NjoyTV

Simile Exhibit

2012-02-17T13:18:00.003+05:30

Introduction to the tool

SIMILE is a joint project carried out by Haystick Group, World Wide Web Consortium, MIT Librarians and CSAIL. The major technical focus of this project is towards Semantic web technology and standards. It stands for Interoperability of Metadata and Information in unLike Environments. It is focused on developing robust, open source tools that empower users to access, manage, visualize and reuse digital assets.

The various projects of Simile are as follows:

Exhibit	Appalachian
Babel	Citeline
HTTPTracer	JavaFirefoxExtension
jsTeX	Longwell
Piggy Bank	RDFizers
Referee	Solvent
Semantic Bank	Zotz

Simile Exhibit lets the user create web pages that has advanced text search and filtering functionalities, with interactive maps, timelines, and other visualizations. It lets the user create web pages with support for sorting, filtering, and rich visualizations by writing only HTML and optionally some CSS and Javascript code. No database and no web application technologies are involved. Through this application a user can get data in a webpage in a organised, interactive fashion.

The Exhibit page can be created from any of the following:

Google Spreadsheet	Excel Spreadsheet
Edit Grid Spreadsheet	Publications
JSON data source	ASP.NET

In computer programming, a widget (or control) is an element of a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays an information arrangement changeable by the user, such as a window or a text box. The defining characteristic of a widget is to provide a single interaction point for the direct manipulation of a given kind of data. In other words, widgets are basic visual building blocks which, combined in an application, hold all the data processed by the application and the available interactions on this data.

Business Value

The amount of data that is available on the web is immense and still counting. To go through this data and analyse it is in itself a mamoth task, but none the less very important. Exhibit is a tool that helps in deciphering the data available on the web and gives it to us in a manner which is easy to understand and use. This tool is very useful for every field of business be it marketing, consulting or an other field. Exhibit helps the business managers in developing pages by collecting data from multiple sources. In short it helps creating a repository of data from multiple webpages.

Data Source

Simile Exhibit requires us to select any webpage or particular spreadsheets to fetch the data. A particular webpage with relevant data will be selected and the data from this page will be fed to the application.

Methodology

The various steps that will be undertaken are as follows:

Literature Review: Both primary and secondary research will be carried out in this stage. Information available on various websites and other articles will be studied. Also the home page of the software provides with various examples that will help us in understanding how this application works.
Hands on: Since the application is an open source one, it can be downloaded free of cost. A hands of experience will be gained by using the application and creating some sample webpages.
Data Source: An appropriate data source will be found and studied. The data source can be any website or any spreadsheets that will help us in showing the working of the application.
Tutorial: Finally the tutorial will be prepared by explaining in detail regarding the application. An exhibit webpage will be created using data from a particular/multiple websites. This webpage will be taken as an illustration and the tutorial will explain each stage of how to create such a page using the application.

Below figure shows how Simile Exhibit transforms loosely available data into organized one that can be sorted, filtered and managed easily:

Know your NjoyTV!

2011-11-08T23:28:00.001+05:30

"NjoyTV is world's first and only Gtalk-Buzz-Facebook Hindi Music entertainment channel"

A.) GENESIS OF the word "NjoyTV"

One fine day during my final year at DCE, I was contemplating on a single "name" which I could use across all sources of entertainment(songs, videos, blogs, etc) which I create, so that just by seeing the name, my friends are able to guess who must have created it.

On Jan-30-2006 on the eve of ma-papa's wedding anniversary, I was watching MTV in which one sexy VJ, before taking commercial break, said,
"Hey, We 'll be right back after a short break, don't go anywhere, keep watching MTV, Enjoy!"

I focused on her last two words.."MTV+ENJOY"

From there I got idea of the name of my channel..Initially, I thought to replace M with some other alphabet but finally settled on without alphabet ENJOYTV..making it futher shorter to "NjoyTV"..Since then, I have been using this name as my umbrella brand for videos, chats, blogs, twitter, etc.

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B.) Launch of NjoyTV as a song suggestor/player on Gtalk

I always wanted to be a VJ/RJ since childhood and have recorded many cassettes speaking like a RJ [Still have those but they are useless because of obsolete technology.. :-( ].

In mid-2007 While I was working in Cognizant Kolkata, I came upon an idea to start e-mail service everyday where I will send one most important/funniest/knowledge imparting news of the day along with any name of a song under the banner-cum-signature "99.5 Sky Blue FM" [Idea taken from "93.5 Red FM"].

I continued it till I left CTS in Oct-2007 to join CSC, Noida. There I saw that unlike in Cognizant, Gtalk is allowed here. So, instead of sending mails daily, I started suggesting songs to friends on my gtalk status by writing the name of the song on my gtalk-status under the heading, 'NjoyTV Song of the Day.' When youtube became popular in 2007-08, I started using the link of the song as well along with its name.

In early 2010, NjoyTV was launched on BUZZ as well where people could comment on the song which would be viewed by anybody on the BUZZ.

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C.) Why do I do this? What do I get out of this?

1. Peace: Even if I am not an RJ/VJ, I am doing something similar but in low tone!

2. Connectivity with friends: I started this channel with the main aim of connecting with friends always..consider this: One day I pinged one of my Cognizant friends to whom I hadnt talked/chatted since 2 years. I said, "You have forgotten me".. He said, "How can I forget you when I listen your song daily on NjoyTV? I have been following you on gtalk since last 2 years and havent missed even a single song"...Once in a while many friends keep in touch with me max. times to Comment/request/advice on a song for NjoyTV!

3. Satisfaction: When my friends ping me back and say:

- "You made my day, what a song".

- "Plz NEVER close ur channel, this is the first thing I do in office every morning before starting my work"

- "What a song..I forgot it thanks for reminding", etc etc

4. Learning about new songs: Since the time I started playing song requests/dedications also in late 2010, I came across many songs which I also didn't know including non-hindi songs. This has helped increasing my songs database.

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D.) NjoyTV Protocol for Facebook:

For more than a year, NjoyTV remained on Gtalk-BUZZ until the news came that Google is doing away with Buzz forever. Hence because of this and upon the suggestions from most of my friends, I am launching it open on Facebook to all its users on my birthday, Nov-9-2011. You can find it here.

1. It will be a Facebook page where I will put one Song daily and on which any Facebook user can comment.

2. Currently, a song request/dedication can be made only by my friends (max. of 1 per week per friend). It will be played on the nearest available date (based on first-cum-first serve basis) with their name and dedication appearing beside the song.

3. Total max. song requests in a week = 4. Also song request is subject to condition that the requested song must not have been played on NjoyTV in last 1 month.

4. Max. no. of non-Hindi song requests per week = 1

5. Song will be put up anytime between 11pm to 1am daily night on one song per day basis.

6. A max of 1 month data will be kept at any time on NjoyTV Facebook page. So at any point in time, there will be max. of 30 songs on this page.

Amendment Note: Now, non-friends viewers can also suggest/request a song which will also be played on NjoyTV but without their name being displayed on the page.

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E.) How to dedicate/request/suggest a song?

Please fill the following form for requesting your song.

Please note that due to enormous number of song requests, you may have to wait quite a long to listen to your song sometimes. However, in case of emergencies like love proposals where waiting can be fatal (;-) you must mention the reason for playing your song early in 'Dedication/Message' question of the form.

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HAVE FUN & KEEP SMILING as LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO WORRY..

- Rahul Aggarwal
Director, NjoyTV
Dated: 8-Nov-2011

Nokia-From Dawn to dusk

2011-03-27T14:25:00.003+05:30

This article was published in Economic Times dated Mar-27-2011 that throws light on the factors responsible for Nokia's decreasing market share and stronghold in 3 years(2007-2010).

No handset-maker knows India better than Nokia, then why did it lose its stronghold?
Find out here.

What I learnt from this case study is that in a competitive environment, the three things are most important to survive and stay ahead of the market:
a) Constant Innovation - Creating VALUE for the customer
b) Operational Efficiency - faster, economical production, R&D and sales distribution system
c) Market Orientation - putting customer's needs at the center of all activities of the company

Life at IIT Kharagpur

2011-03-17T00:00:00.005+05:30

“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.”

-Jeremy Irons

When I look back now using the former of the two God-gifted machines, I find that last six months were truly one of the most enriching experiences of my life: academically, personally and socially. Like most of the software engineers, I was also leading a “Physically” comfortable and “Mentally” torturous life. When I joined VGSoM, things got reversed for at least first 2-3 weeks. In fact, the realization of the most basic thing that I was now enrolled in the coveted MBA degree from the most desired words on resume “IIT”, itself kept me motivated against the de-motivating forces of physical pain that I was to bear in the first 15 days.

These forces include:

• Hostel Rooms

When I was allotted the room: the cot was in broken condition; water was yellow in taps; walls were covered with spider webs; cistern was pissing; LAN socket had been raped; the speed of the ceiling fan was slower than the slowest rickshaw in Junglepur. It was almost going to be a remake of the horror movie, ‘The Ring’, had the tube light been not working; thankfully it was!

• Homesickness

This started when I consistently scored zero in Mathematical Models of Management Decisions (pronounced fondly as Triple M D) twice in the weekly class tests. Only Kamdhenu Diary’s milk could have helped me sail through this one! :(

• Jungle vehicle: A BICYCLE

Let me tell you that it is impossible to live and traverse on planet Junglepur unless you have a bicycle as motor vehicles are banned here for students. Though people flout these rules easily.

Also, initially cycling caused my bum to pain, my legs to swell, my bowel movement to go upwards(:P) but believe me, in no time, everything became normal and I got used to it so much that I am thinking to take it with me to Delhi after the completion of the course.

• Food

Daily, we have dark-brown water (which is supposed to be sambhar); egg, bread-butter in the morning; Semi-half baked tawa rotis, rice, one vegetable (or Chicken for non-veg) and yellow water (which is supposed to be Dal) and curd (most tasty component of lunch) in the afternoon; edible snacks in the evening, and dinner similar to the lunch. Frankly speaking, I am not having issues with the lunch because I have seen how worse it can get esp. if you are a vegetarian. And yes, IIT Kharagpur is probably one of the biggest clients of Aquaguard.

Believe me, the above mentioned forces do not last for more than 15-20 days. After that, there’s more than everything to admire here. First, the 2200 acre campus is a self-sufficient ecosystem. It is so serene that you may even miss your partner (or would-be partner) here (though teachers usually make sure that the latter doesn’t happen). People from big cities will take a sigh of relief in this calm, beautiful and pollution-free ecosystem. In simple terms, it’s indeed heaven inside the campus.

Now, before you run your horses, I should make it clear that boy-girl ratio here is highly skewed. :( Though there are some nice maal (read: girls) in BTech but the issue is they remain in their nests the whole year and don't come out until Durga Puja in October or Spring fest in January. There is a sad story that says that earlier boys-girls hostel used to be combined but they were separated later by some @$$ %O^$.

Disregarding the availability though, still a few couples can be seen here inside the library or at Lover's point in front of the library. The institute's central library is one of the biggest libraries in India. It houses magazines, newspapers, journals, books, and lovers(:P).

With one CCD and more than 8 restaurants, you will never feel the need to go outside campus to “try” something new (:P). There are many small markets outside every hostel for the basic commodities. A techmarket is also there that houses shops for fulfilling all basic needs including a hot stuffed-Pakora shop that serves the yummiest green chutney in Kharagpur.

For workouts, a world-class gym, swimming pool, tennis ground, badminton courts and football grounds are also there. You name a game and it is here.

Though all the above things are not unique to IIT but one thing that differentiates it from other colleges is DC++ which is a peer-to-peer file-sharing system that connects whole of the IIT and has data in excess of 152 Terabytes! From movies to documentaries, from serials to songs, from e-books to software, everything is available on the LAN. The high speed internet connectivity of 100 Mbps with no restriction on downloading makes this place a paradise for net savvy people.

Oh wait… I almost forgot that I have come here to study! So, let me throw some torch on life at VGSoM. Classes usually start at 8.15 in the morning and unlike other B-Schools, run only till 12:30pm except for Mondays when we subconsciously hone our oral or written communication skills in the context of business.
One thing I have not understood yet is that regardless of how many hours I sleep, I still feel sleepy in the class (If anybody knows why, please answer in comments section).

Nevertheless, in the first semester, we study the basics of all trades viz. finance, marketing, operations, IT and HR. The general mode of teaching is usually case study method coupled with theoretical insights from the books of renowned authors. It is a highly enriching experience to attend classes from the world class faculties who hail from institutes like London School of Business, University of Texas, IIM Ahmadabad, IIT Delhi, MICA, etc and have a long experience in industry & teaching. Their focus is primarily on building the conceptual clarity while making studies a fun and not on just completing the course and grades. For Example, in the subject, IT, we indulged in a very unique concept of examination this year where the students were asked to make either one movie or an online application using cloud computing in the groups of three. Also, we are asked to write a 12 page thesis on any innovative thing that has the potential to generate business but is not currently being practised.

To supplement our learning in classes, we also get to attend the series of guest lectures where the prominent industry leaders share their valuable industry experiences with us and provide us with the practical applications of the concepts in business.

So, do we study the whole day? Well of course not(:P). To supplement our learning in classes, we usually WATCH as many Bollywood flicks as we can!! ;-). Jokes apart, we take part in many student-managed committees and clubs for practically actuating whatever we learn here in theory. One such committee is Shraddha that works towards improving the lives of the underprivileged children through a school located within the IIT Kharagpur campus. Every once in while we go there, distribute goodies and celebrate festivals like Diwali, etc with the children. This gives a sense of peace in mind (that works as an antidote to the guilt of bunking few classes!).

All the above factors have contributed to a great deal in my personality development. Consider the fact that our class comprises of students from 19 different states of India. Where else do you get such diversity? I was allotted hostel with a south Indian Matka (slang for MTech here!) who doesn’t understand Hindi (though he likes Hindi songs and Katrina Kaif alias Sheila :P). But we are doing well. Sometimes, whenever he talked with his friends in Tamil:

Annaa, sapad pohiren...(Going for food, bro?)
Khanapurti Poda Poda, Ne muritiviten? (Moron, get lost, u are finished)

I used to feel that they were making noise because I did't understand Tamil. Plus, due to cultural differences between North and South, there were many adjustment issues. But then I realized, the only keyword that would work well here is "Co-operate-2-dominate".

It is this multiplicity of courses and diversity of people here that distinguish IITs from other institutes. The learning in behavioural aspects which I have got from here can never be taught in any class. Consequently, I am a more matured individual who knows how to deal with people from different backgrounds and how to manage the most precious resource called “time” to make myself “dedicated to the service of Nation”.

Trip to Puri-Konark-Chilika

2010-09-25T11:47:00.003+05:30

Mid-sems got over at 4pm and we decided to go on a trip at 3:59pm!! After considering many options and brainstorming, we finalized Puri-Konark-Chilika trip. This we did even after knowing that we may not get entry to the dolphin island and Nalbana Island that houses migratory birds..but we didn't have any other option due to heavy rains in most parts of this side of the country..We decided to try our luck at it..

Presenting, the Itinerary (on demand of one of my friends) which we followed:

Well as luck had it, we were not able to go to Nalbana and Satpada Islands but will definitely go once again to fill the gap that remains to be filled..!!

Four-Year Transformation!

2010-06-30T23:36:00.001+05:30

Finally, this week marks the end of the first phase of my work-ex that lasted for a total of 4 years as I have decided to overthrow my comfort zone and travel thru the scabrous alleys of a highly respected degree, now-a-days, called MBA. However, when I look back now, I am delighted to note that what a journey it has been. It has all of these called pain, emotions, tears, war, stress, glory, fun, rewards, friendships, etc. And all these things have impacted me considerably to an extent that I feel that I am a much better individual now than what I was 4 years back.

Some of the examples I discovered through introspection:

Before:

Very low self confidence

After:

Duniya ki &%@#!^.. High level of self confidence and belief. This is one lesson that I have learnt as a result of learning from so many failures in almost every field esp. during first serious CAT prep. in 2008 and 1st two projects in CSC during 2008-09. Everytime I failed, I read/listened something motivational. One such quote that is extremely close to my heart is:

"Courage doesn't always roar..Sometimes, it is the quite voice at the end of the day, saying I will again try tomorrow".

Similarly, Chak-de-India movie's title song(hunkar awaz wala paragraph)

And whenever I have tried again and again, almost everytime God has been kind to shower success on me just when I was on the verge of loosing it!
Also, I have experienced this myself that our body imitates our mind. If mind is confident, this will show in the performance by the body and hence, the results. (My first AIMCAT last year was in July first week in which I was not prepared at all so I had nothing to loose. Without any expectations, I went with full confidence that whatever I will do, I will do correct else I will not attempt. Result-98.3%tile, AIR-270 out of 17,000..!)

In this aspect specifically, literally speaking, "Main apna favourite hun"

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Before:

Extreme immaturity in almost everything, be it relationships, handling tasks, view of life, ability to judge people (Initially, it was like if somebody talked to me with smile, I took his goodness for granted)

After:

Perhaps the most important thing which is developed over these years is “Maturity to think rationally and practically”. Day dreaming is a crime. Learnt this, esp in Kolkata where I made certain mistakes in choosing relationships that taught me that you will never know when your best asset may become your worst one if your eyes and mind are not open.

Generally, most of things went against my wishes during:

1. Last 3-4 months of my 1 year long stay in Cognizant,

2. Two months with a psycho in a single room,

3. Under a super psycho landlord for approx another 2 months

4. And 1st two projects in CSC

These things broadminded my mind to an extent which reflect when you see me today with the perspective of now and then. But a very very important experience I must say, otherwise, I would have never matured to that extent had Cognizant been in Delhi!

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Before:

Poor emotional quotient

After:

Now, I do any work with full emotions but I don’t do any work emotionally! (Slight difference, only few people will be able to understand).
Please please please remember that if you are into a relationship, then it is imperative to give full space to your partner and respect his/her views, else things will not work out.

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Before:
Any big responsibility looked like a burden that used to create stress until I finished it

After:

Let’s have a cup of tea first!

-----------------------------WAIT, Tea se yaad aaya....

Before:
Didn’t used to even touch it

After:

At least 3 times a day else mind gets blocked!

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Before:

Average communication skills when it used to come to relationships

After:

“Express Yourself” is the funda for this! I believe that if you really want to say something to someone, then please go ahead and express yourself to him/her..Don’t think that ‘it is obvious’ or ‘it is a formality’ or ‘it is not my duty’, etc.. Believe me, your few words of motivation can make his/her whole day!

(A very important lesson in public relations)

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Before:
Average mentorship skills (I used to get miffed easily if other person didn’t understand what I wanted to say. This was the case when I used to teach tuitions to class-10th students while I was in DCE)

After:

Developed patience…Here, special thanks to Abhignan da in Cognizant and Devendar in CSC who were my mentors in the respective companies!! (Consider the case that tomorrow is project delivery and our work is just 60% complete at 9pm. Abhijnan da is cool. Also, we have to train 2 other people till tomorrow. Abhijnan da is still cool. Mainframe gets hanged for 2 hours in between. Abhijnan da is still cool as if he had delivered the project. Suddenly it rains heavily to the extent that no cab is available to go home. Abhijnan da is still cool!!)

How to hold your nerves while mentoring and in high-stress zones was the lesson I learnt.

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Before:

Car Driving skills – Above average

After:

Min. 2.5 hours daily driving from Delhi to Noida and vice-versa since Oct, 2007.. Need I say more? Aankh band karke bhi chalaunga toh bhi ghar pahunch jaunga!

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Before:

Laughing loudly and frequently.

After:

This hasn’t changed as yet! People still become victim of that, sometimes!

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So, these were a few examples of my four-year transformation that I went thru with such a highly enriching experience made possible, perhaps, by the blessings of the almighty!
In the same flow, I hope the learning will continue in my last formal education too and who knows I will be writing another post after 2 years with contents similar to this one but heading something like, "Two states, the story of my ******".
-

Antariksh ki khoj

2010-05-02T12:44:00.025+05:30

“Is brahmand ki rachna kaise hui? kisne ki? kyun ki? Yeh itna bada kyun hai? Koi toh batao? And, if there are billions of galaxies and solar systems in the universe then will it be foolish to ask if life is present only on Earth in our solar system? Which is more frightening :- We are alone in Universe OR we are not alone in Universe? Will there be imperialism in universe also for more and more Earth(s) in future? How come Universe is so huge? Will it keep on increasing in size? etc etc”

Sometimes, when I look into clear night sky, there is this whole bunch of questions that gets activated thru my sensory root of vision that keeps on goading my mind for answers. I normally try to evade them by saying that scientists around the world are still trying to find answers to most of them but they never stop from sprouting time and again in my skull’s butter. And the issue is that those questions actually do not have any concrete answers and are still in their Beta phase! In this write-up, I will put light on two such questions to the best of my knowledge acquired thru books, documentaries and internet. These are the birth of Universe and its ultimate fate.

Singularity

Let me begin with the birth of Universe. One might argue that big bang theory has now well established the birth of Universe but on looking closely you will find that it assumes a lot of things and creates more doubts than solving them. It does explain how Universe evolved but it fails to answer how it was born. Let me rewind a little bit.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble, with the help of spectrum analysis and Doppler’s effect, discovered that galaxies were moving away from each other and that Universe was expanding. Hence, moving backwards in time (around 14 billion years ago), everything must have started from a single point (called, singularity) where all the matter and energy was concentrated. From this singularity, the Universe exploded and by this explosion, not only matter and energy was created but also space and time.

My question is that from where does all that matter come? Who created that singularity? Astrophysicists like Stephen Hawking, George Ellis, and Roger Penrose published papers related to measurement of space, time and singularity in 1980s. According to them, “The singularity didn’t appear in space; rather space begins inside singularity. Prior to singularity, nothing existed, not space, time matter or energy.” [Just imagine :)]

They say that it is of no use to speak of the period before the Big Bang as there is no 'before' because time (and space) did not exist! However, my contumacious mind refuses to accept this. It asks that from where did singularity come? In what did singularity appear? Why it was there? The answer is we don’t know.

For the time being, creation of singularity can be supposed to be a supernatural event which is outside our imagination or understanding. Scientists around the world are highly divided on this polemic thought but they don’t have any other alternative at least until further discoveries are made in this regards. (That gives us another reason to make our belief firm in God, though!!)

Dark Matter
Similarly, to predict the ultimate future of Universe is an equally complicated job if not more. According to scientists, as Universe expands, its expansion is slowed down by the combined gravity of all the matter within it (just like a rocket is pulled back by Earth’s gravity). If the pull is strong then the expansion will stop and reverse itself to form singularity yet again else it will continue to expand forever.

In terms of Astrophysics, the future of Universe will depend on its average density and a certain critical density. If the density of Universe is smaller than critical density then Universe will continue expand forever else it will collapse.

The problem is how to calculate the average density of Universe? There are billions of galaxies and trillions of stars. The density of galaxies and stars can be found out as they are visible but what about the matter between them? It was noted that there was an invisible “dark matter” besides the stars and galaxies which was sort of holding the things together and which may also be responsible for slowing down the expansion of Universe.

However, in 1998, the outlandish finding of astronomers in Australia suggested something really strange. Two independent teams of astronomers found that not only is there too little matter in the universe to ever halt the expansion of the universe on its own, but the outward motion appears to be speeding up, not slowing down.!!. (This finding was awarded “Breakthrough of the Year for 1998” by Science magazine.)

Logically, if the Universe was born 14 billion years ago, then its expansion since that time should have been slowed down by huge amounts. But Logics don’t work everywhere! It seems that there is an antigravity force which is responsible for the all this. Even scientists were flabbergasted at this discovery of “speeding cosmic expansion” but they couldn’t find any reason to doubt their work. I noted that back in 1916, even Einstein added an extra term to the equations of relativity called the cosmological constant which amounted to a force that opposed gravity. Though he later discarded it which I think was the biggest mistake of his life.

Currently, there is a lot of research going on around the World on Dark Matter and the nature of particle physics in Cosmos. One such experiment to look forward to is the Large Hadron Collider exp which lies in a 27Km long tunnel beneath Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. I hope it comes out with some concrete results pertaining to the nature of Dark Matter in next 2-3 years.

As far as the ultimate future of Universe is concerned, well, for now astronomers say that the galaxies which we can see now (like Andromeda galaxy) will zip out of range one by one leaving Milky Way galaxy the only one we are directly aware of. By then, our Sun will have engulfed the nearest 3 planets, Mercury, Venus and Earth in its red giant phase before shrinking to a white dwarf star. Finally, there will be only black holes, burnt planets and an extremely cold and black Universe.

Bid

I don’t know whether scientists will be able to provide concrete answers to these two questions in my lifetime but I have a hunch that at least there will be a few more discoveries in the coming years which will provide more answers rather than creating more questions!

***

Special thanks to Nehru Planetarium, Science Magazine, TIME magazine, Discovery channel, Hubblesite.org, Nasa.gov, Stephen Hawkings's A brief history of Time and Black Holes and Baby Universes. All the information provided here is based on above resources and I am not biased towards any of them.

BUDGET 2010-A Snapshot

2010-03-06T16:30:00.000+05:30

This was Pranab Mukherjee's fourth budget of his career as finance minister and the second for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its second straight term after being voted back to office in May last year. Following are the important items to note in his budget:

1. Slabs for individual tax payers:

• There will be no tax for income upto Rs 1.6 lakh. (This was the same earlier)

• For income between 1.6 lakh - 5 lakh, the tax liability will be 10%. (The older slab was 1.6 - 3 lakh)

• For income between 5 lakh - 8 lakh, the tax liability will be 20%. (Earlier 20% tax was deducted on Rs 3-5 lakh income)

• Individuals with income of above Rs 8 lakh will have tax liability of 30%. (Earlier 30% was deducted on income of Rs 5 lakh and above)

• The government would allow a deduction of up to Rs 20,000 for investments in long-term infrastructure bonds. The deduction would be in addition to Rs 100,000 allowed under Section 80C of India's Income Tax Act.

The government says that it will lose Rs 21,000 crore due to income tax sops.

2. Fuel Price hike

Petrol and diesel prices will go up by Rs 2.67 a litre and Rs 2.58 per litre, respectively, after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today raised customs and excise duties on the two, virtually putting the Kirit Parikh Committee report on fuel price in cold storage. Mukherjee also imposed 5 per cent import duty on crude (currently nil), a move that would impact refiners like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil with their input cost going up.

Components of Petrol price

I decided to find out the Components of Petrol price in India and to my surprise, I found that for a Rs 22 litre petrol at pumps, consumers in India pay Rs 28 tax extra!!

Suppose if the petrol price per litre is Rs 51.90, here the break-up of cost calculated by the government:

• Basic Price = Rs 21.93

• Excise duty = Rs 14.35

• Education Tax = Rs 0.43

• Dealer commission = Rs 1.05

• VAT = Rs 5.5

• Crude Oil Custom duty = Rs 1.1

• Petrol Custom = Rs 1.54

• Transportation Charge = Rs 6.00

• Total price = Rs 51.90

NjoyTV’s view on “Should Fuel price be deregulated?”

Let’s understand first what is regulation of fuel prices and why it is done. As we know that regulation means control of the prices by government to save the consumer from the vagaries of market. For example, suppose the prices of crude increases by 100% in the international market which pushes the input costs of the Oil refining companies in India. Now strict regulation of govt will ensure that they can’t really increase the price of Petrol by corresponding hike in input costs. So, what will they do? They will absorb some of the burden and rest will be absorbed by the government in the form of providing subsidies and financial aid to Oil companies. All this is done to contain inflation (& hence vote bank!!) as prices of many commodities are dependent on diesel and kerosene prices which affect a large chuck of the country’s population.

Impact of Subsidies-

It’s impact on consumer is visible but what a voter or a common man doesn’t realize is it’s impact on fiscal deficit and hence the economy of the country. Consider this: In the Budget estimate for 2009-10, Petroleum subsidy was pegged at Rs 3,109 crore, although it was finally Rs 14,954 crore!! (Business Standard, Feb-26-2010). This huge subsidy bill could have been utilized to improve infrastructure, education, unemployment or health reform measures.

Also state-run oil marketers are expected to lose some Rs 40,000 crore on their fuel sales in 2009-2010 since the government did not allow them to raise pump prices in line with international crude.

Taking a note of the above mentioned impacts, Kirit Parikh committee was set up in last budget year to see if the impact of deregulation of fuel prices. Kirit Parikh report had recommended removal of government control over motor fuels linking the petrol prices with international market, raising cooking gas price by Rs 100 per cylinder and kerosene by Rs 6 a litre, petrol by Rs3.9/litre and diesel prices by around Rs3.2/litre, respectively (at current levels of global gasoline and diesel prices).

So, is it right to deregulate price?

Yes, I think so. First of all it will save crores of rupees (currently doled out as subsidies) which can be utilized by govt for other constructive purposes. Secondly, it will reduce fiscal deficit. Thirdly, it will save Oil companies from being bankrupt and hence it will attract investment in this sector. After deregulating prices, govt can reduce excise duties and custom’s duty on fuel which may be used as a tool to contain inflation in this case. The ministry can always intervene in case of extraordinary volatility to buffer the consumer, the threshold being $100 per barrel of crude price.

As to save farmers and Below Poverty line people, I feel that India should adopt dual pricing system for the simple reason that millionaires using diesel run vehicles don’t need subsidies but farmers using diesel need them. As Business Standard reports, “There has been some discussion on using smart cards to sort the genuine beneficiaries from the pillion riders -- the ministry is not clear how to weed out the non-deserving.”

(NjoyTV Note: This is solely my view based on my learning from news channels and papers. It may be different from yours.. as you know I am an engineer and not an economist (at least now!!) But you can raise your voice in comments section of this article)

3. Impact on Common man

Most FMCG companies including Hindustan Unilever, Colgate Palmolive, Nestle, Reckitt Benckiser and Dabur have large manufacturing operations in excise-free zones which do not get impacted by either an increase or cut in excise duty.

Things getting costlier:

• Soaps, talcum powder, shampoos, hair colour, diapers and sanitary napkins are set to go up 2-5%. Products like diapers and sanitary napkins which were fully exempt from excise will now attract duty of 10%. Cigarettes and gutka also getting very costlier as the weighted average increase in excise duties of around 17%, coupled with the recent VAT hikes in different states, is amongst the steepest tax hikes on cigarettes in recent years.

• Frequent fliers will also suffer with 10% tax now applicable to domestic flights as well. Coaching institutes who were earlier not charging any service tax on accounts that it is non commercial, will not be able to do so any longer.

• For businessmen, there is some bad news: MAT rate up from 15% to 18%; 5%custom’s duty on crude brought back; mean rate of excise up from 8% to 10%.

Things getting cheaper:

• Deodorants and perfumes could get cheaper by 5%, as excise duty on medicinal and toilet preparations act is being reduced from 16% to 10%. The uniform customs duty of 5% plus CVD of 4% on import of medical equipment has been introduced against current general maximum rate of 16.78% which will benefit private hospitals.

• As a green agenda, Solar powered and electric cars to get cheaper.

• For businessmen, there is a good news that he surcharge on Indian firms has been cut from 10% to 7.5%.

• For investors, there is a good news: Deduction of investments upto Rs 20,000/- in long term infrastructure bonds over and above existing Rs 1 lakh limit under section 80C of I-T Act. This is a win-win situation for both investors and government as investors will pay now less tax if they invest in infrastructure and government has now attracted investment in infrastructure which is still lagging far behind 2021 plan.

Impact on IT industry (This is my industry, at least for now!!)

There is some disappointment for the IT sector. The IT industry was expecting an extension of the tax holiday (STPI) for another couple of years as it is struggling due to the global slowdown. No further extension has come as a disappointment for the IT sector, but analysts believe the markets were expecting it.

Also, MAT has been increased from 15% to 18%, it will affect all software companies as this is immaterial of the fact whether they operated under the Software Technology Parks of India or the Special Economic Zones or not. Though companies say that MAT hike won’t matter much as it is offset by lower surcharge!

4. Miscellaneous

• The Advance Estimates for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2009-10 pegged at 7.2 per cent.

• Ownership of PSUs like Oil India Limited, NHPC, NTPC and Rural Electrification Corporation, etc has been broad based, i.e. government will divest its investment and allow people to invest in them. This will raise about Rs 25,000 crore during the current year.

• A Nutrient Based Subsidy policy for the fertilizer sector has been approved by the Government and will become effective from April 1, 2010. This will lead to an increase in agricultural productivity and better returns for the farmers and overtime reduce the volatility in demand for fertilizer subsidy and contain the subsidy bill.

• Allocation for NREGA(renamed to Mahatma Gandhi National rural employment guarantee scheme), Indira awas yojna, Raji awas yojna, and other social schemes has been increased

• The moderate increase in elementary education funding from Rs 26800 crore to Rs 31036 crore will ensure that SSA(Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) is well funded for the implementation of RTE(Right to education).

• ISRO’s budget allocation has been increased handsomely by as much as 35%.

• Allocation for UID project has been increased.

• Defense budget increased by a measly 4%, lowest in last 7 years

5. Overall Analysis of Budget-2010

Overall, I would say, it’s a good budget as it is moving forward on reforms:-By equalizing excise and service tax at 10%, broadening Income-tax slabs, reducing surcharge on corporate, lowering of customs/excise duties on green technologies, clarity of implementation on gradual reduction of stimulus, Better management of revenue and expenditures under the global circumstances as the revenue was higher and expenditure was lower acc to revised estimates in 2009-10 leading to fiscal deficit of 6.7%.

Though there are some negatives also like sudden increase in the prices of fuel, increasing MAT from 15% to 18.5%, Food inflation (above 17%), etc. which the finance minister needs to have a close look.

***

Courtesy:

I would like to thank the following websites/channels which helped me compile this article: indmusings.blogspot.com, economictimes.com, moneycontrol.com, trak.in, business-standard.com, businesstoday.indiatoday.in, Rahul Bajaj’s interview, indiabudget.nic.in, pagalguy.com various threads.

Economics Week: Part-2

2010-02-08T23:09:00.021+05:30

Economy of India

1. Introduction

The economy of India is the twelfth largest economy in the world by nominal value and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). India's large service industry accounts for 56.4% of the country's GDP while the industrial and agricultural sector contribute 28% and 15.7% respectively. Agriculture is the predominant occupation in India, accounting for about 52% of employment. The service sector makes up a further 34%, and industrial sector around 14%. India's per capita income (nominal) is $1032, ranked 143th in the world, while its per capita (PPP) of US$2,932 is ranked 130th.

Indian Economy Statistics(2009):

GDP: $1.242 trillion(Nominal) or $3.528 trillion(PPP)

GDP per capita: $1,032(Nominal) or $2,932(PPP)

Population below poverty line: 22%

%age of population who live in villages: 60%

Unemployment: 9.5%

Exports: $155 billion (till date in 2009)

Imports: $232 billion

2. Agriculture in India

Today, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. India is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper. It also has the world's largest cattle population (281 million). It is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish. It is the third largest producer of tobacco. India accounts for 10% of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana and sapota.

India has 3 harvesting seasons:

Rabi (winter crop) :- Wheat, Barley, Gram, Mustard, etc.
Kharif (summer crop) :- Rice, Jowar, Cotton, Bajra, etc.
Zaid (In between Rabi and Kharif) :- Watermelon, cucumber, muskmelon, etc.

Agricultural reforms required:

Need for improved irrigation
Better seeds & fertilizers
Consolidation of land holdings
Land reforms
Better access to credit:- Banks need to make loan procedures simple and accessible
Extension of marketing facilities:-Rural Marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers so as to soak up the huge size of the untapped rural market
Improving water management, rain water harvesting and watershed development
Bridging the knowledge gap through effective extension services
Diversifying into high value outputs, fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs and spices, medicinal plants, bamboo, bio-diesel, but with adequate measures to ensure food security.

Microfinance:

Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services. More broadly, it is a movement whose object is "a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers." Those who promote microfinance generally believe that such access will help poor people out of poverty. Unlike commercial loans, no collateral is required for a micro-loan and it is usually repaid within six months to a year.

Micro finance programs are funded by loans, grants, guarantees and investments from individuals, philanthropists, social investors, local banks, foundations, governments, and international institutions.

(NjoyTV note: It is a huge topic in itself which will run into pages if addressed here. So, only brief idea is provided herewith.)

NABARD

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development(NABARD) is set up as an apex Development Bank with a mandate for facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture, small-scale industries, cottage and village industries, handicrafts and other rural crafts. It also has the mandate to support all other allied economic activities in rural areas, promote integrated and sustainable rural development and secure prosperity of rural areas.

Loan Waiver Scheme

India’s ambitious loan waiver scheme for small farmers was extended by nearly 20%, to more than Rs 71,000 crore from the Rs 60,000 crore announced in the budget(Feb,2009). Over 40 million indebted Indian farmers got some financial relief as the massive loan waiver scheme for small and marginal farmers officially came into effect on June 30.

Though there is some news of corruption in the implementation of this scheme too because of which most farmers had not got the expected relief. (Need to confirm this!)

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

The Planning Commission in its approach paper to the Eleventh Five-Year-plan has stated that 9 per cent growth rate in GDP would be feasible during the Eleventh Plan period. However, Agriculture, that accounted for more than 30 percent of total GDP at the beginning of reforms, failed to maintain its pre-reform growth. On the contrary, it witnessed a sharp deceleration in growth after the mid-1990s.

A major cause behind the slow growth in agriculture is the consistent decrease in investments in the sector by the state governments. While public and private investments are increasing manifold in sectors such as infrastructure, similar investments are not forthcoming in Agriculture and allied sectors, leading to distress in the community of farmers, especially that of the small and marginal segment. Hence, the need for incentivising states that increase their investments in the Agriculture and allied sectors has been felt. Hence, RKVY was launched in 2007.

Basic Features of the RKVY include: Achieving 4% annual growth in the agriculture sector; To incentivise the states so as to increase public investment in Agriculture and allied sectors; To ensure that the local needs/crops/priorities are better reflected in the agricultural plans of the states; To maximize returns to the farmers in Agriculture and allied sectors; etc

3. Service Sector in India

As we have seen, Service Sector in India today accounts for more than half of India's GDP. The various sectors that combine together to constitute service industry in India are:

Trade
Hotels and Restaurants
Railways
Other Transport & Storage
Communication (Post, Telecom)
Banking
Insurance
Dwellings, Real Estate
Business Services
Public Administration; Defence
Personal Services
Community Services
Other Services

Economic reforms brought foreign competition, led to privatisation of certain public sector industries, opened up sectors hitherto reserved for the public sector and led to an expansion in the production of fast-moving consumer goods.

Some examples:

Textile manufacturing is the second largest source for employment after agriculture
Dharavi slum in Mumbai has gained fame for leather products
Tata Motors' Nano attempts to be the world's cheapest car

The boom in the services sector has been relatively "jobless". The rise in services share in GDP has not accompanied by proportionate increase in the sector's share of national employment. Some economists have also cautioned that service sector growth must be supported by proportionate growth of the industrial sector, otherwise the service sector grown will not be sustainable.

IT/ITES:

Business services (information technology, information technology enabled services, business process outsourcing) are among the fastest growing sectors contributing to one third of the total output of services in 2000. The share of India's IT industry to the country's GDP increased from 4.8 % in 2005-06 to 7% in 2008. In 2009, seven Indian firms were listed among the top 15 technology outsourcing companies in the world. In March 2009, annual revenues from outsourcing operations in India amounted to US$60 billion and this is expected to increase to US$225 billion by 2020.

NASSCOM: NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1200 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. It is a not-for-profit organization, registered under the Indian Societies Act, 1860 & headquartered is in New Delhi, India. Current president of NASSCOM is Mr Som Mittal.

NASSCOM was set up in 1988, at Mumbai to facilitate business and trade in software and services and to encourage advancement of research in software technology. Other goals include accelerating trade development efforts, improving talent supply, strengthening local infrastructure, building partnerships and driving operational excellence. It also boosts the process of Innovation; IT workforce development and enhanced cyber security.

4. Infrastructure

Says Infosys Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy: "If our infrastructure gets delayed, our economic development, job creation, and foreign investment get delayed. Our economic agenda gets delayed—if not derailed."

The infrastructure deficit is so critical that it could prevent India from achieving the prosperity that finally seems to be within its grasp. Without reliable power and water and a modern transportation network, the chasm between India's moneyed elite and its 800 million poor will continue to widen, potentially destabilizing the country. Jagdish N. Bhagwati, a professor at Columbia University, figures gross domestic product growth would run two percentage points higher if the country had decent roads, railways, and power.

more on infrastructure coming up in Economic week part-3....

5. BSE and NSE

The Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (formerly, The Stock Exchange, Mumbai) is the oldest stock exchange in Asia and has the greatest number of listed companies in the world, with 4700 listed as of August 2007. It is located at Dalal Street, Mumbai, India. On 31 December 2007, the equity market capitalization of the companies listed on the BSE was US$ 1.79 trillion, making it the largest stock exchange in South Asia and the 12th largest in the world. Historically an open-cry floor trading exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange switched to an electronic trading system in 1995. It took the exchange only fifty days to make this transition.

BSE Sensex

BSE Sensex is a value-weighted index composed of 30 stocks that started January 1, 1986. It consists of the 30 largest and most actively traded stocks, representative of various sectors, on the Bombay Stock Exchange. These companies account for around fifty per cent of the market capitalization of the BSE. The base value of the sensex is 100 on April 1, 1979, and the base year of BSE-SENSEX is 1978-79.

Nifty

The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE), is a Mumbai-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in India in terms of daily turnover and number of trades, for both equities and derivative trading. NSE has a market capitalization of around Rs 47,01,923 crore (7 August 2009) and is expected to become the biggest stock exchange in India in terms of market capitalization by 2009 end. Though a number of other exchanges exist, NSE and the Bombay Stock Exchange are the two most significant stock exchanges in India, and between them are responsible for the vast majority of share transactions. The NSE's key index is the S&P CNX Nifty, known as the Nifty, an index of fifty major stocks weighted by market capitalization.

6. Economic Liberalization

License Raj, also the Permit Raj refers to the elaborate licenses, regulations and the accompanying red tape that were required to set up and run businesses in India between 1947 and 1990. The License Raj was a result of India's decision to have a planned economy where all aspects of the economy are controlled by the state and licenses are given to a select few. Up to 80 government agencies had to be satisfied before private companies could produce something and, if granted, the government would regulate production. Because of this, by the 1980s, the country was left with: low growth rates, closure to trade and investment, a license-obsessed-restrictive state, inability to sustain social expenditures, macro instability, indeed crisis.

In the 1980s, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi initiated some reforms which are referred to as Liberalization of Indian economy. In 1991, after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had bailed out the bankrupt state, the government of P. V. Narasimha Rao and his finance minister Manmohan Singh started breakthrough reforms. The new policies included opening for international trade and investment, deregulation, initiation of privatization, tax reforms, and inflation-controlling measures. Liberalization has done away with the License Raj and ended many public monopolies, allowing automatic approval of foreign direct investment in many sectors.

7. Subsidies in India

You must have gone through the basics of subsidies in Economics Week Part-1. Let's have a look at India specific data of subsidies. Overall, a 2005 article by International Herald Tribune stated that subsidies amounted to 14% of GDP. On the other hand, India spends relatively little on education, health, or infrastructure. Urgently needed infrastructure investment has been much lower than in China. According to the UNESCO, India has the lowest public expenditure on higher education per student in the world.

Example: The case of LPG

Partly because of inadequate infrastructure facilities for import, storage and handling, the government decided to throw open the LPG business to private entrepreneurs in 1993. Many players entered the field. However, their entry was constrained because of rise in international prices of LPG, ostensibly because of purchases by China and the government's inability to reduce subsidies. Several entrants withdrew having failed to exploit the willingness of consumers to make cash deposits for service connection.

In April 2002, the government announced that subsidies for all petroleum based products would be phased out except for LPG and kerosene which the government pledged would see their subsidies phased out within a 3 to 5 year period. LPG and kerosene are used as domestic cooking fuels by a large portion of the population. Also concurrently in 2002, LPG subsidies will be paid out of the government funds as opposed to APM pools and subsidies were revised upwards by Rs 67.75 per cylinder.

The issue is not resolved because subsidies will have to be removed by a future government which may not have the will to undertake that action. There are several issues of great concern for any government in India: the implication of higher petroleum prices in states far from the coast; the market’s ability to ensure adequate inventories and timely supplies to remote areas; and the protection of consumers from the effects of fluctuating prices.

8. CII

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, playing a proactive role in India's development process. Founded over 115 years ago, it is India's premier business association, with a direct membership of over 7800 organisations from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 90,000 companies from around 396 national and regional sectoral associations.

CII catalyses change by working closely with government on policy issues, enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and expanding business opportunities for industry through a range of specialised services and global linkages. It also provides a platform for sectoral consensus building and networking. Major emphasis is laid on projecting a positive image of business, assisting industry to identify and execute corporate citizenship programmes. Partnerships with over 120 NGOs across the country carry forward our initiatives in integrated and inclusive development, which include health, education, livelihood, diversity management, skill development and water, to name a few.

Complementing this vision, CII's theme for 2009-10 is 'India@75: Economy, Infrastructure and Governance.' CII's focus this year is on revival of the Economy, fast tracking Infrastructure and improved Governance.

9. Five Year Plans

The economy of India is based in part on planning through its five-year plans, developed, executed and monitored by the Planning Commission. With the Prime Minister as the ex officio Chairman, the commission has a nominated Deputy Chairman, who has rank of a Cabinet minister. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Commission. The tenth plan completed its term in March 2007 and the eleventh plan is currently underway.

The Planning Commission (est. in 1950) was charged with the responsibility of making assessment of all resources of the country, augmenting deficient resources, formulating plans for the most effective and balanced utilisation of resources and determining priorities. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Chairman of the Planning Commission.

10. Below Poverty Line

Below Poverty Line is an economic benchmark and poverty threshold used by the government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid.

Measurement:

It is measured in two ways:

(a) Income based poverty line: The poverty line was originally fixed in terms of income/food requirements in 1978. It was stipulated that the calorie standard for a typical individual in rural areas was 2400 calorie and was 2100 calorie in urban areas. Then the cost of the grains (about 650 gms) that fulfil this normative standard was calculated. This cost was the poverty line. In 1978, it was Rs. 61.80 per person per month for rural areas and Rs. 71.30 for urban areas. In 2005-2006, it was Rs 368(rural) and 560(urban). This income is bare minimum to support the food requirements and does not provide much for the other basic essential items like health, education etc.

(b) Parameter based: In its tenth five-year plan (2002-2007) survey, BPL for rural areas was based on the degree of deprivation in respect of 13 parameters, with scores from 0-4: landholding, type of house, clothing, food security, sanitation, consumer durables, literacy status, labour force, means of livelihood, status of children, type of indebtedness, reasons for migrations, etc. The Planning Commission fixed an upper limit of 3.26 lakh for rural BPL families on the basis of simple survey. Accordingly families having less than 15 marks out of maximum 52 marks have been classified as BPL.

...End of Part-2...

So that was it for now. I thought that I would be able to complete this in 1 week but lot's of things are still left esp. the economy of India in comparision with major countries and the world.. So, I have decided to celebrate another week as Economics week part-3 sometime in the last week of Feb..

Till then, enjoy stuff and do write to me or post your comments here..

Courtesy:

Before ending, I can't dare to forget the resources which helped me compile this article:

Wikipedia; investopedia; T.I.M.E. GD/PI briefcase; beg.utexas.edu; answers.com; microfinanceindia.org; krishiworld.com; india.gov.in; cii.in; timesofindia.indiatimes.com; iloveindia.com; planningcommission.nic.in; nasscom.in; economictimes.com; businessweek.com; and finally google.

Coming up next: Budget 2010

Economics Week: Part-1

2010-02-08T18:51:00.011+05:30

Introduction
Sometimes, when you want to learn about everything around you, you find yourself nowhere when it comes to the point "From where to start?"..That is why I have decided to celebrate every week as a curriculum for learning some of the most basic and mind boggling things around me. In this way, I will be giving utmost attention to every aspect of the topic in detail. So here goes, the first of this series: Economics Week.
I celebrated (self-made) Economics Week from Feb-1-2010 to Feb-7-2010 to learn some basic economic terms and then went on to learn the economics of India and the World. As it will be quite cumbersome to present it in a single post, I have divided this into 2 parts.

Here's presenting the first part:

Basic Economic Terms

1. Macroeconomics and Microeconomics
Macroeconomics looks at the total output of a nation and the way the nation allocates its limited resources of land, labor and capital in an attempt to maximize production levels and promote trade and growth for future generations.
Macroeconomics is focused on the movement and trends in the economy as a whole, while in microeconomics the focus is placed on factors that affect the decisions made by firms and individuals. The factors that are studied by macro and micro will often influence each other, such as the current level of unemployment in the economy as a whole will affect the supply of workers which an oil company can hire from, for example.

Microeconomics looks into similar issues, but on the level of the individual people and firms within the economy. It is the branch of economics that analyzes the market behavior of individual consumers and firms in an attempt to understand the decision-making process of firms and households. It is concerned with the interaction between individual buyers and sellers and the factors that influence the choices made by buyers and sellers. In particular, microeconomics focuses on patterns of supply and demand and the determination of price and output in individual markets (e.g. coffee industry).

It tends to be more scientific in its approach, and studies the parts that make up the whole economy. Analyzing certain aspects of human behavior, microeconomics shows us how individuals and firms respond to changes in price and why they demand what they do at particular price levels.

2. CRR Rate in IndiaCash reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with RBI. If RBI decides to increase the percent of this, the available amount with the banks comes down. RBI is using this method (increase of CRR rate), to drain out the excessive money from the banks. The upper limit of CRR is 15% while there is no lower limit.

3. Repo rate in India
When the banks have any shortage of funds they can borrow it either from Reserve Bank of India [RBI] or from other banks. The rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks is called repo rate. A reduction in the repo rate will help banks to get money at a cheaper rate. When the repo rate increases borrowing from RBI becomes more expensive. The repo rate in India is analogous to the discount rate in the US. It is an instrument of the monetary policy.

4. Central Excise duties
These duties are levied by the Central Government on commodities, which are produced within the country. But commodities on which State Governments impose excise duties (as for instance, on liquor and drugs) are exempted from Central Excise Duties.

5. IMF
The International Monetary Fund was conceived in July 1944 during the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. The representatives of 45 governments met in the Mount Washington Hotel in the area of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, with the delegates to the conference agreeing on a framework for international economic cooperation. The IMF was formally organized on December 27, 1945, when the first 29 countries signed its Articles of Agreement

6. Stock Market
A stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately. Actual trades are based on an auction market model where a potential buyer bids a specific price for a stock and a potential seller asks a specific price for the stock. When the bid and ask prices match, a sale takes place, on a first-come-first-served basis if there are multiple bidders or askers at a given price.

Importance of stock market:
The stock market is one of the most important sources for companies to raise money. Also, the stock market is often considered the primary indicator of a country's economic strength and development. Rising share prices, for instance, tend to be associated with increased business investment and vice versa. Share prices also affect the wealth of households and their consumption.

Factors affecting Stock Market:Market sentiment, the performance of the industry, The earning results and earning guidance, take-over or merger, New product introduction to markets or introduction of an existing product to new markets, Share buy-back, Dividend, etc

7. P/E ratio
The P/E ratio (price-to-earnings ratio) of a stock (also called its "P/E", "PER", "earnings multiple," or simply "multiple") is a measure of the price paid for a share relative to the annual net income or profit earned by the firm per share. It is a financial ratio used for valuation: a higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying more for each unit of net income, so the stock is more expensive compared to one with lower P/E ratio. The P/E ratio has units of years, which can be interpreted as "number of years of earnings to pay back purchase price", ignoring the time value of money. In other words, P/E ratio shows current investor demand for a company share.

Interpretation of P/E ratio:

N/A A company with no earnings has an undefined P/E ratio. By convention, companies with losses (negative earnings) are usually treated as having an undefined P/E ratio, although a negative P/E ratio can be mathematically determined.
0–10 Either the stock is undervalued or the company's earnings are thought to be in decline. Alternatively, current earnings may be substantially above historic trends or the company may have profited from selling assets.
10–17 For many companies a P/E ratio in this range may be considered fair value.
17–25 Either the stock is overvalued or the company's earnings have increased since the last earnings figure was published. The stock may also be a growth stock with earnings expected to increase substantially in future.
25+ A company whose shares have a very high P/E may have high expected future growth in earnings or the stock may be the subject of a speculative bubble.

8. PPP-Purchasing Power Parity
The exchange rate adjusts so that an identical good in two different countries has the same price when expressed in the same currency.

For example, a chocolate bar that sells for C$1.50 in a Canadian city should cost US$1.00 in a U.S. city when the exchange rate between Canada and the U.S. is 1.50 USD/CDN. (Both chocolate bars cost US$1.00.)

9. InflationIt is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and, subsequently, purchasing power is falling. Central banks attempt to stop severe inflation, along with severe deflation, in an attempt to keep the excessive growth of prices to a minimum.

Measuring Inflation:
A number of goods that are representative of the economy are put together into what is referred to as a "market basket." The cost of this basket is then compared over time. This results in a price index, which is the cost of the market basket today as a percentage of the cost of that identical basket in the starting year.

10. WPI and CPI

CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care. The CPI is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them; the goods are weighted according to their importance.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) in India comprises multiple series classified based on different economic groups. There are four series, viz the CPI UNME (Urban Non-Manual Employee), CPI AL (Agricultural Labourer), CPI RL (Rural Labourer) and CPI IW (Industrial Worker). While the CPI UNME series is published by the Central Statistical Organisation, the others are published by the Department of Labour.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was first published in 1902, and was one of the more economic indicators available to policy makers until it was replaced by most developed countries by the Consumer Price Index in the 1970s. WPI is the index that is used to measure the change in the average price level of goods traded in wholesale market. In India, a total of 435 commodities data on price level is tracked through WPI which is an indicator of movement in prices of commodities in all trade and transactions. It is also the price index which is available on a weekly basis with the shortest possible time lag only two weeks.

11. Fiscal Deficit

When a government's total expenditures exceed the revenue that it generates (excluding money from borrowings). Deficit differs from debt, which is an accumulation of yearly deficits.

12. GDP & GNP

GDP:

The monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period, though GDP is usually calculated on an annual basis. It includes all of private and public consumption, government outlays, investments and exports less imports that occur within a defined territory.

GDP = C + G + I + NX

where:

"C" is equal to all private consumption, or consumer spending, in a nation's economy

"G" is the sum of government spending

"I" is the sum of all the country's businesses spending on capital

"NX" is the nation's total net exports, calculated as total exports minus total imports. (NX = Exports - Imports)

Importance of GDP:

GDP is commonly used as an indicator of the economic health of a country, as well as to gauge a country's standard of living. Critics of using GDP as an economic measure say the statistic does not take into account the underground economy - transactions that, for whatever reason, are not reported to the government. Others say that GDP is not intended to gauge material well-being, but serves as a measure of a nation's productivity, which is unrelated.

Nominal GDP:It is a gross domestic product (GDP) figure that has not been adjusted for inflation. It can be misleading when inflation is not accounted for in the GDP figure because the GDP will appear higher than it actually is. For example, if the nominal GDP figure has shot up 8% but inflation has been 4%, the real GDP has only increased 4%.

Real GDP:

This inflation-adjusted measure that reflects the value of all goods and services produced in a given year, expressed in base-year prices.

Nominal GDP Growth vs. Real GDP Growth*
GDP, or Gross Domestic Product is the value of all the goods and services produced in a country. The Nominal Gross Domestic Product measures the value of all the goods and services produced expressed in current prices. On the other hand, Real Gross Domestic Product measures the value of all the goods and services produced expressed in the prices of some base year. An example:

Suppose in the year 2000, the economy of a country produced $100 billion worth of goods and services based on year 2000 prices. Since we're using 2000 as a basis year, the nominal and real GDP are the same. In the year 2001, the economy produced $110B worth of goods and services based on year 2001 prices. Those same goods and services are instead valued at $105B if year 2000 prices are used. Then:
Year 2000 Nominal GDP = $100B, Real GDP = $100B
Year 2001 Nominal GDP = $110B, Real GDP = $105B
Nominal GDP Growth Rate = 10%
Real GDP Growth Rate = 5%

GNP:

Gross National Product is the total value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a particular year, plus income earned by its citizens (including income of those located abroad), minus income of non-residents located in that country. Basically, GNP measures the value of goods and services that the country's citizens produced regardless of their location. GNP is one measure of the economic condition of a country, under the assumption that a higher GNP leads to a higher quality of living, all other things being equal.

13. FDI and FII

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a measure of foreign ownership of productive assets, such as factories, mines and land. Increasing foreign investment can be used as one measure of growing economic globalization.

Methods of FDI: By incorporating a wholly owned subsidiary or company, by acquiring shares in an associated enterprise, through a merger or an acquisition of an unrelated enterprise, participating in an equity joint venture with another investor or enterprise.

Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) is used to denote an investor - mostly of the form of an institution or entity, which invests money in the financial markets of a country different from the one where in the institution or entity was originally incorporated.

Why is FDI better than FII:

FDI is preferred over FII investments since it is considered to be the most beneficial form of foreign investment for the economy as a whole. Direct investment targets a specific enterprise, with the aim of increasing its capacity/productivity or changing its management control. Direct investment to create or augment capacity ensures that the capital inflow translates into additional production. In the case of FII investment that flows into the secondary market, the effect is to increase capital availability in general, rather than availability of capital to a particular enterprise. Translating an FII inflow into additional production depends on production decisions by someone other than the foreign investor — some local investor has to draw upon the additional capital made available via FII inflows to augment production. In the case of FDI that flows in for the purpose of acquiring an existing asset, no addition to production capacity takes place as a direct result of the FDI inflow. Just like in the case of FII inflows, in this case too, addition to production capacity does not result from the action of the foreign investor – the domestic seller has to invest the proceeds of the sale in a manner that augments capacity or productivity for the foreign capital inflow to boost domestic production. There is a widespread notion that FII inflows are hot money — that it comes and goes, creating volatility in the stock market and exchange rates. While this might be true of individual funds, cumulatively, FII inflows have only provided net inflows of capital.

FDI tends to be much more stable than FII inflows. Moreover, FDI brings not just capital but also better management and governance practices and, often, technology transfer. The know-how thus transferred along with FDI is often more crucial than the capital per se. No such benefit accrues in the case of FII inflows, although the search by FIIs for credible investment options has tended to improve accounting and governance practices among listed Indian companies.

14. Subsidies

The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidy as “money granted by State, public body etc to keep down the prices of commodities etc”

Objectives of Subsidies

Subsidies, by means of creating a wedge between consumer prices and producer costs, lead to changes in demand/ supply decisions. Subsidies have a tendency to self-perpetuate. They create vested interests and acquire political hues.

Subsidies are often aimed at :

• inducing higher consumption/ production

• offsetting market imperfections including internalization of externalities;

• achievement of social policy objectives including redistribution of income, population control, etc.

15. Oligopoly*
A situation in which a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms. It is a market situation in which producers are so few that the actions of each of them have an impact on price and on competitors.
An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market. In an oligopoly, there are at least two firms controlling the market. Because each firm in an oligopoly knows its share of the total market for the product or service it produces, and because any change in price or change in market share by one firm is reflected in the sales of the others, there tends to be a high degree of interdependence among firms; each firm must make its price and output decisions with regard to the responses of the other firms in the oligopoly, so that oligopoly prices, once established, are rigid. This encourages nonprice competition, through advertising, packaging, and service-a generally nonproductive form of resource allocation.

16. Cartel*
A small group of producers of a good or service who agree to regulate supply in an effort to control or manipulate prices. The best known example of a cartel is probably the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

*Added later on NjoyTV

This is the end of Part-1.

Delhi Metro-A case study

2010-01-21T22:27:00.007+05:30

DMRC started operations in 2002. As the network expanded, high ridership and technical snags in new trains have led to increasing instances of overcrowding and delays on the Delhi Metro. Nowadays, there is no space to even rest your foot in the train. And worse, this is happening even after the frequency of trains has been increased to 1 every 3 minutes! This is causing extreme discomfort and roller-coaster ride to all the passengers. And this has also led to increased theft and eve-teasing cases.

What would you suggest should be possible solutions to the problems mentioned above?

Ankit, Abhishek, Rakesh and Saurabh and I- All five of us discussed the issue with some possibly pragmatic soultions. Following is the un-edited version of the chat we did via gmail:

I feel lack of civic sense in metro travelers is a major cause of "roller coaster" ride (as rightly pointed by Rahul) and a possible solution is "education". If people can be educated to stand in queues on Rajiv Chowk underground line, even if it took couple of men with a rod in hand, then few lessons on metro travel etiquette can definitely help.

-Ankit Goel
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Ankit,
I agree 100% with you on this.. We can't blame police and government every time.
Consider this: The situation is just next to "stampede" at the peak hours. What will 5 or 10 policemen do in this situation?
Though I think increasing the coaches in a train to almost double may help to certain extent but it will also be saturated after some months or so. However, that will require expansion of all the existing stations as currently they are designed to handle only a certain length of train. This will require some investment from DMRC but I think it will be worth it.

-Rahul Aggarwal
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Ankit and Rahul,

Both of you have highlighted the very key concerns regarding the issue. Kudos! Adding to your viewpoints, I would like to suggest to the DMRC, the following inputs:

1. First of all there should be a separate compartment for ladies because women suffer a lot in these kinds of situations and they are literally sandwiched between men while commuting.

2. The crowd can be managed and it's just a matter of strong will and strict governance.
Solution: How the crowd can be managed:
We can have load sensors in the metro compartments beyond which a signal with sound and light is flashed indicating that no more people can be accommodated like we have in lifts. In this way the person entering last has to move out.
Also, to maintain this there should be at least one or two guards at each and every station so that a queue is maintained and if a guy/gal is not able to make it to the last train, he is assured that he will be the first one to enter in the next train.

3. The frequency should be increased but the destination of trains should also be altered.
Like every train should not start from station A, some should start from station B, some from C depending upon the statistics we can manage the crowd.

4. In few of the compartments we can remove the whole seating arrangement. In this manner we can increase the capacity. For a short journey there is no need of making people seated. Metro is a comfortable journey and we should bear the standing arrangement for the betterment of this particular commuting system.

5. Last but not the least, people should be charged for the size of their luggage. In this manner we can minimize the size of the luggage creating more space.

-Rakesh Thakur
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having read all of your comments it makes little sense for me to enter the discussion at this point, but still I would like to compliment you guys for some noteworthy suggestions. I though have a few of my own to add to this list. They are:

1. Instead of load sensors, the metro should have a maximum capacity of people that can enter as opposed to all that can fit currently. For this guards are needed to be placed at every gate on the metro. This means 2 guards per door for 16 doors. But this need not be for all stations. It should be maintained on only those stations that experience heavy volumes during the day. The metro can have a counter running telling you how many people can enter the train at a particular station, streamlining the process.

2. We can't eliminate seating arrangement as elderly, physically disabled people would need seats.

-Saurabh Gupta

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To me the only solution looks like, educating the people or may be having a public grievance cell which redresses the grievances urgently. Something like, a fasttrack investigation in case of pick pockets. Other culture that might help is "the queue culture", this culture can be seen in abundance in Kolkata ( though not on metro stations!) but this brings about some discipline in people which can be witnessed when u travel in the metro rail in Kolkata.

-Abhishek LNU

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I have sent important points from this chat to DMRC complaints/suggestions and to a leading daily. Hope, some concerned authorities do take a note of this and act accordingly. Feel free to comment and give suggestions.

3 Idiots-A Review

2009-12-25T13:34:00.012+05:30

3 Idiots-My Rating: *****

The best movie I have seen in last one year and perhaps for many days to come.. Far from being a desultory act, the movie sets a spirit of déjà vu in the audience when it starts, when it progresses and when it ends! This movie will be remembered for its polemic rather than its entertainment. The movie sends a very strong social message without compromising on humour!

First of all hats off to Aamir..what is he? I mean he does just one movie per year which alone breaks all the rules and records to hit the audience where it matters the most. At Heart. Yes. And he succeeds yet again. He has again hit the nail at its top. This time he has brought up another major issue in the Indian education system and social hegemony that surrounds it.
Have you ever wondered why does India lag far behind other nations in technical innovations and patents despite having the World's largest pool of talent?(XAT-2006 essay!!) Why is it that almost every engineer wants to do an MBA? Why is it that big multinational companies, despite having their back office operations in India, are still reluctant to open their R & D centers in India? Why is it so that India’s youth is foisted upon to join a rat race of competing against one another to secure admissions to best engg./medical colleges of India even if they are willing to do photography? Is it due to the burden of vox populi? Have you ever thought why is “marks in a subject” more important than “learning” in India? If any of the above questions puts even 1% “tring tring” on your grey matter, then this movie is for you. In fact, I believe every Indian should watch this movie be it parents, professors, students or relatives, even if they have read Five point sm1, the novel by Chetan Bhagat, the master mind behind the concept of this movie.

Coming back to the movie, excellent performances by all the 3 idiots, Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad (Aamir Khan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Farhan Qureshi (R Madhavan), who made no room for a peccadillo in making the characters of the novel alive. And another actor, who steals the show with his Einstein getup and demeanor, is Boman Irani. Watch out for him and you will think twice before cheating in your next exam! A typical “frustu” professor who had become the director of the college!

And yes, you will keep on laughing till the end on the speech given by a typical “rat-race champ”, Omi, the bengali friend of the idiots being talked about. Watch out for his chamatkar turned balatkar speech! Go with your family and watch this movie and don’t waste more time reading its reviews..:)
BBye for now.
Aal isz well..

Bhutan's Happiness

2009-11-05T15:42:00.000+05:30

I read this article some time back by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar on why is Bhutan so happy. How come its GDP growth is 21% in such a deep recession? How come its per capita GDP is double that of India.

Read here to find out.

The Darkest Night

2009-07-27T15:45:00.003+05:30

At 5:00pm, I lay on the stretcher and bade the final good-bye to my ma, papa and sister. The spot boys pulled the stretcher and took it from the private ward to the Operation theatre (OT) No.2 that marked the incipient to one of the most difficult evenings of my life. My heart filled with trepidation, my lips started incantation. They left the stretcher in OT and vanished away leaving me on it and waiting to be attended by the surgeon.

I had seen the operation theatres only in histrionic bollywood flicks which had always portrayed an OT containing a glut of cotton, a big light bulb, various surgical instruments, gloves etc. These items are usually filmed as harbinger of a doleful twist in the movie. This was the first time I was breathing with them in person.

After a few minutes, an assistant doctor came and asked me why I was there. I answered her. She tried to divert my attention by asking various questions about my engineering, about DCE, about my company etc. so that I could assimilate the environment. Instead, I realized that the surgery was imminent. She put me on drip for at least 10 minutes before the surgery.

As I didn’t want to bear the ramifications of the surgery, so I entreated her to give me complete anesthesia instead of local which only prevents the transmission of nerve impulses without causing unconsciousness. But she declined saying there was no need to make me unconscious. (I couldn’t find a reason cogent enough to persuade her!!) Then she took the syringe and a never-seen-so-long needle which she pierced through the skin under the spinal cord to a tyrannical depth and infused the anesthesia into my body. I wondered whether I took the right decision to go for the surgery or not. Should I have searched more for the non-surgical treatment of this disease?

***

Flashback: 2 weeks ago at Dr Juneja’s Allopathic Clinic:-

Dr: “So, How are you feeling now?”
Me: “Not so well, sir. Swelling is still there. It has been almost two months since I started your medicine. How much more time can it take?”
After diagnosing, he finally uttered the most dreaded words which I had more or less anticipated long ago.
Dr: “We will not continue with the medication. Though there is no exigency as such but just one option left now, Surgery. The surgeon will remove the whole of affected mass from your body. Don’t worry, beta. We tried our best but couldn’t go against the Almighty’s wish.”.

I was dejected.

After coming back home, I searched on internet in the hope of getting any possible cure of Pilonidal Sinus on this planet other than Surgery but all in vain. In fact, doctors don’t even know the correct cause of this disease. The most widely accepted theory is that an infection and abscess formation occurs in the small pits due to the suction of keratin and hair into the distended follicles which appear in the visible pits in the midline of the natal cleft. And it is said that chronic Pilonidal sinuses are best treated with wide excision and secondary healing.
For the next two weeks, I tried Homeopathy and ayurvedic medication but none of them ameliorated the condition of cyst by even point one percent. I finally decided to get rid of it ASAP and hence went for the surgery.

***

Today, July-6-2009, 5:20pm at SLJ Hospital

I lay down with my stomach facing the stretcher and my buttocks facing the roof. The surgeon was then ready to practice his hands on me. I was already given local anesthesia by the assistant doctor. Later she also injected a cryptic tranquilizer to make me semi-conscious. Within 10 seconds of the vaccines, I realized I was not able to move my legs. I felt as if I was physically handicapped of them. To refute my apprehension, I tried to touch my legs (Thankfully, my hands were not unconscious!) with my right hand. It was like I was touching a rubber tyre that had just been taken out of a refrigerator. My legs seemed impalpable as if they had plunged into ataxia. I felt lacerated.

Me: “Sir, I am not able to move. What on Earth are you doing with my lower body?”
Surgeon: “Don’t worry bachche..that is the affect of anesthesia..you will be fine in 2-3 hours”

I heaved a sigh of relief exonerating him from a peccadillo, which I thought, he had committed.

In the midst of all these thoughts, I remember that I continued incantation even in the somnolent state of my mind as if I was haggling with the God for life. I tried hard to sleep but couldn’t. Every minute seemed like a year. 5 minutes gone.. 10 minutes gone.. 15 minutes gone…

I was not only fighting against the time (remember Waqt, the race against time!) but also against the brain and its vindictive instincts.
“Why are they not starting the operation? What’s wrong? Are they waiting for another surgeon? Or are they waiting for an auspicious time to start?” I thought. I was obfuscated by the fact that even after 15-20 min., I still hadn’t felt any sensation at the back.

Suddenly a loud voice traversed thru my ears into the intricate alleys of my brain that brought me back from the nebulous sight of a pugilist fighting alone a battle to a state of slight consciousness.

“Its done, beta”
“What….?????”
“Yeah, its over..”
“Itni jaldi..but I didn’t feel anything”
“You weren’t supposed to”, said the surgeon.

I was extremely happy with the way surgery was conducted. I didn’t feel the sensation of even a prick.

They all helped each other and rested me on my back and made me face the roof. My body was under observation in ICU for another half an hour after which I was transferred to my private ward where my parents and other well-wishers were waiting for their Olympian of tonight to arrive!

They put me down on bed facing the roof with a drip on right hand. A nurse then told me 3 things:

1. “You should not raise your head even by an inch”
2. “You would use this tub to answer nature’s call”
3. “You must try to sleep as much as you can”

Then, there started the time of the darkest hour. I was shivering with cold which was due to the (glucose + painkiller) drip and room AC. I was tired of lying thru the back but couldn’t move by legs to crouch on either side. I touched my legs once every 5 minutes with my unimpeachable hands to see if the “rubber effect” was mitigating or not. Out of affliction, I jerked my leg so hard once that the dressing got loosened and blood started deluging out of my back. Though I didn’t feel the pain but this itself was excruciating in a way that I knew my blood was getting squandered and I was helpless. As I was not able to speak properly, somehow I gestured mah parents of the same and they called the doctor.

After few hours, everybody left except my father who was to stay there for whole night. As I was not allowed to raise my head, I pissed for the very first time but could do only a little. But later I realized that some liquid was still left in the large intestine!

I tried hard to sleep but couldn’t for I was relentlessly thinking about not to strain the drip. I passed the whole night looking at the roof of my ward and struggling with the superfluous piss getting generated incessantly in the large intestine! At around 2:00 am, a nurse came to change the drip. It was at that time when I realized that I was now able to move my legs and slouch towards one side on the bed. I regained my consciousness which also brought some kind of pain with it due to the slightly diminishing effect of the pain killer. But this pain was better than no pain!

Slowly the night passed.. and I finally stood straight on my feet at 6:00am when the spot boy delivered a bed tea. I was burning with alacrity not because I stood on my feet but because the dreaded night had passed. The night, that took me through the lives of physically handicapped people for which I had no poignancy earlier. The night, that tested the endurance of my brain and my body to the fullest. The night, that kept me solicitously insomniac. The night, that was indeed, one of the darkest nights of my life.

Lust at first sight

2009-05-08T16:41:00.010+05:30

It was perhaps lust at first sight. She was sitting right in front of me. And I must confess that I ogled at her for the first few minutes of the journey. She was wearing a purple sleeve-less churidaar suit with yellow border and dupatta which resembled the flowers of the plant Lantana. She had a prolific top with long curly hair which she had tied fastidiously in a knot. A pair of small lumps from this knot was inexorably kissing her at her dimples on either side of her face. Those lumps were giving a tough time to my heart bumps! But she was looking really cute with them.

I coud hear this song in my subconscious sense:
“Aankhon mein teri..ajab si ajab si adayein hain…dil ko banade jo patang..saaanse se teri..woh hawayein hain..”

I got inebriated in her eyes. They were encompassing a complete Universe in them having two blue planets in the middle surrounded by the glints of white sunlight all over the periphery that covered 2 meter to attack me in less than 8.3 seconds! It was as if the Aurora Borealis had chosen her eyes to spread its color across that compartment of this Delhi bound train. Her cheeks were quite fluffy as if she had confiscated a Bengali Roshogulla between her jaws. Her lips were coated with a light-purple lipstick which resembled the marijuana leaves coated with ready-to-serve hot chocolate fudge. She smelled lovely. She looked bhhheauuuutiful. Laconically speaking, she was, perhaps, a magnum opus of the almighty.

By that time, I didn’t know that whether it was lust or love. See, if lust was taken on negative X-axis at -5 and love was taken on positive X-axis at +5, then I was vacillating between -2 and +2.

“Aayi aisi raat hai jo..bahut khush naseeb hai…chahe jise door se duniya..woh mere kareeb hai..”

I really wanted to confabulate with her. I wanted to know more about her; sit close to her; caress her; hold her hands and embrace her (-2 side of X-axis!).

***

Wait. Now, before you prejudicate me as a lewd and prurient soul, I would like you to vindicate me of these censures because I was certainly not gaping at her for the sole purpose of X-raying her and fantasizing her salaciously. In fact, I hate those people who do that and I wonder why they stare at a girl so incessantly that makes her feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. Rather, I was just listening to my heart on which I had gone unbridled.

Let me elaborate a bit more here. I believe that there is no such thing called love at first sight. I mean, how you can love a girl without getting yourself acquainted with her soul, her feelings, her disposition, her conscience and her values. And these things can’t be understood (or noticed) in first sight or even first meeting. An attraction towards a girl, at a first sight, can only be attributed to her tangible beauty and the way she carries it. Though, one can find oneself struck by the cupid anytime after that! Anyways, I will take up this topic (or issue!) some other time. For now, let’s go back to the Rajdhani Express.

***

Suddenly, an inner voice, perhaps of my conscience, came somewhere from inside the soul which brought me back from the unbridled fantasy to the reality. I had lost total control over my senses but not over my morals and values. The spiritual side of my soul reproached the materialistic side of it. I apologized to god and vowed not to look at her like that anymore (+2 side of X-axis!). I removed my eyes from her (though only for next 20 seconds!).

It was 6:30 in the evening. She was lost in her own world, squinting through the window of the train. And I was busy in cooking the “initiation line” to talk to her.

“Kitna kuchh kehna hai fir bhi hai dil mein sawaal kahin….sapno mein jo roz kaha hai who fir se kahun ya nahi….”

Though, I had advised many of my friends on how to approach a girl and initiate a discourse with her but I had never thought that I would be requiring some of them ever in my life. And believe me when I seriously hankered them, I was nowhere. I went total blank. After all, who would want to get bowled out at the very first ball?

Hi, I am Rahul..I am going to Delhi…what about you..?? ..Naaaaaahh

Hi…My name is Rahul….going to Delhi…you? ..Naaaaaahh

Hi…Main Rahul…naam to suna hoga?..Naaaaaahh

Hi..Are u going to Delhi? If she says “yeah” then ask “gr8…me also going to Delhi..I am Rahul, You..?” ..Naaaaaahh

“Aap bhi Delhi Ja rahe ho??” ..Naaaaaahh

I was busy juggling with the lyrics when a loud voice, seemingly of a middle-aged man, who was sitting on the side-lower berth, pierced through my ears.

“Excuse me”, he said scratching his groin, “Are you going to Delhi?”
I replied, “yes, you also?”
“Yeah”
“Great.. so, you are going on a tour or what?” I asked him, still thinking about the pending initiation step.

He told me that he worked for the technical team of Star Anand news channel and was going to Delhi near to his family forever as he got transferred from its Kolkata centre. Lets call him MAM (Middle aged man). I could see MAM’s bliss in his eyes.

We became silent for few minutes. There were just three of us in that part of the compartment. She was still looking out of the window as if she was craving for her Superman to come and take her away from this world to a separate planet with one tenth of Earth’s gravity on a witching space shuttle. There she would be living alone with him and they would be enjoying their life ever-after. Could I become her superman? First thing I would do is hug her and take a jump in one tenth of the gravity to remain in the sky for more than 3 hours (so that I would relentlessly look into her eyes and she would not push me away for 3 hours!). Uff…again started…I realized, I was sick!

I was waiting for the MAM to go out (may be for a piss or whatever!) so as to avoid any eavesdropping while I would converse with her. (Actually I wanted to protect myself from embarrassment if I would do something silly there!!) And the almighty heard me, right then. He went out and I pitched in!

“Hiii…You going to Delhi?”, I asked her without fumbling even once.
“Yes, u too?”, she said showing a bit of inquisitiveness in her voice. She looked interested.
“Yes.. Hmm.. you are from Kolkata only?”, I asked her, noticing her bare hands which had the shade of Bengali-color (neither too black nor too white but dark enough to seduce anybody).

“No. I am from Bangladesh. I am on a trip to India. I have already visited Kolkata and now want to visit Delhi”, she said as if I were a tourist guide and I would help her with the roadmap of Delhi. Though I was ready to become one for her!

She continued, “I have my mom with me. She is currently in different compartment. Could you help us out with the travel plan and sight-seeing in Dee-h-li?”.

“Yeah, sure why not”, I said sensing an opportunity there to create an impression.
“So, finally, I got a tourist guide”, she giggled demurely. I could see my graph moving towards the +X-axis. Yeah, it’s true that I was attracted to her by her beauty but her voice and her etiquettes seemed to compete fiercely with her beauty. My lust was transforming into love.

Then, MAM came in after sometime and lolled about his leg on his berth. I noticed him staring at her. I wished I would kill him after stabbing his eyes. He tried to join us but we almost effaced him. After all, his presence was superfluous to us.

For us, it was as if there were just two of us in that part of the compartment. We talked on life in Bangladesh, difference between the two countries, bollywood, cricket, etc. Her favorite player was Sachin Tendulkar. (Look, how close we were in our thoughts. Sachin was my favorite too!)

Now, there was one thing about girls which I didn’t used to like much that when they would go on babbling, they would never stop easily. They would describe a “simple” thing in a grandiose and awfully complicated way. But that day was an exception. Or perhaps, she was an exception. She told me deliriously about her stay in Kolkata and I was enjoying every bit of it. I was listening to her like a dumb. I was diving in her mellifluous voice and well-bred demeanor, hoping that she would never stop speaking and we would never reach Delhi. But whenever she stopped, I started so that she would not feel bored.

“How do you look so Indian when you are a Bangladeshi?”, I asked wondering about her Punjabi suit.
“Actually, my mom is a punjabi and my father is an Italian. They hitched-off against their parents’ wish and then settled in Bangladesh where the major client of my father used to live. That is why we are an ultra-modern family. And, we love everything about India, its dresses, its cuisines, its festivals, its movies and…”
“And what about its people?”
“Yea…of course….its people too!!” she chuckled looking into my eyes. Yes, for the first time our eyes met for more than 5 seconds. I was on cloud nine.

Then she decided to show me some photographs. She slouched towards my side (and I became nervous!). She raised her hand to adjust a small lump of hair towards the back of her ear. I was just going to say, “You are looking cute with them. Don’t do that”. But I refrained from saying so for some reason. She opened the album.

After 5 min., I was dead silent. I was the most doleful person on the Earth. I got up from there, went to the gate of our compartment and stood there. I felt like whimpering blatantly. How could that happen to me? I mean, why me? What bad had I done? It was excruciating. It was my first ever lust-transformed-love after all. How could it end like that? She had shown me her marriage photographs.

Epilogue

Later she told me that she hitched-off to Sunil almost a year ago. After 8 months of their marriage, he got a contract in Spain and he was working there since then.

I pretended that I was still listening to her. “Whatever…”, I grunted. I didn't have the courage to look interested anymore. Might be, I still had some feelings for her (and that would continue to remain,perhaps!). I cursed myself for all those thoughts that started coming to me after my graph moved to +5 on X-axis. But that really didn’t matter any more. The fact was everything was over no matter what I felt then. I just wanted to reach Delhi as soon as possible.

But I did think, why did it happen to me? “Perhaps that is my comeuppance for my lust..”, I answered my mind.

***

(Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are real and belong to my journey in Oct 2007 from Kolkata to Delhi. Though its a work of fiction whatever is written about that girl and my feelings for her. Any resemblance of this story to anyother person is purely coincidental.)

CSC hits a half ton!!

2009-04-16T17:24:00.000+05:30

CSC turned 50 today!...Yes, Its an auspicious day for all of us out here. And it’s evident in our mood, attire, and our cubicles. These otherwise monotonous cubicles are today adorned with red and white balloons in line with the CSC’s logo. Right from the 9:00 am, our mailboxes are flooded with the congratulatory mails from our senior management who eventually never turns up more than once or twice every year. Nevertheless, we were supposed to gather in our cafeteria in the evening to celebrate this day with them! The managers as usual gave some instigating speech about the company but the fun was when we got to know that there would be a quiz also that would be based on their speech!! God, couldn’t they have told this thing to us before commencing their speech??

For me, well, I indeed don’t know how to express my feeling on this day as I am almost blank but I am really feeling good for the company which has grown from a mere 100 dollars in April, 1959 to 17.1 billion dollars now with 92000 employees in 80 countries! And what’s adding to my bliss is even in the times of recession and firing, CSC has doled out Haldiram’s Sohnpapdi to all of its employees!! Does that mean that the financial status of company is secure and there will be no pink slips here at least??

Well you never know.. Albeit, I’m loving it whatever it is and whatever it will be..jo bhi ho.. CSC rocks!!

Incongruity over Kasab

2009-04-08T11:18:00.000+05:30

Sometimes, there are certain instances in your life when your heart and your mind speak different dialects and you find yourself confounded and hence indecisive. Kasab’s case is one such case where my mind says that he should get a lawyer and my heart says that he shouldn’t. Let’s try to be fair to both of them one by one.

India is a country which is known for its infallible democracy. It has always been fair to every one as long as he is a “human” being. Consider the case of Satwant Singh, who was a Sikh militant involved in Indira Gandhi’s assassination. He was given a fair trial even though there was no dearth of evidences against him. He was later sentenced to death in Tihar Jail, Delhi in1989. Same was the case with the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi who were given an unprejudiced trial and convicted in 1998 by our Indian courts. These cases prove that we should have faith in the Indian Judicial System and let the lawyers handle the case of Kasab. He will be definitely prosecuted. There is no use of dragging the “issue” for so long. The acts of factions like Shiv Sena, who attacked Anjali Waghmare, few days back for agreeing to take up the case of Kasab, will only delay the legal proceedings. This is what my mind says.

However, on the other side, my heart says that Kasab doesn’t deserve a lawyer in the first place. As Mr. Rahul Narvekar, Shiv Sena’s legal advisor, pointed out yesterday on CNN-IBN that “A fair trial is deserved by a person who actually deserves it..”
Atleast Kasab doesn’t deserve it. He has allegedly taken the lives of various innocent people. Not only this, consider the moral, psychological and economic loss which he and his accomplices have done to India (esp. to the tourism sector). His accomplices have got the punishment. So should he but not at the pace of Indian Judicial system. After divulging out all the “needed” information from him, he should be hanged as early as possible in the prison if not in front of the people otherwise he may also get away with the capital punishment in line with various other culprits in the past. Remember what happened in 1998 when a TADA court in Chennai gave death sentences to all the 26 culprits found guilty of involvement in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. However, because of the protests by the various political parties and fingering by the human rights groups, only 4 out of 26 paid the “ultimate” price. Rest all were let to live. What a democracy!

And what a snafu! Again befuddled, I am. I don’t know what’s right and what’s not, but if finally asked to choose from one, I would perhaps prefer to go with the latter. Perhaps..

The soul refuses to grow: Childhood-philia!! or just a Fantasy??

2009-03-31T15:45:00.007+05:30

(Disclaimer: This post is not for light-hearted people. All the characters in this story are real and belongs to my childhood.. Any relation with the reader is purely co-incidental)

Today, my soul cries.. It refuses to maturate.. It hankers for a time machine that will take it close to the words like Innocent, Innocuous, Pure, Virtuous, Naïve, Sober. These are the words I have not visited anywhere for a long time now. These words epitomize my childhood. Yes, I want to go back to my childhood. The precociousness has mired me into this materialistic world. But I want to get out of it. I am tired of my maturity. I am losing my patience. I am frayed by the responsibilities. It is not that I am a chicken-hearted, pusillanimous being but it is just that a few hours back, I saw the frail images of the sheer bliss which has been missing in my life for some time now.

Perhaps, nostalgia has wounded me once again. Yes, last night, the beautiful memories of my childhood once again instigated my heart. They made me realize that how stale this hard-mass has become.

I want to go back to “my era”. The era in which, I used to get more attention; attention of my parents; of my relatives; of my neighbors (and of their daughters!!). Also, in school, I was the favorite of almost all gorgeous teachers whose faces, I still remember and my first crush, a 17 year old English teacher from Mumbai, is the tenderest example of it. She really loved me when I was in class ---^th and she once said these beautiful (now seducing) lines:

“Rahul, you are my favorite student, I will not leave you!!” (Though, she perhaps meant to say that she would not leave me if I would not do my homework!)

I am not flaunting here but believe me I was almost as popular as a teddy bear among the fairer sex in school! They liked to play with me but tended to forget me as we collectively grew old!

I really don’t want to grow old.

I just wish for a time machine that would drop me back to the intriguing era of the fantasies…where I would deal with the talismanic tales of Vikram Betaal and Alif Laila (I never got to see Laila though!) and the beautiful fable of Chandrakanta (Ahh, I loved her so much!!). And how can I forget, the “chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai walaa” boy, Mowgli in Jungle Book; baah! his wonderful Tarzan acts and his friendship with Bageera. This was a semi-decade when Sunday used to wake me up with the ever-refreshing songs of Rangoli and put me down with then countdown of Superhit Muqabala! And the best part was that Ekta Kapoor was still in her nascent stage and there were no saas-bahu soaps to cook our bheja fries!! Most of the serials were comedies which eventually addicted most of the people, including me. Dekh Bhai Dekh, Shrimaan Shrimati, Zabaan Sambhal Ke, Flop Show, All the Best and lately, Small Wonder were a few of them. Apart from these, a few thrillers like Byomkesh Bakshi and Aahat were also successful in making me glued to their chronicles. What a fun that used to be.

This fun was not restricted to the TV serials only. In fact, the volcanic eruptions of Saabu in the comic Cha Cha Chowdhury, the birbal like acts of Baankelal and the beautiful stories of Champak were also some of the fables which I really enjoyed to navigate through. More or less, each of the stories used to exemplify what I had read in the panchtantra stories of the victory of good over evil at my school. My mind was drilled there with these “values” with the courtesy of various books and TV serials like Ramayana. Indeed, the sense of “achievement” and “gratification” that used to come in at that time whenever Arun Govil killed one of the evils was inexplicable. It was much more pronounced than whatever of IT would come when I would solve a (dictated) error while coding!! But now that satisfaction and the energy is perhaps dispersed in the prism of “material”.

The amount of energy in that era was at its peak. It is perhaps comparable to the energy which releases when a space shuttle takes off from the Earth. I used to see myself in place of big-time discoverers! Even Newton would have blushed after discerning the number of experiments I performed at home. I unassembled my black and white TV while I was in class 5^th (though never bothered to reassemble it!). I made one IVRS at home for conversing between different rooms of my small house. I even recorded numerous audio cassettes as a radio jockey (Now you get a fair idea why the name of this blog is NjoyTV!!). My family still plays those “memories” sometimes whenever they feel so. And indigenously, I made one mini-dish antenna also at home to “catch” the cable from the nearest cable-line!!

All this and still used to get away with my parents' admonitions just because of my “good” results at studies! Securing an excellent rank of 4 (out of 30-35) in the class used to sound like an “abuse” to me and my parents! The sense of competition in me to succeed was more than what Dhoni boys have in them now. I can easily recall one incident when I secured 77 marks in Sanskrit and then also I was scolded by my parents as the “other” child had scored 90 in that. (Though, they were again happy when in the final exam, I again secured 77 but this time the “other” child scored less than me, what a consistency!!)

And if you have done well in your exams then who stops you from playing your sport? Most of the times I used to play cricket only until I was dragged into the really virtual world of the video games. I remember that I started off my journey with the dragon stages of Mario!! A feeling of strolling on a different planet would come while moving the jockey of the video game. Apart from this, cycling used to be my favourite past-time where I gave tough competition to almost all my friends. That too especially in the rainy seasons of yeh Dilli hai mere yaar, among the whistles of cool breeze called monsoon winds, under the darkness of cumulonimbus clouds, in the deafening sound of thunder storms:

ZZBhuuuuuuuuuddooooooooooooooommmm ZZBhuuuuuuuuuddooooooooooooooommmm Zuuuuuuddoooooooommmm Zuuuuuuddoooooooommmm

…

Rahuuuuuuuuuuul….o… Rahuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul….Please get up. Office nahi jaana kya..

And suddenly this sinfully blatant sound pierced through my subconscious sense and broke apart my sleep-sealed eyes. I looked at the clock that showed thirty past seven. Oh… no… the f**** Monday has come yet again..Got to get up from bed now… That means the culprit was my soul, my subconscious sense that was (desirably) playing the beautiful images of my past somewhere on a little screen in the intricate alleys of my brain!! but what about the cycling which I was going to do in the wet air….Alas! the bicycle has been replaced by a car and the monsoon winds are now replaced by the ersatz air of my car’s A.C…Abe yaar..

Anyways..time to be practical now..Hope I have not made you too nostalgic with the narration of my “fantasy”. But believe me, I thought to put it in the way I saw it. Now, leaving you with the memories ..this is me, signing off.

(After almost all the fact-based topics, this is my first attempt at writing on an abstract topic.. Please ignore the structural and grammatical mistakes, if any. Suggestions for improvement are always welcome)

Earth Hour-A promising initiative but not good enough

2009-03-24T15:19:00.003+05:30

Today, I received a mail from the “environment division” of my company to support and vote for the Earth Hour. Earth Hour is an initiative by the WWF which began in Sydney in 2007 when more than 2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008, the tally of green people increased to almost 50 million. The target this year is to include more than 1 billion people into this campaign, which is slated for Saturday, Mar-28-2009, 8:30pm local time, so as to reduce the energy loads by more than 5% which will supposedly reduce the carbon emission and hence global warming.

I read some tips on their site (http://www.earthhour.org/) on how to spend the Earth hour and reduce our carbon footprint. Switching off all the lights, going for a night picnic, enjoying candle light dinner with your sweetheart (can’t help if you don’t have any!), etc were also among them.

I cogitated on it for sometime and I found out that though being a good initiative, it may achieve far less than what is expected out of it. One, suppose thousands of people in Delhi spend that hour in green restaurants for a candle-light dinner, imagine the amount of carbon-dioxide and black-carbon smoke particles that will pollute the air. Has anyone calculated the emissions from those thousands of candles that will lit across the country? Perhaps, no one.

Second, consider the various companies, factories, etc shutting down for one hour. It may take more than one hour worth of extra energy to restart their production lines and other facilities again.

Third (and the most apprehensive one), I am really concerned what may happen at the end of that hour when thousands of people will again switch on their lights, computers, A.C.s and other appliances simultaneously. Well, only the DISCOMs may know about this!

However, contrary to my own views on it, I shall still support this initiative for its awareness aspect. It has the potential of spreading the tremendous pubic awareness like never before. People are now talking about it. They have actually started thinking seriously about their un-intentional contribution to the global warming and the related effects on our helpless mother. I am also one of them.

I second the WWF’s opinion that no one else, only we can relieve the “doleful soul of our mother and allay its pain”. But this can not be done in just one hour. Lets all pledge to always switch off all the equipments whenever they are not in use. Lets all use the environment friendly products like CFLs in place of usual bulbs, Laptops in place of desktops, LCDs in place of CRT monitors. Here, I would like to point out one thing that no one bothers to shut down one’s desktop, esp. in an IT industry while leaving the office in the evening which leads to unimaginably huge energy losses. I was also one of them but only till yesterday. That’s for sure.

At the same time, I also believe that government has a much bigger role to play than people like creating public awareness, giving large amount of subsidies on environment friendly products so that people are encouraged to buy them. But that is far from being seen. Elections are just round the corner and no single party has included the "Green Earth" agenda in their manifestos. That is also perhaps one of the reasons why India fared poorly on latest the Human Development Index list. The only encouraging act is that Delhi and Mumbai are also taking part in the 371 cities initiative which is lead by Amir Khan in India. Satellite Earth Hours will also be observed in Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Amritsar.

Anyways, let’s see how much success this initiative achieves…only time will tell this... and we have very little time left.

An Emotional Journey to the planet Pluto

2009-03-16T12:27:00.005+05:30

“Space and Universe” is a field that has always magnetized me (I would not say right from the birth, but surely after some months from the birth or may be some days!)। I don’t know why stars have always appeared to be more effulgent to me than to anyone else. Is it because of the fact that Rakesh Sharma, went to Space in 1984, the year of my birth? The reason may be anything but the fact is that the word Solar system (henceforth referred to as SS) has always seemed more romantic to me than a SRK-Kajol flick! Until 2006, the first thing that used to come to my mind for the word SS was the Sun and the nine planets. And of all the planets and their moon, Pluto has always been my favorite one.

fig.1: An artist's impression of Pluto from its largest moon, Charon

One reason of this may be that Pluto is always depicted by the color blue due to its extraordinary cool temperatures (of the order of -240 degrees) and blue is my favorite color. I have dreamt of roaming on it because it was probably the farthest discovered planet in the SS till that time. Though it may sound strange but just the very remote probability of surviving on it due to its hostile conditions has always attracted me towards it. I even dreamt of buying a few kms land on the 2500 Km long planet!

I developed interest in the planet as early as in my school. Here I can easily recall one line which was taught to me in school to remember the complete list of nine planets (including Pluto) in the order in which they orbit around the Sun:; "My very educated mother just showed us nine planets". In fact that’s how most of us might have learned them. But I had never thought, even in my wildest dreams, at that time that Pluto will, one day, cease to be a planet and the same line will be reduced to, say, "My very educated mother just showed us nothing". I used "nothing" because I feel that the list of planets is incomplete without Pluto which has been robbed off its planetary status by the controversial decision of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Aug, 2006. But why did they do so? Why is Pluto not a planet anymore? What sin has it done? Why is it demoted? Yes, this is one of the most heart-breaking questions, I have ever faced. Here lies the real story behind the scenes:-

Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh in 1930 when he was just 22. Since then, astronomers have been continuously turning up with larger and larger objects in the Kuiper belt (the belt in which Pluto lies, see fig.2 below).

fig.2: Depiction of Kuiper belt objects behind the orbit of Neptune

One such object was Eris which was discovered in 2005 by Mike Brown. Its mass was approximately 25% more than that of the Pluto. Similarly there were 3 more such objects that were discovered with the help of mighty Hubble Space Telescope. In the end in Aug, 2006, the members from IAU voted for the new definition of planets. According to them, for an object to be a planet, it needs to meet these three requirements:

It needs to be in orbit around the Sun - Pluto qualifies this one!
It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape – still unsure for Pluto but may be yes, it qualifies!
It needs to have "cleared the neighborhood*" of its orbit – (Lo kallo baat!) Here's the rule breaker. According to this, Pluto is not a planet.

The meaning of the phrase “cleared its neighborhood” is that as planets form, they become the dominant gravitational body in their orbit in the SS. As they interact with other, smaller objects, they either consume them, or blow them away with their gravity. Pluto is only 0.07 times the mass of the other objects in its orbit. The Earth, in comparison, has 1.7 million times the mass of the other objects in its orbit.

And hence Pluto is now considered as a dwarf planet. If you ask for my comment on this, I shall say that it is really hard to find anyone who thinks this is necessary and useful on the part of IAU. Instead, people across the globe wounded black bands around their telescopes to commemorate the heinous decision of IAU. And they still have those bands in place! In fact, Mar-13-2009 was "Pluto Day" in Illinois. Some people believe that this is an “insult” to the discovery of Clyde Tombaugh. Though the union tried to calm down the hysteria by declaring another class of objects called Plutoids in June, 2008 which would contain Pluto, Eris and Sedna but the people still have sore throat for taking it in.

Some IAU scientists say that it’s just a matter of time that Pluto was discovered before other planets. My question to these people is that if tomorrow they discover a galaxy which is many times bigger than our Milky Way galaxy, then will they also demote Milky Way galaxy’s status to a dwarf galaxy? Discoveries and inventions never stop. Nor do they tamper with existing legacy of the objects. They just better them.

However, there are people who have accepted IAU’s decision but with a pinch of salt. They say that even though Pluto is now just a dwarf planet, it is still a fascinating target to study. And that’s why NASA has sent its NEW HORIZONS space-craft, ironically in 2006 itself, to study the surface and demography of Pluto and it will reach there in 2015. Let it be.

In the end, I would also agree that it really doesn’t matter that what is the status of Pluto by IAU. It will always remain as fascinating to me as it was ever before.

The height of Lawlessness in U.P.

2009-02-27T12:51:00.005+05:30

I took this photo while going to office in the morning at U.P. border (near Ghazipur red light) on NH-24. The election campaigning has taken its toll over the common sense of our politicians in U.P. (Unpropitious for People!!)

Instead of worrying about the deteriorating condition of law and order in the state and rectifying it, they are making it worse.

I don't think I need to add anything more. The photo says it all.

-Copyright, NjoyTV Correspondent.

The acts of Ravan Sena-Valentine Day Special

2009-02-13T12:58:00.011+05:30

Today I was not flabbergasted like others to read the news on a website that "Ram Sene abandons V-Day protest in Karnataka". I knew this is going to happen. And I must say that this is not because they are jolted by their conscience but because they fear that the group may face a ban following the growing demur all over the country and more importantly among the various government parties against their acts of violence and repugnance. I would say "repugnance" because anyone who is opposed to celebrating the "DAY OF LOVE" should be seen as a "HINSA KA PUJARI"..And why not. Their acts corroborate this fact.

It always spoils my mood whenever I recall that incident when this group (of around 40 cowards) of the Sri Ram Sene(or should I say Ravan Sena) barged into the pub Amnesia - The Lounge, in Mangalore and bashed up a group of young women and men, claiming the women were violating "traditional Indian values"(TIVs).

I would urge these poltroons to do some research first on Indian culture and its tradtions. India is the country where Kamasutra,originally, was written. Indian epics show that our gods have been in to polygamy and smoking grass. Aren't these "samaaj sudharaks" talking about those TIVs?(or are they?) This conservative attitude of keeping restrictions on women's rights was brought in by the muslim rulers who invaded India. This culture was nowhere promulgated in India before. And these hooligans like Ram Sene are trying to enforce these traditional islamic values on our society in the name of Hinduism.

And even if I suppose that they are really acting in "Indian" interests then also does that mean that under the name of these "TIVs", they have the right to spread violence against the women?? Are they acting as substitutes for the father of constitution? It can't be a bigger irony than this that in this "Mahila Pradhan" country, whose top office is held by a woman, they want to restrict women's right to freedom? I want to ask them that will they be unmoved if their sisters are beaten like this?

I know that these types of factions are not unique to India. Recently, I read in an American newspaper that these types of groups exist in US also. However, government there is very dynamic in acting against these elements. Instead, look at what government is doing here. Not Soon after the incident, Ram Sene chief, Pramod Muthalik was arrested and just after 3 days, was released on conditional bail. And audaciously, after a week or so, the group again warned young couples and hotels/bars against celebrating V-Day. The Karnataka Chief minister, BS Yeddyurappa termed the event as a "minor event" and forget about National commision of Women(NCW) who blamed the pub for lack of security and the girls for wearing "nude clothes"!!(I wonder what the term implies!)

I hope that government of India will learn to blink early and will counterforce the talibanisation of India by such factions of (im)moral police in future.

By the way, Happy Valentine's Day (more precisely, get well soon) to SRS, NCW, Bajrangdal, Shivsena and all other (im)moral police of India.

The Cupidity that triggered the Subprime Crisis

2009-02-03T14:53:00.010+05:30

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed".

The maxim has come true stridently as far as the SUBPRIME CRISIS is concerned. This post is an attempt to look at the basic reasons of the onset of the exigency and how it can be forefended in future.

2002: The Root Cause
In previous decades, most mortgages were backed by the Federal Housing Administration and government-authorized companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which bought mortgages and bundled them into high-grade securities that were then sold to investors in the form of bonds(thru invesment banks like Lehman Brothers). Investors shared rights to homeowners' principal and interest payments.
But from 2002 through 2006 the market changed and a growing portion of mortgages were issued by firms not backed by Fannie, Freddie and the FHA -- and not bound by the same legal requirements to deal only in investment-grade loans and securities.
Wall Street had taken over the role of packaging the mortgages into marketable securities!!

2002-2006: The Honeymoon Period for all

Lenders offered subprime loans to people who could not qualify for ordinary prime loans because of poor credit or inadequate income. To help them qualify, lenders offered low teaser rates -- sometimes only 3 or 4% -- to produce a low monthly payment.However, If prevailing rates went up, the rate charged on the loan might jump over the years from 4% to 8%, perhaps even higher. Monthly payments could more than double.

Also, Underwriting standards hit bottom in 2006. Many lenders required no down payment at all, no longer demanded proof of an applicant's income and offered very low teaser rates.The flood of easy money gave borrowers more to spend.
In 2004 through 2006, home prices rose by more than 20% in much of the country, and by more than 25% in California, Florida and some other hot markets. This was due to the low interest rates charged by the lenders.
It seemed like an elegant, market-based solution that served everyone. People got mortgages. Mortgage originators and Wall Street firms earned high fees. Investors got top-rated securities. Builders sold more homes and home prices soared.

The avariciousness disseminates
Although the growing risks were clear to people who understood the mortgage and housing markets, lenders kept lending because they could earn big up-front fees. They were not terribly concerned if homeowners defaulted later because the loans were converted into securities that passed the risks on to investors.
All of this was abetted by investors' growing appetite for mortgage-backed securities, which offered higher yields than safe investments like U.S. Treasuries. The Federal Reserve had been helping the economy recover from the dot-com collapse by driving rates down, with the fed funds rate falling to a mere 1% in June 2003.
"In the extremely low interest rate environment of 2002, 2003 and 2004, people got very hungry for yields," says Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel. "They were saying, 'Oh, I don't want to accept 1% or 2%, I want to get it a little bit higher".

The bubble bursts-2007
Then, in 2007, it came apart. Growing numbers of homeowners facing their first rate resets found their monthly payments jumping by 25% or 50%, sometimes more. Since incomes were only inching up, many found they could not afford the higher payments. Lenders started to tighten up on underwriting standards, making less mortgage money available.
While many subprime borrowers had expected to refinance to less-expensive fixed-rate mortgages after their payments went up, they now could not because their homes were not valuable enough to serve as collateral on new loans.
Foreclosures rose from less than 200,000 in the third quarter of 2006 to more than 600,000 in the first quarter of 2008. Rising default and foreclosure rates drove down the prices of mortgage-backed securities, since investors worried they would not get the principal and interest payments they had been promised।

No faith on each other
Big financial firms became wary of doing business with one another for fear that the other parties, if hit with unexpected losses, would not make good on deals. No one had a map of the minefield, and the markets were locked in a credit crunch -- a universal unwillingness to lend.
The foreclosures were dumping homes onto the market in huge numbers at fire-sale prices, driving down values for neighbors who are merely innocent bystanders and threatening to throw the economy into a deep recession.

The Way out

Underwriting standards should be made stringent.

Many of the newer types of mortgage securities were highly customized and difficult to trade, so computer models were used to determine prices. That turned out to be a poor substitute for supply and demand,notes the Wharton professor, Wachter. She believes mortgage securities need to be standardized to encourage lively trading that would set prices more accurately. Mortgage securities would thus be something like the standardized contracts for corn, oil and other commodities that trade on futures exchanges. "Without standardization, there is no trading," she says.

In another area, some experts say the ratings agencies need reform। Red-faced after their AAA-rated securities collapsed, they are working to improve their process. But some experts suggest ratings should be paid for by the buyers of rated securities rather than the sellers.

Also, the compensation system on Wall Street has come in for criticism for emphasizing short-term results over long-term ones. In research with her colleague Andrey Pavlov, Wachter found that that the banking crisis that has undermined the Japanese economy over the past 20 years was largely driven by excessive focus on fee-making in the short-term. "The same problem seems to have occurred in the subprime crises", she says.

**With help from- knowledge Wharton site, Wikipedia, CFA magazine, and ofcourse, the Google

Delhi Police-With you, For you but NOT always

2009-01-27T14:13:00.003+05:30

There have been a couple of cases with me in the recent past which have raised certain doubts in me on the fidelity of DP(Delhi Police).

Last Friday, I was going to office at 9:00am. There is a one way road at ISBT which is linked to the Ring road.. Mistakenly, I drove my car in the opposite direction on this one-way road. A policeman(non-traffic) came near my car and knocked on the window.

I hunched that it would be impossible for me to scuttle from there without shelling out some money. He said some bla bla bla and asked me to show my license. When I tried to disregard him, he started shouting at me. I pleaded to him that I had mistakenly come to that road as there was no signboard signaling the 'ONE WAY ROUTE' there. He seemed unconvinced.

I can bet 1000 crores on this that nobody can make a Delhi policeman nostalgic. Though I appreciate the fact that their duty demands that kinda demeanor but there are some bonafide cases too. Instead, I could feel the volume of his voice becoming louder and louder.

After 5 min. of relentless resistance, he finally agreed to leave me but only against some compensation. I took out Rs 50 and gosh!...there you would have seen his reaction. It was as if he was robbed off both of his kidneys and was being given very less compensation for that!! And audaciously enough, he demanded more money as if it was his fundamental right..

With a heavy heart, I took out another 50 rupee note and handed over to him.

Another incident, which wobbled my faith over Delhi police, occurred a few days back when I was going to Gole Market to appear for an examination. Though I had a fair idea of the location of the centre of examination, I searched google maps for the exact location before leaving from home. The map showed me everything but the exact road in the high resolution.

When I reached near the vicinity of the centre of the exam, I asked, one DP, the exact location of the school. He told me a route that was nowhere near to the school. I told him that I was in a hurry and needed to reach there in another 15 min. But he was unmoved. He told me that it is the only route which linked the school with the present road.

They say that when a person has a bad hair day, nothing works for him. That’s exactly what happened to me. I disregarded my intuition yet again. I followed the route he suggested.

After 5 min. of continuous driving I came across a signal which said that it was a one way road which merges with Dhaula kuan. My legs started quivering with the consternation of losing the very opportunity of taking the exam. It was as if I was running after a train to catch it and was just going to miss it (exactly what Kareena experiences in the flick Jab We met!).

In no time, I called my father and told him the entire episode in less than a minute. He asked me to remain calm and told me the shortest possible route from there. I took a U-Turn from Dhaula kuan and caught the road which he told me with a semi-positive feeling of reaching the centre not later than the latest reporting time. Just when this positive feeling was beginning to calm my nerves, I got stuck in a traffic jam.

That poor signal took away some 5 minutes from the already exiguous amount of time, I had. I said poor because it was malfunctioning, being red for 70 seconds and green for just 10 seconds!
After another 10 min., I reached the centre, just 3-4 min. before the latest entry time of 9:45am.

I thanked god and my father. Then I abused that DP. I felt like hitting my buttocks for following the route told by ‘him’. Couldn't do so as I had to maintain the decorum in the class!

In the end, however, I will refrain from saying that all cops are same. But I have understood one thing that why a policeman is also referred to as a ‘cop’.
*cop-Slang verb.-to take money unlawfully or without permission

Welcome to NjoyTV

2009-01-26T14:05:00.001+05:30

"Life's not worth living, and that's the truth,"
Carelessly caroled the golden youth.
In manhood still he maintained that view
And held it more strongly the older he grew.
When kicked by a jackass at eighty-three,
"Go fetch me a surgeon at once!" cried he.
-Han Soper

I don't want to be 'he'..
-Rahul Aggarwal

Hi friends..
Well,Neither you have visited this blog to read about the humdrum things, nor I am here to prate about the same. Lets make this blog a place where everyone can relieve his/her ennui..Lets make this place a forum to talk about things that really don't matter in our day-to-day lives, yet affect the core of our heart and influence our gray matter..

Let me kick-off this blog by one such post..