Do Patte Patjhad Ke, Pedon Se Utre The
Pedon Ki Shakhon Se Utre The
Phir Utne Mausam Guzre Woh Patte Do Bechaare
Woh Patte Dil Dil Dil The Woh Dil The Dil Dil The..
October 24, 2007
Autumn
Toilet Robbery
My bladder always wants to torture me in new innovative ways. Till yesterday, it always got an urge for a micturition whenever there are no public toilets in sight, but today it crossed its limit. Like those sadistic girls who like to tease guys, my bladder had this urge just in front of a public toilet.. the catch was, the facility owners had locked the urinal. (it was 11am which is hardly an odd hour)
So here I was, trying to tame my bladder and thinking of 1 logical reason why anybody would like to keep a stinky toilet under lock and key? Like any other guy in that situation, the only sane explanation I could come up with was that there exists a band of armed bandits which specializes in stealing the stench from public toilets. Hence the authorities had to beef up security at such places.
What do you think could be the reason?
BTW: you might also like my PHD grade thesis on Urinals.
and some jokes about urinals:
(more…)
October 23, 2007
October 22, 2007
Indian Bankruptcy laws
I have been hearing again and again of people driven to suicide by loan collectors or in this peculiar news, defaulters killing their bankers.
But have you noticed one thing in common among all these defaulters…. NONE of them had filed for bankruptcy….WHY?
In a business losing money does not mean that you had embezzled funds.
80% of the business fail due to cash flow problems and those can be over come by talking to bankers to extend the loan, or with the help of a short term loan from friends and family.
rest of the business usually failed as a result of non conducive market scenario and is part of the learning process.
I agree that in traditional societies like India, being fired from the job or failure in your latest venture makes you the center of the town gossip… but who cares about the world… you have responsibility towards your family, your kids and killing yourself/banker does not solve the problem.
Try talking to your banker to extend the loan tenure, sell off some of the assets and see if you start over again… if you still cannot.. then don’t be shy, ask for help… you will be surprised to know it coming from unlikeliest of the places. Friends and family might help you because they know you are a good man. More often then not acquaintance often pinch in. Often its a pure business deal, where they pump in money in return of sale of assets/partnership… sometimes they do it because they have faith in your business skills and they know that this is a temporary phase.. in future you will not only succeed, but will be gratitudeous.
If nothing works, then don’t start your evasive tactics… Declare bankruptcy, take the assistance of the law and discharge your loans and live life honorably.
India has bankruptcy laws dating as old as 1874… and today’s law clearly demarcates the business/company’s assets from the personal assets… it distinguishes between the assets of the family and your assets and has all the features that allows you to write-off the loan once and for all and start again. Once you start the bankruptcy proceedings, the bank will audit you, you might be asked to visit the court/negotiation table a couple of times… but can no longer harass for the dues…
Lastly a quote from Rich Dad, Poor Dad
“Being Broke is temporary, but being poor is eternal”
October 21, 2007
Aunt Nancy
The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment to get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it.
The next day the kids came back and one-by-one began to tell their stories.
“Johnny, do you have a story to share?”, the teacher asked.
“Yes ma’am, ” Johnny replied. “My daddy told me a story about my Aunt Nancy.
She was a pilot in Desert Storm and her plane got hit.
“She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a small flask of whiskey, a pistol, and a survival knife.
“She drank the whiskey on the way down so it wouldn’t break, and then her parachute landed right in the middle of 20 enemy troops. She shot 15 of them with the gun until she ran out of bullets, killed 4 more with the knife till the blade broke, and then she killed the last Iraqi with her bare hands.”
“Good heavens, ” cried the horrified teacher. “What kind of moral did your daddy give you from this horrible story?”
“Stay away from Aunt Nancy when she’s drinking.”
October 18, 2007
Benefits of Stock Market
Lets go with the benefit that a well developed stock market brings to the country, economy, businessmen, investors and common man.
1) Helping the economy grow:
Developing nations need more capital to fund the new projects, set up plans and to grow and expand the operations. A well developed stock market like India encourages the promoters to tap the stock market for these much needed funds.
This is the reason why a lot of companies tap the primary market during the bull run.
2) Banks do not like risk:
A banker is a guy who lends you an umbrella on a fine sunny day, but takes it back the moment clouds appear on the horizon.
However investors are known to be much more patient and show overwhelming support to good enterprises which are in distress.
3) Corporate governance (Keeps businesses in check):
Stock market ruthlessly punish the rogues.
The market and analysts often demand a higher standards of efficiency and management than what the Governments can even dream of asking via laws.
These days the stock holders even force the companies to take CSR, and morals more seriously than what their B-Schools would have taught.
eg: Recently the investors of Berkshire Hathaway forced Warren Buffet to sell his stake in PetroChina because of its alleged links with the atrocities in Darfur.
4) Curb Corruption.
Stock holders wants records, audits and paper trail of every transaction. They stay away from companies which deal in grey market for these companies tend to make the promoters richer at the cost of the investors. Hence stock markets makes a friendly environment to do business in.
5) Reward Ingenuity:
Gone are the days when the revenues and profits increased by a fixed predictable percentage every year. In a knowledge based economy, the best companies do not think about capturing 1-2% more of the market share, but creating a whole new market. The only way to value these companies is the stock market… for the companies are many times more than their book value.
6) Mobilizing the savings:
It gives a common man to relax and let his investments work for him.
7) Redistribution of wealth:
Everybody knows the age old sage: Money attracts money.
A common man like you and me cannot hope to start a whole new industry and reap the benefits, but through stock markets, we can definitely become a partner 
Now for every buyer, there needs to be a seller. And FII with their deep pockets and risk appetite fill exactly this void. They enhance the liquidity of the stock market, they have developed the market so much that its almost impossible for a punter/group to do large scale manipulations.
Hence, Even though I agree that government should check the PN (participatory notes) and check them for laundering, I strongly oppose those people who think FIIs should be kicked out completely.
