December 16, 2011
Mario Miranda
Lunar Eclilpse and the Hoax of Scientific Temper
There is a famous anecdote about Thomas Alva Edison - world's greatest inventor-scientist. He is reading Bible in a train and a co-traveller surprised he is reading Bible even if with a scientific temper. Edison later invites him to his home. The traveller goes to Edison's home and suddenly notices an astonishing model of a solar system in the living room. He quizzes Edison who made it but Edison repeatedly says he only created it and that too in a day. The skeptic-guest gets exasperated and says,"C'mon Mr Edison. How can you make such a wonderful replica of a solar system in a day. Tell me who really made it." Edison was supposed to have replied: "If you can't believe that a mere replica of a solar system can't come up by itself, how did you think the entire solar system and the universe came up all by itself? If there is a creation, there has to be a creator. If there is a painting, there is a painting. If there is a sculpture, there is a sculptor. If there is an artwork, there has to be an artist." And so goes the tale, Edison has convinced the rationalist-skeptic-guest into believing that God is indeed the creator of this universe. This tale is recounted by a noted IT professional turned Spiritualist TT Rangarajn. But why am I suddenly saying this now? Because, I feel sometimes agog at the flurry of news channels trying to ignite an uproarious debate on whether the ongoing Lunar Eclipse has any repurcussions on pregnant women, children, eating habits, diseases and so on. I find it extremely silly that the so-called Rationalists dont argue with a scientific temper that it deserves - they just jump onto the moment's opportunity - why can't you eat during eclipse? Why should you close temples? Why you can do anything you like during this time? I cannot possibly answer all these questions in a sentence or a facebook post ( since I and my family take it quite seriously - these eclipses without abashedness whether it is scientific or not). But the fact is - a small micro-degree variation in an acquarium of small fish in temperature or water can kill the fish suddenly. When such a thing can happen in a small ecosystem like aquarium - imagine how much variation can happen when three huge planets Earth, Moon and Sun overlap in cosmic orbits and how many bacteria and micro-organisms get created as well as killed? Why do the Rationalists always argue for arguments' sake without seeing such a simple logic. Our systems also, as one seer opined in a channel, are so advanced we can tell all the eclipses that have happened or will happen for the next several millenia with just pen and paper and vernacular Almanacs. Can the scientists predict when the next eclipse or the next sub-cycle occur? I am reasonably rationalist but sometimes the blind nonsense that goes in the name of Rationalism to the point of pooh-poohing the inherent logical biases and scientific certitude that is embedded into our Astrological systems and good practices of living is not my cup of tea. We can take such debates later on but first let the scientists answer such simple questions as above. Right now, its time for us to have a headbath, recite a few more mantras, sprinkle water, cook fresh food and break our fast of more than 12 hours and go to sleep. Happy Lunar Eclipse to all!
"Panja" Movie Review
"Panja" is directed by Vishnuvardhan who made "Billa". It had Pawan Kalyan pinning such high hopes that he made the Audio launch also a low-key affair and under-stated. The movie will remain that way only - under-stated and low-key because while it is pleasing to the eye, it is hard on the ears. If you combine I-Day and R-Day celebrations since 1947 also, you will not have heard so many gunshots ...in one movie. When will movie-makers realise that people don't come to the theatre to hear gunshots and see stylised violence masquerading as a slick gangster movie. We got the feelling we have seen this movie before in "Antham" or "Godfather" or countless RGV films. Pawan Kalyan looks good with his richly-trimmed beard and subtle acting, he also strived to dance reasonably according to his capacity well. But the rest of the cast doesn't get the characterisation you remember. Another wasted opportunity for Jackie Shroff. Yuvan Shankar Raja's music is good in maybe two songs but his BGM could have been better - he can deliver more like his legendary dad Ilayaraja. The Movie's weakness is the story, below-average entertainment, and dialogues spoken and audible in Don's Dens - doesn't connect well. I wonder if I have the energy in the coming years to watch Tollywood Stars's wild antics on day one - I felt more disappointed with myself for throwing my money for the nth time on stars who are competing with their nephews but dont invest well in stories that sizzle or set them apart. My resolution for 2012 will be to skip such movies on day one and wait for another "Bakra" to review the film for me. Sorry Pawan, but you asked for it. Though I am digressing - what depressed me more is two sulking trailers during interval - of "Businessman" (Mahesh) and "Rajanna" - 2012 looks more depressing from output point of view in Tollywood. But I hope I don't stay in this mood for long. Something better be good soon.
The Dirty Picture
"The Dirty Picture" is not such a dirty picture to watch except for the adult content. I haven't seen Milan Luthria's "Once Upon a Time..." before so I went to the movie expecting to see a raunchy take of the movies of the 80s because the subject of the film played by Vidya Balan is "Silk". We recognised soon after the titles that it had astonishing prettiness, fluidity and a musical line. It sho...ws all the trappings of a nubile young thing becoming a starlet only to get into the lowlife that accompanies celluloid magic - the baggage of success that gets unwanted people, ego-clashes, financial woes and finally, souring of good luck. In the 160 minutes of the movie, you get a peek into the surreptious world of heroines who get drawn like moths to fires of stardom and adulation that utlimately deserts them. Vidya Balan portrays the character of "Silk" with utmost honesty and boldness rarely seen in the "Parineeta" girl and had she not played this character as a woman aware of her sensuality with guts and emotional chutzpah, the movie could have dangerously slipped into a C-grade film. Vidya gives this film its greatest reason to watch and its redemption and its dignity - you quickly move into a gear of emotional journey with the character in all the highs and the lows. Of all the men in her life -Naseerudin Shah stands out with Emran and Tussar not so effective. Writer Rajat Arora must be complimented for penning some outstanding lines seldom seen in Bollywood except in Art Films. He gives Vidya Balan the lines that even angry young men and stammering superstars don't get whistled for. Milan gets extra-ordinary support from Vishal Shekar in BGM and the song "Oo Lala Oo Lala". His shot selection, stylish picturisation and non-judgemental characterisation makes him watchable in commercial films. He has explained well why the 80s films of vamps and sirens have given away to the heroines themselves becoming and dressing like vamps. Vidya could well sweep all the awards this year. Watchable once but beware of some bold content.
The Purple Lotus- Book
Its not everyday you have a friend who writes for a living. Its not everyday that a writer friend publishes a book and you get one of the first autographed copies. I am talking about “The Purple Lotus and Other Stories” written by my friend Ratna Rao Shekar. I have known Ratna Rao Shekar for a little under eight years - more as an ardent book-lover and benign editor of “Wow Hyderabad” and “Housecalls”. While Wow has its instant appeal with the uber-cool of Hydurban, Housecalls is a deceptively lesser-known but over-appreciated magazine for Doctors but whose contents go beyond medical matters. After bringing out a coffee table book earlier “Journey without a map” which captures her best travel pieces from “Housecalls”, she is now the proud author of a much-awaited book, her debut book of short stories – THE PURPLE LOTUS. Though I read as much as one book of fiction as I read of eight books of non-fiction, I find the collection a good read- though it hems with adipose narrative at times.Thirteen stories in all, Ratna uses all of her travelling experiences to tell us tales of diverse folks making their own exploratory trips in Benares, Kerala, Sri Lanka, Kodaikanal, Darjeeling, New York, Singapore, Diu, Andaman and Italy.
If you love travel and the intersection of spaces between Personalised narrative, fiction and nostalgia, you will lap this book. Her style of writing, for those who read her stuff in Wow!Hyderabad and Housecalls is reflective, natural and honest. There is a bit of Naipaul-like prose – and Proust-like dabbling commentary on everything under the sun but centred on filial relations, literary love, careers, kindness and writerly raptures. Having published stories and articles in leading magazines and newspapers, I knew Ratna Rao had the material of many books. Here she gives her rich, unbiased observations on things as they were on matters from loving and death to spirituality and materialism to the emptiness as well as fulfillment that fills most lives. How happy each is in their world and how uniquely unhappy or messier others get – you are given snapshots of both in first and second accounts. The book is a decent debut of short stories that you will eventually connect with in the multiple characters – of writers, spiritualists, dancers, engineers, artistes, doctors, teeny-boppers, sahasrapoornima-seen grandmothers, even tribals. Of course, you may not like every story for the prisms through which the writer characterizes the players but it is quite a quality effort for a writer to publish her first book of short-stories – Ratna’s book bears her own stamp, and with a belief in world-view in a voice that’s her own. Somerset Maugham has given only one solid piece of wisdom for any aspiring writer – Write what you know. Ratna Rao projects her knowledge of things literary and of human nature very well. “Purple Lotus” acquaints you well with a journalist-writer who has never shied from writing passionately and honestly about. For those who know her, there are few stories which are autobiographical and revealing and definitely a tribute to some of her closed ones who nurtured and mentored her. The book is published by Mapinlit (www.mapinpub.com) with an elegant cover and truly international-class printing standards (who else, but Pragati Printing can do it). Congratulations!
If you love travel and the intersection of spaces between Personalised narrative, fiction and nostalgia, you will lap this book. Her style of writing, for those who read her stuff in Wow!Hyderabad and Housecalls is reflective, natural and honest. There is a bit of Naipaul-like prose – and Proust-like dabbling commentary on everything under the sun but centred on filial relations, literary love, careers, kindness and writerly raptures. Having published stories and articles in leading magazines and newspapers, I knew Ratna Rao had the material of many books. Here she gives her rich, unbiased observations on things as they were on matters from loving and death to spirituality and materialism to the emptiness as well as fulfillment that fills most lives. How happy each is in their world and how uniquely unhappy or messier others get – you are given snapshots of both in first and second accounts. The book is a decent debut of short stories that you will eventually connect with in the multiple characters – of writers, spiritualists, dancers, engineers, artistes, doctors, teeny-boppers, sahasrapoornima-seen grandmothers, even tribals. Of course, you may not like every story for the prisms through which the writer characterizes the players but it is quite a quality effort for a writer to publish her first book of short-stories – Ratna’s book bears her own stamp, and with a belief in world-view in a voice that’s her own. Somerset Maugham has given only one solid piece of wisdom for any aspiring writer – Write what you know. Ratna Rao projects her knowledge of things literary and of human nature very well. “Purple Lotus” acquaints you well with a journalist-writer who has never shied from writing passionately and honestly about. For those who know her, there are few stories which are autobiographical and revealing and definitely a tribute to some of her closed ones who nurtured and mentored her. The book is published by Mapinlit (www.mapinpub.com) with an elegant cover and truly international-class printing standards (who else, but Pragati Printing can do it). Congratulations!
BRIC and its Creator's New Book "The Growth Map"
Jim O Neil who created BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as an investible asset-class ten years ago (alongwith Roopa Purushottaman - Indian with Kishore Biyani group now) is finally releasing his book on the theme this month. Title:"The Growth Path" is releasing on the tenth anniversary of the coinage of BRICs by the Goldman Sachs team and I am awaiting to see what more denouements he will add. At the moment, nobody is on a wing and a prayer as much as Investors in BRIC countries and Investors residing in BRIC countries with a home bias.
December 5, 2011
Dev Anand Saab
88 is an age even Gregory Peck who is called America's Dev Anand hasn't lived. While we all recollect the golden period that Dev Anand belonged to - there are many things that made Dev Anand adorable and different. My father and I read his autobiography "Romancing with Life" avidly and recount his candour, zen for life and creative juices that kept flowing till the last. Dev was well-read throughout and didn't stop reading after B.A.English Lit. For most of the actors or anybody, reading was something to be done when you have lots of time and money. Hardly the case with Dev Anand - he made movies despite dwindling response - movies spurred by reading a Times edit or an article in "India Today". Movies with Rs.1-2 crs. budgets with a point or two on current issues. So what if Bharat Dabholkar asked the famous questions: "Who watches Dev Anand's films now?" and "Who finances his films?". Dev Anand took care of his health (almost as legendarily as ANR does today). He takes wine to de-clog his arteries in the same doses as kids take alcohol - in teaspoonfuls or tiny pegs each day. He never worried about his health or wealth, never let his stardom get to his family in arclights. He gave many starturns to star aspirants- male and female - and gave them teasers and cameos. He gained commercially sometimes and left the starturns to happen based on the young actors' luck and self-belief. He knew that his self-belief took him to the pedestal that he stood on and thought that the world will continue to oogle at him. In his heydays, he took on mighty superstars with his youthful effervescence and taught stylish dressing to so many of our fathers and grand-fathers. He was mighty humble and never believed he was the smartest guy in town - I remember he came to one of the cine awards function in South and somebody was introducing Bhanumathy Ramakrishna as a multil-faceted lady - Director, playwright, singer, producer, writer etc. Dev said he was astonished and humbled by her talents. A few years back, he hugged Saif Ali Khan who was imitating Dev Anand at another Awards Nite - so much for his ability to laugh at himself. Dev Anand had great work-life balance but worked hard to deliver creative output with 18-hour schedules. He gave space to so many talented music directors and technicians - SD Burman, RD Burman, Kishore Kumar and so on. He built a studio NavKetan Films that boasts of a marquee catalogue of films that will mostly stand the onslaught of time. Yes, he had famous run-ins with literary giants like Pearl S.Buck and RK Narayan and gave us International Productions and Bi-linguals when we are just getting into color; of course, I never liked the way he short-changed RK Narayan's "The Guide" by feigning that he will adapt the movie from "Guide" but paid a paltry sum to RK Narayan. That experience has forever made RKN shy of giving his books for screenplays and you will find two-three versions of what happened in Dev's autobio, RK's autobio and a rejoinder by Jerry Pinto. Whatever be the truth, Dev Anand fiercely fought till the last to protect his halo and his fading "youth". Of the famous trio, you now have only Dilip Kumar Saab remaining from the Bollywood of the 1950s. But Dev Anand will be remembered as the original happy-go-lucky Hero who gave Independent India its happiest reason to watch Hindi films - to dress like metrosexuals during years of Hindu rate of GDP growth, to live and love like chivalrous men, to live merrily and selfishly and to keep the youthful vigour alive till the last. To me and my dad, the moving visual of a black and white or a color Dev Anand whistling in full-buttoned shirts and driving open-roof cars at fuel-efficient speed is a lasting memory of happiness whenever we see - something that knows no generation gap.
Shankar Sharma's Special Appearances
If I am starved of entertainment during the day, and work demands a break, I tune in to these business channels where anchors and talking heads get paid to talk. The most amusing speaker according to me is Shankar Sharma - he is the Indian equivalent of a Dr.Doom or a human incarnation of a Nomura Securities. I was tuning in the other day, when Shankar Sharma was on one channel. It was irresistabl...e and irascible as usual. He says (and I paraphrase): "Inflation is not in our hands and only Growth is in our hands and yet RBI Governor has continued raising interest rates even at the cost of sacrificing growth. This 1930s thinking to monetary policy has to change.And hence the market will fall by 2500 points." Or something to that effect. Does he know what he is talking about? I am not concerned if and whether the markets will fall by 2500 points as market panics seldom have reason. But I am aghast at his knowledge of economics (as it is most people who are experts have got zero knowledge of economics but thats another matter) and impact on India. He should realise that India is not a small economy like Zimbabwe or Argentina which can afford hyperinflation. There will be issues - social and civil if ground inflation reaches a critical stage and we just can't afford it. There will be issues, he should know, with currency if Rupee touches 60 to a dollar and nobody will allow borrowing against your currency. So, RBI and its legacy of governors from Rangarajan to Jalan to Reddy to Subba Rao are well in their groove to know whats right for the country. I am a beneficiary of capital markets but that doesn't mean the country is less important than stock markets. People like Shankar Sharma who have this foot-in-the-mouth disease and self-righteousness can only make special appearances when the markets are already punished 25 per cent - so they can make more money for jam by going short on the market which is already in panic mode. Discerning viewers and investors will know who comes in when. Coming back to the currency and RBI's policy, now that China has cut interest rates and we have already raised 365 basis points since the last cut - RBI has got every trick in its sleeve to cut to grow. We don't need traders barred by SEBI to tell RBI what to do. RBI's Central Governors can rank amongst the best Governors in the world - they are not just here to sign one rupee notes; they are here to make sure the rupee note is honored by the rest of the world as well and retains the face value they sign on.
Pilla Zamindar
"Pilla Zamindar" is a short and breezy comedy with lively performances by an ensemble of stage artistes who never get their share of limelight in films. Director Ashok and Producer GS Rao have created a fun-filled tale of how a Richie-Rich Naani who takes money for granted gets to earn his spurs and grow as a mature human being who learns that what drives happiness is not money but other things i...n life - love, friendship, self-growth, personal victory and service-mindedness before the world can recognise you. Earlier, he loves things and uses people but towards the end he loves people and uses things - and in this real "graduation" process, the Director has shown enormous talent and command over the script, story-telling and entertainment aspects with oodles of right-balanced emotions. No foreign locations, no exotic sets, no thorough-fare fights that exhaust you. In just 130 minutes, you get a lung-expanding excursion into the village atmosphere and get to see folks who make merry in their rustic walks of life with greater ease than urban folks who smart under the metrosexual madness. Except for a bit of crassiness and maybe one vulgar song, the movie is a victory for what a combination of raw talent, good performances, tight scripting, flair for outstanding humour and spirited execution can achieve. Naani, Rao Ramesh, MS Narayana and the gang who hang out with the hero all deserve applause. There is an unconventional speed and exuberance in the screenplay that gets you hooked even though you know whats coming. Once in a while, we commit a statistical error of watching a good movie wee bit late. Like that, we saw "Ala Modalaindi" and "Golimaar". Its now the turn of "Pilla Zamindar" which is already into 50days run. The experience was thoroughly enjoyable and leaves you light-hearted inspite of the subtle messages beamed out. Saptagiri 70mm where we saw is as robust in viewing experience as a multiplex - and that was just one of the other pleasant surprises - music and photography were equally good. Movie-makers should make this movie a case-study on making low-budget movies that can become paisa-vasools.
Niall Ferguson Vs. Pankaj Mishra
I am excerpting a now famously spirited spat between Niall Ferguson and Pankaj Mishra both acclaimed writers in their own right. Pankaj reviewed Niall's book "Civillisations" and thats where the trouble started for Pankaj where Niall was "alleged" to be "racist" in his views of West Vs. East. I couldn't paste the link from LRB site (London Review of Books) without keeping other letters column. So duly acknowledging these two letters - Niall Ferguson's letter and his repartee by Pankaj Mishra - both are captured in this. Source: London Review of Books (lest I be facing a suit next!)
Niall Ferguson's letter to London Review of Books:Watch this man
Pankaj Mishra is now in full and ignominious retreat. As my last letter explained, in his review of my book Civilisation, he made a vile allegation of racism against me (Letters, 17 November). In his response he nowhere denies that this was his allegation; nor does he deny that he intended to make it. He now acknowledges that I am no racist. Any decent person would make an unconditional apology and stop there. But Mishra proves incapable of doing the right thing. His mealy-mouthed acknowledgment is qualified by the offensive suggestion that I lack ‘the steady convictions of racialist ideologues’, to whom his original review so outrageously compared me. Mishra’s slippery spin on his original words is that he meant to accuse me only of a ‘wider pathology’ of ‘bow[ing] down before the conqueror of the moment, to accept the existing trend as irreversible’. Unfortunately for his reputation, this new smear is also demonstrably false.
If Mishra bothered to read my work – or if he were not so intent on misrepresenting it – he would have to concede that since my book Virtual History (1997) I have consistently argued against the notion of irreversible trends in history. He would have to concede that the first article I published on the subject of ‘Chimerica’ (in the Wall Street Journal on 5 February 2007) explicitly concluded with a warning that the Sino-American economic relationship could prove to be a chimera. Far from writing ‘whatever seems resonant and persuasive at any given hour’, I have consistently sought to challenge the conventional wisdom of the moment. The Cash Nexus (2001) – published at a time when most bien pensants were ardent proponents of European monetary union – accurately foretold the current crisis of the euro. My book Colossus (2004) was subtitled ‘The Rise and Fall of the American Empire’ and warned that neoconservative visions of American imperium would likely founder on three deficits, of manpower, finance and public attention. Throughout 2006 and 2007, when others fell victim to irrational exuberance, I repeatedly warned of the dangers of a large financial crisis emanating from the US subprime mortgage market. And, far from hailing ‘the Chinese Century’, I spend pages 319-324 of Civilisation discussing the numerous challenges that China is likely to face in the coming decades. In fact, the phrase ‘Chinese century’ does not appear in my book.
As Mishra – and the LRB’s editor – must have appreciated, the allegation of racism in Mishra’s review was ostensibly buttressed by repeated accusations of omission of important issues and evidence. In my last letter I took five of these supposed omissions and showed they are in fact in the book under review, in black and white – and in the index. Had Mishra read the book so casually that he missed all five? Or was he wilfully and maliciously misrepresenting it?
Exposed, Mishra now retreats into quibbling about my tone. For example, my reference to Kenneth Pomeranz’s work is said to be ‘uncouth’. Really? Here is what I wrote:
For a century after 1520, the Chinese national savings rate was negative. There was no capital accumulation in late Ming China; rather the opposite. The story of what Kenneth Pomeranz has called ‘the Great Divergence’ between East and West therefore began much earlier than Pomeranz asserted.
I leave readers to make up their own minds about whether or not this is uncouth. (By the standards of serious economic historiography it is actually pretty polite.)
Mishra’s disingenuous approach is exemplified by his treatment of Chinese economic history at the start of the modern era, a central topic of Civilisation. Mishra’s original review said I gave no evidence for my position. Now that he stands corrected, Mishra responds that ‘[Ferguson] now unearths a footnote’ citing ‘two obscure Chinese scholars’. I find this extraordinary in two respects. First, the reference needed no ‘unearthing’. It was there, in the source notes and bibliography, for him and other readers to see. Second, David Daokui Li is hardly an ‘obscure scholar’. He is one of China’s leading economists. Not only is he the director of the Centre for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, he is also a member of the People’s Bank of China’s Monetary Policy Committee. He is, moreover, a former fellow of Stanford’s Hoover Institution and a former editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics. To say that Professor Li’s curriculum vitae is more impressive than Pankaj Mishra’s would be an understatement. A simple Google search, had Mishra bothered to do one before he wrote his rejoinder, would have spared his blushes. Your readers can now draw their own conclusions about the quality of the work you allow into your publication.
My book is not a ‘paean to the superiority of Western civilisation’, as Mishra describes it in a last pathetic salvo. I explicitly disavow triumphalism in the introduction. Rather it is a dispassionate examination of why the West came to dominate the Rest economically, geopolitically and even culturally between the 1500s and the 1970s. Besides the familiar, ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement – employed by Western and non-Western empires through the ages – there were novelties, not all of them pernicious. One of these was the scientific method, whereby claims are not advanced that patently conflict with empirical evidence. Another was the rule of law, under which, among other things, the freedom of the press does not extend to serious defamation, at best reckless, at worst deliberate and malicious. It is deplorable that the London Review of Books gives space to a man who seemingly cares about neither of these things.
I am still waiting for an apology, from both Pankaj Mishra and the editor who published his defamatory article.
Niall Ferguson
Harvard University
Pankaj Mishra writes: Niall Ferguson does not, alas, satisfactorily embody the ‘novelties’ – ‘scientific method’ and ‘rule of law’ – that he insists were the West’s gifts to the ‘Rest’. He seeks to mitigate the crimes of his beloved Western empires – what he calls ‘ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement’ – by also implicating ‘non-Western’ empires in them. He persists with questions that I have already answered in our previous exchange. Asked for proof of the ‘recent research’ that has ‘demolished’ Kenneth Pomeranz’s The Great Divergence, he comes up with the curriculum vitae of a Chinese academic nearly as well connected as he is. However, some readers of Civilisation may still want to see the actual paper that apparently singlehandedly discredits a major work of scholarship.
It is hard, even with Google, to keep up with Ferguson’s many claims and counter-claims. But his announcements of the dawning of the ‘Chinese Century’ and his more recent revised prophecy that India will outpace China, can be found as quickly as the boisterous heralding of the American imperium that he now disavows. As for his views on the innate superiority, indeed indispensability, of Western civilisation, these can be easily ascertained from his published writings and statements. Here is an extract from an interview early this year in the Guardian justifying the conquest of Native Americans:
The Apache and the Navajo had all sorts of admirable traits. In the absence of literacy we don’t know what they were because they didn’t write them down. We do know they killed a hell of a lot of bison. But had they been left to their own devices, I don’t think we’d have anything remotely resembling the civilisation we’ve had in North America.
It says something about the political culture of our age that Ferguson has got away with this disgraced worldview for as long as he has. Certainly, it now needs to be scrutinised in places other than the letters page of the LRB.
Niall Ferguson's letter to London Review of Books:Watch this man
Pankaj Mishra is now in full and ignominious retreat. As my last letter explained, in his review of my book Civilisation, he made a vile allegation of racism against me (Letters, 17 November). In his response he nowhere denies that this was his allegation; nor does he deny that he intended to make it. He now acknowledges that I am no racist. Any decent person would make an unconditional apology and stop there. But Mishra proves incapable of doing the right thing. His mealy-mouthed acknowledgment is qualified by the offensive suggestion that I lack ‘the steady convictions of racialist ideologues’, to whom his original review so outrageously compared me. Mishra’s slippery spin on his original words is that he meant to accuse me only of a ‘wider pathology’ of ‘bow[ing] down before the conqueror of the moment, to accept the existing trend as irreversible’. Unfortunately for his reputation, this new smear is also demonstrably false.
If Mishra bothered to read my work – or if he were not so intent on misrepresenting it – he would have to concede that since my book Virtual History (1997) I have consistently argued against the notion of irreversible trends in history. He would have to concede that the first article I published on the subject of ‘Chimerica’ (in the Wall Street Journal on 5 February 2007) explicitly concluded with a warning that the Sino-American economic relationship could prove to be a chimera. Far from writing ‘whatever seems resonant and persuasive at any given hour’, I have consistently sought to challenge the conventional wisdom of the moment. The Cash Nexus (2001) – published at a time when most bien pensants were ardent proponents of European monetary union – accurately foretold the current crisis of the euro. My book Colossus (2004) was subtitled ‘The Rise and Fall of the American Empire’ and warned that neoconservative visions of American imperium would likely founder on three deficits, of manpower, finance and public attention. Throughout 2006 and 2007, when others fell victim to irrational exuberance, I repeatedly warned of the dangers of a large financial crisis emanating from the US subprime mortgage market. And, far from hailing ‘the Chinese Century’, I spend pages 319-324 of Civilisation discussing the numerous challenges that China is likely to face in the coming decades. In fact, the phrase ‘Chinese century’ does not appear in my book.
As Mishra – and the LRB’s editor – must have appreciated, the allegation of racism in Mishra’s review was ostensibly buttressed by repeated accusations of omission of important issues and evidence. In my last letter I took five of these supposed omissions and showed they are in fact in the book under review, in black and white – and in the index. Had Mishra read the book so casually that he missed all five? Or was he wilfully and maliciously misrepresenting it?
Exposed, Mishra now retreats into quibbling about my tone. For example, my reference to Kenneth Pomeranz’s work is said to be ‘uncouth’. Really? Here is what I wrote:
For a century after 1520, the Chinese national savings rate was negative. There was no capital accumulation in late Ming China; rather the opposite. The story of what Kenneth Pomeranz has called ‘the Great Divergence’ between East and West therefore began much earlier than Pomeranz asserted.
I leave readers to make up their own minds about whether or not this is uncouth. (By the standards of serious economic historiography it is actually pretty polite.)
Mishra’s disingenuous approach is exemplified by his treatment of Chinese economic history at the start of the modern era, a central topic of Civilisation. Mishra’s original review said I gave no evidence for my position. Now that he stands corrected, Mishra responds that ‘[Ferguson] now unearths a footnote’ citing ‘two obscure Chinese scholars’. I find this extraordinary in two respects. First, the reference needed no ‘unearthing’. It was there, in the source notes and bibliography, for him and other readers to see. Second, David Daokui Li is hardly an ‘obscure scholar’. He is one of China’s leading economists. Not only is he the director of the Centre for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, he is also a member of the People’s Bank of China’s Monetary Policy Committee. He is, moreover, a former fellow of Stanford’s Hoover Institution and a former editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics. To say that Professor Li’s curriculum vitae is more impressive than Pankaj Mishra’s would be an understatement. A simple Google search, had Mishra bothered to do one before he wrote his rejoinder, would have spared his blushes. Your readers can now draw their own conclusions about the quality of the work you allow into your publication.
My book is not a ‘paean to the superiority of Western civilisation’, as Mishra describes it in a last pathetic salvo. I explicitly disavow triumphalism in the introduction. Rather it is a dispassionate examination of why the West came to dominate the Rest economically, geopolitically and even culturally between the 1500s and the 1970s. Besides the familiar, ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement – employed by Western and non-Western empires through the ages – there were novelties, not all of them pernicious. One of these was the scientific method, whereby claims are not advanced that patently conflict with empirical evidence. Another was the rule of law, under which, among other things, the freedom of the press does not extend to serious defamation, at best reckless, at worst deliberate and malicious. It is deplorable that the London Review of Books gives space to a man who seemingly cares about neither of these things.
I am still waiting for an apology, from both Pankaj Mishra and the editor who published his defamatory article.
Niall Ferguson
Harvard University
Pankaj Mishra writes: Niall Ferguson does not, alas, satisfactorily embody the ‘novelties’ – ‘scientific method’ and ‘rule of law’ – that he insists were the West’s gifts to the ‘Rest’. He seeks to mitigate the crimes of his beloved Western empires – what he calls ‘ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement’ – by also implicating ‘non-Western’ empires in them. He persists with questions that I have already answered in our previous exchange. Asked for proof of the ‘recent research’ that has ‘demolished’ Kenneth Pomeranz’s The Great Divergence, he comes up with the curriculum vitae of a Chinese academic nearly as well connected as he is. However, some readers of Civilisation may still want to see the actual paper that apparently singlehandedly discredits a major work of scholarship.
It is hard, even with Google, to keep up with Ferguson’s many claims and counter-claims. But his announcements of the dawning of the ‘Chinese Century’ and his more recent revised prophecy that India will outpace China, can be found as quickly as the boisterous heralding of the American imperium that he now disavows. As for his views on the innate superiority, indeed indispensability, of Western civilisation, these can be easily ascertained from his published writings and statements. Here is an extract from an interview early this year in the Guardian justifying the conquest of Native Americans:
The Apache and the Navajo had all sorts of admirable traits. In the absence of literacy we don’t know what they were because they didn’t write them down. We do know they killed a hell of a lot of bison. But had they been left to their own devices, I don’t think we’d have anything remotely resembling the civilisation we’ve had in North America.
It says something about the political culture of our age that Ferguson has got away with this disgraced worldview for as long as he has. Certainly, it now needs to be scrutinised in places other than the letters page of the LRB.
Let the Parliament function
Even though I am a die-hard bull about the economy and stockmarket, I am worried about the way the Parliamentarians in India are acting out of their wits. If they don't allow the ongoing Winter Session to function properly, and deliberate and discuss the passage of crucial bills - you can rest assured that not only FII outflows will increase or additional FDI get stalled, it will do more harm than... good to Brand India in the near-and-long-term. I am scared that if this session doesn't function its chartered course, Rupee can touch 56-58 to a dollar and markets can slip to 12k also - aggravating a fragile balance in macroeconomic headwinds. Opposition in India have opportunities galore already, they should just rein in their destructive emotions to act responsibly - else, they will be perceived as enemies bigger than some neighbouring countries. Dear opposition, choose your batttles well, you are on the verge of winning a war, why fritter away a chance to show some statesmanship?
Congress-I and Customer Service
The concept of customer service (moments of truth) has never existed for Congress-I and its lieutenants. Look at the way they are treating their biggest bastion in South - AP and India's second Presidential Capital Hyderabad. Even with 40 plus MPs - we have no minister of reckoning who will award projects here or retain investments. Investments are flowing out of the city, commercial space i...s g...oing abegging, some 30,000 units are threatening closure, companies like ICICI Bank and Infosys have reduced their footprint here to other places (which was not the original plan) like Pune, Landmark Bookshop closed its Warehouse in Hyderabad, many prominent groups have shifted out of Hyderabad, students are not coming to study in Hyd anymore especially Inter/Degree/PG level students which is the backbone of student population, MICE events have taken the severest knock last few years, IT Parks are shifting their R&D to other centres in India and abroad. Congress-I never treated the Hyd city or the state of AP with the respect and support - issues pile up and burial is the solution. This is nothing but a heist comparable in scale to what the British plundered in pre-independence era. The state is ignored in getting Railways footprint, projects, industrial corridors, everything and they manage to keepo the state folks perenially in illiteracy and disempowerment with doles for the poor. Today, the poor of AP are going out of the state for work; a few years back states like Bihar saw outlflow of people because of de-growth in Bihar - now Bihari workers in AP are moving back to Bihar because there are better prospects there. Does that mean we are becoming worse than Bihar?In the triangular contest happening between TDP, Jagan and Telangana demands - the Cong-I has precipitated CBI enquiries which are going nowhere but threatening to cast a shadow on every businessman in the city. I just hope that the next election will teach a lesson on customer service to Congress-I by decimating their base built on crooked plans, divisive politics and devious policies based on faultlines developed by them alone. Who will cry for you, Andhra Pradesh?
Being Cycil
"Blood is thicker than water". You can say now that Cycil Mistry is chosen to succeed Ratan Tata. The oldest group didnt want any outsider to lead them like say Infosys. Thats justifiable and understandable given its range of businesses.
Quotes on Stockmarkets
Some quotes on the stock market that are never out of sync.
"Know that for every Seller in the market, there is also a buyer" - Anon.
"Only liars manage to always be OUT during bad times and IN during good times in stock market."- Bernard Baruch.
"The investor's chief problem - and even his worst enemy - is likely to be himself." - Benjamin Graham.
"Investors shouldn't delude themselves about b...eating the market. They're just not going to do it. It's just not going to happen." - Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics.
"Your ultimate success of failure will depend on your ability to ignore the worries of the world long enough to allow your investments to succeed. It isn't the head, but the stomach that determines your fate." - Peter Lynch.
"There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools." - Nicholas Chamfort.
"The greatest advantage from gambling comes from not playing at all." - Girolamo Cardano, 16th Century physician, mathematician.
"If you want to see the greatest threat to your financial future, go home and take a look in the mirror." - Jonathan Clements.
just made a killing in the stock market -- I shot my broker". Henny Youngman
"The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell".John Templeton
"If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn't be in stocks".John (Jack) Bogle
"The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them".
Peter Lynch
"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing".Philip Fisher.
"Know that for every Seller in the market, there is also a buyer" - Anon.
"Only liars manage to always be OUT during bad times and IN during good times in stock market."- Bernard Baruch.
"The investor's chief problem - and even his worst enemy - is likely to be himself." - Benjamin Graham.
"Investors shouldn't delude themselves about b...eating the market. They're just not going to do it. It's just not going to happen." - Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics.
"Your ultimate success of failure will depend on your ability to ignore the worries of the world long enough to allow your investments to succeed. It isn't the head, but the stomach that determines your fate." - Peter Lynch.
"There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools." - Nicholas Chamfort.
"The greatest advantage from gambling comes from not playing at all." - Girolamo Cardano, 16th Century physician, mathematician.
"If you want to see the greatest threat to your financial future, go home and take a look in the mirror." - Jonathan Clements.
just made a killing in the stock market -- I shot my broker". Henny Youngman
"The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell".John Templeton
"If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn't be in stocks".John (Jack) Bogle
"The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them".
Peter Lynch
"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing".Philip Fisher.
Sri Rama Rajyam Movie Review
“Srirama Rajyam” is worth the wait and worth watching all 150 minutes. Honestly, I was not bored even once despite that there were no fights, no item songs, no comedy tracks, no belly-dancing or bottom-pinching movements. On the contrary, Balakrishna who usually mouths blood-wrenching dialogues and Nayanatara who wears sleeveless sarees gave one of the best performances of their lives – Balayya with his “Avatar” Vishnu-blue colour body and impeccable makeup and costumes that are reminiscent of NTR and Nayanatara with her Satwic portrayal of Sita in elegant skin-protecting dresses is surprising.
The script - originally purportedly written by Sage Valmiki – based on the original “Luva Kusha” was well-fleshed out, articulated and embellished by Late Mullapudi Venkataramana garu. You see him in every line that every character speaks in the film directed superbly by Bapu garu. It is incredible that after so many decades after “Seeta Kalyanam”, Bapu and Ramana retained their affection for Ramayana so well as to carve out a mini-epic that will resonate splendidly with today’s audiences. In interpreting Ramayana in the light of today’s changing themes of polygamy, disharmony and dysfunctional childhoods, live-in marriages and celebratory divorces, children and parents who live on different planets, et al – Mullapudi Ramana gives his subtle take on many aspects for those who listen to the under-currents behind the voices coming from the characters.
The original “Luva Kusha” despite its celestial songs and immortal characterization came in techno color and all of 22 reels with higher Telugu proficiency. This one is 16 reels and full of crisp characterization and wonderful visuals and some ten minutes of outstanding graphics toward the climax. Not just Balakrishna and Nayanatara - almost everybody gets to shine once or often most notably ANR (who played a majestic role as Sage Valmiki), Srikanth (as Lakhsmana), KR Vijaya (as Kausalya) and Roja (as Sita’s mother Bhoodevi). The three kids playing Hanuman, Luv and Kush give us a full feel of what blithe spirits are – they are just adorable. At eighty, when most folks wheel away in their chair or eke their twilight years like a vegetable, Bapu garu has worked so damn hard on a subject that’s dear to him and his dear friend Mullapudi Ramana who passed away before the film got completed. Of course, it requires a gutsy producer like Y Saibaba to collaborate so well in bringing such an ambitious enterprise to bear fruit – and he is the silent hero who has to be appreciated. One movie like this will get generations back to its roots – and Bapu has taken great care in giving a top-quality visual which is crisp, neat, measured not once appearing either regressive in message or vulgar at all (like some of the other directors who attempt mythologicals get tempted for). Music by Maestro Ilayaraja is already a hit but in the movie he used it with calibrated orchestration as BGM that will stand out.
There are minor blemishes in the movie but hardly noticeable in the flow and very few cinematic liberties taken by Bapu and Ramana – but they don’t impoverish our worldview, they enrich the movie. Also, given the thin layer of the original Uttara Ramayana, I expected to see Bapu-Ramana team to delve more into the nuances of Rama Rajyam which people like Mahatma Gandhi and others talked about – give us a broader sweep of how a society used to live under Rama Rajya – rather than concentrating on the melancholy and twist of fate separating Rama and Sita yet again. That would have set “Srirama Rajyam” further apart from “Luva Kusha” as the final epic instead of mostly showing a brooding Rama. Sita’s character always shows greater resilience and courage than Rama – and that comes through ably through Nayantara.
Ramayana as a theme always finds takers for its undercurrents of love, family values and devotion. I am always intrigued that right from Valmiki to Kamba to writers like RK Narayan, C Rajagopalachari, Ashok Banker – success always crowns those who stick to the basic knitting. If you stray from the plot like Mani Ratnam or take liberties under the veil of artistic freedom, you will get dumped not for irrelevance but for irreverence. Recently, Delhi University has scrapped AK Ramanujam’s essay on 300 versions of Ramayana because the epic is burned so deeply inside our national consciousness that reading the original version gives more benefits than when it is not endured. To that extent, “SriRama Rajyam” is recommended highly. We are taking out our 83 year old grandmother as well as kids who see Telugu DVDs with English subtitles. And let me say this unabashadely, nobody makes Ramayana epics better than Bapu-Ramana or for that matter Telugu folks.
The script - originally purportedly written by Sage Valmiki – based on the original “Luva Kusha” was well-fleshed out, articulated and embellished by Late Mullapudi Venkataramana garu. You see him in every line that every character speaks in the film directed superbly by Bapu garu. It is incredible that after so many decades after “Seeta Kalyanam”, Bapu and Ramana retained their affection for Ramayana so well as to carve out a mini-epic that will resonate splendidly with today’s audiences. In interpreting Ramayana in the light of today’s changing themes of polygamy, disharmony and dysfunctional childhoods, live-in marriages and celebratory divorces, children and parents who live on different planets, et al – Mullapudi Ramana gives his subtle take on many aspects for those who listen to the under-currents behind the voices coming from the characters.
The original “Luva Kusha” despite its celestial songs and immortal characterization came in techno color and all of 22 reels with higher Telugu proficiency. This one is 16 reels and full of crisp characterization and wonderful visuals and some ten minutes of outstanding graphics toward the climax. Not just Balakrishna and Nayanatara - almost everybody gets to shine once or often most notably ANR (who played a majestic role as Sage Valmiki), Srikanth (as Lakhsmana), KR Vijaya (as Kausalya) and Roja (as Sita’s mother Bhoodevi). The three kids playing Hanuman, Luv and Kush give us a full feel of what blithe spirits are – they are just adorable. At eighty, when most folks wheel away in their chair or eke their twilight years like a vegetable, Bapu garu has worked so damn hard on a subject that’s dear to him and his dear friend Mullapudi Ramana who passed away before the film got completed. Of course, it requires a gutsy producer like Y Saibaba to collaborate so well in bringing such an ambitious enterprise to bear fruit – and he is the silent hero who has to be appreciated. One movie like this will get generations back to its roots – and Bapu has taken great care in giving a top-quality visual which is crisp, neat, measured not once appearing either regressive in message or vulgar at all (like some of the other directors who attempt mythologicals get tempted for). Music by Maestro Ilayaraja is already a hit but in the movie he used it with calibrated orchestration as BGM that will stand out.
There are minor blemishes in the movie but hardly noticeable in the flow and very few cinematic liberties taken by Bapu and Ramana – but they don’t impoverish our worldview, they enrich the movie. Also, given the thin layer of the original Uttara Ramayana, I expected to see Bapu-Ramana team to delve more into the nuances of Rama Rajyam which people like Mahatma Gandhi and others talked about – give us a broader sweep of how a society used to live under Rama Rajya – rather than concentrating on the melancholy and twist of fate separating Rama and Sita yet again. That would have set “Srirama Rajyam” further apart from “Luva Kusha” as the final epic instead of mostly showing a brooding Rama. Sita’s character always shows greater resilience and courage than Rama – and that comes through ably through Nayantara.
Ramayana as a theme always finds takers for its undercurrents of love, family values and devotion. I am always intrigued that right from Valmiki to Kamba to writers like RK Narayan, C Rajagopalachari, Ashok Banker – success always crowns those who stick to the basic knitting. If you stray from the plot like Mani Ratnam or take liberties under the veil of artistic freedom, you will get dumped not for irrelevance but for irreverence. Recently, Delhi University has scrapped AK Ramanujam’s essay on 300 versions of Ramayana because the epic is burned so deeply inside our national consciousness that reading the original version gives more benefits than when it is not endured. To that extent, “SriRama Rajyam” is recommended highly. We are taking out our 83 year old grandmother as well as kids who see Telugu DVDs with English subtitles. And let me say this unabashadely, nobody makes Ramayana epics better than Bapu-Ramana or for that matter Telugu folks.
On Petrol Prices
Petrol prices slashed again by less than a rupee. This is a rare event that must be celebrated by vehicular country like India. Note this day because it really makes for a Happy Adults Day. The statistical probability of such events recurring is usually rare - not as rare as Dev Anand movies but as rare as once in four years. Oil majors despite posting monstrous losses have many ways to make money - including petrol-tripping (each pump operator saves about 50 litres per week), rounding off etc. The point I want to make is: You can't assume deflation with such once-in-a-while concessions. Next four years will see crude oil jumping ahead of the curve.
On Airlines Industry
You know that old joke about making a million in Airlines Industry. Start with two million. What folks dont know is that Capt.Gopinath also ran an Airlines to ground after taking Rs.700 crs. from a UK-based businessman. Then he tried to sell it Anil Ambani. After that misfired, he found Mallya an easy bait. With that money, Cargo Jet services were launched before it teeters on the brink of bankru...ptcy. On top of that, he wrote a painfully long autobiography of how AirDeccan was formed. Never read a more painful book in my life. Mallya, on the other hand, is crying baby. This is like RajKapoor growing a stubble before meeting Censor Board members to spare censorship of sexy scenes that will rake in the riches. If only bankers realise to ask for pledge of shares of the other cash-rich companies - the ones that keep us in high spirits. Funny, how the best of the lot can get fooled. I am not just upbraiding any Airlines here, but Indigo and then Jet and then Spicejet are my pecking order of airlines to fly with on a clear day. As for Kingfisher, I guess this year there will be no Calendars for 2012 because the owner has become the new poster-boy and "shoot at site" orders may come marching anytime.
November 14, 2011
"Rockstar" Movie Review
"RockStar" by Imtiaz Ali is quite an effort by the writer-turned-director in bringing to screen how rustic folks end up at the starry end of the rainbow - with power to sway fans to do their bidding. Imtiaz Ali has picked the right candidate - a born actor with starry eyes- Ranbir Kapoor - to play the title role and he does it with tremendous ease showing multiple shades of how raw innocence, ins...tincts and impulsiveness combine with luck to give a solo Guitarist mega stardom and the pains that come with it - adulation and sympathy, allegations and affairs, success as well as tragedy. AR Rahman's BGM and soul-stirring Punjabi Sufi melodies enhance different moods - it comes naturally to him and he just goes ballistic with his sense of music. Nargis Fakr is quite a find and plays the role with consummate charms - she steals the screen sometimes more often than Rockstar Ranbir. Shammi Kapoor is seen for the last time on celluloid - and Director uses his soulful presence sparingly at every crucial point in the film - those pining eyes with subtle mist in Shammi Kapoor playing Shehnai in the last frame he appears gets to you forever. Imtiaz Ali, I think, is an honest film-maker who tells a good story with his groove of experiential and sometimes autobiographical interpretations - whether it is taking Rumi's poetry or taking lives of famous rockstars who lived it up with their idiosyncracies and couldn't care less for social norms of the day. To that extent, Rockstar will shock some of the conventions when an artist becomes obsessed with his muse at the cost of his own reputation and the marriage of the latter but thats what underlies many artistes' lives - there is a hero and there's irony, allergy and stupidity, naivette and tragedy. Imtiaz has brought out the creative process that shapes up superstars who connect with the masses and in rendering a plausible story of a credible superstar he follows some ibby-jibbies unique to Hindi and keeps the nativity of the North Belt core to his films. Thats why, I think it is tough for other language film-makers to re-make his films - its easy for "Teenmaar" director to miss the magic in the original "Luv Aajkal". Thats why Imtiaz Ali's films are special. Second half could have been shorter and less jerky while the first half was brilliant. Whether Ranbir becomes a real Rockstar or not, this movie will remain his finest hour. And Rahman also can now be dismissive of the initial criticism he received on the OST. The only reason you may walk out of this movie is if the music and its creation is not your cup of tea.
"Oh My Friend" Movie Review
Oh My Friend" is one more addition to the clean family fare DVD collection being built by Dil Raju since "Bommarillu" this time with Venu Sriram - one more Asst.Director turned Director Venu Sriram. This time, he casts Shruti Hasan and Siddharth as childhood chums who share a platonic love that confounds people around them, even their respective lovers. Is it possible for a man and woman who gro...w up to as thick friends to remain mentally close and physically un-attached? This theme was explored half-heartedly in "Nuvve Kaavali", and whole-heartedly in "Vasantham", "Iddaru Mithrulu" and in many recent English and Hindi movies. So, the story is not new but the director's take is cool and breezy and manages to get some good performances by Shruti Hasan and Navdeep and Tanikella Bharani. Frankly, I couldn't notice the screen presence of Siddharth (Hasn't he done these kind of roles since birth almost?). The good points of the film - Shruti Hasan- she is the soul of the film. Length of the film-it wraps up just about the time you want to get up though belabours the underlying message often and loud. Good Music by debutant and clean lyirics. Great BGM by Mani Sharma. Uncluttered characterisation. Quite a few heart-rending scenes- you may be tempted to cry. What are the faults? Intensity is missing - director takes a path of non-cinematic liberties to drive home the point which doesnt come out as effective as it should have - deserved greater thought and fleshing out as modern society evolves. Climax is weak and abrupt - he could have built it to a fault. There's average fun in the film with no comedy to laugh out loud. Its watchable once but will you remember it like "Bommarillu" - Never. I like to usually delve into the economic output of a film at the Box Office - will it click there - is this a gold-digger? Unlikely - it may be a near-miss. NRIs may love the film but college-goers and Sidhu fans expect more from Dil Raju.
"Margin Call" Movie is released
"Margin Call" is the latest movie on the perils of excesses unleashed on Wall Street. I am just awaiting the movie which has the fascinating actor Kevin Spacey ("The American Beauty"). Normally, such movies run for four days in multiplexes like Inox because non-finance audiences don't warm up to them. I always admire the script-writing skills of the Western writers in getting under the skin of th...e Street Pros in bringing pulsating movie plots out. Over the years and especially during our growing up phases, you just remember "Wall Street" as the old classic that gives you the goosebumps. Later, I have collected DVDs and seen movies of many more Wall Street theme movies. And for connoisseurs of this genre, only Hollywood made the best movies almost every decade. Bollywood makes once in a while but not that consistent. ("Rocket Singh"? "Game"?). In no particular order, dear friends, I recommend: "The Inside Job" (Oscar-winning documentary), "Wall Street-Money never sleeps", "Pursuit of Happyness", "Boiler Room", "Other People's Money", "The Bonfire of Vanities" (Tom Wolfe book), "Barbarians at the Gate" (Another thriller book on the RJR Nabrisco fiasco), "Rogue Trader" (On the life of Nick Leeson), "Trading Places" (again a book), "Rollover", "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" (another thriller book), "The Bank" (where a Financial mathematician writes an algorithm to predict stock market fluctuations), "Capitalism: A Love Story" (a documentary by the venerable Michael Moore), "Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street" (a documentary again), "Nova: A Trillion Dollar Bet" (covering the holy trio of Fisher, Black and Merton and their modern finance theories), "Dealers", "Working Girll", and "The Corporation" (again based on a famous book by the same name. I just tried to give an illustrative list of what are must-haves in every finance professional's library. I will be happy to take additions to the list...
KBC Prize Winnings - How should they be invested?
So Susheel Kumar has won the KBC quiz lottery of Rs.3.50 crs. (Rs.1.50 crs. goes as taxes) and I saw a lot of excitement yesterday as we watched the golden moments amongst my own family members as if someone from our own tribe has won a big amount. I suddenly find lot of web content on how to invest that pot of money. Typical of Wealth Managers to track down a dollar millionaire instantly. Most im...portant thing is to have the mental maturity to handle such sudden riches. I remember a journalist friend of mine Aruna whose sister was a banker at Canara Bank; her sister won the KBC quiz prize money of Rs.18 lacs in the post-liberalisation new years of low inflation. She quit her bank job the next Monday after banking the KBC cheque and has never worked since. She bought a few pieces of real estate and blue-chip stocks and is happily living off dividends and rentals. She realised that replacing her earning capacity with the investments is the first thing she has to do. She handled the small pot of money quite well. The bigger the money you get through windfalls, the bigger is the risk of outliving that money due to unwise counsel. Thats why they say, a Fool and his money are soon parted. The biggest thing, I repeat, is our attitude to money and the mature way we handle them. You need not be a Rockfeller or a Cornelius Vanderbilt to act like one. What you get in a lottery when you are earning less than Rs.10,000 pm is just pure luck but still you gotta treat it as hard-earned money- don't think the money is to last forever. Thats when it stays. Rules of money haven't changed over the last several millennia... Money, like time, can either be spent or invested.
"Mogudu" Movie Review
"Mogudu" is supposed to be a bible on how to be a good husband and all that by director Krishna Vamshi who is so creative that he doesn't take feedback from anybody while making the movie -maybe not even from his wife Ramyakrishna. If only he had listened to her, (and I don't know that)the movie would have turned out better - its the crappiest movie we have seen this year. Only Music is good l,... you have elderly starcast like Rajendraprasad, Naresh and Roja in same screen shots. Then what went wrong? Lazy and over-confident plot with ridiculous twists - marriage that ends in divorce in a week, then the same couple land up in Mauritius and land into each other's arms, re-marry inspite of a third factor, and re-unite the estranged families, there is drama of some sorts happening all the time on different planets as far as the audience is concerned. On top of it, dialogues dull as Dyanora TV, inconsistent and over-emotional characterisation, comedy thats here and gone, and so many censorable phrases that censors decided to mute almost ten minutes. The most interactive part is the audience is able to second-guess all those cliched tongue-lashing lines. There is an expression in the movie which brings Gopichand and Tapsi together as lovers - "When was the last time you did something for the first time in your life?" If only the director and his large-hearted producer followed the only memorable line in the movie, the movie 'd have been different.Whats more obnoxious is the length - 150 mins of civic nonsense. This doesn't look as venerable as what the director has made in 20 or more previous movies. Jarring and boring.
Savings Rates de-regulated
Savings Deposit rates are finally de-regulated. Whatever makes the common man excited to see full-page ads announcing 6% rate of interest- Beware! This is the season of peaking interest rates. There will also now come a time when your savings rate will slip below 4% - to as low as 1% or 1.5%! In one stroke, RBI has made savings rate an effective tool of monetary policy. Had RBI done this when inflation and interest rates are plummeting, nobody would have noticed. Perfect illusions of the mind! I think whats coming next are - small savings deposit rate freeing and diesel price deregulation.
On Rajat Gupta
Some prominent Indians like Deepak Parekh and Shekar Gupta lament the culmination of events leading to the arrest of Rajat Gupta. Its both fun and sad to see icons of Global Indiana get smattered like this. The jury is out on whether Rajat Gupta has a legacy that will outlive his (mis)deeds. We live in interesting times where bits and titbits about us in all spheres of life will make us or mar us. No more black and white - its all grey shades of a personality. It may be unfair to judge a person by what is alleged until proved. Even Steve Jobs, as I am reading his biography has had his share of felonies - but we just extol him as a God-send. Ultimately, your Karma - good and bad will work to redeem what is going to be the way you will be remembered for. If you read the obit column of Economist magazine ( I have all the obits from 1853-2003) they make it out as dispassionate as purgatory - judgement in totality. Thats the way to form an opinion not go by media reports - which make capital out of a transitionary phase of a public figure. People like me are happy to carry our crosses the way we want to live and die.
7th Sense Movie Review
7th Sense was a little short of fireworks at the movie hall but was worth a watch. To be fair, "7th Sense" has an amazing plot that has even got Aamir Khan interested (who doesn't repeat his director ever - AR Murgadoss). The plot has got Martial Arts, unbelievable stunts, a cuter Shruti Hassan and a variation of two characters... for Suriya. As Bodi Dharma - a Hindu King who emigrates to China in the 6th Century, saves folks from disease and injury from enemies, becomes a monk with unlimited powers and then adapts himself to Chinese good- Suriya looks strikingly handsome. Thats the utlimate paisa vasool of the movie. As a junior circus artiste, second role, he looks ordinary until the science fiction of Murgadoss feeds and realises on celluloid this bizarre idea of imbibing the DNA code of BodiDharma for tackling the modern menace in the form of the villain - again from China. The story is one-dimensional and the screenplay doesn't sizzle you with excitement because the director doesn't use flashback technique well - the first 30 mins. which forms the soul of the film runs like a documentary - it could have been more effective. Second half shows some dramatic scenes but the plot is out by then. What makes the film watchable? Undoubtedly, Suriya and his maginificent stunts composed by Peter Hein. And a few (very few) relief moments from Shruti Hassan's improving screen presence. A few songs by Harris Jayaraj also come out good especially the one in Chinese backdrop. But what could have been better? Violence (which was needed for the plot) is too graphic. Nil Comedy (atleast I couldn't spot any but the Elephant joke). The movie could have been a tad more dramatic given the 7th Heaven expectations I had - but thats how movies turn out sometimes. Is it worth Aamir Khan betting his next movie on? Needs more fleshing out by dir Murgadoss. I googled Bodi Dharma after I saw the movie - and didn't find any stuff thats closer to whats projected on screen. The movie could be renamed - The Monk who smashes Ferraris. Unlike Bodi Dharma - who is zen-like and peace-loving. Watch it once but not ga-ga.
October 24, 2011
Happy Diwali!
Ralph Waldo Emerson, my all-time favorite essayist (ok, besides E.B.White) remarked in one book: "Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses." He could be referring to the week-long celebrations of Diwali-India's festival of big money which will begin literally from today. Ahmedabad wil...l be inactive till Nov.10. Mumbai will work with maximum "leavers". Rest of India will barter sweets, buy goodies and gifts, GoldLate-night card-playing will be on the cards. Priests with three mobile phones will charge their bonus-outstripping tariffs. More than twice GDP output of Greece and Portugal will go up in smoke in India in the form of crackers. Stockmarkets will celebrate Diwali and fair-looking men and fairies on CNBC, etc. will talk alongside their experts that Optimism is the only realism at this time of the year and dizzy levels of Sensex are round the corner.Eighty per cent of sugar, jaggery, kaala jamun, kova consumed in India will be amalgamated in orgy of sweets- liquid and solid. Pigeons and cats, dogs and sparrows will be moving helter-skelter thinking the sounds of fury is the sign of the world coming to an end. Meanwhile some 6000 screens all over the world and India will watch "Ra.One", "7th Sense" (and its Tamil Suriya Original) over the coming week. It aint getting bigger than this. India knows how to celebrate with style and I am throwing my hat in the ring from today. Happy Diwali to all in advance! Safe and Sure-fire!
On Wealth Management, RMs and Fees
This is my seventeenth year in Advisory profession. "Trust" is a critical element in any relationship between a Wealth Manager and a client and that is a function of three, no infact, four variables - Credibility (which comes from giving you advice thats not short-term but what counts for you), Reliability (in which the RM has to be there all times - in bear and bad times as well and more importantly service-oriented), Intimacy (the level at which you connect and like the RM). All these three build up the trust but what divides the trust is another factor - Self-Orientation. If the RM is selfish, or works for his goals at the detriment of your goals, you will have the same experience as what you outlined. Its when this trust gets depleted because of the interplay of these four variables (of which self-orientation is the most undesirable component) that the experience gets soured. If the charges are not disclosed upfront, it is more "self-orientation" and hence lower trust. According to me, a good Advisor is one who doesn't distinguish between advising his client and his father, in the sense of giving advice that works well and honestly for his circumstances. My last point, I want to drive home, is that in my experience of over 17 yrs, I find that the HNWI as a group, across the world, expect returns without risk - which they don't expect in their business or profession. The best way is to build market portfolios aligned with one's financial planning goals with least outgo as expense/charges. Do not believe anybody who says they can time the markets well. If the Sensex this year is down 25%, no way any Mutual Fund can return even 5% (I am generalising). Failing to recognise this sets them up to fail or get disappointed in more ways that makes the experience itself self-fulfilling. You often get what you expect. And in the process, they move advisors - Advisor swapping also erodes the wealth - because the timeline from now till retirement or investment horizon, if it is so long, would make enough money provided we are patient and make those tactical and strategic changes periodically. Everytime we think there is money to be made from a new advisor, than what the market is offering, we eventually lose out - in fees, in charges, in commissions, in brokerage, and then taxes. There is no statistical evidence for persistence of performance - in life or markets - why then make our portfolios gyrate with advisors? But I hope I have made some points that make sense. This is my individual take - and I am passionate about this profession and have been sincere and diligent about these points before any moon and six pence is promised.
October 13, 2011
Nobel Prize for Economics
I await the Nobel Prize for Economics most after literature and peace. The remaining interest me as much as Pluto interests anyone in Solar System- but more out of ignorance not borne of irrelevance or irreverence. (How the paneer will I understand what are two-dimensional quasi-crystals, for example, object of this year's Chemistry winner? My Chemistry cousin in London will decode it far better ...and hopefully also win a Nobel one day). But back to it, Economics may be a dismal science and the pecking order of Nobel Prize for Economics also keeps it last for announcement. Btw, the Economics award is the only one instituted by the Swedish Central Bank but handed out as part of the "Nobels". As a student of Economics, I am thrilled to note this years' winners: Prof. Thomas J Sargent (Columbia university) and Prof. Christopher A Sims. (New York) for their work in cause and effect theory of macroeconomics using VAR models and forecasting. Although it is funnily lamented that the economists have predicted nine of the last six recessions - the drivel is used to forecast. Michael Spence, Paul Krugman and Amartya Sen are the last of the Economics winners I think should be seriously read as they make lot of sense. But from whatever I could google, these guys' works looks promising and should be top-of-the-tree reading in months to come. Maybe a new book from Columbia University. Congratulations! Long Live Economics - for anything to do with money or lack of it.
N J Yasaswy - ICFAI founder - A Man Who Never Tired
NJ Yasaswy passed away on October 8 amidst unprecedented shock and surprise from his well-wishers which included stalwarts like Mr Raju (Nagarjuna Group), Mr Kondal Rao, Mr Nrupendar Rao (Pennar), thousands of employees of the ICFAI group and hundreds of ex-employees including people like me who grew like saplings under the Banyan Tree called ICFAI which spawned the biggest service-sector boom in education, research, publication and policy-making India in general and Hyderabad in particular has ever seen in the 90s.
"Who will cry when you die?" asked Robin Sharma once in a book. Having seen NJY's last trip today, I was sad but also happy that more than 2000 people have turned up to catch a final glimpse of one of the most resplendent intellectuals India has ever seen. He was unsung not to people like us but to media. Our electronic media in Telugu which show low-IQ, 65% movie-oriented content have even failed to beam a snatch of the man who created monstrous jobs in Hyd and other metros and created an equaliser for students who aspired to do MBA. Only ToI and Hindu who once upon a time in Hyd used to get 50 per cent of their ad revenues from ICFAI's campus ads pan-India posted brief obits about NJY. IBS may not be as ivy-league as ISB but it has its place in the sun and its mindshare of the corporate world. Some of India's most successful fund managers, analysts, bankers, journalists, software and management professionals, thought-leaders, and thinking elite have some connection with ICFAI. Either they worked at ICFAI or they studied at ICFAI and its associate wings.
For a lot of people like me, he was a Godsend. My first break in journalism and corporate world I owe to NJY - he spent 4 1/2 hours with me one cold afternoon in 1993 as I gate-crashed to his office for a vacancy of Research Associate and seeing my sophomore background and my enthusiasm he gave a "stunning" stipend of Rs.2500 pm - my life only changed for the better after that. I will write more about this phase of many of my officemates who were aroused into giving our creative best in research and writing later. But coming back to the man, NJY may have many detractors but his positives probably outshone his negatives - shall we say Good Karma outnumbered Bad karma which is why, he survived so long. I had a sweet and intellectually-surcharged association with NJY for 3 yrs and have kept in touch over the years in short bursts - he always felt I should have been a writer than a banker and we have our discussions. NJY was 61 but he was never tired of talking about ideas - and their execution, delegating projects ably to people according to their strengths, always positive and respectful and looking at monetising any aspect thats unmined yet . Since he was perceived a failure in the corporate world (which was a misnomer I feel), he showed his prowess in corporatizing education and created a sterling business model out of it – I think it used to be Rs.1000 crores turnover in the best year since the last decade. He was quick to spot talent and pat them so that they will bat for long. The team of talents he once had in faculty, research, management and publication – was so rare like Halley’s Comet – and it may not come even once in 76 years. He used to speak chaste Telugu - the pure Brahminical style and spoke English in unaccented way – but his choice of words was measured and seldom he lost his cool – infact people were mesmerized into doing what he wanted – it was never perceived to be an order.
He has introduced me and many others to authors like Alvin Toffler, Edward De Bono, Stephen Covey, Howard Gardiner, Tony Buzan, Charles Handy, Kenichi Ohmae, Peter Drucker and talk about magazines others wouldn’t have even heard of in the days of ungoogled lore – Economist, Institutional Investor, Euromoney, Harvard Business Review, Wired, New Yorker. He was probably the closest I saw who practiced mind-mapping at work and he probably knew a thing or two about unleashing the brain potential beyond the Einstein percentage of 10% in a lifetime. He was whole-brain hyperactive - adept at creativity and execution, logic and out-of-box thinking, high IQ and super-high EQ et al. He would have been closer to 50% plus or more in terms of the Einstein specified usage of the potential of the human brain - But I am exaggerating. He wanted “Analyst” magazine to become as redoubtable a journal as any of the above-mentioned socio-economic journals. And it had the best of raw talent at one time – in marketing, management, editorial and research departments. It had its “15 minutes” of fame and unfortunately got closed down in August this year. (I will write about that experiment a bit later). Almost every book he read used to find its way into the ICFAI library which until a few years back was the best in town. (ISB overtook its collection recently). Walden the bookshop which faces imminent closure due to falling footfalls owes half its profits to ICFAI’s patronage – and a few years back Prasad who used to be a Store Manager in Walden was roped in as a Librarian in one its campuses. My book-love, nurtured by my dad became incurable under NJY's tutelage. But I digress.
NJY was perceived to be a mammon worshipping Educational tycoon – but he had good sense of social responsibilities, aesthetics, scientific and intellectual temper and cultural sentiments. What came naturally to him was his ability to make gold out of gold dust. A seemingly useless idea or an innocuous thing would spark a business model in his mind. And he was a great practitioner in possibility thinking. In that sense, he was a great Economic naturalist – allocating capital to get optimal even phenomenal returns with scarce resources. But having worked with him and still keeping in touch with his associates and affairs – at a personal level, I owe a lot of my wisdom to his principles of money-making and fundamentals of financial well-being. He was frugal in his lifestyle - carrying the Ambassador 8558 almost till the 2004 years until brand-conscious folks prevailed on him to upgrade his car. He was an Educationist but he paid his best guys well. He was a relentless asset-builder, building capacities ahead of demand and then kick-starting the demand to exhaust those capacities. He used to announce a course before creating the paraphernalia around that course – and it all started with simple front solus ad. Anticipating the demand garnered by the ad, he used to galvanise all into delivering on the demand working backwards – quite a maverick at that. IBS is one of the most successful brands created in business education and credit will always go to NJY for master-minding it. Today, IIPM has sprung up the new kid on the block but many of the principles that underpin their business model are all derived from NJY’s school of thought.
Apart from this, not many know he loves Indian scriptures, he writes books – “Finance and Profits” and “Personal Investment & Tax Planning Year Books” are still being published. Every activity, according to him, has to be economically productive and socially useful – and every activity has the potential to be first a cost centre, then a profit centre. So, his books were reasonable best-sellers and his speeches delivered on Union Budgets in those days before Satellite TVs took over were as popular as Nani Palkivaala’s budget speeches. Everybody in his family and in his work environment had to be productive and economically useful – that was his credo. Until a few years back, despite having a lavish Educational empire, his wife Shobha was still working in a school until they launched the IRS schools. His daughter Vennela runs these schools and also edits a great spiritual magazine called “Splendour” which I started subscribing since I knew about it. Son Tejaswy is a chip off the old block but launched his own investment firm - photon capital and Banyan Holdings. NJY was a great believer in market-led economy – he made CFA degree and the CFA-MBA combination as much a killer-app as the CFA gold standard of the US. Only thing, he did rub the CFA Institute and the ICAI on the wrong side several occasions. But eventually, the last few years ‘ developments have taken a toll on his mental health it seems – the tirade against deemed universities, the loss of litigation against the CFA Institute, US, the steep recession which made NJY rationalise several departments and business units. But his principles ensured there’s enough for his family and mother who had to see so much grief at age 80. He believed in annuity income- and hence created assets for business expansion but created wonderful financial structures which ensured least amount of outgoing expense – the Nagarjuna Hills that dotted his multiple business unit offices is today better known as ICFAI Hills. The “Nagarjuna” connection goes back to the pre-ICFAI days when the elderly Mr Raju, impressed by NJY’s brilliance inducted him into theboard wherein he played a major part in several business restructuring exercises in those days. There were several other industrialists of the 1980s with whom NJY had a venerable association and I saw most of them at the funeral today – but I am not getting into that now.
What will happen to the Educational Labrynth called ICFAI hereafter? Who will succeed? Is there a succession plan in place? Will the legacy live on? Questions uppermost on all of us today. But things will work themselves out as we always see in business history. NJY created AP’s first private placement industry, first leasing deals, first stockmarket newsletters, first Management Consultancy,and the earliest traces of knowledge society – he loved Knowledge and Science and New Ideas that changed the world – yet he remained humble always working with a motivation to do something different, make a difference to the world of business and education, business education and publications. He believed that as long as you add value to a product or a service, it is morally right to charge a premium for it – as there’s nothing called “Not for Profit” activity; any activity that couldn’t be self-sustaining or perceived commonplace will die out. Its true of so many of his failed business initiatives – Merchant-Banking unit, Cignus Business Research, Hifco, Management Consultancy…After achieving near-to-impossible marks in CA examinations with scores like Auditing 98, Company Law 96 and Accounting 100 and so on – he started, according to my father, a coaching academy for CA/ICWA students way back in 1980s competing with likes of the venerable Butchi Reddy. He was always good at taking challenges, taking on the leaders, contesting the market-share that never existed before - the Blue Ocean Strategy as they say. In the last two years, he started some new projects - Promotion of Carnatic Music, B.Ed Colleges and an initiative called CP Brown Academy – which is doing brisk business in bringing timeless works of Telugu arts and literature into the community of the current generation. So much achieved at 61 and yet so many projects at hand…he is truly a doyen of formidable standing in AP and deserves a place in the history of AP business and Indian Education in general for his life’s work. He was also chastising people if they didn’t perform to their potential – He would be kicking himself in the grave even now for calling it a day too soon, for leaving early just because Sodium levels have dropped below normal. R.I.P. Yasaswy Nanduri Jyothilakshmi garu. I pray you will be as inspiring and energetic wherever you are now. Hope somebody takes up your legacy and carries on.
.
"Who will cry when you die?" asked Robin Sharma once in a book. Having seen NJY's last trip today, I was sad but also happy that more than 2000 people have turned up to catch a final glimpse of one of the most resplendent intellectuals India has ever seen. He was unsung not to people like us but to media. Our electronic media in Telugu which show low-IQ, 65% movie-oriented content have even failed to beam a snatch of the man who created monstrous jobs in Hyd and other metros and created an equaliser for students who aspired to do MBA. Only ToI and Hindu who once upon a time in Hyd used to get 50 per cent of their ad revenues from ICFAI's campus ads pan-India posted brief obits about NJY. IBS may not be as ivy-league as ISB but it has its place in the sun and its mindshare of the corporate world. Some of India's most successful fund managers, analysts, bankers, journalists, software and management professionals, thought-leaders, and thinking elite have some connection with ICFAI. Either they worked at ICFAI or they studied at ICFAI and its associate wings.
For a lot of people like me, he was a Godsend. My first break in journalism and corporate world I owe to NJY - he spent 4 1/2 hours with me one cold afternoon in 1993 as I gate-crashed to his office for a vacancy of Research Associate and seeing my sophomore background and my enthusiasm he gave a "stunning" stipend of Rs.2500 pm - my life only changed for the better after that. I will write more about this phase of many of my officemates who were aroused into giving our creative best in research and writing later. But coming back to the man, NJY may have many detractors but his positives probably outshone his negatives - shall we say Good Karma outnumbered Bad karma which is why, he survived so long. I had a sweet and intellectually-surcharged association with NJY for 3 yrs and have kept in touch over the years in short bursts - he always felt I should have been a writer than a banker and we have our discussions. NJY was 61 but he was never tired of talking about ideas - and their execution, delegating projects ably to people according to their strengths, always positive and respectful and looking at monetising any aspect thats unmined yet . Since he was perceived a failure in the corporate world (which was a misnomer I feel), he showed his prowess in corporatizing education and created a sterling business model out of it – I think it used to be Rs.1000 crores turnover in the best year since the last decade. He was quick to spot talent and pat them so that they will bat for long. The team of talents he once had in faculty, research, management and publication – was so rare like Halley’s Comet – and it may not come even once in 76 years. He used to speak chaste Telugu - the pure Brahminical style and spoke English in unaccented way – but his choice of words was measured and seldom he lost his cool – infact people were mesmerized into doing what he wanted – it was never perceived to be an order.
He has introduced me and many others to authors like Alvin Toffler, Edward De Bono, Stephen Covey, Howard Gardiner, Tony Buzan, Charles Handy, Kenichi Ohmae, Peter Drucker and talk about magazines others wouldn’t have even heard of in the days of ungoogled lore – Economist, Institutional Investor, Euromoney, Harvard Business Review, Wired, New Yorker. He was probably the closest I saw who practiced mind-mapping at work and he probably knew a thing or two about unleashing the brain potential beyond the Einstein percentage of 10% in a lifetime. He was whole-brain hyperactive - adept at creativity and execution, logic and out-of-box thinking, high IQ and super-high EQ et al. He would have been closer to 50% plus or more in terms of the Einstein specified usage of the potential of the human brain - But I am exaggerating. He wanted “Analyst” magazine to become as redoubtable a journal as any of the above-mentioned socio-economic journals. And it had the best of raw talent at one time – in marketing, management, editorial and research departments. It had its “15 minutes” of fame and unfortunately got closed down in August this year. (I will write about that experiment a bit later). Almost every book he read used to find its way into the ICFAI library which until a few years back was the best in town. (ISB overtook its collection recently). Walden the bookshop which faces imminent closure due to falling footfalls owes half its profits to ICFAI’s patronage – and a few years back Prasad who used to be a Store Manager in Walden was roped in as a Librarian in one its campuses. My book-love, nurtured by my dad became incurable under NJY's tutelage. But I digress.
NJY was perceived to be a mammon worshipping Educational tycoon – but he had good sense of social responsibilities, aesthetics, scientific and intellectual temper and cultural sentiments. What came naturally to him was his ability to make gold out of gold dust. A seemingly useless idea or an innocuous thing would spark a business model in his mind. And he was a great practitioner in possibility thinking. In that sense, he was a great Economic naturalist – allocating capital to get optimal even phenomenal returns with scarce resources. But having worked with him and still keeping in touch with his associates and affairs – at a personal level, I owe a lot of my wisdom to his principles of money-making and fundamentals of financial well-being. He was frugal in his lifestyle - carrying the Ambassador 8558 almost till the 2004 years until brand-conscious folks prevailed on him to upgrade his car. He was an Educationist but he paid his best guys well. He was a relentless asset-builder, building capacities ahead of demand and then kick-starting the demand to exhaust those capacities. He used to announce a course before creating the paraphernalia around that course – and it all started with simple front solus ad. Anticipating the demand garnered by the ad, he used to galvanise all into delivering on the demand working backwards – quite a maverick at that. IBS is one of the most successful brands created in business education and credit will always go to NJY for master-minding it. Today, IIPM has sprung up the new kid on the block but many of the principles that underpin their business model are all derived from NJY’s school of thought.
Apart from this, not many know he loves Indian scriptures, he writes books – “Finance and Profits” and “Personal Investment & Tax Planning Year Books” are still being published. Every activity, according to him, has to be economically productive and socially useful – and every activity has the potential to be first a cost centre, then a profit centre. So, his books were reasonable best-sellers and his speeches delivered on Union Budgets in those days before Satellite TVs took over were as popular as Nani Palkivaala’s budget speeches. Everybody in his family and in his work environment had to be productive and economically useful – that was his credo. Until a few years back, despite having a lavish Educational empire, his wife Shobha was still working in a school until they launched the IRS schools. His daughter Vennela runs these schools and also edits a great spiritual magazine called “Splendour” which I started subscribing since I knew about it. Son Tejaswy is a chip off the old block but launched his own investment firm - photon capital and Banyan Holdings. NJY was a great believer in market-led economy – he made CFA degree and the CFA-MBA combination as much a killer-app as the CFA gold standard of the US. Only thing, he did rub the CFA Institute and the ICAI on the wrong side several occasions. But eventually, the last few years ‘ developments have taken a toll on his mental health it seems – the tirade against deemed universities, the loss of litigation against the CFA Institute, US, the steep recession which made NJY rationalise several departments and business units. But his principles ensured there’s enough for his family and mother who had to see so much grief at age 80. He believed in annuity income- and hence created assets for business expansion but created wonderful financial structures which ensured least amount of outgoing expense – the Nagarjuna Hills that dotted his multiple business unit offices is today better known as ICFAI Hills. The “Nagarjuna” connection goes back to the pre-ICFAI days when the elderly Mr Raju, impressed by NJY’s brilliance inducted him into theboard wherein he played a major part in several business restructuring exercises in those days. There were several other industrialists of the 1980s with whom NJY had a venerable association and I saw most of them at the funeral today – but I am not getting into that now.
What will happen to the Educational Labrynth called ICFAI hereafter? Who will succeed? Is there a succession plan in place? Will the legacy live on? Questions uppermost on all of us today. But things will work themselves out as we always see in business history. NJY created AP’s first private placement industry, first leasing deals, first stockmarket newsletters, first Management Consultancy,and the earliest traces of knowledge society – he loved Knowledge and Science and New Ideas that changed the world – yet he remained humble always working with a motivation to do something different, make a difference to the world of business and education, business education and publications. He believed that as long as you add value to a product or a service, it is morally right to charge a premium for it – as there’s nothing called “Not for Profit” activity; any activity that couldn’t be self-sustaining or perceived commonplace will die out. Its true of so many of his failed business initiatives – Merchant-Banking unit, Cignus Business Research, Hifco, Management Consultancy…After achieving near-to-impossible marks in CA examinations with scores like Auditing 98, Company Law 96 and Accounting 100 and so on – he started, according to my father, a coaching academy for CA/ICWA students way back in 1980s competing with likes of the venerable Butchi Reddy. He was always good at taking challenges, taking on the leaders, contesting the market-share that never existed before - the Blue Ocean Strategy as they say. In the last two years, he started some new projects - Promotion of Carnatic Music, B.Ed Colleges and an initiative called CP Brown Academy – which is doing brisk business in bringing timeless works of Telugu arts and literature into the community of the current generation. So much achieved at 61 and yet so many projects at hand…he is truly a doyen of formidable standing in AP and deserves a place in the history of AP business and Indian Education in general for his life’s work. He was also chastising people if they didn’t perform to their potential – He would be kicking himself in the grave even now for calling it a day too soon, for leaving early just because Sodium levels have dropped below normal. R.I.P. Yasaswy Nanduri Jyothilakshmi garu. I pray you will be as inspiring and energetic wherever you are now. Hope somebody takes up your legacy and carries on.
.
"Oosaravalli"
NTR's "Oosaravalli" directed by "Kick" director Surendar Reddy starts with lot of promise and almost entertains you well before interval with some comedy with Raghubabu and others. Later, the plot intertwines drops of romance with tons of violence set against mafiadom, PrakashRaj and all that- so much violence has not been seen for a long time. It can prove to be the nemesis of the film if the au...diences reject, of late getting used to mollycoddling supine comedies. NTR emotes quite well but doesn't play the romantic part well - not looking dapper and all. His figure weight is more inconsistent than his enormous talent and dancing skills which get highlighted wee bit in the movie but the enormity of mindless revenge and unjustifiable violence mar the second half. DSP's music good in parts.
On Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs - what a life lived! Not many here who believe in Karma and don't have Apple products will be able to relate to his life but Steve is one guy whose full impact will be felt many years after he is gone and resting. His presentation style and techniques will be copyrighted (like those of Dale Carnegie), his tablets will outlive every tablet of the ancient civilizations, his severest adver...saries will miss their duels in the market, his creative and marketing genius will morph into many minds and case-books , he made unemployment impossible to co-exist with innovation and finally, he timed his exit (as CEO) from the company and from this world wonderfully wellNo Autobiography by him - just actions and commencement speeches to sum up his work and philosophy. Doctors have given him once 6 weeks to live but he willed to live another 12 or 20 weeks. If ever there was an equivalent of inventors like Edison who thrilled us to live in these times, it must be, arguably, Steve Jobs. R.I.P.
"Madatha Kaaja"
"Madatha Kaaja" is sub-par, meets neither production values nor the class of movie "Ala Modalaindi". It is monotonous, comedy-at-any-cost film typical of Allari Naresh. Unlike Rajendra Prasad, this guy needs more than parroting parody to keep going.
"The Incredible Banker" by Ravi Subramanian
Ravi Subrahmanian writes one more book on the lives of Bankers and their boring lives. This one called "The Incredible Banker" is a tale of Banking & Wealth Management - anti-money laundering, scams, tax-havens, compliance etc. Unlike Chetan Bhagat, Ravi caters to that market whose entire population in India caught between their Bali holidays and MontBlancs will be less than the people you can co...unt in Lusaka, Zambia. It used to be a staple canteen discussion to talk about who is who that's covered in Ravi's books - Sarvesh Swarup? Naina Lal Kidwai? Chanda Kochar? Limited interest, dear. But hell, if Grisham can write about lawyers we have our own Ravi who can write about the banker who bought the monk's ferrari.
On SMSes and Telemarketeers?
After Sept.27 I am happy not to be at the receiving end of smses which exhort me to recover lost ground (of hair) from Dr.Batra, collect my economic windfalls of 5 million pounds from some London agency, get all the land that is lying on the rim of ORR that is selling like "'cold flakes", messages that tell me where to buy latest spy pens or life insurance or those multi-bagger stocks that have not "tanked" till date. That now leaves only few places on earth where you can still spam without getting fined - facebook, twitter, email and parking lots. Will this lead to a "jobless" recovery for all the telemarketeers?
"Dookudu"
"Dookudu" is more a Srinu Vaitla film than Mahesh Babu's film in that it gives 100% healthy family fun with lesser stunts/violence/complicated dance movements. Desperate for a hit, Mahesh generously shares screen space with Brahmanandam, MSNarayan & Prakashraj, plays like a team player - not a star and has cute sweet romance with Samantha. Plot is not novel but dialogues, comedy, screenplay and music are quite good. Though it lacks intensity of his earlier films, the image change (plus Telangana accent) should re-attract family audiences. Watchable movie even if some departments like editing and choreography let you down.
On Imported Books
For booklovers who buy imported editions (like me) , Rupees 49 to a dollar is not happy news. Generally, the GOC rate (Good Office Commitee at Geneva) sets the conversion price when you pay in rupees. This is usually at Rs.2-3 premium. I have been tracking this price since 1989. They meet on 15th every month to decide the rate but in last 10 yrs, the rate has been revised under adverse currency fluctuations out of turns only twice - which happened 2008 and 2009. I think we are getting there again - Lehman moment. For a few dollars less.
End of The World?
Is it the End of the World as we know it? Methinks No. There have been 15 or more Ends-of-the-world in stock market since 1986 in India, life and quality of life marches on. When mainstreet is more pessimistic than the Wallstreet or Dalal Street, something will turn. Newly married Niall Ferguson says: "So long as human expectations of the future veer from the over-optimistic to over-pessimistic - from greed to fear - stock prices will tend to trace an erratic path." When most investors, including the CNBC talking heads, all agree on something, they're usually wrong.
on Gold
Since Gold has corrected a bit (I have been saying the world in which gold is the only asset to invest is not really a safe world) time to remember Buffett:You could take all the gold that’s ever been mined, and it would fill a cube 67 feet in each direction. For what that’s worth at current gold prices, you could buy all—not some—all of the farmland in the United States. Plus, you could buy 10 Exxon Mobils, plus have $1 trillion of walking-around money. Or you could have a big cube of metal. Which would you take? Which is going to produce more value?
Niall Ferguson
Niall Ferguson is an amazing writer who writes about Economic History. Anyone who has read his works from "Empire" (UK) to "Colossus" (US) to "The Ascent of Money" (which makes you shun govt.securities as an investment) will vouch what amazing sweep and sense of history he has or his latest "Civilization". He is interested in anything thats getting older - buys heritage property built only before 1800s, etc. Now, he marries 41-yr old Ayaan Hirsi Ali - another historian. He is putting money where his mouth is and his mouth where... History repeats in his books and family!
On Ruskin Bond's New Book
Ruskin Bond wrote his first book @ 17 and still writes a new book every year on his non-corrosive typewriter. His new book "Secrets"is out. Short-stories full of Vintage Bond - stylish, simple, unhurried and witty with words that can dance. His writing is more consistent than what all the wine-tasters can achieve. Good news is, its getting better after 60 yrs of writing and he's still living a life without regrets at Landour, Mussourie. Writing what seems so effortless and yet so easy to read.
Google+ or Minus?
The buzz over google+ is fast dying. FB with 750 bn users is tweaking and improvising at a fast clip. I have no grudge against google as I use gmail extensively but I knew Market-leadership is a tough fight. Folks who rushed to get invited to google+ realised that content is king and changing address doesn't alter fortunes or life. Even SM experts got smitten. Facebook is an English word much as google or twitter but not google+. You need more than a + sign to disrupt Facebook. When? We'll know.
"The Secret of Nagas"
"The secret of the Nagas" - second book in the Shiva Trilogy - by Amish Tripathi is out and already selling well. In Hyd, it sold 5000 copies already. Its amazing how new Indian writers are discovering their roots and connecting today's ethos to magic fables from Indian mythology. First book - "The Immortals of Meluha" is coming as a movie. And it truly reads like Amar Chitra Katha on steroids. When a whole new generation of writers dig for gold (stories) beneath their roots - sky's the limit.
"Gambler"
"Gambler" (Mankatha in Tamil) is Ajith's 50th & also stars Arjun. A thriller on cricket betting, heist & shades of "Dhoom". Dir Venkat Prabhu attempts well but blunders mostly - takes long to establish story and characters, projects Ajith as over-confident manipulator (does well), bad editing and comedy that falls flat. Trisha & Lakshmi Rai sizzle well. Action thrills amazing- best moment: Arjun picks up Mahat in a swirling limousine in split-second. Interesting plot but could've been better.
"TheUnwritten laws of Finance & Investment"
"Don't panic. But if you do, panic early. If trouble strikes it is often best to act decisively and quickly to avoid loss, or to cut losses". Just re-read Robert Coole's magnificent book - "The Unwritten Laws of Finance & Investment." Dare not keep this book further than your arm's length during times of duress - in stock market or comfort - from gold prices. Another gem: Don't look for entertainment, look for profit. Yet another gem: When you are in a hole, stop digging. Timeless wisdom!
Chetan Bhagat: Revolution 2020
Chetan Bhagat's new book "Revolution 2020: Love, corruption and ambition" is already out on Oct.7. Though I dont devour Chetan's books, love his blockbuster writer status. His last book sold 1.5 million and orders for new book are pouring from Kazipet to Suryapet. Hyd:15k, AP:25k copies - thats about how much one Shobhaa De book sells in a lifetime. Chetan made it fashionable to use 1200 words vocab into cr`edible' tales of modern India. Made Writing worth more than Banking as a career. Inspiring...
"BodyGuard"
"BodyGuard" is stylish and well-made film by Dir Sadiq with good BGM. The chemistry between two huge screen-presence stars-Salman & Kareena is well-bought out and first half has much campus fun and laughter and a good song. Its only the last ten minutes of anti-twist that will disappoint Sallu fans a bit but Dir presents a simple love story, embellishing Sallu with dazzling, heritage property-destroying stunts. Kareena looks gorgeous Diva every bit. Its not a punchy film but watchable mostly.
Money, Money & More Money
"Money, Money & More Money" starring Brahmanandam, Venumadhav and JD (Director) has some good comedy but too one-dimensional with logical flaws - a money-starved gang kidnaps people at their own home; and starts kidnapping all who knock the door. A 10-minute story weakly developed into a 2-hr drag - not as a worthy a sequel to the original "Money" in charm and characterisation. Brahmi and Venu only paisa vasool. Its a mistake to attempt such sequels after generational changes.
India's Gold
In 1991, India had to pledge all its 60-plus tonne gold reserves with Bank of England to bail out a payment crisis. In 2011, justt Mannepuram Finance has created an outstanding gold loan book equivalent to 61 tonnes of gold. Looks like Indians are pulling gold out of their closets finally. Its also good for the country to monetise its "hidden" gold reserves.
On KBC
Watching KBC is always fun. But quizzers (K-Circle, Mastermind...) are filtered out. You make it if are a sophomore. Thats how the house keeps most money. The trickiest question is the 4-part Q - e.g which comes first- b, d, a, c. That kind. You need nimble fingers like forex traders for that - knowledge doesn't help. Talking about the lifelines, the worst is 'phone a friend'. In 90 seconds, you can google out the answer but by then, only the question gets read out. Has to be a way out of this.
Future of Blogging
Social NW sites like Facebook and G+ are changing the future of blogging. I used to blog & send sms reviews till recently. Now FB is a defacto blog of sorts for me. One day, it seems, FB will own my thoughts, map my mind because much content nowadays is self-published thus. At another level, journos and writers shy away from FB because it doesn't "pay". I am happy to be a FB journalist as unlike Naipaul, I follow "other" careers. Interesting times - Blog is dead. Long live blogging thru FB etc.
On Anna
Those who express solidarity with Anna by lighting candles/taking morcha - wouldn't hesitate to bribe policema/jump signals. There's a difference between "circle of concern" and "circle of influence". As TTR said, lighting a candle/shouting on TV are "circle of concern" acts. Circle of Influence - take a stand not to pay bribes - either Sub-inspector or Sub-Registrar. We need circles of influence - not symbolic acts of circles of concern. Its all about self-integrity - Anna or No Anna.
On Shammi Kapoor
Even to my parents who are only now barely checking emails, original Yahoo voice Shammi Kapoor was a rage. Whichever way you look at, Shammi is a darling character who will inspire many people. When there was no online world, his movies showcased Kashmir to the world. Go, travel and sing and rock and roll! And he did this when he faced an identity crisis - superstar elder brother, and Dev and Dilip. He proved that if you are original and true to your self, the world will notice you. Even going past his prime when angry young men, disco dancers and forlorn lover superstars dominated the silver screen, Shammi stayed current playing unobstrusive character roles - fathering reigning and emerging stars. Then Yahoo! came again - embracing technology to beat loneliness - and giving superstars like Aamir Khan - a lucky reason to release audios. He would have been eighty this October - but still he stayed current till the last. Even the electric chair he used to move around in the last months of his life, he got it online it seems. What message of courage, positivity, inspired living, unique personality and staying alive till you wither away. Off to another planet - Shammi will find his next act soon.
"Kandireega"
"Kandireega" is high-voltage drama of non-stop comedy from debut Director Santosh resembling "Dhee" and "Ready". Despite bizarre twists and often subhuman violence stylised as stunts, its a clean family fare. Hero Ram who apes Prince and Powerstar carries the film on his shoulders well. Sonu Sood can settle as a 6-pack comi-villain in Tollywood. Thaman's hit music, Director's dialogues and deft script makes this entertaining even if unoriginal. Longer by 20 mins.
"Dhada"
"Dhada" means terror/shiver in Telugu. It stars lucky heroine Kajal and effeminate turned he-man Naga Chaitanya. DSP scores music. Brahmanandam,Ali, Venu and all tagheur watch villains. An IIM alumni debuts as director with stylish screenplay, class and grand locations in US. What a waste though - story, dialogues, characterisation disappoint you. All this colossal failure of content will misfire on producer Sivaprasad Reddy whose networth is dedicated to Nag family. Unworthy.
Reason to buy Stocks?
There has never been a good reason to buy stocks since 1875 when BSE was formed. There has never been a good reason to buy stocks when Sensex base = 100 in 1986. Bofors and Billion scams later, million mutinies later, hundreds of double-decker depressions later, multi-polar world now and India today still dont see a good reason to buy Stocks at Sensex 17000. Wish somebody told difference between a stock and a bond in Xth class syllabus.
"Sega"
"Sega" means flames in Telugu. We expected the screen on fire because it is Nitya Menen and Naani. Instead, quite depressing movie full of slumdog squalor, sex-worker woes, drugs, death and revenge. Joshua Sridhar's music only relief. Dir Anjana made it in 6 reels - 2 hrs. Even that appeared too long. Wanted to walk out at interval but 2 jumbo popcorn buckets consumed held us down - not the movie.
July 24, 2011
Zindagi Na Milegi Dubaara - Movie Review
"Zindagi NaMilegi Dubara" is uber cool with rich subtexts - 3 friends roadmap into Spain for bachelor's party and find their mojo through conversations that change their views of life- Not new places but new eyes, not dejavu but new experiences. Zoya Akhtar's direction, Javed's poetry, Farhan's growing screen presence, Hritik Roshan and Abhay Deol's quibbles, Katrina's GQ,Shankar E Loy's music - all enchant. Lovely.
On Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and Google+ - Views by Prof.Sree
I keep making shorthand notes of almost every lecture I listen to. Here's a summary of Prof.Sree Sreenivasan's talk at Manthan last week, point-wise. My own twitter id is @onlysridhar.Thought I will share with a wider audience before the next Manthan: • Facebook, twitter and other social media are increasingly used to impact social changes and bring revolutions as examples of Egypt, Syria, Libya prove.
• Facebook now has 750million users and is the third-most populous “country” in the world.
• India is 4th in FB usage next to US, Indonesia and maybe UK.
• The reason Indonesia is ahead of India is because politicians, bureaucrats and influential members of the society there have been early adapters of FB leading to a spectacular rise in following.
• In India, Mumbai and Bengaluru rule the roost and Hyderabad has yet to catch up big-time.
• It means Hyderabadis are not spending time online so much despite the fact that the India headquarters of FB is in Hyderabad.
• Twitter has about 100 million users although active users could be less than 50 million.
• Twitter’s founders also may not have had an idea about the unleashing of its potential.
• Every day about 200 million tweets are put out on twitter by its users worldwide.
• In order to document the social commentary that happens on twitter every second through its tweets, the Library of US Congress – the largest library in the world – now creates an archive of every tweet out of twitter users worldwide. This is done to serve as an archaeological reference for future generations of how generations of today think, feel and react. It will serve the same historical relevance as relics of the past from places such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro serve up now and then.
• The funny thing with social media such as Facebook is that productivity goes down as more and more folks spend time on these sites. You plan to use for 23 mins, you end up spending 23 hrs. You plan for 10 mins, you use up 10 hrs. It will be a challenge to maintain a balance between online networking and your work-life balance.
• There are social and family pressures building up because of this obsession with FB and other sites. But the damages are mostly self-created; you have to find that balance between online and offline mode.
• Even though you have more friends online, it doesn’t mean you should not maintain personal touch with your friends outside of online social media. Never lose touch with physical world.
• What is good about FB and others is that the feedback is instant and immediate.
• However, we have to realize that 99 per cent of the stuff that’s put on your walls never gets read really.
• Linked in is another site that’s growing for serious-minded people. Linked-in maps is the latest sensation which helps you manage your career, not just talk about it.
• Google + has come at a time when FB has monopoly and promises to address the privacy issues and puts your social circuits in compartmentalized circles. It will be difficult to dislodge FB with just 10 million users so far. But Google+ made two unsuccessful attempts with buzz and orkut earlier and will not easily give up.
• There are many sites which track what are called private conversations between folks on FB. For example, “What the Facebook” is one such site which gives exactly what you want to search on FB. You can search for “women who are shaving the legs”. And it will search for all the women who talked about “shaving their legs”. It will do a live search of live searches.
• How does one become socially more influential and enhance one’s social image?
• Sree offers some tips. You may find some on FB- @sreetips or on twitter @sree.
• Some tips are commonsense-driven: Make your posts subscribe to any of these attributes:
• Useful.Helpful.Relevant.Timely.Credible. Entertaining.Occasionally funny. Informative. Crisp. Insightful.
• If you have any of these attributes while you post, your posts will be well-read.
• Facebook now has 750million users and is the third-most populous “country” in the world.
• India is 4th in FB usage next to US, Indonesia and maybe UK.
• The reason Indonesia is ahead of India is because politicians, bureaucrats and influential members of the society there have been early adapters of FB leading to a spectacular rise in following.
• In India, Mumbai and Bengaluru rule the roost and Hyderabad has yet to catch up big-time.
• It means Hyderabadis are not spending time online so much despite the fact that the India headquarters of FB is in Hyderabad.
• Twitter has about 100 million users although active users could be less than 50 million.
• Twitter’s founders also may not have had an idea about the unleashing of its potential.
• Every day about 200 million tweets are put out on twitter by its users worldwide.
• In order to document the social commentary that happens on twitter every second through its tweets, the Library of US Congress – the largest library in the world – now creates an archive of every tweet out of twitter users worldwide. This is done to serve as an archaeological reference for future generations of how generations of today think, feel and react. It will serve the same historical relevance as relics of the past from places such as Harappa and Mohenjodaro serve up now and then.
• The funny thing with social media such as Facebook is that productivity goes down as more and more folks spend time on these sites. You plan to use for 23 mins, you end up spending 23 hrs. You plan for 10 mins, you use up 10 hrs. It will be a challenge to maintain a balance between online networking and your work-life balance.
• There are social and family pressures building up because of this obsession with FB and other sites. But the damages are mostly self-created; you have to find that balance between online and offline mode.
• Even though you have more friends online, it doesn’t mean you should not maintain personal touch with your friends outside of online social media. Never lose touch with physical world.
• What is good about FB and others is that the feedback is instant and immediate.
• However, we have to realize that 99 per cent of the stuff that’s put on your walls never gets read really.
• Linked in is another site that’s growing for serious-minded people. Linked-in maps is the latest sensation which helps you manage your career, not just talk about it.
• Google + has come at a time when FB has monopoly and promises to address the privacy issues and puts your social circuits in compartmentalized circles. It will be difficult to dislodge FB with just 10 million users so far. But Google+ made two unsuccessful attempts with buzz and orkut earlier and will not easily give up.
• There are many sites which track what are called private conversations between folks on FB. For example, “What the Facebook” is one such site which gives exactly what you want to search on FB. You can search for “women who are shaving the legs”. And it will search for all the women who talked about “shaving their legs”. It will do a live search of live searches.
• How does one become socially more influential and enhance one’s social image?
• Sree offers some tips. You may find some on FB- @sreetips or on twitter @sree.
• Some tips are commonsense-driven: Make your posts subscribe to any of these attributes:
• Useful.Helpful.Relevant.Timely.Credible. Entertaining.Occasionally funny. Informative. Crisp. Insightful.
• If you have any of these attributes while you post, your posts will be well-read.
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