Saturday, May 17, 2014

कुछ चीज़ें इंसान बदल नहीं सकता


कुछ चीज़ें इंसान बदल नहीं सकता।।।

इंसान ने परीक्षा की कितनी भी तैयारी की हो - प्रश्न पत्र देखने से पहले ईश्वर को याद कर ही लेते हैं
इंसान की नींद अगर पूरी न हुई हो, तो कितना भी जरूरी काम हो - एक झपकी तो आ ही जाती है
 इंसान का पेट कितना भी भरा हुआ हो - माँ के हाथ का गाजर का हलवा देख भूख लग ही आती है
इंसान बहन  की शादी में कितना भी खुश क्यों न हो - विदाई के समय आँखों में आंसू आ ही जाते हैं. 

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Thursday, January 9, 2014

Reality... or hallucination?

It was a new day, new hopes, new desires, new energy. Ishan looked at the calender with an almost literal spring in his steps. It was... the 18th of April. A bag of flour would have scorned at the resistance shown by him while falling onto his bed.

18th April. He did remember this date. Was it even humanly possible for him to forget this date?

He would call his office and let them know that he wouldnt go there as he was sick - down with tearing nostalgia. Of a date that he hoped would be wiped off all calenders. For an event which he could never delete from his mind.

In general, days were not particularly tough on Ishan, it was the nights that he dreaded. The thought of coming back home to an eternity of solitude gave him shivers.

He was alone not by choice. He was alone because he had to be.

Tonight - for under such agonising pain, the world blacked out for him - was no different from the plethora of such nights, indistinguishable from each other, marked perhaps only by the strain involved in keeping himself from thinking about alternate histories.  "What if he had heard the weather forecast for the day.." , "What if he had joined Trishna, Iti and Tarun that day?", "What if..."

Trishna liked to let her hair out to dry. Iti had started copying her mother and would always call out " Dad, look.. I have hair like Ma."...

Ishan hated life, the day, and the entire world. Of what use are these objects if they can not bring any comfort to a troubled soul? This bed, this laptop, this cupboard, this pen stand - actually, this one was Tarun's favorite. As Trishna used to remark, he was getting ready for "throwing olympics". Given that he threw everything that he could lift, who knows - he might have indeed gone for the olympics. And yes, might is the operative word.

For we will never know, and he will never have a chance to prove himself. Nor will Iti.

In the end, the fact that he had the bottle of sleeping pills in his hand was not surprising at all. The resolve with which he opened the lid was a bit surprising. The speed with which he gulped down almost the entire bottle was pretty surprising. But perhaps the most surprising was the shrill voice that said "Daddy.... we are home..."

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

On the time dependance of Ethics

Imagine this, a village child is hungry and has a big chunk of cake kept next to her. But she is not havng it - because it does not belong to her. Thats seems like the right thing to do, right? Not taking something that does not belong to you seems correct.

Now, imagine if a few hours have gone by and still no one has come to claim it. Would you call it morally correct that she does not take the cake? Now consider if a day has passed and no one claims it. Would you now call her descision to not take it, moral? Now, if the cake is about to get spoilt and wasted, would you still call it moral correct to not take it?

The only thing that changes in this example is the time frame and it affects our sense of right and wrong.

This is not just a case with perishable goods, it goes for non-perishables as well. If a house is not being used for long enough, its ok to use it, right? But who decides long enough? Is one day enough to decide that the house owner is not going to come back? One month? One year? A decade? Fourteen years? Fifty years? A hundred years? The question is where do you draw the line. Time increases in continous fashion. And our sense of morally acceptable and not acceptable is dependant on two discreet (and ambiguisly defined) lengths of time - Long and Not-so-long.

Our inherent sense of right and wrong is based on our understanding of timeframes and it seems to change with it.

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On the ownership of Ethics

Arent there days when you really want to do some good to the society? When you feel the pain of the people around you and want to contribute to the society? I am sure everyone of us has been in such a state before.

Now, imagine yourself to be in such a situation. You see a hungry beggar sitting on the pavment, two steps from you. You offer him the sandwich that you were about to eat. Good deed done, right?

If you had paid for it, indeed. But consider if someone else had paid for it. Then, would it be morally correct for you to give away the sandwich? If you did not have a mandate to give off something you did not own, isnt that wrong on your part to transfer it to someone else?

If you think that its ok to give the sandwich even when you did not own it, think how this can be extended. I could give off anything to anyone even if I dont have a thing. So potentially I could transfer all of Mukesh Ambani's wealth and give it off to my friendly neighbourhood beggar and feel happy for myself that I did a good job today. Or, I could give off all his money to the poor guy that I am, and feel proud of myself.

Charity makes sense only when you can own it up to youself.

Btw, all this money transfers should statestically lead to an equilibrium where every member has the same amount of money. Though this would be extremely unstable as people will like to have a bit more than others which would give them some advantage. Hence to maintain that equilibrium, an external force has to be applied. And now it appears that I am talking about communist governments. Ah, the digressions mind takes, from charity to communism!

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Monday, September 6, 2010

Mandated - Too important to fail

Recently, I visited Scotland and the first thing that I noticed (apart from the breathtaking view, that is) was the fact that currency notes were guaranteed by the Royal Bank of Scotland. It was extremely surprising given the fact that most banks that guarantee the payments of the amounts denominated are central banks. And central banks do not operate as commercial or investment banks (which RBS does).

And the fact that RBS was indeed rescued by the British taxpayer during the last crisis, gives more weight to my suspicion that it is mandated by the government to be too important to fail. A vast majority of the notes in circulation in Scotland are RBS guaranteed and hence the government can just not afford it collapsing.

Some thing even more surprising was the fact that England was one of the first countries to have a central bank and almost all of world's central banks are based on its model. Central banks operate in accordance to the government's fiscal policy and since they do not have any financial arms, they are immune to shocks from market crashes. This typically gives more credibility to a country's economic system. So if tomorrow the markets crash down, and RBS looses so much money that people lose trust in RBS's promise to pay the bearer an amount equal to the denominated pound value, a run on the bank occurs and all of the country's financial system stops working. To me that is a very scary thought. The only was the government can stop a run on the bank is such a case, is by mandating that RBS is too big and important to fail. So whatever happens, government will have to provide assets to back up all the banks that issue notes on its behalf.

As I later realised, "Clydesdale Bank" also issues currency notes. Now what is not clear to me is if all banks in Scotland are mandated to issue notes on their own or not. Though entirely possible,  this does not strike me as particularly prudent. Essentially the government then risks having the credit rating of the worst credit rating of the bank issuing notes.

It is possible that the government has only allowed banks to issue notes in return of some highly under valued collateral so that it can withstand the shocks, but I am not sure about it. Anyone who can enlighten me on that? Also I would really like to know how such a sytem evolved in Scotland when England had a central bank system. Any guesses?

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

Communication gap - His and Her

Anokhi : We are not going to need this ever, why even bother drafting and signing it?
Ishan : Its just a contingency document.

Anokhi : But you think it might happen.
Ishan : I just want to be sure that we dont have hard feelings, in case.

Anokhi : In case? Incase of what Ishan? Divorce, right? I dont think there can be any divorce if there are no hard feelings. Adding some more would not really hurt then.
Ishan: But I just wanted to be sure.

Anokhi : Sure that you dont lose anything when you get a divorce?
Ishan : I was thinking of if rather than when.

Anokhi : Ishan, thinking of a pre-nuptial agreement is thinking of a divorce even before you get married.
Ishan : I once heard a maxim - Dont get in unless you know the way out.

Anokhi : Then maybe you hould not get in at all.

And Mars and Venus need to know about each other to understand them.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Chatting - His and Hers

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Hi


Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Hey, Hi
                                         How are you?

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Hope you remember me, we met last night
                                          Cool
                                          I am fine. was just sitting and thinking how awesome yesterday was.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : yes, it was good. DJ Raunak does infuse life in a party.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: .Yes, he most certainly does.
                                          Btw, the music wasn't the only thing that awesome yesterday.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : is it? I did not notice anything else being cool.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com:  Hmm, ah well, hmm ya , as in
                                           ya, there weren't too many things happening also.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Though I was asked on the dance floor by an OK type guy. :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: It was small gathering anyway
                                         :)
                                         :)
                                          I am sure that guy would be awfully flattered at being considered OK :)

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Hmm, I do try to bring smiles to people, you know.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: You know, I was scared that I might forget your email id - after all we had had enough booze to sedate an entire army :)  

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : You had had a lot more than me.
                                         and why do you think I wrote my id down and gave it to you? :)
                                         Btw, totally love these expressions you come up with.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: You have read such expressions before? 
                                          :( I was hoping  to impress you with these :(

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Yes, I read them on your blog.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: And you have read my blog too. So its like I dont have an iota of chance to impress you. 

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : You really are as naive as you sounded yesterday.
                                         First up, I would like to know more about the guy I was dancing with last night. -                                               Atleast more than his name is Ankit and works at an Investment bank.
                                          And if I were you, I would try to capitalize on the fact that girl has read my blog - rather than ruing how I could have lifted things from there. :P

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Being verbose is not something that comes naturally to me
                                          I typically need a lot of alcohol in my system before that happens :)

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : :)
                                         I can at least vouch for you being verbose when inebriated :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Anyway, if I remember correct, you are a Mexican food specialist chef at a five star hotel.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : I like that you could manage to remember so much from last night.
                                         Yes, I am chef (you could guess that from the id itself  :) )
                                         Let me see if you remember something not-so-obvious

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Hmm, not-so-obvious .. Telling you that you have an extremely pretty smile would be extremely obvious, so thats ruled out.
                                         And that the way that you remove those hair strands from in front of your face - it makes my knees go weak. - but even that might be obvious
                                          Something that might not be so obvious to you is that to muster the courage to talk to you, I had to gulp down much more beer than I normally do.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : I like it when flirting is concealed under a sheath of "ah-so-obvious" ramblings :)
                                         And btw, it WAS obvious to me :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Now, thats interesting ..
                                          btw, you mentioned that you were moved by the plight that regionalism has brought and the hinderance it creates for national growth.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Yes, it sad, isn't it?
                                         National integration is indeed a burning problem right now. Whats the point of the country growing if all the people do not get some benefit out of it.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Yes, and stopping people from working at certain areas, just reduces the economic efficiency of operation. If the leaders see this nation as a single entity, they would try to distribute resources as to develop the entire nation rather than parts of it. 

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Though we definitely dont a China-type communist rule - The government deciding where and what to invest. It would probably be best to frame policies to allow for growth everywhere and let economics take over from there on.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Bingo ! If you were not a chef, you could have been an economist.
                                          Though I doubt if they dont automatically disqualify girls over a certain level of beauty.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : What amazes me is that you can get to flirting from any topic. Don't you get bored of it?

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Someone once quipped about quitting smoking - "I have quit smoking many a times, but to be unnatural and not appreciate the beauty in front, its a insult to both the beauty and its maker."

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Too much of cheesy lines can expand your waistline, you know?

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Is it?
                                          So do you leave calories count note of the kind "Without any chessy lines - 300. With a bit of flattery - 375. With pure and unabridged adulation - 550"?

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : :)
                                          I haven't done that yet, but now I have a mind to do that :)
                                          But before that I will have to ask my manager if he would be fine with such explanatory notes :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Good work ethos dictate that you do that.
                                          would you need some help in convincing your manager, do call in the (free) services of the author.
Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Hmm, I don't think it would be a good thing to take someone to pitch an idea for me.
                                        Maybe I can get more details sorted out about this idea before I meet him.

 Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Ya, that makes sense. How about tomorrow night, at 8?
                                           We can have a nice dinner and maybe discuss things there.
Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Seems good to me.
                                         See you tomorrow. And we will discuss only this idea then :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Yes, sure we will :)
Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Anyway, good night. got to get to work early to leave early.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Good night.

And Mars and Venus continue to find excuses to bump into each other

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Monday, April 5, 2010

His and Hers

How can buying a pair of shoes be such a big deal? Why is Amrita making such  a fuss about me not accompanying her shoe-shopping? Maybe she is really tired, but then she shouldn't go - I don't understand this fixation with shopping! Bah, women!

How can Rahul not want to join me for shopping! We should now start doing things together. Just the other day he said he likes my shoes. Now that I want him to come and suggest things to me - not that I will allow him to choose, he has terrible sense of clothing and everything else associated with it. But still, we must spend time doing things as couples now. The way he seems to be avoiding such stuff gets me worried - is he not committed to make this work?

Its not as if I am going to choose shoes - or that she will let me do that. So whats the point of me going there?

I bet he has one of those stupid matches coming up. I just hate it when he does that. Everytime, everytime that we have to go somewhere - one of those cricket or football matches will be airing. And he will make some stupid excuses and abscond from whatever we were supposed to be doing. He does not even listen to me while the match is at "interesting" stage. Games are so passive! His, or for that matter anyone's viewing is not going to affect anything on the ground, so why bother watching. But who is to drill this logic in his head? That's why I have put the remote in a "safe" place so that he does not waste his time watching stupid things.

There is nothing to do now, I don't even seem to find the stupid remote. God knows where I kept it the last time. Amrita still expects me to go for that stupid shoe shop. Maybe I should go. Then after coming back, I can ask her to search for the remote. She is pretty good at finding things that get lost around here. She even found that Mumbai Indians t-shirt that I wore almost everyday before it was lost somewhere in the house itself. I love my wife!

Rahul has agreed to come shoe shopping with me! I am so fortunate to have such a caring husband. He is not the kind who professes his love, but he could not stand me going alone - and it gladdens me to no end. I will return the remote as soon as we get back here. I love my husband!

And Mars and Venus coexist.

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Iran, Pakistan ink the gas pipeline deal without India

Pakistan signed a deal for the supply of natural gas 750 million metric cubic units a day to 1 billion cubic units a day. This deal was worth 7.5 billion USD. Though I really don't know the pricing of the gas.

The pipeline that was to come to India was to be 2700 Kms and now they have settled at only 900 Kms. Had India joined the deal, despite Pakistan's assurance that it will try to safeguard the pipeline, India can never be sure of the safety of the two-thirds of the pipeline that is non-critical to Pakistan.

Earlier India had made a statement saying that the transit tariff demanded by Pakistan is very high. It was speculated that this tariff would mean that Pakistan would have a significantly shorter investment recovery time than India.

And with the recent oil field investments by ONGC in Venezuela and Russia, and gas field discovery by RIL, India does not feel so pressed for energy as it once was.

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Facebook surpasses Google in the number of hits

Facebook had more number of hits than Google for the first time (in US) last week (ending March 13th 2010).This marks a huge shift in the internet usage pattern from the past.
Going by the usage, now connection seems to be more important than information.

Though Google owned sites, Youtube, Gmail and Picassa are widely visited, most of Google's revenues are from its sponsored search results.
Such usage changes could mean that companies looking for online advertisement might first look at Facebook than Google. Since Facebook allows one to join many special interest groups, the chances of landing a relevant ad is higher there. In the world of internet marketing, making the ad relevant is as important as anything else.
Though Gmail also has better targeted ads, based on your email content.

Be that as it may, the market leader has been displaced, and in the time to come, we can be sure of heightened war for the eyeballs.

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