Interest rates are falling down, inflation is at its lowest in 33 years , house prices are at the bottom. Every paper screams that this is the time to buy your "dream" house. The question is that if this is the right time ? Or is there any right time at all ?
There is a tendency in human beings. Like all animals we too are territorial . Though we have brains to make us a little less territorial we are none the less territorial. This tendency causes a need to feel in control. The need to own something , to call it your belonging and cherish it forever. The need to control makes us seek a space we call our own . May be we stayed in Rental dwellings with invasive landlords, too high a rent and a place that always belongs to some one else. There was no end to our miseries except the fact that we could buy a new house or was it ?
These days I am meeting a number of people whose houses have been left incomplete on account of default by builders , people who are unable to pay EMI because of job losses , people whose house values have fallen below the purchase price ( or loans ) making them an unwilling defaulter. They are sad and angry at their states. They feel cheated by banks ,builders and governments but themselves.
Now again with interest rates dropping , again a cry is being raised that houses are affordable . Thankfully people are more patient this time , waiting for prices to come down . They have been burned last time because they did not take time to research their facts , read between the lines etc. But the same people will again fall for hype when things go back to normal . Why ? because of the tendency to project good future many times but poor future very less number of times.
This is the time for us to retrospect that is there any friend of us all in these builders , banks , governments etc. Behind the lovely looking ladies of customer care is a shrewd business man who is hell bent on finding techniques to take more of your money . So this a time to think of that business man who is a "devil in God's clothes" and to find out the real truth . The relationship of banker and bankee should be based strictly on business. However today it has become a master slave relationship because a slave has become greedy and is ready to obey his master for any favour even though it may not serve his purpose.
I have a car loan which I was always confident that I could pay . So till this far when 3 years have been completed , I have not even bothered to talk to them once. Because I do not think that they are my masters . They need my business too to run their business and hence talk is striclty business and no-nonsense. That is the reason I have not taken loan beyond my comfort and I can still shout at them if they make mistakes .
The point is that even a normal person needs to be smart and financially educated to find out the reasons behind all the goodies that are offered all time . It is for us people who know to educate people who do not know and for them to learn what they dont know .
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
You never get it right almost always first time
One relative of mine was of the opinion , that she can never learn to drive. She gets scared the way that people come close to others when they are driving. To her it is a horrible thing and scared that she might hurt or hit someone has kept her off the road.
To me it is a reflection on the things that we want to be perfect the first time . We want our marriage to be perfect ,absolutely flawless just because we are scared that we have not left anything behind . We want our lives to be perfect asap because we want todo everything right at the first go .
I remember times when I was young and very fond of riding a bicycle. I do not remember count of times that I have fallen from it hurting myself badly in the process. Soon , I got the touch and never fell down. But it was not a days job.
During my school days it was so hard to learn physics , a subject that I loved a lot. But sheer persistent effort made sure that I learned it well. I even passed one of the toughest technical examinations.
So why are we so scared of trying . A photographer never gets the best shot in one . A tailor never makes a perfect suit at first time . And in soccer goals are never scored often in first minute.
One of my feelings about it is that we have a society that loves heroes who succeed . It gives no importance to people who have tried and could not succeed. The society showers praise on the people who have made a mark but never gives a thought or even ridicules people who dare to try and not succeed.
Inherently the risk taking in missing here. We do not want to learn from the mistakes we make but want to do job right at the first time . Unfortunately even geniuses cannot achieve this. When I tried to learn guitar , I suffered a lot . In one year I was trying to play like a top guitar player. Sooner it begin to dawn on me that I am copying others and not developing my own style. It was because I was not enjoying the difficult parts . I was shying away from them.
In the obsession to reach the perfect goal , most of the time we miss on the way we could have done things right and enjoyed the moment . Instead of worrying about that perfect shot , we can take a lot of amateur shots and try to improve them . I am sure then that perfect shot is lurking nearby and will come to you before you know it.
To me it is a reflection on the things that we want to be perfect the first time . We want our marriage to be perfect ,absolutely flawless just because we are scared that we have not left anything behind . We want our lives to be perfect asap because we want todo everything right at the first go .
I remember times when I was young and very fond of riding a bicycle. I do not remember count of times that I have fallen from it hurting myself badly in the process. Soon , I got the touch and never fell down. But it was not a days job.
During my school days it was so hard to learn physics , a subject that I loved a lot. But sheer persistent effort made sure that I learned it well. I even passed one of the toughest technical examinations.
So why are we so scared of trying . A photographer never gets the best shot in one . A tailor never makes a perfect suit at first time . And in soccer goals are never scored often in first minute.
One of my feelings about it is that we have a society that loves heroes who succeed . It gives no importance to people who have tried and could not succeed. The society showers praise on the people who have made a mark but never gives a thought or even ridicules people who dare to try and not succeed.
Inherently the risk taking in missing here. We do not want to learn from the mistakes we make but want to do job right at the first time . Unfortunately even geniuses cannot achieve this. When I tried to learn guitar , I suffered a lot . In one year I was trying to play like a top guitar player. Sooner it begin to dawn on me that I am copying others and not developing my own style. It was because I was not enjoying the difficult parts . I was shying away from them.
In the obsession to reach the perfect goal , most of the time we miss on the way we could have done things right and enjoyed the moment . Instead of worrying about that perfect shot , we can take a lot of amateur shots and try to improve them . I am sure then that perfect shot is lurking nearby and will come to you before you know it.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Its the liberal that looses
Ever day we are hearing a number of stories of people trying to make people 'moral' by beating them, stopping them from drinking , visiting pubs , asking them to behave like this and not like that.
Taken to the extreme side, I see terrorists in some asking people to follow certain religious laws. To me this is an extension of the original idea of trying to make people moral .
This has taken me to thoughts about why we have to suffer like this . In my observation, there always has been a fight between progression and regression just like there has been between adharma and dharma in Mahabahart time. A progression is about having a culturally diverse set of people around you where law is respected and everyone is listened to . Even though people may not agree with each other but they still respect diversity. While regression is sticking to policies that only some people think are right, is generally divisive in nature and favours one set of thinking over other. It also means taking up the causes which are detrimental to concept of individual thinking while forcing conformance.
But the problem with regression is that of degeneration. If you see, our neighbour country is now in the path of regression because mature democracy , rule of law never existed there. Rule of law never existed in India too but we were at least aware that we need to live together and though it was uneasy existence always made sure that we were at least democratic.
In my opinion , there can be only two paths that are available to a human being. One, is of 100 % tolerance and second of any kind of intolerance. There is no place in between . Any kind of intolerance will lead us one day to 100 % intolerance in due course of time . We may hate a person and what he is , how he feels, how he dresses but we may never cause a harm to his existence, his self worth. If we do tomorrow , we do not have right to say anything if a harm comes to us .
All these intolerance leads people to get afraid. Normal people like you and me are afraid of hurt and humiliation that comes with intolerance. However ,this is a time for introspection. Looking around, we can see a number of people we loathed. People from different regions , religions, sex, status , we hated everyone once and all. Not only this ,we sometimes made sure that the hurt was passed on them . In turbulent times like this , when liberals are under attack, we have to introspect if we have any shred of intolerance left. If we are pure , then only we can fight for our ways . However , if we take pride in lording over one another while proclaiming ourselves as a liberal , I don't see how we can be united in face of conservative , ill-liberal onslaught. Remember, the forces of adhrama wants dharma to lose and we have to fight it every day.
Taken to the extreme side, I see terrorists in some asking people to follow certain religious laws. To me this is an extension of the original idea of trying to make people moral .
This has taken me to thoughts about why we have to suffer like this . In my observation, there always has been a fight between progression and regression just like there has been between adharma and dharma in Mahabahart time. A progression is about having a culturally diverse set of people around you where law is respected and everyone is listened to . Even though people may not agree with each other but they still respect diversity. While regression is sticking to policies that only some people think are right, is generally divisive in nature and favours one set of thinking over other. It also means taking up the causes which are detrimental to concept of individual thinking while forcing conformance.
But the problem with regression is that of degeneration. If you see, our neighbour country is now in the path of regression because mature democracy , rule of law never existed there. Rule of law never existed in India too but we were at least aware that we need to live together and though it was uneasy existence always made sure that we were at least democratic.
In my opinion , there can be only two paths that are available to a human being. One, is of 100 % tolerance and second of any kind of intolerance. There is no place in between . Any kind of intolerance will lead us one day to 100 % intolerance in due course of time . We may hate a person and what he is , how he feels, how he dresses but we may never cause a harm to his existence, his self worth. If we do tomorrow , we do not have right to say anything if a harm comes to us .
All these intolerance leads people to get afraid. Normal people like you and me are afraid of hurt and humiliation that comes with intolerance. However ,this is a time for introspection. Looking around, we can see a number of people we loathed. People from different regions , religions, sex, status , we hated everyone once and all. Not only this ,we sometimes made sure that the hurt was passed on them . In turbulent times like this , when liberals are under attack, we have to introspect if we have any shred of intolerance left. If we are pure , then only we can fight for our ways . However , if we take pride in lording over one another while proclaiming ourselves as a liberal , I don't see how we can be united in face of conservative , ill-liberal onslaught. Remember, the forces of adhrama wants dharma to lose and we have to fight it every day.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thinking before acting
My blogs would state to you the obvious, that we are all influenced by hype and advertising. What I am going to tell you more that we are influenced to the extent that it becomes a question of our survival. It is instinctual tendency of an animal to listen to most loud sound and look towards it . Once we find that out , we start rationalizing the fact that since the sound is the loudest , it definately makes a logical sense that what it is trying to tell us must be true. Since the loudness of the sound dims our capability to reason well, we tend to assume that whatever someone is telling us is correct
If you do not believe that humans dont think much before taking an action please look around . Look at the drivers on the roads who are driving smart computer controlled cars. These cars are supposed to be safe and intelligent by providing the driver with maximum amout of control but it is not the car but the human sitting on the steering that is careless. In one of the shows in discovery channel , the narrator informed that the more safe cars are becoming , the more recless drivers are .
In normal circumstance, if you stop a driver and ask him , if it is good to drive safe, the answer would be definately in positive. But the same driver when he gets hold of the car starts behaving in exactly opposite way.
That brings us to the question , how are we different from animals. We have almost all the instincts of animals such as Fear , greed, hunger, thirst etc etc. In the evolution of the mankind , our body has evolved to perform complex mind functions such as solving puzzles, holding a cutting knife in right position , flying a plane and many others . However, we are not able to let go of the instincts that we brought upon our transformation of the animal world. Everywhere in the world finance, wars ,sports , we see that all these factors come into picture. They help us survive in the competition for food, mates and shelter. But there is one more thing that we have more than all animals , which is our thinking . We as a fairly evolved beings can think before we act. Unfortunately that is not very easy. We are conditioned by our environment to suppress our thinking . We also look to our past to prepare our future responses , which is okay when it comes to iproving your behaviour such asbeing more polite or be diplomatic however is not useful when it causes us not to take good amount of risk to get a higher reward . For e.g. if a father beats up a child for no reson regularly , the child will not come to father for even simple requests.
Our thinking before acting may sometimes acts a best response. There are times when we want to do damage, beat someone or say nasty things for a moment, we pause . This gives our brain time to think and the damage is not done. It is quite possible that the response we have is not the best response. We would like to inflict some harm on the opponent and that may be needed. But think of the other consequences that would have arised out of it . So we have chosen a response we have decided as mature adult and not as enraged person. We can even frame anassertive response , which can rightly affect our opponent.
There are a lot of practical applications of thinking and making an informed decision based on whatever information we have and not at the spur of the moment. It can save us with lot of hassles later on.
If you do not believe that humans dont think much before taking an action please look around . Look at the drivers on the roads who are driving smart computer controlled cars. These cars are supposed to be safe and intelligent by providing the driver with maximum amout of control but it is not the car but the human sitting on the steering that is careless. In one of the shows in discovery channel , the narrator informed that the more safe cars are becoming , the more recless drivers are .
In normal circumstance, if you stop a driver and ask him , if it is good to drive safe, the answer would be definately in positive. But the same driver when he gets hold of the car starts behaving in exactly opposite way.
That brings us to the question , how are we different from animals. We have almost all the instincts of animals such as Fear , greed, hunger, thirst etc etc. In the evolution of the mankind , our body has evolved to perform complex mind functions such as solving puzzles, holding a cutting knife in right position , flying a plane and many others . However, we are not able to let go of the instincts that we brought upon our transformation of the animal world. Everywhere in the world finance, wars ,sports , we see that all these factors come into picture. They help us survive in the competition for food, mates and shelter. But there is one more thing that we have more than all animals , which is our thinking . We as a fairly evolved beings can think before we act. Unfortunately that is not very easy. We are conditioned by our environment to suppress our thinking . We also look to our past to prepare our future responses , which is okay when it comes to iproving your behaviour such asbeing more polite or be diplomatic however is not useful when it causes us not to take good amount of risk to get a higher reward . For e.g. if a father beats up a child for no reson regularly , the child will not come to father for even simple requests.
Our thinking before acting may sometimes acts a best response. There are times when we want to do damage, beat someone or say nasty things for a moment, we pause . This gives our brain time to think and the damage is not done. It is quite possible that the response we have is not the best response. We would like to inflict some harm on the opponent and that may be needed. But think of the other consequences that would have arised out of it . So we have chosen a response we have decided as mature adult and not as enraged person. We can even frame anassertive response , which can rightly affect our opponent.
There are a lot of practical applications of thinking and making an informed decision based on whatever information we have and not at the spur of the moment. It can save us with lot of hassles later on.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Everyone forgot the risks
One common complaint I am hearing these days is that banks are not reducing the home loan rates even if there is sufficient liquidity in the market . People are complaining that banks have their cakes and are eating them too. A normal borrower like you and me are trapped by all these techniques applied by the banks .
My response is ' easy to blame the banks and everyone other than yourself'.
I have my reasons to believe in the above statement .
1. We all fell for hype. In the national dailies , in 2008 , there were a plenty of advertisement by real estate builder promising us heaven while bankers were eager to put the ladder on. Money was easy and hence rates were down . It was much easier to factor all the cost into our salary. There was not a single reason not to take a loan. Add to the cacophony , we had people whom we knew were profiting from the bubble of the real estate and it was hard imagining why we were not profiting
2. We all want to become rich before we die: That is a fair assumption . It is very difficult to every day go to office, listen to abusive boss and work for a paltry salary. So there must be some easy way. Now since there was so much hype around , we were fooled into thinking that it is our road to riches. According to one news item I read in 'financial express' , most of the rich become rich not because they are brilliant or master strategists but because they take excessive leverage. And if their business venture becomes successful, they are hailed in the eyes of the world. This story raises an interesting point that given similar circumstances, is it possible that cautious general public would also take excessive leverage to get rich even though there is no fallback when something goes wrong. In my observation , yes they can if they could. I have heard and read a number of stories where people have gone into excessive leverage to invest in stocks or real estate before they went bust.
3. We forgot about the risks : There are a plenty of risk when you make a business investment. Even a safe instrument called fixed deposit have strong risk from high inflation and busting of bank. If tomorrow the bank goes down a la Lehman , then it will take all our deposit with us . A risky investment is stock market , where it is not even possible to count the number of risks you can see . A real estate investment is considered a risk free investment as at least you have the land / flat / house with you even though the value goes down.
In my opinion that is the biggest mistake our Indian masses do . A real estate investment that is based on good location of the property can fetch handsome rewards. Other ways that real estate can work to our advantage is the fact that it is a commercial / residential development that provides us with a constant revenue stream in the form of a rent. There is some tax benefit that we derive out of our investment . However risks are plenty.
I am not a real estate expert but all I can say is that even this asset class has its set of risks and the public either failed to see them or they were misled into believing that it is not risky at all.
4. We forgot to read the fine print : You assume that you are customer of the bank and the bank would follow generally good practice .You assume many things on bank's behalf. But on the other side, your bank is not assuming everything. They are making sure that they leave nothing to chance while the only risk they bear is when the price of property goes below the loan amount( they would squeeze you on that ) , floating rate gets higher ( they would squeeze you on this too), you default for a month ( be prepared for onslaught). Obviously , they have done their homework while you in your dreams have even not cared to read what they have written in the document that you are going to sign . In this case , all mistake is yours .
5. Our experiences fail to teach us : My bank raised the credit card rate of interest on the account of a flimsy reason that many customers of theirs are defaulting . It means that they penalized me for the fault of others . It never occurred to them that I have been paying my dues on time and there is absolutely no risk doing business with me .
But this experience taught me one thing "Bankers are not our friends, they do not like us , they do not love us ". They are here only because they need money to run their business and they deal with us because we help them make money. I reduced my credit card balance to zero, immediately dropped my plans of unnecessary expenditure and used cash for most of my transactions . This has helped me to use the facility provided ( a credit card ) without falling into the trap they want me to get into. I have my credit limit to 50,000 and never exceeds it even though it might mean giving up on things I desire badly.
Now back to general public. I feel that everyone had one or the other kind of experience with the banks. But that did not deter people from taking huge loans . The higher the loan , the higher the risk of default . A bank is where you keep money so that it does not get stolen while you may take a loan based on your capacity and risk appetite. I do not think a bank is useful to me more than that.
Now if you are trapped in such a scene, how would you come out of it .
1. If you are over leveraged, try to reduce the debt either by borrowing from friends and family . Remember , they understand you better than any other smiling bank salesman
2. Cut on your credit card expenses because they take a lot of money to repay
3. Do not fall for marketing gimmicks of the banks and industry. One of my way to avoid my mind getting fooled by the marketing is to add one line 'Now give me your money' after every advertisement . That would be a reality check.
4. Do not buy a thing if you don't have to buy it . Do not buy if everyone says it is good . If everyone knows about it then probably it is already overpriced
5. Learn to read between the lines especially in agreements . If you are not sure take help from someone who knows about it .
6. Don't let your emotions run through . Look for the risks , hidden agendas, ambiguous lines. Ask if you don't understand.
7. In Hindi we say 'Bhag kar kahi nahin jaa raha hain ' . You cannot turn everything into a winning opportunity. There are some lost calls too . Just wait and think before you decide to act.
7. Last but not the least . Avoid taking loan at all cost . Try building assets instead for e.g. . stocks which appreciate with time . They would provide you more stability that leverage.
I hope all these make sense to the public and people become more conscious before they take a decision.
My response is ' easy to blame the banks and everyone other than yourself'.
I have my reasons to believe in the above statement .
1. We all fell for hype. In the national dailies , in 2008 , there were a plenty of advertisement by real estate builder promising us heaven while bankers were eager to put the ladder on. Money was easy and hence rates were down . It was much easier to factor all the cost into our salary. There was not a single reason not to take a loan. Add to the cacophony , we had people whom we knew were profiting from the bubble of the real estate and it was hard imagining why we were not profiting
2. We all want to become rich before we die: That is a fair assumption . It is very difficult to every day go to office, listen to abusive boss and work for a paltry salary. So there must be some easy way. Now since there was so much hype around , we were fooled into thinking that it is our road to riches. According to one news item I read in 'financial express' , most of the rich become rich not because they are brilliant or master strategists but because they take excessive leverage. And if their business venture becomes successful, they are hailed in the eyes of the world. This story raises an interesting point that given similar circumstances, is it possible that cautious general public would also take excessive leverage to get rich even though there is no fallback when something goes wrong. In my observation , yes they can if they could. I have heard and read a number of stories where people have gone into excessive leverage to invest in stocks or real estate before they went bust.
3. We forgot about the risks : There are a plenty of risk when you make a business investment. Even a safe instrument called fixed deposit have strong risk from high inflation and busting of bank. If tomorrow the bank goes down a la Lehman , then it will take all our deposit with us . A risky investment is stock market , where it is not even possible to count the number of risks you can see . A real estate investment is considered a risk free investment as at least you have the land / flat / house with you even though the value goes down.
In my opinion that is the biggest mistake our Indian masses do . A real estate investment that is based on good location of the property can fetch handsome rewards. Other ways that real estate can work to our advantage is the fact that it is a commercial / residential development that provides us with a constant revenue stream in the form of a rent. There is some tax benefit that we derive out of our investment . However risks are plenty.
- There could be oversupply of the real estate leading to a drastic fall
- The whole area is now not considered suitable for investment
- The property taxes have made running businesses difficult
- The inflation is rising too fast and it is making maintenance and repair beyond reach and many .
- The loan rates have climbed too high mostly out of our reach.
I am not a real estate expert but all I can say is that even this asset class has its set of risks and the public either failed to see them or they were misled into believing that it is not risky at all.
4. We forgot to read the fine print : You assume that you are customer of the bank and the bank would follow generally good practice .You assume many things on bank's behalf. But on the other side, your bank is not assuming everything. They are making sure that they leave nothing to chance while the only risk they bear is when the price of property goes below the loan amount( they would squeeze you on that ) , floating rate gets higher ( they would squeeze you on this too), you default for a month ( be prepared for onslaught). Obviously , they have done their homework while you in your dreams have even not cared to read what they have written in the document that you are going to sign . In this case , all mistake is yours .
5. Our experiences fail to teach us : My bank raised the credit card rate of interest on the account of a flimsy reason that many customers of theirs are defaulting . It means that they penalized me for the fault of others . It never occurred to them that I have been paying my dues on time and there is absolutely no risk doing business with me .
But this experience taught me one thing "Bankers are not our friends, they do not like us , they do not love us ". They are here only because they need money to run their business and they deal with us because we help them make money. I reduced my credit card balance to zero, immediately dropped my plans of unnecessary expenditure and used cash for most of my transactions . This has helped me to use the facility provided ( a credit card ) without falling into the trap they want me to get into. I have my credit limit to 50,000 and never exceeds it even though it might mean giving up on things I desire badly.
Now back to general public. I feel that everyone had one or the other kind of experience with the banks. But that did not deter people from taking huge loans . The higher the loan , the higher the risk of default . A bank is where you keep money so that it does not get stolen while you may take a loan based on your capacity and risk appetite. I do not think a bank is useful to me more than that.
Now if you are trapped in such a scene, how would you come out of it .
1. If you are over leveraged, try to reduce the debt either by borrowing from friends and family . Remember , they understand you better than any other smiling bank salesman
2. Cut on your credit card expenses because they take a lot of money to repay
3. Do not fall for marketing gimmicks of the banks and industry. One of my way to avoid my mind getting fooled by the marketing is to add one line 'Now give me your money' after every advertisement . That would be a reality check.
4. Do not buy a thing if you don't have to buy it . Do not buy if everyone says it is good . If everyone knows about it then probably it is already overpriced
5. Learn to read between the lines especially in agreements . If you are not sure take help from someone who knows about it .
6. Don't let your emotions run through . Look for the risks , hidden agendas, ambiguous lines. Ask if you don't understand.
7. In Hindi we say 'Bhag kar kahi nahin jaa raha hain ' . You cannot turn everything into a winning opportunity. There are some lost calls too . Just wait and think before you decide to act.
7. Last but not the least . Avoid taking loan at all cost . Try building assets instead for e.g. . stocks which appreciate with time . They would provide you more stability that leverage.
I hope all these make sense to the public and people become more conscious before they take a decision.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Work is not worship
Every house needs a maid , sometimes two or three. One to cook , another to wash and other to sweep and clean. My house too has a maid who comes daily to wash utensils and then clean the house. She is very hard working and has absolutely no problem in cleaning the house . And surprise of all, she comes bang on time almost always. I was puzzled by this behaviour and asked my wife how come that none of the maid come on time , she does. To this my wife replied that she is the garbage collector of the building and collects garbage from household before disposing it to municipality trucks. Since everyone knows her job, no one allows her to wash utensils.
It made me think. What makes India a still tragically backward country. One of the prime reasons is that we don't worship work . If we do , it is either studies or dancing or singing or something selective that we presume is good work. Rarely have we time to praise a security guard , a cook or a house maid. For us they are supposed to be doing that because that is menial work, not fit for middle class. A person who takes up a job we don't find up to our standards , becomes a second class person in our eyes. Hence we try to suck maximum work out of them , making them work long hours with very less pay. For us they are condemned to do such kind of work .
If the maid that comes to house does not take the garbage from all houses in the building , our neat and clean looking building will turn into a garbage house in one week . Thanks to all those who work hard, toiling day and night making sure that we remain safe and clean . And most of the people do not even have a time to smile at them . Rather they would scoff at them . Whenever , I go for a walk in compound , people observe that many guards and support personnel raise their hands to greet me. They are surprised. I feel elated at that moment as I feel that I have given respect to their work which they did once for me . I might have just said thanks but it is a big gesture to them .
We have a tendency to look down upon people who are below our status either in caste , religion, wealth or occupation . This is perfectly fine but there is a problem with this . Since we look down on people , we are also looked down by the people who feel they are superior. One perfect example could be your boss who looks to us and say that we are cheap labourers. Another is politicians who feel that people of this country do not deserve any kind of life , security or social well being . They are just vote pigs . You can see a number of such examples here .
There is no way we can improve our country and our well being , if we treat fellow citizens who work in not so dignified professions with contempt. There is no way we can expect security and well being from government when inside we understand that we are exploiting our own country men. There is no safe haven from terrorist who attack the country, as countless number of people who do menial jobs are referred as ordinary people. There is no safety from dacoits bandits and criminals if we cannot sympathize with a blind person who is trying to cross a crowded road.
We have to accept the differences and reward the work and virtues . India's salvation lies only in the fact that she starts giving due recognition to its army personnel, police , housewives, professionals, cooks , maids and gardeners. All are parts of the system but system will break down if one part does not function well.
And it all boils down to us as an individual to be sympathetic to fellow citizens irrespective of the caste , creed, sex , colour and all attributes. If you get acknowledgment that you treated someone well then it is quite probable that someone watching you may change his behaviour too. All things big start small, don't you agree. Thanks
It made me think. What makes India a still tragically backward country. One of the prime reasons is that we don't worship work . If we do , it is either studies or dancing or singing or something selective that we presume is good work. Rarely have we time to praise a security guard , a cook or a house maid. For us they are supposed to be doing that because that is menial work, not fit for middle class. A person who takes up a job we don't find up to our standards , becomes a second class person in our eyes. Hence we try to suck maximum work out of them , making them work long hours with very less pay. For us they are condemned to do such kind of work .
If the maid that comes to house does not take the garbage from all houses in the building , our neat and clean looking building will turn into a garbage house in one week . Thanks to all those who work hard, toiling day and night making sure that we remain safe and clean . And most of the people do not even have a time to smile at them . Rather they would scoff at them . Whenever , I go for a walk in compound , people observe that many guards and support personnel raise their hands to greet me. They are surprised. I feel elated at that moment as I feel that I have given respect to their work which they did once for me . I might have just said thanks but it is a big gesture to them .
We have a tendency to look down upon people who are below our status either in caste , religion, wealth or occupation . This is perfectly fine but there is a problem with this . Since we look down on people , we are also looked down by the people who feel they are superior. One perfect example could be your boss who looks to us and say that we are cheap labourers. Another is politicians who feel that people of this country do not deserve any kind of life , security or social well being . They are just vote pigs . You can see a number of such examples here .
There is no way we can improve our country and our well being , if we treat fellow citizens who work in not so dignified professions with contempt. There is no way we can expect security and well being from government when inside we understand that we are exploiting our own country men. There is no safe haven from terrorist who attack the country, as countless number of people who do menial jobs are referred as ordinary people. There is no safety from dacoits bandits and criminals if we cannot sympathize with a blind person who is trying to cross a crowded road.
We have to accept the differences and reward the work and virtues . India's salvation lies only in the fact that she starts giving due recognition to its army personnel, police , housewives, professionals, cooks , maids and gardeners. All are parts of the system but system will break down if one part does not function well.
And it all boils down to us as an individual to be sympathetic to fellow citizens irrespective of the caste , creed, sex , colour and all attributes. If you get acknowledgment that you treated someone well then it is quite probable that someone watching you may change his behaviour too. All things big start small, don't you agree. Thanks
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Are you not a loser
People have a desire not be be left out. Instances abound that when someone creates sufficient hype and make sure that announce loudly enough ,money that someone has made or popularity someone has gained, the act becomes more popular. Due to the blind devotion that people have towards something that they constantly adore or admire, it is very easy to even make a mediocre thing , add some spice to that and then attach the object of devotion. Throw in a good amount of twist and turn and people are eager to throw away money for it.
There are a number of examples , where people have given in to the hype and the desire that they should not be one to left out .
Take for example, a typical bollywood movie which almost have the same story and same sequences with an added twist and turn. People goto watch these stories again and again and come out disappointed . They spend around Rs. 500 per movie including snacks . The reason people do this is that they dont want to be left out. People want to be ahead of friends , channels and critics. They mingle and decide based on the fact that since an actor/ director/ producer has acted/directed/produced a good last movie , it automatically implies that new movie would be a good one . The people make mental assumption of this fact because it is much harder to believe that people they admire cannot fail. The mental assumption is also strengthened by the fact that critics have given a thumbs up to the movie, TV channels are wasting thousands of hours to promote the act. They cant be wrong. Friends are talking about it . Thousands of people are talking about it, they cant be wrong. Hence the hype builds up till the movie falls flat and collections are down the next week . The people who have spent their hard earned money refused to believe that they have not taken the best decision. According to them , even bad entertainment is an entertainment and throwing money for watching the same thing again is not money lost.
You can hear the same bells in the real estate industry. Take the case of bollywood and apply it to real estate . The same story: house prices cannot fall, interest rates are lower, buy now. This is the only time in your life when you can purchase a house. Of course everyone cannot be wrong. Stories abound that people have made thousands of rupees selling property at inflated rates. People are buying their second or third property without even giving a thought to the risk . The bubble is huge . People are getting murdered because of property. Banks, media and newspapers are falling over themselves to give you that precious loan. And you are dying to take these loans because you cant believe so many people can be wrong.
Now comes the stock market. It is going up, going to 17k , 18k ,21 k woahh. There is no end in sight . Even with a slow pace one day it will achieve escape velocity and will blast to moon and we will all be billionaires and spent rest of our lives on beaches of Goa or in Las Vegas. Again why are you investing in stock market because everone says that it is the best place to make money. Everyone is offering you a SIP of Martini while you watch beautiful babes and think of your richness.
Bollywood has perfected the art of making a bubble. Do extreme publicity , make good music , forget story line . Show actors as shiny happy people who have all the fun while the common folks toil in misery and look to them as escape route of fantasy.
But then bubble bursts . The movie falls flat after strong collection in first week . If it was a good movie , people would watch it twice or thrice . Then why do movies go out of cinemas so fast. Its another ploy. To make sure that bubbles are created in so high intensity that only first week matters. Probably a lot lesser number of people will watch it by the time hype is gone.
In real estate , now flat prices are dropping like flies. Now companies are selling flats at cost price . There is not much talk of super luxurious flats , only affordable and low cost.
In sotck market , people do not invest now . Stocks are touching the lowest points and they are so cheap that even a can of Coke costs more than a stock but is anyone buying . No of course not as no one is buying. Again so many people cannot be wrong.
Now let us look at losers in the process . The loser is only you , the ordinary public , fooled thousands of time but refuse to listen. You have proved Abraham Linconlm's theory that you cannot fool all the people all the time . In real estate you paid a price for flat 4-5 times or more of actual value. In stock market , your SIPs are not fetching you any result and in bollywood , since it satisifies(I would say strengthen your prejudices) your senses, you keep watching low grade movies again and again .
Who are the smart people who are making money out of this? Any guess ? In the next blog, if you can tell your senses to hold on, I can reveal that.
There are a number of examples , where people have given in to the hype and the desire that they should not be one to left out .
Take for example, a typical bollywood movie which almost have the same story and same sequences with an added twist and turn. People goto watch these stories again and again and come out disappointed . They spend around Rs. 500 per movie including snacks . The reason people do this is that they dont want to be left out. People want to be ahead of friends , channels and critics. They mingle and decide based on the fact that since an actor/ director/ producer has acted/directed/produced a good last movie , it automatically implies that new movie would be a good one . The people make mental assumption of this fact because it is much harder to believe that people they admire cannot fail. The mental assumption is also strengthened by the fact that critics have given a thumbs up to the movie, TV channels are wasting thousands of hours to promote the act. They cant be wrong. Friends are talking about it . Thousands of people are talking about it, they cant be wrong. Hence the hype builds up till the movie falls flat and collections are down the next week . The people who have spent their hard earned money refused to believe that they have not taken the best decision. According to them , even bad entertainment is an entertainment and throwing money for watching the same thing again is not money lost.
You can hear the same bells in the real estate industry. Take the case of bollywood and apply it to real estate . The same story: house prices cannot fall, interest rates are lower, buy now. This is the only time in your life when you can purchase a house. Of course everyone cannot be wrong. Stories abound that people have made thousands of rupees selling property at inflated rates. People are buying their second or third property without even giving a thought to the risk . The bubble is huge . People are getting murdered because of property. Banks, media and newspapers are falling over themselves to give you that precious loan. And you are dying to take these loans because you cant believe so many people can be wrong.
Now comes the stock market. It is going up, going to 17k , 18k ,21 k woahh. There is no end in sight . Even with a slow pace one day it will achieve escape velocity and will blast to moon and we will all be billionaires and spent rest of our lives on beaches of Goa or in Las Vegas. Again why are you investing in stock market because everone says that it is the best place to make money. Everyone is offering you a SIP of Martini while you watch beautiful babes and think of your richness.
Bollywood has perfected the art of making a bubble. Do extreme publicity , make good music , forget story line . Show actors as shiny happy people who have all the fun while the common folks toil in misery and look to them as escape route of fantasy.
But then bubble bursts . The movie falls flat after strong collection in first week . If it was a good movie , people would watch it twice or thrice . Then why do movies go out of cinemas so fast. Its another ploy. To make sure that bubbles are created in so high intensity that only first week matters. Probably a lot lesser number of people will watch it by the time hype is gone.
In real estate , now flat prices are dropping like flies. Now companies are selling flats at cost price . There is not much talk of super luxurious flats , only affordable and low cost.
In sotck market , people do not invest now . Stocks are touching the lowest points and they are so cheap that even a can of Coke costs more than a stock but is anyone buying . No of course not as no one is buying. Again so many people cannot be wrong.
Now let us look at losers in the process . The loser is only you , the ordinary public , fooled thousands of time but refuse to listen. You have proved Abraham Linconlm's theory that you cannot fool all the people all the time . In real estate you paid a price for flat 4-5 times or more of actual value. In stock market , your SIPs are not fetching you any result and in bollywood , since it satisifies(I would say strengthen your prejudices) your senses, you keep watching low grade movies again and again .
Who are the smart people who are making money out of this? Any guess ? In the next blog, if you can tell your senses to hold on, I can reveal that.
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