift. Want to take this bold step for my parents especially my Mom will be very unhappy, secondly I need to take back my resignation and do some bit of talking without actually knowing what is to happen in terms of bonuses and re-negotiations for my faith in the HR machinery is on all time low with the kind of treatment and sensitivity shown by AVP-HR.
I sincerely hope everything goes well, really well and may success know my door-steps more often from now-on. 4.30am now time to catch-up a little sleep, for been blogging a lot during the last 48 hours, eyes already have given up on me, migraine building up. Pleassssssse Goddddd answer my prayers soon and show me the waaaaayyyy!!!!! I am forgetting the meaning of patience and want to see some action, the very action I've been deprived off since October and professional one since December. Pllllllleeeeeeaaaaaaaseeeee.
I tried hard to get out of my thoughts going through my daily ritual after returning back from office by watching TV before dosing off, this didn't seem to be working. All kinds of thoughts lingering in my brain tinkering my grey cells a lot. Well seems like there will be no peace of mind and rest for it. Thoughts on my next career move are the ones thats been bugging me a lot for most of the time.
These thoughts have been triggered by plans for my next move of a change of location and company. They should do me some good in terms of putting back things on a back-burner and start rebuilding and making up for the lost ground. For now I am on a new client assignment, which happens to be among the top 5 investment banking organisations, this is the kind of role which I was looking forward for sometime. But 2 years seems to be a long wait in the company like Genpact where pays are low and investing 2 more years to master the IBanking processes is seems to be some kind of a gamble. If it clicks it will pay off rich dividends in terms of expereince, exposure and next move would well orchestrated financially. Tactically looking though, what I would have to consider as an opportunity would be loss of x% jump in salary that I would stand to loose by going to taking up my Mumbai offer, though which is high paying for my experience, but I would be getting functionally getting stuck in an oblivion of a BPO sector Quality Function without domain expertise. I at this moment couldn't capitalise on Domain expertise knowledge base of Insurance for long and media Domain where I worked last was probably is taking me no where. Being functionally sound and able seems to have got a disadvantage in itself on a long term, though tactically functional application plays a big role.
Apart from this a few on-site opportunities in consuting appears a few days away from negotiations and if that where to click its sure shot work abroad situation, and at present juncture am a bit apprehensive of that situation of adapting to lots of new things and that too without much domain knowledge, consulting wholy from a functional standpoint still is very tricky.
Heads filled with lots of thoughts with a few options in hand
Big QUESTIONS
1. Should I chase money - For I wanna own a car of my own now and clear off few of my credits
2. Should I chase the domain - Ibanking is something which I fancied for a while, and wanted to build my expertise on these product lines
3. Should I chase Location -
a. Mumbai - Was on high priority for sometime, now with thoughts and lots of consultations that seems to be out. And for the Raj Thakery phenomenon, Mumbai appeard scary.
b. Abroad - Looks like heading abroad for location change seems good, but I still have no clue on working abroad and the kind of support I need from profesional circles for such assignments.
For now Iam so much inclined to complete my Ibank assignment and ask my MBB for re-allignment from Finance to Ibanking Services, for I am enjoying my contribution and if everything falls in place I could work out my certifcations and also build domain expertise. I really pray I get a hike of 15% for this shift. Want to take this bold step for my parents especially my Mom will be very unhappy, secondly I need to take back my resignation and do some bit of talking without actually knowing what is to happen in terms of bonuses and re-negotiations for my faith in the HR machinery is on all time low with the kind of treatment and sensitivity shown by AVP-HR.
I sincerely hope everything goes well, really well and may success know my door-steps more often from now-on. 4.30am now time to catch-up a little sleep, for been blogging a lot during the last 48 hours, eyes already have given up on me, migraine building up. Pleassssssse Goddddd answer my prayers soon and show me the waaaaayyyy!!!!! I am forgetting the meaning of patience and want to see some action, the very action I've been deprived off since October and professional one since December. Pllllllleeeeeeaaaaaaaseeeee.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Traffic Anamolies - Traffic Situation on Indian Roads
The traffic conditions on Indian roads is a worst thing to mention and as the number of vehicle on Indian roads keep growing day by day, problems in this regards are also increasing by leaps and bounds. The study on how to correctly predict match and arrive at the correct vehicle estimates is like taking or arriving at a correlation between Sensex numbers, growing GDP numbers, Global warming numbers with the vehicular presence on the Indian Roads. Well good thing is we need lots of staticians to be hired, leading to good all round employment creation. With the Nano evolution just to start in few quarters I would like to leave the numbers to the staticians and economists.
From my end I would like to share my few penace of travelling on the Indian roads, what kind of people you would come accross, etc.
- How to overtake, well the sign say overtaking not allowed or overtake only from the right, well thats for weak hearts. On city roads, it is ‘survival of the fittest’, you really have to drive past your onlookers keeping just an inch gap, such that they barely will be saved from getting hit and detracted. The overtake is from all sides - right, left, and may be the day is not very far when someone will ‘fly past’ you from above the head and gush out a stream of smoke. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality.
- RGY (Red Green or Yellow) - People in India are colour blind, they can't really differentiate between colour changes, thats the reason that most of the drivers trust the driver in front of them for direction at the crossings. If the vehicle infront is moving and police is not waving his hand its all go. Don't bother about the lights its for jazzy up the road-life, and attract foreign investments. City like Hyderabad incidently has the highest number of colour blind people closely followed by Kolkata.
- Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Either ways don't get bothered if a young man puts his hand-up as he crosses the road for he just a fan of Hitler, he misses him so much so that if you were to hurt him other Hitler fans on the road will join in the pursuit to show and demonstrate the Desi-Nazist culture. Never ever dare to defy the birth right of one who puts his arm up. "Hey Ram" - gone are those days of Gandhi-giri.
- Blow-horn - OK Well thats what you read on back of a truck and never hesitate, or else the person one your back will think your impotent. Blowing a horn on the road unlike many countries is not sign of protest, but an expression of joy, excitement, resentment, frustration, romance or say simply a small kids way of expressing himself of his arrival in the world. Some of the meanings you need to decipher when someone honks. "Hey look, watch out. I am coming."
- Connecting People - Cell phones are the devices which connect people, and people know that barriers break when people talk, true very true, for drivers home their mobile devices soo close to themselves that they are never willing to forego the same. And one of the ad on TV sanctifies the statement that people love giving free advices. So guys take my bit of advice keep your handsfree, bluetooth's on while driving. Well if you have none of this our human body is so ergonomically designed that one can tilt our heads to hold the phone by a bend of a neck driving at neck breaking speeds on seemingly smooth and pothless holes.
- Everyday you learn and preach - With every passing day the know-how and knowledge-base of a person grows exponential with every minute one spends on the road. You will know the meaning of a road-rage, stunt driving, balancing acts of entire families travelling on two wheeler, optimal utilisation of hatchbacks, how to maximise capacity utilisation and incresase the tonage of trucks well beyond its permissable limits so as to wheelie a truck. A whole lot of road etiqutte can also be learned from the Autowalla when you faintly try to honk and pass them off, or when you trying crossing a road on a busy road, travelling on Indian roads makes one equip with whole new lot of Vocabulary, for its not just eye, hand and ear coordination but also the mouth coordintation which is so omni-essential. And if for some strange reason you curse the driver or the road or anyone in general, you are reminded in no uncertain terms, "Buri Nazar Waale Tu Zeher Khaale!" ("You evil eyed one! Why? Take some poison."). Well I guess the F1 drivers like Ralf have taken a cue from our truckers by putting "Don't hit me, if you can read this you are close-enough" kind of slogans on back of their tail fins.
- Lane(Gulli) Culture - There are no standards for road signs or for lane markings or the color or the markers. Sometimes lanes are divided by yellow lines, sometimes they are white. Sometimes they are solid white, sometimes the two sides of the road are divided by double yellow lines, sometimes just a single yellow, and so on. Lane discipline and lane markings, are non-existent. Lanes can only work in a nominally homogenous traffic. In India, one will find, in the busiest of highways in the biggest of metros, everything from bullock carts to Mercedes S Class sedans. In most places, three cars will occupy two lanes. Suddenly the lane will disappear and two lanes will become one. Since the horse-power of vehicles on an Indian road is anywhere from 0 to 300, there is every possibility that both the lanes on a road are filled with rickshaws or cows or beggars or people just having a fun time spitting or haggling with the fruit vendor.) Moreso no one follows or rather understands the lane culture for its very much Alien to us right, Firangi culture it is. By the way lanes never mean a route or a speed route or a vehicle lane but mere colour pattern for making the roads more beautiful.
"I am overtaking you, notice me."
"Invisible people beware!"
"Speed up." or "Give way."
"The light is green. Why can't I move?"
People on Indian City Roads
- Young blood…Th youth of today. The flag bearers of tomorrow. The future of India. Listening to Himesh Reshammiya sneeze his way to nasal popularity. They think wearing sunglasses at night is cool. Usually to be spotted in bright colored cars (model and make directly proportional to either income or if no income, then father’s income). This genus of car-owners deserver their rightful place in the traffic ecosystem as entertaining jukeboxes in course of a long traffic jam. Their contribution to the orchestra is always as the percussion. They honk in rhythm with the beats of the song playing in their car stereo. Lost in the hypnotic effect of rhythmic honking, they usually end up in H&R scenarios (hit and run). After all, they’re young blood!
- Safe Players - My teeth fall faster than I can change gears
The pioneers of driving. The blood of yesteryears, now simmered down and circulating in a body crouched over the steering wheel. These respected old men have it all – patience, sobriety, forbearing, unhurriedness. Their insecurity on the road shows up conspicuously, as they desperately try to cope up with an altogether different league of drivers, with both hands gripping the wheel. These poor uncles, out of no fault of theirs, bear the brunt of excessive honking from their other callous peers. Having learnt driving on Fiats and NEs they never get accustomed to the gear stick on the floor and play it safe by sticking to first two gears only. Much to the chagrin of the rest of the traffic. They do their musical bit via intermittent long honks. Just to make sure everyone heard them. - The Upper Crust
These are the most educated and sophisticated of the lot. That is, up till you hand them the wheel. They usually are US returns, having a glorified view of the land of opportunities and a totally opposite opinion about their motherland. Frustrated by the fact that the common man has no say in the parliamentary proceedings, they voice their opinions through the loudest means as possible – honking. To “cut them some slack”, they are obedient drivers, have car papers in order and follow traffic rules. But when it comes to the honking, they are the horniest men ever! Peeved by the Indian atmosphere full of dust and smoke, they travel in a permanently air-conditioned environment. The only time they are exposed to the true Indian air is in the short hop from car door to home door and back. These isolated conditions make them unaware of the decibel level of the horn that they blow. The high-end cars which they travel in also have special amplifiers I believe. Even car companies are building disabled-friendly (extra loud horns for deaf people) products nowadays. - Meandering Motorcyclists These are men of the future. Literally. They overtake you first and sound the horn later. By the time you realize what just rushed pass you, they are busy doing the balancing act again rounding another car in a dangerous curve. Some fancy guys dare to install horns meant for four-wheelers onto their two-wheelers. Poor chaps, that’s the closest they can get to luxury. That, in fact, is a real tricky and slick move. The driver of the car ahead expects a car behind whereas a motorcyclist rides by in a blur honking away to glory. They are at their musical best when performing as a choir group. Each bike acts as a motivator (or rather a rival) for the other. The harmony thence produced is rarely surpassed and is a sight to witness. Add on it the latest fad of brake tunes. A dash of Bollywood chart toppers at every speed breaker ensures that their journey is never the same again. I wonder whether there are copyright issues with this or not!
- Bossy Buswalla
The true kings of the road, notorious for the most accidents on the road, the 2 tonne six wheeled disel powered monster ploughing its way through the busy 30 feet road is an achievement in itself for a buswalla who is busy ferrying his bus overstacked with immigrants who have no insurance booked for them or for the passers-by. Poor onlookers and by-passers only insurance policy is the one-lakh rupees of exgratia the government offers for loss of life in case of fatality, I guess a few of the Insurance company are noting down the potential opportuity in making. Well I don't mind if a buswalla every now and then lets the governement offer that hefty ex-gratia to a politician, this would atleast increase the funds flow of Governments books. Not to forget that the bus is symbol of pride, honour and justice. Did I say justice, yes of-course if you are not in agreement with any of the government poilicies easiest way to bully around is to stop a bus, remove the air, break a few glasses and if required torch-the busy if one wants to turn on the heat. - Ludicrous Ladies
It would have been unfair to the fairer sex had a separate section not been devoted to them. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world and honks the horn most unnecessarily. Ever since the women’s liberation movement gained momentum, they are on the lookout for ways of empowerment and have wrongly deduced the horn to be one such power. The horn is the answer to all problems. It doesn’t matter if they never used the external rear view mirror. It doesn’t matter if they use the internal rear view mirror only for make-up. It doesn't matter at what speed and at what end of the road they are driving for what matters is do they have the foot on the throttle and know where the brake is. It doesn’t matter if they keep the headlights always on high-beam (“What’s high-beam?” they’ll ask). It doesn’t matter if they reverse the car without looking back. All that matters is that no traffic orchestration is complete without a solo performance from a lady driver.
Unique to Indian traffic:
Auto-Rickshaw
This is something which MR. Bond, Oops James Bond fancied a lot that he left his fancy cars to take a ride in this -wheeler in the movie Octupusy. The Auto-Rickshaw or an Auto or Rick for short is a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare.
After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps and also cling on as side bumpers all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton's laws of motion en route to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur and are licensed to irritate.
Mopeds
The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise like an electric shaver. It runs no more than 40 kmph on a teaspoon of petrol and travels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often "mopped" off the tarmac.
Leaning Tower of Passes
Most bus passengers are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem (hell). There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers. Most of the passengers hanging or not, just shout at the ticket collector "Pass" meaning they have a license to free-board the vehicle cramp it and stomp it.
One-way Traffic
These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning and proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type.
Reverse Gear Beepers
One finds an utterly remarkable device in Indian cars these days. It is the reverse-gear beeper. As soon as the car is put in reverse gear, the car starts sounding loud beeps or melodies. Now why would one need such a device? Two reasons: Hubris on the part of the driver (why look back when he is sounding such a loud beep that everybody should get out of his way) and unawareness of one's surroundings on the part of the other creatures on the road (the road is their property, what is this car which is slowly moving to and fro and honking, well he's honking, so he must want to get somebody who is in front of the car out of the way. Ater all, how do they know that his honking is for them. Oh, it is the reverse honk. Okay, sorry buddy, moving away.)
Innovative Ways of Saving Fuel
No Sir, am not talking about Hybrid calls or Jatropha fuel, am talking alternative innovative commonners way of saving money. Cars running on subsidised(by over 70%) domestic cooking LPG cylinders. Passenger vehicles mixed with subsidised kerosene, or a Merc fitted with Ambassador engine or worse. Cars and motorcycles going the wrong way because to take a U-turn further up the road would be really expensive. People find all kinds of excuses to save money.
Bullock Cart
This is something which proves that Indian is still an Agrarian country, a country of farmers. No am not talking about a scenario in a village, this is in heart of the city, that every now and then you still can see bullock cart ferrying fodder, steel pipes, counstrction material etc. A marvelous site to watch as the moving vehicles stall on the 30feet roads. As this weren't enough in the bull-market run, the heat rises up as the counters hit all time high with a passing herd of buffalo's fresh out of their afternoon bath is nearby drains and sewage system. Yikees I don't believe that the milk supplied is so bubbly after all the exotic shower.
Lest I sound hypercritical, I must add a positive point also.
Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a "speed breaker"; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left un-tarred for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.
Having said all this, isn't it true that the accident rate and related deaths are less in India compared to US or any other countries ? Then why the cry and hue over the Helmets and the Seat belts - for we hardly can go beyond 40kmph on our roads except on the highways and bigger roads.
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