MounaRagam

Bernanke Speaks at Harvard Day Class

2008-06-05T19:47:00.002+05:30

June 5:Speech - Bernanke Speaks at Harvard Day Class

Author: Ben Bernanke

Date: 2008-06-05

The following is a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at Class Day at Harvard University.

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It seems to me, paradoxically, that both long ago and only yesterday I attended my own Class Day in 1975. I am pleased and honored to be invited back by the students of Harvard. Our speaker in 1975 was Dick Gregory, the social critic and comedian, who was inclined toward the sharp-edged and satiric. Central bankers don't do satire as a rule, so I am going to have to strive for "kind of interesting."

When I attended Class Day as a graduating senior, Gerald Ford was President, and an up-and-coming fellow named Alan Greenspan was his chief economic adviser. Just weeks earlier, the last Americans remaining in Saigon had been evacuated by helicopters. On a happier note, the Red Sox were on their way to winning the American League pennant. I skipped classes to attend a World Series game against the Cincinnati Reds. As was their wont in those days, the Sox came agonizingly close to a championship but ended up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. On that score, as on others--disco music and Pet Rocks come to mind--many things are better today than they were then. In fact, that will be a theme of my remarks today.

Although 1975 was a pretty good year for the Red Sox, it was not a good one for the U.S. economy. Then as now, we were experiencing a serious oil price shock, sharply rising prices for food and other commodities, and subpar economic growth. But I see the differences between the economy of 1975 and the economy of 2008 as more telling than the similarities. Today's situation differs from that of 33 years ago in large part because our economy and society have become much more flexible and able to adapt to difficult situations and new challenges. Economic policymaking has improved as well, I believe, partly because we have learned well some of the hard lessons of the past. Of course, I do not want to minimize the challenges we currently face, and I will come back to a few of these. But I do think that our demonstrated ability to respond constructively and effectively to past economic problems provides a basis for optimism about the future.

I will focus my remarks today on two economic issues that challenged us in the 1970s and that still do so today--energy and productivity. These, obviously, are not the kind of topics chosen by many recent Class Day speakers--Will Farrell, Ali G, or Seth MacFarlane, to name a few. But, then, the Class Marshals presumably knew what they were getting when they invited an economist.

Because the members of today's graduating class--and some of your professors--were not yet born in 1975, let me begin by briefly surveying the economic landscape in the mid-1970s. The economy had just gone through a severe recession, during which output, income, and employment fell sharply and the unemployment rate rose to 9 percent. Meanwhile, consumer price inflation, which had been around 3 percent to 4 percent earlier in the decade, soared to more than 10 percent during my senior year.
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The oil price shock of the 1970s began in October 1973 when, in response to the Yom Kippur War, Arab oil producers imposed an embargo on exports. Before the embargo, in 1972, the price of imported oil was about $3.20 per barrel; by 1975, the average price was nearly $14 per barrel, more than four times greater. President Nixon had imposed economy-wide controls on wages and prices in 1971, including prices of petroleum products; in November 1973, in the wake of the embargo, the President placed additional controls on petroleum prices.
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As basic economics predicts, when a scarce resource cannot be allocated by market-determined prices, it will be allocated some other way--in this case, in what was to become an iconic symbol of the times, by long lines at gasoline stations. In 1974, in an attempt to overcome the unintended consequences of price controls, drivers in many places were permitted to buy gasoline only on odd or even days of the month, depending on the last digit of their license plate number. Moreover, with the controlled price of U.S. crude oil well below world prices, growth in domestic exploration slowed and production was curtailed--which, of course, only made things worse.

In addition to creating long lines at gasoline stations, the oil price shock exacerbated what was already an intensifying buildup of inflation and inflation expectations. In another echo of today, the inflationary situation was further worsened by rapidly rising prices of agricultural products and other commodities.

Economists generally agree that monetary policy performed poorly during this period. In part, this was because policymakers, in choosing what they believed to be the appropriate setting for monetary policy, overestimated the productive capacity of the economy. I'll have more to say about this shortly. Federal Reserve policymakers also underestimated both their own contributions to the inflationary problems of the time and their ability to curb that inflation. For example, on occasion they blamed inflation on so-called cost-push factors such as union wage pressures and price increases by large, market-dominating firms; however, the abilities of unions and firms to push through inflationary wage and price increases were symptoms of the problem, not the underlying cause. Several years passed before the Federal Reserve gained a new leadership that better understood the central bank's role in the inflation process and that sustained anti-inflationary monetary policies would actually work. Beginning in 1979, such policies were implemented successfully--although not without significant cost in terms of lost output and employment--under Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. For the Federal Reserve, two crucial lessons from this experience were, first, that high inflation can seriously destabilize the economy and, second, that the central bank must take responsibility for achieving price stability over the medium term.

Fast-forward now to 2003. In that year, crude oil cost a little more than $30 per barrel.
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Since then, crude oil prices have increased more than fourfold, proportionally about as much as in the 1970s. Now, as in 1975, adjusting to such high prices for crude oil has been painful. Gas prices around $4 a gallon are a huge burden for many households, as well as for truckers, manufacturers, farmers, and others. But, in many other ways, the economic consequences have been quite different from those of the 1970s. One obvious difference is what you don't see: drivers lining up on odd or even days to buy gasoline because of price controls or signs at gas stations that say "No gas." And until the recent slowdown--which is more the result of conditions in the residential housing market and in financial markets than of higher oil prices--economic growth was solid and unemployment remained low, unlike what we saw following oil price increases in the '70s.

For a central banker, a particularly critical difference between then and now is what has happened to inflation and inflation expectations. The overall inflation rate has averaged about 3-1/2 percent over the past four quarters, significantly higher than we would like but much less than the double-digit rates that inflation reached in the mid-1970s and then again in 1980. Moreover, the increase in inflation has been milder this time--on the order of 1 percentage point over the past year as compared with the 6 percentage point jump that followed the 1973 oil price shock.
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From the perspective of monetary policy, just as important as the behavior of actual inflation is what households and businesses expect to happen to inflation in the future, particularly over the longer term. If people expect an increase in inflation to be temporary and do not build it into their longer-term plans for setting wages and prices, then the inflation created by a shock to oil prices will tend to fade relatively quickly. Some indicators of longer-term inflation expectations have risen in recent months, which is a significant concern for the Federal Reserve. We will need to monitor that situation closely. However, changes in long-term inflation expectations have been measured in tenths of a percentage point this time around rather than in whole percentage points, as appeared to be the case in the mid-1970s. Importantly, we see little indication today of the beginnings of a 1970s-style wage-price spiral, in which wages and prices chased each other ever upward.

A good deal of economic research has looked at the question of why the inflation response to the oil shock has been relatively muted in the current instance.
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One factor, which illustrates my point about the adaptability and flexibility of the U.S. economy, is the pronounced decline in the energy intensity of the economy since the 1970s. Since 1975, the energy required to produce a given amount of output in the United States has fallen by about half.
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This great improvement in energy efficiency was less the result of government programs than of steps taken by households and businesses in response to higher energy prices, including substantial investments in more energy-efficient equipment and means of transportation. This improvement in energy efficiency is one of the reasons why a given increase in crude oil prices does less damage to the U.S. economy today than it did in the 1970s.

Another reason is the performance of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve and other central banks have learned the lessons of the 1970s. Because monetary policy works with a lag, the short-term inflationary effects of a sharp increase in oil prices can generally not be fully offset. However, since Paul Volcker's time, the Federal Reserve has been firmly committed to maintaining a low and stable rate of inflation over the longer term. And we recognize that keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored is essential to achieving the goal of low and stable inflation. Maintaining confidence in the Fed's commitment to price stability remains a top priority as the central bank navigates the current complex situation.

Although our economy has thus far dealt with the current oil price shock comparatively well, the United States and the rest of the world still face significant challenges in dealing with the rising global demand for energy, especially if continued demand growth and constrained supplies maintain intense pressure on prices. The silver lining of high energy prices is that they provide a powerful incentive for action--for conservation, including investment in energy-saving technologies; for the investment needed to bring new oil supplies to market; and for the development of alternative conventional and nonconventional energy sources. The government, in addition to the market, can usefully address energy concerns, for example, by supporting basic research and adopting well-designed regulatory policies to promote important social objectives such as protecting the environment. As we saw after the oil price shock of the 1970s, given some time, the economy can become much more energy-efficient even as it continues to grow and living standards improve.

Let me turn now to the other economic challenge that I want to highlight today--the productivity performance of our economy. At this point you may be saying to yourself, "Is it too late to book Ali G?" However, anyone who stayed awake through EC 10 understands why this issue is so important.
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As Adam Smith pointed out in 1776, in the long run, more than any other factor, the productivity of the workforce determines a nation's standard of living.

The decades following the end of World War II were remarkable for their industrial innovation and creativity. From 1948 to 1973, output per hour of work grew by nearly 3 percent per year, on average.
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But then, for the next 20 years or so, productivity growth averaged only about 1-1/2 percent per year, barely half its previous rate. Predictably, the rate of increase in the standard of living slowed as well, and to about the same extent. The difference between 3 percent and 1-1/2 percent may sound small. But at 3 percent per year, the standard of living would double about every 23 years, or once every generation; by contrast, at 1-1/2 percent, a doubling would occur only roughly every 47 years, or once every other generation.

Among the many consequences of the productivity slowdown was a further complication for the monetary policy makers of the 1970s. Detecting shifts in economic trends is difficult in real time, and most economists and policymakers did not fully appreciate the extent of the productivity slowdown until the late 1970s. This further influenced the policymakers of the time toward running a monetary policy that was too accommodative. The resulting overheating of the economy probably exacerbated the inflation problem of that decade.
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Productivity growth revived in the mid-1990s, as I mentioned, illustrating once again the resilience of the American economy.
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Since 1995, productivity has increased at about a 2-1/2 percent annual rate. A great deal of intellectual effort has been expended in trying to explain the recent performance and to forecast the future evolution of productivity. Much very good work has been conducted here at Harvard by Dale Jorgenson (my senior thesis adviser in 1975, by the way) and his colleagues, and other important research in the area has been done at the Federal Reserve Board.
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One key finding of that research is that, to have an economic impact, technological innovations must be translated into successful commercial applications. This country's competitive, market-based system, its flexible capital and labor markets, its tradition of entrepreneurship, and its technological strengths--to which Harvard and other universities make a critical contribution--help ensure that that happens on an ongoing basis.

While private-sector initiative was the key ingredient in generating the pickup in productivity growth, government policy was constructive, in part through support of basic research but also to a substantial degree by promoting economic competition. Beginning in the late 1970s, the federal government deregulated a number of key industries, including air travel, trucking, telecommunications, and energy. The resulting increase in competition promoted cost reductions and innovation, leading in turn to new products and industries. It is difficult to imagine that we would have online retailing today if the transportation and telecommunications industries had not been deregulated. In addition, the lowering of trade barriers promoted productivity gains by increasing competition, expanding markets, and increasing the pace of technology transfer.
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Finally, as a central banker, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the contribution of monetary policy to the improved productivity performance. By damping business cycles and by keeping inflation under control, a sound monetary policy improves the ability of households and firms to plan and increases their willingness to undertake the investments in skills, research, and physical capital needed to support continuing gains in productivity.

Just as the productivity slowdown was associated with a slower growth of real per capita income, the productivity resurgence since the mid-1990s has been accompanied by a pickup in real income growth. One measure of average living standards, real consumption per capita, is nearly 35 percent higher today than in 1995. In addition, the flood of innovation that helped spur the productivity resurgence has created many new job opportunities, and more than a few fortunes. But changing technology has also reduced job opportunities for some others--bank tellers and assembly-line workers, for example. And that is the crux of a whole new set of challenges.

Even though average economic well-being has increased considerably over time, the degree of inequality in economic outcomes over the past three decades has increased as well. Economists continue to grapple with the reasons for this trend. But as best we can tell, the increase in inequality probably is due to a number of factors, notably including technological change that seems to have favored higher-skilled workers more than lower-skilled ones. In addition, some economists point to increased international trade and the declining role of labor unions as other, probably lesser contributing factors.

What should we do about rising economic inequality? Answering this question inevitably involves difficult value judgments and tradeoffs. But approaches that inhibit the dynamism of our economy would clearly be a step in the wrong direction. To be sure, new technologies and increased international trade can lead to painful dislocations as some workers lose their jobs or see the demand for their particular skills decline. However, hindering the adoption of new technologies or inhibiting trade flows would do far more harm than good over the longer haul. In the short term, the better approach is to adopt policies that help those who are displaced by economic change. By doing so, we not only provide assistance to those who need it but help to secure public support for the economic flexibility that is essential for prosperity.

In the long term, however, the best way by far to improve economic opportunity and to reduce inequality is to increase the educational attainment and skills of American workers. The productivity surge in the decades after World War II corresponded to a period in which educational attainment was increasing rapidly; in recent decades, progress on that front has been far slower. Moreover, inequalities in education and in access to education remain high. As we think about improving education and skills, we should also look beyond the traditional K-12 and 4-year-college system--as important as it is--to recognize that education should be lifelong and can come in many forms. Early childhood education, community colleges, vocational schools, on-the-job training, online courses, adult education--all of these are vehicles of demonstrated value in increasing skills and lifetime earning power. The use of a wide range of methods to address the pressing problems of inadequate skills and economic inequality would be entirely consistent with the themes of economic adaptability and flexibility that I have emphasized in my remarks.

I will close by shifting from the topic of education in general to your education specifically. Through effort, talent, and doubtless some luck, you have succeeded in acquiring an excellent education. Your education--more precisely, your ability to think critically and creatively--is your greatest asset. And unlike many assets, the more you draw on it, the faster it grows. Put it to good use.

The poor forecasting record of economists is legendary, but I will make a forecast in which I am very confident: Whatever you expect your life and work to be like 10, 20, or 30 years from now, the reality will be quite different. In looking over the 30th anniversary report on my own class, I was struck by the great diversity of vocations and avocations that have engaged my classmates. To be sure, the volume was full of attorneys and physicians and professors as well as architects, engineers, editors, bankers, and even a few economists. Many listed the title "vice president," and, not a few, "president." But the class of 1975 also includes those who listed their occupations as composer, environmental advocate, musician, playwright, rabbi, conflict resolution coach, painter, community organizer, and essayist. And even for those of us with the more conventional job descriptions, the nature of our daily work and its relationship to the economy and society is, I am sure, very different from what we might have guessed in 1975. My point is only that you cannot predict your path. You can only try to be as prepared as possible for the opportunities, as well as the disappointments, that will come your way. For people, as for economies, adaptability and flexibility count for a great deal.

Wherever your path leads, I hope you use your considerable talents and energy in endeavors that engage and excite you and benefit not only yourselves, but also in some measure your country and your world. Today, I wish you and your families a day of joyous celebration. Congratulations.

‘Restore confidence in industry’ and public

2008-06-04T22:43:00.004+05:30

I was reading the Businessline yesterday and found this very interesting article which quotes Mr.T.V.Mohandas Pai of Infosys. He does a very blunt analysis (as rightly put by the journalist) of the widely known crumbling infrastructure story in Karnataka. I have my own thoughts on this but wanted to first put this entire article and then give my thoughts on the same. Might be a long article but worth a read.

‘Restore confidence in industry’
Full Article: Source: Business Line Dated 03 June 2008

With change of guard in Karnataka and a BJP government assuming office, the obvious question is on the immediate priorities of the new dispensation. Over the last few years, Bangalore, once such a vibrant business destination, had been allowed to languish, with its infrastructure taking the biggest hit.

So what are the expectations of business houses from the new government and what should be its immediate priorities to steer the State through a new era of development?
Mr T. V. Mohandas Pai, Human Resources Chief and Director on Board of Infosys Technologies, does not shy away from a blunt analysis of the pitfalls, particularly in the infrastructure front, that have plagued the State, particularly Bangalore. “People have very high expectations from this government mainly because it has a majority and will hopefully last five years. That is very important as Karnataka has seen instability over five years and suffered.”
But over the years, he says, industry has lost confidence in the State government. “The morale of industry in Karnataka is very low. People are very unhappy because of what has happened in the last four years. Industry was taken on, people were abused, etc., and so investment has been going elsewhere. I don’t know how industry will work with the new government; it is up to the new government to restore confidence in the industry.”
For a starter, he says, “the new chief Minister should clearly send a message to all industrialists that they are welcome in Bangalore. Right now, they don’t get the feeling that they are wanted here.”

He explains that during the last three years “85 per cent or more approvals in the high-level committee for industry have all been for real-estate projects, most of them near Bangalore.” But nothing concrete happened. “Actual users — people who set up their own industries — have not been getting land. They should be told: Please come to Karnataka we will help you. Even if the government does not have the land to give industry, it must create a process whereby private people can buy land from farmers at market prices. They can then go to the government which can do a planned conversion of that land to industry. If I buy land from the farmer, I will pay a higher price and why should the government have any objection if it is done with his consent? I’m not asking the government to acquire the land for me or to force the farmers to sell to me.”
But the problem, he points out wryly, is that no government wants to let go control over land. “And the process of land conversion is so onerous, so painful and so corrupt that it puts off industry.” The ideal thing, he suggests, would be to enable conversion of such land within 30 days after which it can be handed over for industrial/corporate use. “But this is not happening, because the government approval at the high-level committee is not worth anything and you have to go through the process again and again.”

Land and corruption
A single change in policy on this front will get dramatic results. “Every government tells industry you go there and we’ll do this or that, but these days who believes the government? Nobody! But if this government can effect quick conversion of land, industry will do the rest in terms of power generators, water requirement, etc. But the most basic requirement is land. Give land to us at market value. Nobody is asking for subsidy. If this government can demonstrate commitment in this area, it will make a vital difference, because everybody makes money on land, whatever government it might be and hence they don’t want to part with control on land. If this government wants to restore confidence in industry, they must ease these restrictions and make the process open and transparent to show that it is serious and committed about industrial growth in the State.

Mr Pai says the CII had recommended to the earlier government to start an economic super corridor from Bidar to Gulberga, Raichur, Davangere, Tumkur and Bangalore, and taking one spur to Karwar, another to Shimoga and Mangalore on this road, and one more going down to Mysore and Bangalore. “It should be a 6-lane road expandable to 8 lanes, with land in the middle for the railway line to run. This would take care of the requirement of the next 30-40 years, and at every 50 or 100 km they should be about 2,000 to 5,000 acres of land which could be acquired for industry at market rates.”

If done, this would result in economic transformation in North Karnataka, through the creation of infrastructure for setting up industries in the region. And, since Bidar is only about 150 km from Hyderabad, just as Hosur is close to Bangalore, “Bidar can feed off the Hyderabad infrastructure; one could land in Hyderabad and reach Bidar in two hours, if we build a good road from Bidar to Hyderabad border. This might cost Rs 15,000 crore but has to be done because it will dramatically improve the infrastructure in North Karnataka.”

Bangalore Roads
Coming to the immediate needs of Bangalore, Mr Pai says the biggest challenge for Bangalore citizens is traffic, and if serious steps are taken, results can be seen within six months. “First, they must complete the Nandi road — 95 per cent of Nandi road is complete, only about 500 metres remain. The Governor had approved the entire scheme including the road to Mysore; this should be completed within 2-3 months as it will dramatically improve to the traffic flow in south Bangalore.”

Also, four roads leading out of Bangalore in various stages of work need to be completed. These include the road from Yeshwantpur to Peenya (“which is in a complete mess and traffic is crawling”); on the airport road the work that has been started from the Golf Course to the Hebbal flyover should be completed; as also the road to Whitefield and the Hosur road. “These four are the arterial roads for Bangalore and need to be completed to improve traffic conditions.”
His deadline is three months! When you express surprise, Mr Pai says: “Infrastructure work should be done in three shifts, seven days a week. But we have people working 5-6 hours a day, with no equipment 5 or 6 days a week!

Coming to the funds required, the former Infosys Finance chief says, “All this costs only a small amount of money. They have to push the contractors.” Next on his list are the peripheral ring roads; “about 160 km, which was talked about from Mr S. M. Krishna’s time. The land has to be acquired, orders issued and funding closed. This will take two-three years to complete. But at lest if they compete the acquisition which is at an advanced stage and take a decision, that will help. Also, tenders should be issued for the inner ring road at Bangalore, and they must redo the major arterial roads of Bangalore which are full of potholes, and muck.”

If the BJP government can show these results quickly, “traffic will improve dramatically and there will be hope in the hearts of people.

Education
Mr Pai says the government also needs to address educational needs in areas such as North Karnataka. “In the districts of Raichur, Gulberga and Bidar the pass percentage in Plus Two is only 20 per cent which is absurd. That shows the quality of education. Why should these children suffer?” More teachers should be appointed and government scholarships — about Rs 10,000 a year for a child — given for the poor children on a merit basis. A Karnataka State scholarship was also needed for students who could not afford to pay for higher/professional education, and irrespective of caste of gender. Like there are scholarships for SC/ST students, this should be for the general population.

Mr Pai adds that all this the people of Karnataka expect from the new government with “of course good, corruption-free governance”. Also, addressing the perennial debate on social equity versus growth, he says, “People ask should the government give subsidies or invest in infrastructure? I think the only way to settle this debate is by giving income support to the BPL sector. The government should run a massive financial inclusion programme, identify BPL families with less than Rs 60,000 annual income, and give a monthly grant of Rs 500 per person for 10 years. Open a bank account and transfer the money in the name of the woman of the house. They have the choice to use this for food, education or whatever. We should not give subsidy on rice, wheat, etc and distort the system. This will empower the BPL sector, and the remaining money can be spent on infrastructural development. We have to settle this debate for once and all. Or else you come out different schemes now and then and from most schemes the money is siphoned off.

But, Mr Pai cautions Mr Yeddyurappa and his team, people don’t have much patience. “The first three months is the honeymoon period; if in this period the government doesn’t take decisions, make announcements and show some results, the hope and confidence that people now have will be gone. Generally people wait for three-six months before giving up hope!”

My opinion
Karnataka is one of the blessed states in India with all natural resources – forests, climate, coastline, water (my home state fights virtually every year for water from Karnataka. That’s a different story and will write about it one day), mineral wealth. However the way the politicians in the city have been able to unsuccessfully tap any of the same is an understatement.

Tourist locations which can benefit from proper infrastructure development are innumerable – Coorg (plantation tourism), Hampi (Heritage structures), Gokarna (beaches), Dandeli (Adventure Sports), Mantralaya (Religious place), Murdeshwar (Religious place), Udupi (Religious place and Who can forget Udipi hotels), Kollur (Religious place), Kudremukh (Reserve Forest), Bannerghatta (Reserve Forest), Karwar (Beach and Adventure Sports) are just a few which come right to my mind. I Doubt if anyone can recall seeing so many beautiful places bunched together.

I don’t mind the politicians siphoning off some money provided they have put in place the infrastructure that justifies the same (Else the Singapore model of Government jobs should be explored – Giving high salaries but making accountability foremost. Think am right). Why look all the way to Singapore, Gujarat is a very easy example. The way new roads and infrastructure is coming up is mindboggling. I like Mr.Narendra Modi for this. Many might question his involvement in the Godhra issue and being a sensitive one I restrain from commenting on the same as I don’t know the details.

Mr. Pai has lucidly covered the areas through which these trunk roads can pass through which can bring accessibility to these places. This is one of the few ways one can provide mass employment. Today mass employment does not come in manufacturing as industries become more capital intensive rather than labour intensive.

The other point I liked was when he said give land at market value. Not only land everything should be bought at market values. This goes especially for electricity in India. Again I quote the example of Gujarat (correct me if the facts are wrong). It is supposedly the only state in India where power is not given for free to farmers. But it is given 24 hours. This solves all the issues. In most other states power is given for free to agriculturists (most beneficiaries, in terms of quantum of electricity, not number of agriculturists, are already wealthy). Whats the point in subsidising someone who is already wealthy at the expense of the taxpayer. Agricultural income, If I am not wrong, is TAX FREE in India. This wealthy chap draws power for his other requirements illegally and power theft is rampant. Add to it does not pay taxes whereas a service sector chap pays taxes diligently every year. Agriculturists (political interests effectively) even resist installing meters even though power would be given free to these farmers. The thought process is that these meters if installed are bound to catch power theft and hence tough resistance. Coming back if power is given at a certain market rate but on a reliable basis then people are more than happy to pay for it. Gujarat is a living example. Now that BJP (party in power in Gujarat is in power in Karnataka), I hope they replicate the same here too.

Infrastructure being done very slow is the other point that really irritates a lot of people. Contractors, as they aggressively bid to win the contract, finally end up finding that they are out to run losses and add to it the delayed payments from Government authorities (often cited, dunno how true) take the toll on the project execution. Until the project cost is revised and the contractor is given payment the project is in backburner. So work normally does not happen 24x7. Contractors doing so must be given serious punishments if one had the authority to. PPP models are improving this situation.

Last but not the least and infact the most important thing is education. It is in such shambles is an understatement if one were to put it. Ex the big cities most of the smaller towns (leave villages aside) have pathetic infrastructure. The way to improve this is to pay the faculty better. Unless that happens talent will not move into the sector. Education needs what IT did to core engineering sector in India. (I consider IT a low value add in comparison to the design engineering jobs which a lot of the engineers too like but don’t take up. But it never paid to be an engineer in a core industry. Bang came IT and in a decade the market forces have made sure these jobs today offer infact better packages and rightfully so). This reinstates my belief in the working of the free market forces theory. If teaching fraternity is paid well enough then the multiplier effect on education system is bound to be manifold is my firm belief. To attract that talent they need to be paid well. Today a large portion are in this occupation largely because they passionately believe in it and not for money alone. It is only a small consideration but for the incremental supply (if I can say so) to come in you need money. If you can reap the rewards by a multiplier effect then why not???

Think I have expressed too much of my opinion but still thought better express the same rather than remain silent. More Bakar to follow....please read on.....

Politicians and their recent (great) actions

2008-05-23T19:30:00.004+05:30

Before commenting on anything like this first and foremost i know am not the right person to do so, as i hardly turnout everytime there is an election to go and vote. Part of the reason i might say is that i work in a different place and have a permanent residence in a different place. In simple words i think if my vote is going to make such a big difference??? Maybe also becuase i have largely got access to the basic needs thanks to great parents, their upbringing and partly to my own efforts (hey i have come through the great quota system in my home state despite 69%being reserved in quotas. yeah thats how low it is in my state ;-P ).

For the guy who does not have his basic needs satisfied the Government is answerable. However i felt it is answerable to me too considering i am paying more than a third of my income as various forms of taxes. And i am one among the 10-13% (i think this number is right) of the population which pays taxes. From the money they collect from me if they do not provide the requisite infrasctructure then thats pathetic. In essence there is no accountability.

However now to woo the votebank (the ones who diligently go and vote everytime. sometimes more than once in every given occasion ;-P ) the politicians stoop to pretty low levels.

Give free colour televisions (two states in India have done that now - my home state and the state where elections are currently on). On money collected from taxes . hey that i thought was for basic infrastructure!!! After rodi, kapda and makaan, now its tvs too ;-P

Industry busting - well when inflation has gone up because of oil and food in the country, levying a ban on cement price increases seems absurd. That too in a year when prices have gone up by only 4% yoy and when cost of the inputs have gone up higher. If Government is seriously concerned about cement prices then it should bring down indirect taxes. Instead they hiked it and being indirect it is passed on. Hey then thats a double whammy. In my opinion they should take a cue from a neghbouring state of my home state. That state is implementing a low cost housing scheme for which cement consumed is given at subsidised rates while for the general market at market determined rates. Thats logical - give cement at lower rates for those who cannot afford not for those who can.

Next comes steel - thats the next target. When their cost of inputs and prices are determined by global factors a ban on increasing prices might b the dynamics of the industry. They would be operating at a loss (as cost of inputs are signifcantly risen in the global market while prices are being asked to cap here).

These steps will only discourage industry to put up fresh investments in the longer term and hurt employment opportunities and development in long term. The only objective of the Government at the end of all this is to create noise in the public domain that steps are being taken. yes steps are being taken but in the wrong areas - result impact being seen in inflation. Despite all these freezes inflation is still on the rise !!!

This takes the cake however! Waiver on farm loans - phew. Though this seems greatly benevolent it is a repetitive case and only inculcates bad habits among borrowers. Result even the biggest of the public sector banks has said it will stop loans for tractors in the country. Thats proof enough of the point being made. If you tell someone hey every five years i will write off your loans you just keep borrowing then one only encourages a farmer to borrow (just because he is a farmer) and use for other purposes. Because he very well knows he does not need to repay. I would have been happier if there were reduction in interest rates or some such step but waiver on loans thats bad economics.

Coming up - Swanky new airports, My favourite state in India

reminiscences of a stock operator

2008-05-22T19:15:00.002+05:30

Well its as usual been pretty long since i came up with my last post. What prompted me to write this one - my dear friend sehgoo writing his new blog reminded me that i too have one and maybe writing it once in a while does make sense.....

Well as usual my pet topic is markets and i thought of writing about the recent book on the same - Reminiscences of a stock operator. Well its an awesome quick read for guys who follow markets! Wonderful and amazed at how Lawrence Livingston did his studies in early 1900s. Wow man hats off to him. Today we got so many tools and we still are not able to analyse anything worthwhile maybe losing oneself in the details rather than the big picture seems to be the case here too.

His logic to trade based on experience is one thing i can really relate to as i have seen my dad pickup some great stocks (which to my so called educated mind seem bad) in the last three years. Also its great to try and understand the psychology and sentiments of the crowd in the market. Also i loved the larry explained in the book 'the tape is never wrong'. We got to read properly. And in most cases we fail to outperform the market in the long term. We may do so in certain stocks but the investment basket never outperforms the market. So very true (atleast in my case).

Other books i am reading half way thru - 'Snow' by Orhan Pamuk (i am going to kill Bala for leaving the book with Karthik at his sister vidya's engagement. Now all are in Bangalore and i am in Mumbai. Maybe i am to blame more as i forgot to take the book before leaving), 'Guns,Germs and Steel' by Jared Diamond. Both are pretty interesting reads.

In Guns, Germs and Steel, the one great and fresh idea (atleast for me) he said was that civilisations flourished easier when they spread latitudinally rather than longitudinally. Easy examples - Nile, Yellow and Indus valley civilisations (i forgot the fourth big civilisation of the past. think its persian). Recent examples are USA and Europe. Thats why civilisations were tough to spread from North India into South India and vice versa. Similar case with Africa, South America. The relation is simple if one applied common sense (which is so uncommon) - the climatic conditions are largely similar along the latitudes and highly dissimilar along longitudes. Wow Eureka for me!

Thats it from my side for now. Hope to write soon and hope to fill more on the many movies i see.....

Observations of a Quasi-Gypsy - 1

2007-06-17T09:13:00.000+05:30

My last blog was on the 1st of January 2007 and i said i would try writing an entry everyday like diary but as usual new year resolutions remain new year resolutions :-)

However this new year has been pretty much eventful that i have toured a lot of places (mostly on account of work. Yet to reach the self financing status!!!) and have almost lived like a gypsy. You can call me a Quasi-gypsy. Places i visited this year - Delhi (i have lost count how many times), Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Salem (hometown), Karaikudi (Native place), Coimbatore (nearest operational airport to my hometown), Mumbai (where i stay), Ahmedabad, Pipavav and Kolkota.

Some things that i noticed in common - (a) There is so much energy in people to do so much business given the current economic buoyancy (b) Real Estate as a result has once again caught on (c) Movie halls are brimming with huge crowds even though no movie has really ran that well all this year (d) Inflation on ground seems to be much more than whats reported (e) Politics, elections and the aftermath remain as eventful as ever (f) Industries are capacity constrained and we are operating at more than 100% levels, as usual to the utter amazement of all across the globe (g) the short sighted and slow planning of infrastructure which is under strain from day one.

The real reson for this growth i feel is as below. India being an agrarian economy (65-70% of the population supposedly still depends upon agriculture for livelihood) availability of water through the year plays a quintessential role. Thanks to the highly bureaucratic nature of working we still depend upon our Rain God - Varuna (i think!) - year on year to bless us with sufficient rainfall. Thanks to Him, we have seen a continued good bout of rainfall across most parts of the country in the last three-four years. This i feel is the real reason for the sustained 8+% growth in the economy during this period. The multiplier effect of this has been there for all to see.

But whats been interesting when i visited most of the places is that how this has affected the Indian populace or rather the Inclusive growth the current UPA government is talking about.
(a) all the educated bunch of youngstars are more than happy to be coders which pay them handsomely. This group by any imagination forms only around 0.1% of the population.
(b) The second rung which has just managed to speak a little english has enthusistically agreed to be call centre executives (again at a handsome salary). This crowd again forms only of another 0.2% of the population.
(c) The bottom of the pyramid however is hardly employable in any of the service sector. The manufacturing jobs are more mechanised these days and they dont want people either. Construction, agriculture and trading seem to be the mass employment providers.

Also there seem to be two underlying problems with regards to this employment situation in India - a big chunk is difficult to be employed and the other minor group (major by absolute number) is under employed. What we need is for this underemployed group to become entrepreneurial and generate employment for this bottom of the pyramid.

It pains me to see such wonderful minds acting as coders who work like dogs for 20% of the time they are employed and spend the rest 80% on the bench waiting for their billion dollar companies to get them newer projects. This crowd is 'oblivious to the fact' is what i seem to get and the basic reason for this is the handsome package that they get upfront which over a longer term hardly moves up. This does not perturb them either as they seem to end with an onsite employment for an average of two-three months a year which pays them 4-5x the domestic salary. However as people continue to work in these places they seem to be stuck to this industry as no one else wants them and they get frustrated doing the same monotonous jobs.

Why i really hate this is because irrespective of the engineering stream - Civil, Mechanical, IT, Textiles, Instrumentation, EEE, ECE they are employed in this sector while these industries which actually need this crowd does not get enough of them. This constrains the infrastructure building in the economy.

My personal opinion - employ Science/Arts students to work as coders. let the engineers do what they are suppposed to do. But the Laws of capital/Money have their own ways and that dictates economics. we got to accept this fact and see how we can improve.

that brings me to the end of this post and i feel i need to improve on a few things - A gassing arnd factor acquired during the glorified MBA that i got. I got to write to the point and not bore the reader (which largely is me and myself).

2007-01-01T22:00:00.000+05:30

Year 2K7

Year 2K7 has arrived and like every other year this year too I have made up my mnd to write my diary regularly. Well though i have not zeroed in on what to write on this new year's day i just thought i needed to kickstart the process and hence i am writing a mail for the sake of it. But the positive side to it is that atleast i have made a start.

I celebrated the New Year's eve at kandivli with my friends Souveer, Karan, Avis, Divya, Honey and Ashish Jha. Was a nice get together as we all met after a quarter or so. Some of them were busy talking about where to make their next strategic shift in their career during the year ahead. Was very interesting knowing each one's point of view especially when most of them were about to be married in this group. It really changes the equation as a lot of them actually came forward with their views. I am happy that i am still sometime away from that situation :-)

Souveer and Ashish Jha were at their witty best as they started taking poor sehgoo's case. But our sher did not give up that easily and fought his way through the session. Some good old memories from college were revived as usual. Then the news of the day came ---- Our own Nariyal Pani man Kris had left for Texas. He had reached and we had a brief chat on the net with him. But the icing on the cake was from the Prince Rajkumar - Our man was working his regular night shift on the new year's eve as one of his colleagues in the project had an accident. Poor guy first new year post marriage and he had to celebrate at his big software firm's campus :-(

Otherwise we got up pretty late on the new years day and went for some shopping for Ashish's marriage. post that me and karan saw a very emotional flick on TV - Baghban. Amitabh was really at his emotional best. I saw it for the first time and realised why this movie was such a huge hit. It made one emotional all the way through.....

Then after that we discussed on some financial modelling and then i left Kandivli for my own sweet South Bombay. but only when i reached south bombay did i wake up to the reality that CAS has been implemented in the island city and hence only free to air channels are visible in the hostel. Finally one drawback of being in South Bombay. But yeah got to live with that. Rounded off the new years day with some shopping at Westside.

Thats about what i did today....keeping my fingers crossed to update the blog everyday....hope something useful comes out....
Cheers!!!

Schumi at the center of another controversy

2006-06-03T15:14:00.000+05:30

Well Well Well Schumacher - Thy synonym might well be Controversy!!! i am of course referring to the last weeks' qualifying for Monaco Grand Prix....Monaco is one of the most looked forward to races in the F1 calendar every year for it is not only a street race but has one of the most picturesque surrondings for a race....Twisting and twirling through tunnels, chicanes, below mansions!!! near the mediteranean sea ....one of the most toughest circuits in the race calendar....Another reason why drivers feel that a pole position at Monaco is as good as winning the race (Which proved right this year too!)....

Schumi towards the dying seconds of the qualifying session (when he was leading on the times set and was going for another flying lap; And Alonso was supposedly two hundredths of a second below his time at the Second Intermediate and behind schumi) stalled the car as he lost control on a fast maneouvre of a sharp curve....This brought all the cars behind him to stall and lose their flying laps and teh session to get over...

There were Boos all around calling for Ferrari and Schumi's Head.....That it was a disgrace for a sport to have such a dirty legend......Flavio Briatore, the manager who first saw Schumi win his first F1 Championship and the currrent boss of the Renault team, opined that "He (Schumi) is taking everybody for a ride" or something like that....Then you had every driver calling for him to be abandoned from the sport ....Alonso, the current leader in the championship race, refused to comment....while Montoya, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Kimi also came up with their versions.....

This hype and furore is nothing new to Schumi for his various moves in the past - Some of the renowned ones include....(a)Schumi crashing into Damon Hill to winning his 94 Chamiopnship (1st world Chamiponship).....I wonder what Flavio Briatore commented when his champ won that race....(b) Schumacher trying to crash into Villeneuve in the last race in 97 championship and hitting the sidewall. Simultaneously he was stripped off his second position in the championship....(c)When he overtook Barrichello in the last corner of the Belgium Grand Prix in the 2003 season following Ferrari's unwritten policy of the second driver to always make way for Schumi in a race

Hey but i have some questions for these guys!!! (Not only Coz i am a Schumi Fan)

1) Would they have questioned if it was any other driver? Mistakes do happen when you are racing at such high speeds....Some say a seven time world champion could not have done such an elementary mistake....Hey is he not human!!! he did not even know he was leading the timing charts as he did not have radio contact at that point...

2) What credibility do ppl like Montoya, Coulthard, Briatore and Villeneuve have to question Schumi ???
Montoya that half mad colombian who crashes into others for he has very little patience and a very small brain that rarely works in a race...Villeneuve, the most spectacular non performer (leaving alone the 97 season) that has ever graced the sport and driven a car for more than a decade....How many times has he spoiled every driver's flying lap in qualifying in the 90s.....The world champ (of 97) is credited with the most spins in a race that could have ever been....Coulthard the b@$tard who rammed into Schumi in 1998 when Schumi was just six points behind coulthards teammate Hakkinen in the championships and had six races to go ..... That chap calling schumi a person without integrity....

But despite all this the Champ that he is Schumi started from the p22 (last position in the race grid) and finished a creditable 5th in the race....That too in a track where overtaking is almost next to impossible.....That speaks about the quality of the driver on the racing circuit....That too from the oldest driver on the circuit....Hats off to the Hero!!!Schumi is now 21 points behind Alonso but watch out the sleeping giant has been aroused.....With 12 races to go it aint over till its over....

Kolkota – The City of Joy

2006-03-24T19:02:00.000+05:30

Well yesterday I was in Kolkota (Calcutta of yesteryears) on an official trip and this happened to be my third trip to this rather sleepy city (or is it???). It definitely has a populace which has a kind of laidback attitude to how they lead their life (or so I feel cos I am in Mumbai – Bombay of yesteryears – the city with a mechanical life). The city, like most cities in India, has some its splendid monuments and tourist spots in the South while the North as usual has a very dirty look and feel to it.

The first time I was in Kolkota (some ten years back) I was overawed by the engineering of the Howrah bridge….The enormity of the structure and the jetties flowing beneath the bridge in the waters of Hoogly…..Oh that was a sight…..But right beside it I also saw one of the most dirty locales anywhere in the world….. This time around when I went to Strand Road on an official meeting (very near Howrah) I just wanted to check how the place looked…..Hey it bloody well hasn’t changed…..Whether for the Good I don’t know…..but people out there seems to be very oblivious of the filth among which they live in…..

Then I drifted to do more official work and for lunch I went to this lovely little restaurant called Moulin Rouge in Park Street (the most lively road In Kolkota) with a batchmate of mine – Debu….It was great to meet him after a longtime and we had a nice cozy lunch at that restaurant. This restaurant supposedly had at one point in time been the most visited night clubs in Kolkota in fifties or so ppl tell me…..It also was a part of the famous caberae number of Rekha in the recent movie Parineeta. That movie was supposedly based on like in Cal in 1960s….Hey it has not changed so much after that….

Then post lunch I had an hour and a half to kill and just a little walk outside on Park Street I found Oxford Bookstore. At Oxford for the first time a book’s cover caught my attention with its name – “Everything that you wanted to know about the Simple Theory of Relativity E=mc 2 and were afraid to ask”…. I read the book for about an hour and I was so immersed that I felt I needed to buy this book…..It cost me INR 150 (INR 100 higher than what I normally pay for a book) but It is worth it….. It describes about various things that I feared reading in Physics……Oh I repent why I did not choose Physics……I have finished only 30 pages of the book and hey its just too good…..The language in the book is so laymen language that I thoroughly enjoyed it…..Must go through it fully as it is very interesting….

Then I drifted back for some long official work. In the meanwhile it was pouring in Kolkota (the first showers of the monsoon) and how people welcomed it…..I felt I had brought the showers to the City of Joy :- ) . In the evening I met with Ajay, an ex-colleague of mine at office, in Hyatt at salt lake in kolkota. Salt lake is a beautiful locale in Kolkota near the airport and houses the Salt lake stadium and a lot of other beautiful scenery. The chat at the coffee house was nice as we caught upon a lot of stuff on each others work atmosphere and also recalled the last one years’ work experience at the office. It was a good evening drink we had…the mango squash was too good….

Then came the most hated part of the day…..My flight back to Mumbai…..I expected to reach in three hours including the normal one hour the flights hover around the destination for their turn to be allowed to land…….But hey the Indian airport infrastructure was much worse….I hovered around for an hour and a half and to top it there was no bloody Bus coach to take us from the flight to the terminal…..We waited for another thirty minutes and then got to the terminal…..The four hour ordeal was over…..

Well Kolkota despite being sleepy and laidback had its own charm….The city is seeing a lot of development recently under the CM Mr.Buddhadeb Bhattacharya……Some changes that I coul really witness were the number of malls, the science city, the IT offices and the flyovers have started dotting the landscapes of the sleepy city….Maybe the city wishes to reclaim its lost glory as the primary business center in India.

First Blog from Mumbai

2005-12-24T09:27:00.000+05:30

Well Well, I guess this is my first blog after about nine months since i left TAPMI and joined a firm in Mumbai - Yes the commercial capital of India.....

Well the year - 2005 - has been quite eventful in every sense of the way....I got my first job in the first month of the year. Then enjoyed to the core my last few days of college life (How i wish i get some more time to study) and then became a silent particpant (well let me clarify - i am into fundamental equity research for my bread and butter!!!)of the biggest bull run in the Indian equity market. But the first week that i joined office the markets took a 6% downhill trip and then how i thought my entry brought such ill-luck to the market - On the contrary it provided oppurtunity for a lot to enter at low levels (this is the typical statement you hear from every tom, dick and harry on Dalal Street during a bull run). Two months nto my job i was provided a very good oppurtunity as my senior left and i was asked to track a sector all by myself independently. The sector included stocks which had 4% or so weightage in the SENSEX - the lead barometer of the economy or so most felt...Well i have enjoyed this journey as i learnt a lot...

Mumbai has been very special....One thing i like about the city - No one cares what you do after you have done the job required of you....Well that kind of gives you the freedom that you require i guess....But the real spirit of mumbai was seen on July the 26 2005 when a record 922mm of rain ( i guess the number is right) was received in a short span of 12 hours....The streets choked and there was flooding all around the city... Rains did not stop for over 24 hours which caused a blockage for the rain water to get to the sea... lots lost homes....but the kind of help that was renedered by people unknown to you was seen by me for the first time... well that was one day i felt proud i was an Indian (primarily also because a similar kind of catastrophe had its way in the US and despite all the advanced warnings, the damage was huge....but after the event the kind of fighting among the civilians that was witnessed through the TV media made me feel fortunate and happy that i am part of a more civislised economy than a more developed economy. This is my personal feeling and this is not against any of my american brothers & sisters.)

Well i hope to contiune with this post of my mine sometime soon....i know the write up is incomplete but i kinda got to get back to work....Adios

What's there for F1 in Narain?

2005-03-23T23:15:00.000+05:30

Well i pondered over why Narain got his break into F1 all of a sudden. well is it really that managers saw his potential only now or what??? where were they all these years? The same person who raced along with Jenson Button the year previous to Button's entry into F1 was four years late even though he was only a few points below button in that formula 3000 series...Why then did he receive this offer now???

Well economic reasons obviously buddy...the viewership for F1 in India is on the rise and India is no more the dull market it used to be. It has people who have more disposable income than before. Meaning that people are graduating from just motorcycles to cars and what better place to showcase your car's engineering skill and what not of your car than in F1, the show business of automobiles. Narain is the right vehicle for them. The day of the first race, all the media had a dedicated section on the rules of f1, the teams, the drivers and what not of the f1. Every media wanted a piece of f1 news. Schumacher became an overnight household name in India if he was not already one. We even learned about the new legislation on having the national flag on your sporting wear. This issue did not gain much focus even through cricket (everyone easily recalls Sachin's headgear having the national flag. However no one noticed the flag's absence until the issue of Narain, should not wear his normal helmet which has the tricolour on it, sprang up).

Also F1, facing a lot of problems related to banning of tobacco advertisements in European countries, is looking for venues in Asia where the legislations are not that strict for tobacco advertisements. The fact that tobacco drives F1 is an undisputable one. Slowly the companies are looking for alternate sponsors is also true for very obvious reasons. This has reflected in the large number of races in Asia in the last decade - Japan, Malaysia, Bahrain, China. The last two were very recent additions. It might not be very long before we see a chinese driver!!! Sounds interestig ain't it???

Well now what is the point? Narain is into F1. we Indians are happy, the f1 managers are happy, everyone is happy. Make hay while the sun shines

Coorg - The Land Of Coffee-Part 2

2005-03-23T17:00:00.000+05:30

Day 2 we hoped should go well.Our plan was to visit Abby Falls, Harangi Dam, Nisargadhama Wild life Park and Tibetan Monastery. We had decided the previous night to leave the room by 8am.

Paddy was watching movie until 5 in the morning and his "Apna Haath Jaganaath" was used thrice that night(atleast he claims to have, while mallu dolphin said it was not possible and our dilli friend says with a break of two hours it is possible ). well the masters know it better...The rest of us did not argue...Then at about 8 in the morning we moved to Abby falls...the walk frm the quolis to the falls through some plantation was very good...it was really a sight worth seeing.The falls from the river Madikeri was great and so was the hanging bridge there...however the place was so full of plastics...we just discussed how we spoil a lot of places (me included) Such pristine water until the water fell to the ground.Then it was dirty...May be we should do something about this.promote something called ecotourism perhaps...

Then a stupid guy came there to collect Rs15 for parking our car there...We did shell out and cursing him moved to the next place...On the way we stopped at a small hotel called "jeeths Hotel and started to order some food. I found something palatable, dosa. Karan being the adventurer he is, wanted onion pakoda and he liked it so much that he ordered three plates of it.Others went in for Bread Omelette (the hotelier who doubled as the waiter told hesitatingly that he had it and would prepare it). I finished my dosa and had a litl bit of pakoda while the rest waited for their bread omelette. Well the wait finally got over and bang came three plates of??? well bombay toast. that was okay to our guys and they had it. Even that was only ok. Well by the second round the chef (glorifying the cook there) mastered himself on preparing bombay toast...Shetty even remarked that from now on he would hae this as his today's special item. You never really know. Then we had to shell out Rs20 for each plate of this item...coz he was making it for the first time, he did not know the costing.

Very satisfied with the decent food(heaven compared to the last days dinner),we moved to Harangi dam. It was a long climb from the entrance to the dam...Well the climb was worth it...The water level was really only about 30% of the dam capacity and all of us discussed about how beautiful a sight it would be to see the sluize gates open. The dude from rajastan recalled his experience of watching the dam across chambal river open its sluize gates...Then the roomies, the cross country drunkard from kerala and Mittu, went down to the other side of the dam going to the water. They did not see that the steps stopped at the middle. Then they came up. PCP in shakila style and Karan in his very corporate style formals.

Then we walked back to the jeep and the Devta of the group recalled how fast the momeys in his hometown of Haldwani got over...He badly wanted to taste those as he was sure he would get it near the Tibetan Monastery, our next halt... but before that it was "Dharbooz" time again and this time the whole group went mad... It was great...We finished a full fruit...

We were awestruck by the distant view of the Tibetan Monastery in Kushalnagar, Coorg. It is an amazing architectural marvel. The inside prayer hall is truly one of the memorable places...Gold plated statues of Lord Buddha, and two other Gods revered by the Buddhists...The writing below the statues claimed that the statue of Buddha alone was 60 ft tall while the other two were a shade smaller at 58 ft. Really an architectural marvel. So were the dragons that were on the pillars and the paintings depicting the life of important moments of Buddhism...The place was so quiet and peaceful. All of us were discussing wherefrom the funds for all this have come and also how is it possible to come to a third country and establish such a big and beautiful place. This golden temple also houses a large tibetan population. This is supposedly the second largest Tibetan Settlement in India.

After the tibetan monastery we decided to go for our food. We decided we would go to a hotel called "East End Hotel" which came up in the last night's list but was not considered as it was a little far from the place we were and the driver had gone elsewhere and we had to walk.

Reaching that place we thought yet again some Gatiya Khana. It was in a old kinda place...Well when we stepped in and saw some good food we thought ok finally some good food. And i enjoyed that meal. Gupta had a pint and it was really chill. The the two mallus also had some drinks and food and after a good meal we decided to move to the hotel and leave for Manipal... Well all of us were so happy with the food today...And that made the day overall a very good one...

Then we vacated the room at around 4.15pm and on our way back slept most of the way through. The drive was scary once we were on the plains. The driver (he had amazing control no doubt) was going at such speeds and overtaking so scarily...To take away all that we started to sing and crack some "do kaudi ka jokes" like the Shetty is a ullat pallat guy for Hewlett Packard guy and what not???

The last moments the driver was all the more skillful. Mobile in aone hand and the steering wheel on the other and still overtaking other cars at 80 to 100 Kph speeds. We were just sitting on the edge of our seats literally...We reached at 8.50 pm to the hostel and thanked our stars for that...

Overall a very good trip...memorable one...To say it in short, Karan's words suit it bestKya Baat Kar Raha Hai.

Coorg - The Land Of Coffee-Part 1

2005-03-23T11:17:00.000+05:30

Hi iam just back from my trip to coorg with seven of my other friends. Well i am in the middle of my last break in MBA. Well nice way to round off the MBA stint.

We started from our hostel this monday the 21st of March 2005 at about 8am. Well the ride was really bumpy and half way to Coorg i started throwing up courtesy Kesari Baath at Apoorva Mess... Then we stopped for a while at the nearby stream to freshen ourselves. It was a lovely sight and we had our feet in the running water and it was so refreshing that had we enough time, we would have stayed there a little longer...

Then we started on our trip again and then visited the Triveni Sangamam where Cauvery, The mystic Sujyogi and an another river meet. i tasted the water, though it was not clean,just to see how different it was from the same water that i get at my hometown Salem. Boy oh boy it was really tasteless, while at my place it used to be so salty...well atleast i get it at my place,as it is near mettur...the poor farmers in Tanjore do not even get that, thanks to the Spat between the two neighbouring states (well the neighbouring state has its own reasons,there are farmers here too...)

Than we moved on to the place where River Cauvery has its origin. This place called Talacauvery is a very religious one for very obvious reasons. The place has a very small well (or kinda) and the river's birthplace is this. I wonder how that very small spring provides the most important resource - drinking water for people living in both the states...Well thats the beauty of nature i guess...

Then the most important thing for that day...yeah i am talking about food. I was the only teetotaller in my group and everyone else was just waiting to lay their hands on a bottle of chilled beer and some really hyped about Non veg food. Here again iam in the minority...yeah iam one of the two vegetarians or rather eggetarians in my group...The time was around 2.30pm and we were just looking for any place that would serve these two and of course some vegetarian food, which is taken for granted...

And we came across a mallu restaurant and boy the two mallus in our group became our interpreters at that place (until then Shetty the local boy from mangalore was the official interpreter)...well thinking we would get some good food, we ordered our dishes and we get Kerala rice and at that moment our Tairak De Rajasthan's face was worth seeing...his favourite dialogue on seeing south indian food (read anything other than roti and paneer) came out...kya sadaa hua kanaa yaar...But his stomach forced him to and he had it...Ankur a.k.a. Chacha, my fellow eggetarian took something that the restaurant fellow called omelette...Then we pushed out to have some cool drinks and we stopped at a nearby bakery...Six of us had normal pesticides (read soft drinks) while the other two - the kid with the tobu cycle, Karan and the mallu dolphin, Nair had something called Kokkum...Nair claimed it was a sexy drink and he had had it earlier in a place whose name starts with c (it was ratnagiri...)and karan too was adventurous and he replied "Kya Baat Kar Raha Hai...Main bhi piyuunga" and they had it. The very first sip and the reaction on Nairs face said it all and the rest six were offered this heavenly drink...After enjoying their heavenly drink the awesome twosome then wanted Dharbooz (well water melon in Hindi) and they had loads and loads of it...

Next we moved over to Madikeri, the biggest town in Coorg or Kodagu District. We moved to a place called King's Seat (Shetty referred it so) or raja's seat to see the sunset. well we reached there at about 4.30 pm. We bought some groundnuts and some bhor (resembled what we called elanthapalam in tamil, i do not know the english word for it). Then we waited and then clicked a few snaps near the place where the Raja's of Coorg used to sit. It is a place under the ASI now. Then we had the local specialty...yeah the coffee and it was really nice...then we moved to the omkareswara temple...prayed there and went around the places nearby...then we found a nice hotel...two rooms for eight of us... costing one grand... it had television, hot water, rug and all the basic amenities in a hillstation hotel...it was very clean... we rested for a while before our chance to search for a nice place to have our dinner...

Dinner or rather searching for dinner was awesome...first we came across a hotel called "Hotel West End" which a lot of ppl recommended and it was so smelly for the dude from rajasthan that he ran out...Then we moved to the town's main street and check out places like"castle rock", "choice","capitol", "Durbar" and finally we settled for "Capitol" as it had a nice ambience (on a relative scale. it was nothing compared to even the worst of hotels in our good old Manipal). Then we get the menu and all the piyakkads eyes light up on seeing that both Romanov and Smirnoff Vodka cost the same...They very obviously went for Smirnoff and also ordered for other drinks and tried Pork for the first time. The kid did not like it so much as it was very soft. However he was too eager on having a bottoms up and tried to get everyone in for this...this was all done to accomodate me as the restauranr hardly served any vegetarian food. Being good frenz they finished their drinls fast and in search of a good place to eat, we settled for Durbar...

Durbar was great!!!well that is an understatement i should say...everyone was amused by the first dish that came. yes chappathi and something the waiter called as Dal Fry...we, chacha an me looked at each other and laughed our heart out and thought about the dear junie Sudhir Kamath who rightly warned us before we started that we would not get anything to eat being vegetarians. It is a vegetarians nightmare...well the nightmare was comng true. However our other frenz food was also so great that they really loved it... Karan must have inhaled some laughing gas...he was laughing his heart out at the conversation he had with the waiter who would bring him everything other than the dish he ordered (paratta was what he got when he asked for fried rice)...Then we had some juice which was surprisingly nice and then moved to our room... the climate was really good (a saving grace for the day)...All in all everyone was thinking have we come to the wrong place...no food at all...we imagined so much but nothing at all...we planned our trip for the next day and went for sleep

Renault - Is this their dream year in the making?

2005-03-20T23:37:00.000+05:30

"Renault" well the car is all cute and very smooth in the way it moves. It moves like a figure skater on the ice...The car, 2005 version, is an absolute beauty and the two drivers are among the best in the business- Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella. Alonso may well become half a schumacher in future. Well by that i mean will win three or four world championships. well to break Schumi's record seems it will take a long long time and a driver who is going to be consistent like michael.

Well coming back to renault , the strong points are that the car is too quick out of the blocks and very quick in the corners and with the new rules hardly allowing any overtaking ( well you got to save your tyres through two sessions of qulaifying and a full race buddy), this team has got what it takes to be the champions this year. What with they already winning the two races that have happened this year...one victory each for the two drivers and both are looking good for many more. At the moment the Ferrari team is totally overclassed by the new cars of renault, toyota, mclaren and surprisingly red bull (what in the world is a beverage company doing in f1, iam yet to find out)...lets wait for them to bring in their new car and all things might change then...well being a tufosi i hope so... i want to see michael on the podium as fast as possible...They are likely to bring the car out for the fourth or fifth race at Bahrain, SanMarino or Spain...the faster the better...else it will be too little too late (like the Mclaren season last year)...

Lets wait and watch the next race...
Also look out for "whats there for f1 in Narain?"

Team India

2005-03-20T23:21:00.000+05:30

Well another media created term that came into everyday use after India defeated Aussies in india in 2001. Well after the Kolkota test to be exact.

Well coming to the point, India rarely played as a team after the hyped use of this term to address the indian team. Well for once did play as a team and ironically the venue was kolkota and the opponent the so called arch rivals Pakistan.

The match was a very absorbing one and i liked the way the whole match was played all the way. It was played with a friendly attitude. However the most interesting point of the match was the partnership between Rahul and Dinesh Karthik. This came at a very oppurtune time when Sami had taken Ganguky and Laxman was hit by a bouncer. Rahul fresh from a century in the first innings was continuing his good work and the young keeper from Tamil Nadu played well to give him support. To an extent, i felt Sami got carried away by his bouncer to Laxman and wanted to repeat it to other batsmen. His length was short when he was actually bowling at a very nice pace and rhythm. This tactic by Sami i felt actually cost them the match. ( I know not many would agree with this, but then this is my blog and i have the freedom to express my view).

In the second innings Kumble was at his very best...only he or a bowler of his kind and stature could have bowled with so much effect...was overall a good match and poor old steve bucknor would not remember it so even though this happened to be his 100th test match as an umpire. Well the newspaper item by TOI "Sachin (c) thin air (b)Bucknor" says the story very clearly. However he did not give Rahul out when he was plumb in front (not that he did it purposefully). However the media sees only the negative...

Well this has been one long write up but its ok i guess...

My Batch at TAPMI

2005-03-20T23:15:00.000+05:30

My Batch at TAPMI
Originally uploaded by dalmatian.

Well this soft copy of the caricature of all my batchmates was done by a few of my batchmates and junies for the book Interface. My photo resembles my looks as in the photo that i had taken about six months back for my placement. Well anyways this is real cute work...

Have the new F1 rules tamed the Prancing Horse?

2005-03-20T08:55:00.000+05:30

Well tomorrow the 2005 f1 season moves to Kaula Lumpur Malaysia. Well the first race saw the actual implementation of some really bizarre decisions on the part of FIA governing body for this season. A few of them are

- No tyre change for the entire race
- No engine change for two races, else drop down by ten positions in the starting line up
- New qualifying format. Two sessions of qualifying and the aggregate would be taken

All this is being viewed to make the sport interesting (read stopping ferrari's or rather schumi's dominance). well the first race showed how interesting it was!!! except for Renault team nobody liked it ( Even they would not have liked it had they not won 1 and 3 positions). say whatever, today after the first qualifying session in Malaysia, the scene very much looks like the ferrari is more the challenger rather than the dominator...

well with regards to the main question "Have the new F1 rules tamed the Prancing Horse?" only time will tell.

My heart says no for i love seeing the aggressive schumacher...this has earned very few frenz...Well, go Schumi...

Schumi

2005-03-19T19:40:00.000+05:30

ms2001-australiangp-car2
Originally uploaded by dalmatian.

Have the new F1 rules tamed the Prancing Horse?

My experiments with Blog

2005-03-19T14:23:00.000+05:30

Well i heard a lot about plagiarism, IPR and things of that sort. Did give a paper too very recently on IPR. Do not how i fared though.... Well i also heard about cases of plagiarism on blogs....i Do not want to be a party to it. So iam just trying to learn how to create a link. Lets see how this experiment goes.....

I was just watching the cricket match between India and Pakistan at Kolkota. Yesterday, Steve Bucknor gave a horrendous decision and the whole media went berserk on this issue for Sachin is Only next to God Himself in India...well today the same man did not give Rahul Out when he was plumb in front....what is the reaction to that...i do not know. However i read one interesting article on yesterday's incident in my friend venkat's Blog....lets just see what he has to say....
read

First Blog

2005-03-19T11:54:00.000+05:30

Well i have finally managed to create a blog after a lot of marketing from my frenz who kinda survive on blogging. Do not know if i will be able to maintain it coz i have landed a job in mumbai and i do not know if i will be using the internet that widely as i am doing now in my insti...i wil definitely miss this institute TAPMI in this small litl town called Manipal in South India. Iam enjoying my last days of my MBA life here. just finished all that is needed to in this degree...But have i really learned anything out of it. well time will tell.....

Dalmation