"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!