Monday, May 13, 2013

You Never Know When It Will Rain

There was a time when
The gathering of dense clouds
Used to enhance the anticipation
That it will rain and one will get drenched

Days have changed
Dense clouds gather to misled
When as if it would rain any moment
A clear sky emerges

There are days when the sun is bright and shining
With the least hope of rain
And there is a downpour
Quenching the thirst - only for few hours

There are days when
There is lightning and thunderstorm
You don't know what to expect
And if it rains, it is one of the best

There is fun in playing
Before the rain
During rain and
After rain, which now is unpredictable

There is future  in tilling the soil
Before the rain
And tending after the rain
In hope of a bounty, which now may be a futile effort

Some blame the climate
Calling it climate change and global warming
May be it is just feminism, freedom and ..
Melting the ice





Thursday, May 09, 2013

Parallel Universe

Parallel Universe

I know i was losing you
When i looked but could not look into your eyes
I also knew i was losing myself

I started to search and am still searching
Here and there and everywhere
Occasionally to be fooled


You stood before me
While i searched my cell phone, kindle and iPod
And also searched  my "laptop"


I found you on
Facebook, twitter and google
Thought i was happy

I dwell in you
And keep searching for you
Betting reality is virtual

You know the truth
That I am lost here and there
In Parallel Universe.......







Tuesday, May 07, 2013

A Beautiful Girl Asking-What Am I Doing Wrong?

Post from Criaglist but copied from the blog of Adam Nash!


What am I doing wrong?
Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful
(spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy.
I’m not from New York. I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.
Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 – 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?
Here are my questions specifically:
- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms
-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings
-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)?
- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What’s the story there?
- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows – lawyer, investment
banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for
MARRIAGE ONLY
Please hold your insults – I’m putting myself out there in an honest
way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them – in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.
it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 432279810
Many responded but this reply was.....
THE ANSWER
Dear Pers-431649184:
I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.
Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your
bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.
Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!
So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!
So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.
Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.
By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.
With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way. Classic “pump and dump.”
I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

To the gentleman who called me a depreciating asset
Date: 2007-10-11, 8:23AM EDT
Dear Sir,
I must confess that I was somewhat taken aback upon reading your email. Indeed, it has taken some time for me to sufficiently recuperate from my surprise. Lest your confidence quickly inflate for little reason (as we know is the predisposition for Wall St. types), allow me to hasten to reassure you that the source of my surprise was neither your candor nor the accuracy of your perception. Indeed, it is your “claimed” success in light of your poor grasp of economics which has me baffled. If the standards required to meet with financial success on Wall St. have sunk so low, perhaps I should indeed “make my own money”, except for the fact that the effort/reward ratio is far too high for my liking – especially when so many of your ilk have displayed a far more cogent grasp of market realities than you have.
By now you are likely scratching your ever-vanishing hairline in confusion, so allow me to elaborate, dear man. To build some credibility I will tell you a bit more about yourself. Though you did not mention the details of your occupation, it is clear that you are an investment banker and not a trader, as any good trader would understand that human courtships are based upon a semi-efficient open market, and not an investment banking cartel. However, your inability to grasp the realities of the dating market is not surprising, given that you have successfully employed the tools of collusion and market manipulation rather that true acumen in your supposed wealth generation.
If your grasp of finance were not a minority partner with your ego, you would realize that the “outflows” associated with my depreciating “assets” are quite certain, and therefore subject to a low discount rate when determining their present value. In addition, though your concept of economics evidentially failed to move past the 1950s, advancement in plastic surgery is not subject to the same limitation. Thus, with some additional capital expenditure, the overall lifetime of “outflows” generated by these assets is greatly increased. Sad that Ashton Kutcher has demonstrated understanding of the female asset class which you, in all of your financial “wisdom”, have not.
You, on the other hand, are, given the uncertainty of the Wall St. job market, more of an inflation-indexed junk bond with an underwater nested call option. Though you may argue that you are more of an equity investment, my monetary minimums required from you do not change, and if you are unable to pay them, I will liquidate you without the benefit of a chapter 11, just as you would me.
Because your outflows are so much more uncertain with respect to mine, I require additional compensation in the form of a underwater nested call option on your future assets. I say underwater because, even taking into account the value of your junk bond coupon payment to me, the value of my “outflow” is in excess of the market price of your equity (which is quite low due to its riskiness associated with your poor grasp of finance and my existing claim upon your junk bond coupon).
I must thank you though for raising the question, despite the reputation cost of subjecting your weak logic to such widespread scrutiny. This took either considerable courage or ignorance on your part- and we’ll give you the benefit of doubt, just this once. My current boyfriend (a trader who lives in Central Park West, of course) and I thoroughly enjoyed discussing your response and we wish you the best of luck in your unhappy pursuit of that elusive market inefficiency.

Don't mix societal norms with market norms!

Link To Adam Nash Post-
This insight comes from taking the class of A Beginner's Guide To Irrational Behavior by Dan Ariely


Sunday, May 05, 2013

Getting High-Delusional

I am sitting on a horse
A winning horse
Each time i win
I am high on cocaine
Guess the horse also feeds on it
I crave for it
Day and night
When i don't get it
i am lost and angry
Thinking only of my next dose and kick
Frantically searching ways and means of finding it
All the people around me
Feed me with it
They applaud and cheer for every win i make
I like them around me.
My high, my cocaine
Gets better with parasites around me
What is success if there aren't any
Parasites to suck the blood
Making you feel less guilty
About the selfishness you harbor
Once in a while you do feel remorse and guilt, you desparately want to get rid of it
You wash the cocaine with alcohol
And blow the guilt in flames
You fool yourself into thinking that you love them
Wife, kids, parents and all
You think you have compassion but you know it is only passion-raw, crude, selfish, apologetic
But you know
You are just addicted to the cocaine
Addiction makes me delusional
Delusion of making this world a better place.
Delusion of loving human kind or humans
Delusion of being a good guy.
I need to get high, i need my addiction, i need my delusions
For i live on them.


Saturday, May 04, 2013

ATM-Cash Withdrawal

What happens when the ATM machine has counted the notes and is about to dispense and the electricity supply goes of?

I had my lesson today in a hard way. Had gone to my son's school to pay the fees. Outside the school there is a SBI ATM. I waited for my turn, entered my card, punched my pin. After the usual preliminary details entered the amount and as the machine was counting the money the electricity supply went off! Apparently it was running on UPS and the UPS had come to its end. To my luck it shut down at the moment when it was to dispense the amount.

I got the message on my cell phone saying that the amount is debited from my account.Now, I was not sure whether the amount will come out after the electricity supply comes back. I call the SBI ATM help line as it is their ATM. The person at the other end listens to the details. Since I had used my HDFC card he says I need to contact HDFC. I want him to clarify whether the cash will come out of the machine after electricity comes back. He is not sure.

Using the internet on the mobile dig out the HDFC phone banking number. After the IVRS system I finally reach a human voice. It was fast but for me it seemed long as i was frustrated and irritated. This guy is good. He says the amount will not be dispensed. If for any reason more than 3 minutes elapses and the amount is not dispensed, it will not be dispensed. But he adds, since it is a SBI ATM he cannot guarantee. He also suggested that this would not have been the case if i would have accessed HDFC ATM!

During all this tamasha, the guard who is supposed to man the ATM is missing. Both HDFC and SBI persons inquired about him.

Now i am left wondering what to do. I decided to wait for the electricity to come back. Sat there like the security guard and was informing all the people who came there that the ATM is not working.

A new SBI branch is due to get open just oppose the ATM. I thought if there is a responsible person or guard there, I will go and clarify. There was a lady who appeared to be an officer. She was pretty sure that the amount will come out. When I mentioned about the 3 minute rule, she said that it was a previous rule and RBI has reversed that.

I waited outside the ATM for three and half hours. Finally the electricity cam back. The machine turned on. The booting of the computer happened and the screen showed the windows logo. The machine again made the sound of counting. I waited with bated breath.

The money was not dispensed. Only an empty slip cam from the receipt area. I was not sure whether i was happy, angry or sad.

I called the HDFC again and the same person came on call. I thanked him and said that he was right. He asked me further details and also confirmed that the amount was reversed to my account.

A very costly learning. When the electricity goes off when the amount is about to be dispensed, the cash will not be dispensed when the machine restarts.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Have read the excellent book by Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a life long art and science of employing this learning. I fail sometimes and succeed very few times! The personal story will involve the struggle between Parkinson suffering dad and my mom who has severe osteoarthritis and pain because of it. They have the epic battle of trying to understand or misunderstand. Will delve on it some other day.

Communication is the most important skill. Unfortunately we are not taught how to listen. We are lucky if we would have done listening on couple of occasions!

We always feel that how easy it would be if near and dear ones would understand me. Typically it goes like this:

Wish my parents understood me...

Wish my husband/wife understood me...

Wish my friends understood me....

Wish my colleagues understood me....

Wish my children understood me...

Solution:

Excerpt: "Because you so often listen autobiographically, you tend to respond in one of four ways:
Evaluating:You judge and then either agree or disagree.
Probing:You ask questions from your own frame of reference.
Advising:You give counsel, advice, and solutions to problems.
Interpreting:You analyze others' motives and behaviors based on your own experiences."