The Messiah of Indian Economy: Dr. Manmohan Singh (License Raj to Open ended economy the story)

The following had happened.

Morgan Stanley was the largest foreign investment source prior to 1991, as not many players were allowed into Indian markets due to License Raj.

Assuming it brought $100 million to invest in Indian markets in March 1990.

This $100 million was converted to INR and invested in downstream markets. Assuming the then exchange rate was $1=35INR. Hence INR (35*100) million was invested.

Now at the end of the financial year, Collections were made by Morgan Stanley in INR. Assuming it made INR (40*100) million as collections. This seems to be a profit, But Morgan Stanley needed to convert this in dollars for correct estimation.

Assuming the exchange rate in March 1991 to be $1=INR 45.

Therefore collection in dollars = (40*100)/45 million = $ 88 million in March 1991

Hence a loss was made by Morgan Stanley, although the numbers in INR appeared as if it had made a profit.

Consequences: Morgan Stanley decided not to re-invest in the Indian markets and decided to take back whatever dollars it was left with.

This lead to dearth of dollars in the Indian markets in turn leading to increase in demand of dollars.

RBI met the rising demand of dollars by injecting dollars from it’s own treasury and sucking out rupees in turn as per the then exchange rate. The demand of dollars was met, but RBI and Indian treasury was left with very little foreign currency.

A below margin foreign currency is an alarm,as the govt would not have had enough resources to meet the Govt debt (also known as Public or National debt) which is an indirect debt of the tax payers. Higher the debt, higher the taxes the countrymen will have to pay. i.e. The Indian markets were sinking in a financial catastrophe and the Income Tax rates would have risen like hell, making the lives of the common man miserable.
(Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_debt)

It was at this time that Dr.Manmohan Singh joined office as the Finance minister under P.V. Narsimha Rao's govt and played a master stroke. He made a major decision of making Indian markets open to foreign players, So that it becomes easier for foreign players to invest in Indian markets by giving dollars to RBI. 

Hats off to Dr. Manmohan Singh!!. Not many know why he is such a genius. 

It is very tragic indeed why, so many people mock and make fun of such great people. Few would know , that without such a path-breaking and bold decision, the present India, which we are so very boastful of would never have existed. Brands, technology and international exposure wouldn't have been so easily available. It's an irony that the Indian youth is quick to pass their opinions and judgement without even knowing or understanding , the foundations and people behind the success of things which they are so proud of. 

An Engineer’s Ahoy…

Hi Beta1- why do you want to do engineering?

Beta1- Unkil Unkil, because I want to get into IIT and then do MBA from IIM.

WTFFFFFF…………….grrrrrrrrrrrrr……wrrraaaaaa…….

But sadly this has been the story of majority of Indian Middle class Junta for decades. Yes, this is the bechara ladke se mard  transition phase of the poor middle class Indian boy, who now faces a challenge of holding on to his innocence while finding a place for himself in the Big bad world. (Yes guys have innocence as well, have a heart.)

If the same question would have been put to Beta2, he would have replied as:

Beta2- Unkil Unkil because I want to settle in US and earn money like anything.Well that makes more sense. Nothing wrong in that? After all we work for money, and people who cannot make it to US out of jealousy accuse the Beta2 breed of all kind of things.

This write-up is an attempt to explore an engineer’s life after engineering, when he gets into the real world. I, myself had the same confusion of what to do after engineering. I’ll put myself in the Beta3 category who consider engineering as an option safe enough for the future, or are unable to decide their career path.

No matter how hard we might try to follow Buddha’s middle path of peaceful co-existence between suffering and happiness, there are times when mere mortals like me, have to make a choice, a very important one, the one being that of a career.Enlightened by my previous mistake of having opted for Engineering in IT in-spite of being very good in Physics (I discovered my passion later for mechanical engg), I did not want to commit the same mistake and thankfully was selected for a long distance Management Development Program from IIM-C. I was yet to make my mind for higher studies. And I took my time to decide the same. Through this program, I wanted to explore myself, as to what exactly is taught in an MBA course and what kind of Jobs do we land up into after an MBA. The results were an eye opener. As per my understanding the following specialization would lead to following job roles:

1.       Finance: A very interesting subject. Most people eye for investment banking jobs, which involve trading of financial securities in equity, fixed income, forex, derivatives market. Creating different types of financial instruments, for different types of customers.

2.       Marketing: Like finance, is common to all the companies. Marketing of Product to Marketing of services. Job profile may vary from, trying to increase the sales of a product like lifebuoy soap in some remote village to promote and sell the IPOs of a newly listed company, whose underwriting has been taken by a Wells Fargo or Standard Charter.

3.       Operations Management:  How to manage an inventory of Hyundai cars, how to manage the supply chain of United Breweries? How to manage the operations of Infosys in APAC region.

4.       HR – Any well to do guy would love to have his wife as a HR manager.  The windows 7 of management, HR managers are young beautiful eves who speak fluent English. That is my understanding of HR management.

5.       IT- Of late , IT has been offered as one of the subjects in MBAs but in the subsequent discussion we shall try to figure out as to why, IT is the back bone of any industry and it is impossible to learn the tricks of the industry through text books.

6.       Strategy- involves gyan on Merger and acquisition, corporate law etc.

Having had a bit of exposure of management subjects was most attracted towards finance and wrote the CFA level-1 exam in December as well. It helped me get a bigger picture of the Investment banking industry and deep down in my heart I knew that finance is good but not that good.

I’m a hard core believer of what Steve Jobs once said “It is very important to love your work”

“Love” is indeed a mysterious word and few are lucky to have explored the depths. Loving your work, is indeed a big deal for someone like me, so I was taking out my time to decide what exactly I would love to do for the next 5-8 years.

In my quest for “the kind of work I would love to do”, I considered a lot of options, and finally one fine afternoon it struck me that I’m running away from who I really am. I have always hated the IT industry and have had my version, which had forced me to explore for different options for my career path. But as time is passing, I realize that IT industry is apt for someone like me. It’s all about playing your cards well. The two most important things one must look for in a career are Time and Money, which happen to be mutually exclusive in most of the careers. But IT industry is one field which is an exception.

Technology exists as it saves time and quadruples effort. Being an IT guy, you would implicitly end up saving a lot of time provided you master your subject. As it would be the same thing you would be doing over and over again. After one point you can earn a handsome salary in India itself and be at a few hours distance from your native, contrary to settling abroad and thinking twice before breaking the inertia of travelling seven seas to reach your native.

The path has hence been found, it is up to Neo to walk the path now. Never forget who you are. I’m an engineer and a proud one.

Career Guidance (elicited from the net)

The mythical pursuit of Greatness

The recent fiasco of the Indian Cricket team reflects the adverse affects of holding the intangible weight of expectations. In this case, expectations of a billion people.

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A similar downturn would imperatively be noticed in the life of Indian kids , who have been burdened with the weight of enormous expectations right from their childhood days.
"Aspiring for greatness" is one thing and injecting that aspiration on a blank mind is another.
"Greatness" always comes at a cost. It doesn't need to be aspired for. A truly great person would have never aspired to become great.
Ask Sachin- He never aspired to be great, as a kid he only aspired to play for his country.
Ask Newton- His passion for searching the truth and finding solution is what made him great.
Ask Vivekananda- would he have aspired for greatness? I seriously doubt.
"Greatness" comes as a gift and not as a destination to be aimed at. World around me is full of people who try to become "great" in different ways. They aim at milestones , that are looked up in high regard by the Human Society.  Examples would be:
1. Getting into a top College.
2. Working in a top MNC.
3. Going abroad.
Status seeking in short has become the anthem of today's society which has become synonymous to greatness. People toil in hard, aimlessly to achieve and maintain those revered forts instead of exploring things that would otherwise make them happy in life. The pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of greatness. Succeeding in life has a different meaning, which forms the root of most of the problems that the human beings are facing.
It was good to hear that Mahendra Singh Dhoni , who seems to have realised and accepted the toll of being great, and is thinking on if, he should retire from test cricket to continue in other formats of the game and enjoy his work, rather than be burdened by it.

Manual for Conserving Paths- by Paulo Coelho

1] The path begins with a crossroads. There you can stop and think what direction to follow. But don’t spend too much time thinking or you’ll never leave the spot. Once you have taken the first step, forget the crossroads forever or you will always torture yourself with the useless question: “did I take the right path?”

2] The path doesn’t last for ever. It is a blessing to travel the path for some time, but one day it will come to an end, so always be prepared to leave it at any moment. Don’t get too used to anything. Neither to the hours of euphoria, nor to the endless days when everything seems so difficult and progress is so slow. Don’t forget that sooner or later an angel will appear and your journey will reach an end.

3] Honor your path. It was your choice, your decision, and just as you respect the ground you step on, that ground will respect your feet. Always do what is best to conserve and keep your path and it will do the same for you.

4] Be well equipped. Carry a small rake, a spade, a penknife. Understand that penknives are no use for dry leaves, and rakes are useless for herbs that are deep-rooted. Know also what tool to use at each moment.

5] The path goes forward and backward. At times you have to go back because something was lost, or else a message to be delivered was forgotten in your pocket. A well tended path enables you to go back without any great problems.

6] Take care of the path before you take care of what is around you. Don’t be distracted by the dry leaves at the edges or by the way that others are looking after their paths. Use your energy to tend and conserve the ground that accepts your steps.

7] Be patient. Sometimes the same tasks have to be repeated, like tearing up weeds or closing holes that appear after unexpected rain. Don’t let that annoy you – that is part of the journey.

8] Paths cross. People can tell what the weather is like. Listen to advice, and make your own decisions. You alone are responsible for the path that was entrusted to you.

9] Nature follows its own rules. In this way, you have to be prepared for sudden changes in the fall, slippery ice in winter, the temptations of flowers in spring, thirst and showers in the summer. Make the most of each of these seasons, and don’t complain about their characteristics.

10] Make your path a mirror of yourself. By no means let yourself be influenced by the way that others care for their paths. You have your soul to listen to, and the birds to tell what your soul is saying. Let your stories be beautiful and pleasant to everything around you. Above all, let the stories that your soul tells during the journey be echoed at each and every second of the path.

11] Love your path. And may the Lord guide you and help you every single day in 2012

THE YEAR 2011: MEMOIRS

“  Let this be the hour, which comes once a while.

Whereby one looks back and sighs…

A year is about to pass. ..

The child within still laughs….

it never grows old……it shines like 24 karate gold.”

….but something has changed, or rather grown. Ego it is. I feel that, ego in people follows an inverse bell curve, during the course of life.

Lot many things happened this year.

Cricket World Cup 2011 triumph(Feb 2011):  Hard to believe at times that our boys did it. They played like real champions beating Australia and Sri Lanka. Hats Off!! For me Suresh Raina’s knock against the Aussies, Gambhir,Yuvi and MSD’s ironic  patience ,were some of the innings I’ll never forget. It taught me a great deal. If we want something badly, this is how we achieve it, this is how we walk the path, with patience and grit. No matter how hard the water splashes on ,we need to be as steady as a rock….and keep moving forward, inch by inch, step by step. MSD and co. showed it to everyone.

Campus Visit - IIM Calcutta (April 2011)  :  Yes we were there for a week. IIM-Cal Campus it was. A week that changed my life and gave direction to it, that changed the way I thought about myself.  A week that helped me understand a part of myself. The experience is too voluble to be expressed in words. All I can say, from the bottom of my heart “thank you IIM Calcutta for everything ”.

Bought my first bike(July 2011): I’ll always be proud of this deed of mine. I bought my first bike “Hero Honda Glamour 125cc” with my own savings and learnt to ride a bike on the same. Initial days were quite scary, I overcame my fear of driving on the busy Bangalore roads, taking the critical U-turns and driving through the gallis. It was one way I explored the hidden fire within. If you really want to do something, you will find the way and the courage to walk the path.

Trip to KanyaKumari and the Kovlam Beach : An experience of a lifetime. The Sea and the beach, it made a poet out of me.The best moment of the trip was standing on the shores of kanyakumari and being hit by waves from three different directions. Who says there are no miracles? It was the first time , since time in memory that I saw the ocean.A trip I'll always remember for the days to come.

Ricky’s Engagement (Nov 2011) : Happy for you J

Sad demise of Steve Jobs/Dennis Ritchie/Jagjeet Singh/Bhupeen Hazarika and Dev Anand (Oct to Dec 2011)

A sad ending to an eventful year. It was tragic really tragic and the pain was felt deep down in the roots of all emotions across the human society(s).

Q

"do not leave me...stay so close.
hold my hand and do not let go
wait for me, give me a chance....
stay with me,forever in wonderland"

Thy Will be done...

The days of joys and sorrows, Quite ironical the day is, one of those rare blue moon days, whereby you feel like writing like a young bird taking it’s second flight.(But there is no laptop).
Life , in August third week has been like a river surrendering itself to the abyss of the mountains . I nearly lost my 2 year old laptop to a modern proverb-“Electronic gadgets have no guarantee”. The electro schizophrenic attack struck my laptop on Monday morning as it struggled to reboot, reminding me of SRK’s overacting in “my name is Khan”. Day 2 was followed an encounter with the Mamu’s on the high way. Damn!! I forgot to keep my insurance papers, had been quite complacent off late. Surprisingly, I was very excited when I was stopped by the cops, although I knew that I’m gonna be screwed, but enjoyed the process of encountering the cops for the first time and bribing them. But a bribe of 500 bucks was too much for the illusion of happiness and adventure to sustain. The feeling of being pissed off was getting under my skin now.
Dead cockroaches and the stinking ambience of my room added to this feeling until the moment of truth which Shakespeare would have defined as “When thou land on thy arse, the only way thee would looketh is upwards”
And that is pge-2 of the story as well, ended up doing the following
1. Watched the 51st date
2. Completed my second Knowledge paper in finance.(which was brutally rejected :D)
3. Leg pulled the chicks in the office
4. Laughed like a kookaburra
5. Jackshitted on Facebook
And there you go, I could feel myself up and running once again. May this feeling continues-Amen

Back to the Future..

Time, indeed seems to fly by!! That's what my feeling has been for the last week.
I’m in lucknow for a week vacation. Difficult to imagine, that it’s been seven long , yet short years living outside house...... Phew!! a deep breath could best explain the emotion, the highs and lows. I feel like a gladiator, surviving the tests of time, taking a moment’s break before the next challenge. The feeling inside , as always ,is un-explainable, the seeker inside keeps looking for signs and omens, trying to interpret, small events happening in a random way, yet governed the laws of the universe. The seeker inside tries to decipher , what the universe is trying to convey to me.
I carry a mixed bag of thoughts…. insecurity, dreams, happiness,nightmares,ambitiousness,hatred,love,hope and above all the fear of the unknown…. are all part of this pool.
My heart sinks and skips a beat, I’m ready to face whatever the future has in store for me, as the following words of Morpheous echo through the corridors of my mind:

“ I’m here not because of the path that lies before me…..I’m here because of the path that lies behind me”- Morpheous-Matrix-2

Traveling to bangalore tomorrow…”BACK TO THE FUTURE”…..