Writer's Block??

Been a long time since I put pen to paper (or my fingers to the keyboard to write more than a scrap or my email id). So today I write. Hmm…but what to write on. No, not the sorry state of the economy, the sorry state of my investments or the sorry state of placements in college affecting all my friends. That is a saga that has been going on for far too long and will proceed for another year if all economists and analysts are correct, which they seldom are. Hmm..So what to write on. No, not the idle time I spend in office daily, fretting on losing my job, doing a little more than sipping on vending machine brewed coffee, working out in the gym and going through the news which has made me a walking encyclopedia of corporate news, bankruptcies etc. No, not of the time spent with friends, visiting places just to kill the time and that of others too. Not of the expensive gaming console that I have bought which I stay glued to for a couple hours every night as a religion, the kaam-waali related issues which keep coming up every month and the recent movies, the over hyped slumdog which has captured everyone's imagination. The roadies and the made up banter and profanities therein which have all eyes glued to the show and its re-runs. Not even of the terrorist strikes, the meek Indian reaction to it, or of the first black president who has promised much en-route to his arrival on the big stage, towards whom the entire world is looking for some cues to bring an end to this crisis. I don’t even have the will to write about game which has me hooked to the tele, and my favourite club which must be setting records for tarnishing all previous game records recently. Not even of the exam that I have enrolled for, sunk in half a lakh rupees for and the books of which are attracting everything except my attention from me. So, I have pretty much exhausted all possibilities, and am left with nothing to write about. A heads up from any eves-dropper on my blog will be appreciated.

What is he looking at?

Book Review - The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

I have always held the notion that books that win accolades with the critics and literary prizes are almost always boring and not worth the read. But this book dispels all that. Its a simple story (something that can be summarized in 2 pages but presented nicely without complexities) was the recommendation from a friend of mine. And true to her word, the book had depth of story without the usual intricacy that tags along.

The story is that of a young man, who rises from the "darkness" of his village, a place called Laxmangarh to become rich and powerful on the dint of his hard work, predilection for eavesdropping and clear decision making of when to do the right (or wrong) thing to move ahead in life. The story captures the image of a deep rooted lack of ambition in the lower castes in India, and how they voluntarily give up a life of freedom to embrace slavery of the rich and powerful, who are elevated to the status of Gods and who become a law unto themselves by this meek surrender of the villagers. It also captures the images of corruption that plagues the top echelons of the potilical and social hierarchy in India and paints a gloomy picture of the society as such. Gloomy, yet very accurate. And it captures the two visions of India, the poor yet moral and the rich yet amoral. And it does so with the simplicity of narration that is hardly the flavor with critics. That it won the "Man Booker" is a testament to the wonder that Adiga has created. A sure-shot read.

Politics and progress dont go hand in hand (click the title to read the article)

I was thrilled and saddened at the same time reading the above article. My heart had yearned for some political personality to rise above the idiosyncrasy of religion, to make decisions that are not religiously colored and who upholds the law against all else. So i was overjoyed when I read this report of Narendra Modi demolishing unauthorized religious constructions in Gujarat. Unauthorized constructions of religious structures for long has gone unpunished, and mostly due to the predictable yet obnoxious tendency of politicians to keep distance from all religious issues lest they attract controversies. For a very long time now, people have grabbed government land and the first thing they have built on it has been a temple or mosque and then their homes around it, safe in the knowledge that the structure would never be broken down, that even if it is touched by the authorities, they would take out a religiously colored protest against the govt and force them into submission. I have watched in dismay as the road widening operations right opposite my apartment building have been stalled as an unauthorized temple has come in the way, making that stretch of the road a bottleneck for motorists during rush hours. And then there are numerous other such cases as well, which i come across in my daily commutes, brazen lack of respect for the laws of the land in the name of religion. So, i hope that politicians see through the veneer of their self-created soft-spots and uphold the law of the land come what may. I hope Mr. Modi continues on his demolition drive and set a standard for others to follow.

Who lost what

For the best part of this week and last, I tried to put pen to paper and jot down my agony as Lehman became bankrupt. I grappled for words which could best depict my helplessness, anger and desperation in the past week. I tried to put into words feelings which I realized I could not. And it is in these times of pain and agony that you realize what someone in a similar situation in another company or georgraphy would have undergone. For the duration of the uncertainty, you become brothers with that other unknown person. It is also these times in which you realize that fine line between friends and pretenders. And though I'm not out in the clear yet, I can still recall the events of the past couple weeks and have many takeaways from it. But most of all, I realized that I hadnt lost anything. Sure, my job and career was and still is at risk, the prospects in the job market dim and all my dreams and plans with the near and dear ones shattered. Yet I have a family to fall back on, my prior savings to keep me going for months and no real liabilities, wives or children to provide for. For all my senior counterparts, who have been in the firm for years, the loss has been substantial. Years of loyal service and hardwork were rewarded with handsome pay packages and benefits but most of them being in the form of stock options. What was designed for the benefit of the employees and the firm, with a view that employees with vested stock options in the company would have a sense of ownership of the firm, became the cause of grief for many. It was cruel irony for people who held on to the shares and watched it dive from $70 to around $20 and then down to zilch. It was as if they were being castigated for showing loyalty. The older the employee, the greater the loss. People lost their entire savings in the bankruptcy. Many had taken up huge mortgages against the securities and are now saddled with huge interest payments which have become unaffordable. For many, the Lehman Stock represented savings for the college education of a young one, for others it meant retirement savings. I had a conversation with my analyst immediately after bankruptcy and he sounded more despondent than anyone I have ever spoken to. I had naively thought then that it might have been a late night for him and therefore he was still drowsy after waking up. I recall that same tone now and realize that there may not have been much sleep that night for him and for many nights thereafter. He had some months ago talked avidly of the investment he had made in Mumbai and the plans he had of visiting his family in Jaipur and going to visit the Taj Mahal. All that went up in smoke in a matter of hours on that fateful Sunday. One newspaper had reported that Lehman's failure was personal for its employees. It couldn’t have been truer.

What have I lost in comparison. A job….Not my entire future.

Early bird catches the worm!! Certainly not….

My travails started a couple of months ago when I booked my flight ticket from Mumbai to Delhi for Diwali. I marvelled at my foresight of getting them at the cheapest rates by virtue of having booked them 90 days in advance. As people began realizing that Diwali would be a good time to visit family, the interest in the flights started escalating and so did the prices. I was immensely happy when people started howling in obvious displeasure when they came across the ticket prices and bagan cribbing about the unaffordability of air-travel. But then, as has been a case numerous times in my life, lightning struck. Airlines slashed rates dramatically as the oil prices subsided to more reasonable levels. My foresighted-ness had turned into a curse. I realized that my ticket was 50% more expensive than the fares on offer as per the new rates. It was now my turn to howl and crib. And worse, I couldn’t do so as people would easily recall my sly smiles and artificial efforts at pacification when they were agonizing over the ticket prices. I could become the object of their sly smiles and placation efforts now. So, I had no choice but to cringe, seeth and crib all internally and accept my fate. Cancellation penalties were huge so I had no option left. The old adage that early bird catches the worm certainly had lost its relevance for me….