Risk aversion or risk assumption ?

Looking at the title, someone might guess its about the wealth management or stock market .. typically it would… but its something totally different… It’s something that mattered to a whole lots of us though… At least my mind for last few months… one of the highly talked about topics of this year… The Swine flu and H1N1 Vaccine… Now you would think, I belong to one of those high risk group who should be worried about this believed to be worst pandemic outbreak of the century ….To the contrary, I don’t.. Currently my state of health seems to be in best of shape. … Besides I am not the type who falls for mass hysteria that easily but sometimes my parenting techniques conflict with that..... And ,I have a long oversees trip coming up shortly and I have twin toddlers who I need to worry about more than anything.. Based on these facts, my quest to get my boys vaccinated began about 2 months ago. Not to mention, the few months before that all the research I did to figure out all about this vaccines. Now for that matter, I am not in medical profession. So I rely heavily on mighty internet to obtain and absorb all the info I can to make an educational judgment. I knew all about precautions to take, about adjuvant squalene type of vaccine and problem of autoimmune disorder and what not ( see I can be very dork and studious if need be ).. I was almost so worried about getting my boys vaccinated that a thought almost crossed my mind to drop the idea altogether… Then I made it to India abruptly and all that I saw on the airport was unnerving.. All the masked up airport personnel made me feel so outcast… Gash… I do not have enough resources to deal with hospitalizations and quarantines and all that entails.. so better safe than sorry… I am back to getting vaccinated again… What followed was the quest to get the actual vaccine. As it’s the case, there is not enough vaccine yet for everyone who needs it. So last few months my pediatrician’s office got a call every other day… no avail there.. Now I am calling all the county health hotlines… finally after a hunt of about 2 months, I got an appointment… lucky me … a week before we start our trip, I landed a spot to get the vaccine. I was praying that I don’t have to wait in line for hours, in 20+ degree cold weather. All my lucky stars had to be in line properly…… and I thought living in the most powerful and most prosperous nation on the earth was enough !! Seriously, something needs to be said about this … why the system is so broke that you can’t manage the simple task of vaccinating all the high risk people better ? why do all those pregnant women and senior citizens and young children had to stand line in cold for hours to get vaccinated? Media blames officials, officials blame media.. who takes the responsibility of the failure? .. and the actual chaos at the facility was so bad that all my questions remain un answered… squalene /no squalene, hygiene/no hygiene… At the end, all it mattered was vaccinated / non vaccinated… Now I wonder, was taking that vaccine and more importantly giving to my young boys was really risk taking or risk aversing? I am not convinced either way… but until next year, I can rest easy!

We need CURE for the cancer... mere awareness is not enough .

Dear Aai, Words are not enough to describe how deeply we all miss you..The whole foundation of me being me seems to have shaken like never before.. It was tough to see you go away so soon.. Time and again, I feel such helpless loser that nothing more I could do to find a cure to stop that rampaging cancer. Now I realize how effortlessly you became the best mother a daughter could wish for. Your positive attitude, your zest for life and your deep empathy for others and above all wonderful memories of all we shared is what we are left with to carry on on with our lives. I wish I had your uncanny sense of knowing what I was feeling even when I was thousands of miles away. And to top it all off, your decision to donate your eyes... what an exemplary life you lived and we got to witness. In October, the World was celebrating Brest Cancer Awareness Month. It was tough to sit in the plane with pink clad crew when I had just lost you. ...symbolic gestures don't save life...Sadly, just being aware of cancer is not enough.. not by any means.. There needs to be a cure for it.. A solid treatment plan for all those who suffer from this dreaded disease. There is no other way around it. No life should become a mere statistical number in the billion/trillion dollar industry. No daughter should have to feel so helpless as I feel, in fighting and loosing their loved ones to cancer.. To have witnessed you handle adversity so bravely and cheerfully will inspire me throughout my entire life. We miss you and we miss you deeply. You would think it gets easier with time. It doesn't. I am just learning to hide it better. In me you live and your spirit I celebrate. ----------------------- No comments pl..

I am Back !

Last few months , I kind of hit the writers block... I was busy and my mind was busier...So there were no posts for over two months... Thank you all who asked about my new posts. That's encouraging that there are a few who like what I scribe... Last two months went like whirlwind for me.... literally so many things got done sequentially.... . With two toddlers at the tow, we moved in our new dream home... I wish I could describe what all went in that process in just one line.... We had a dream, we planned, we built, we moved and now we are trying to settle....If you can read between these lines, maybe you can sense the cause and reward co relation... I am content in the sense that despite several curve balls that came our way, we got through ahead in tact... So , in a way it was a good exercise of planning and execution... For that matter, it was totally voluntary on our part to get into this situation in first place... and boy did we pull through it well... So you can call this a silver lining in the gloomy spirally downward falling recessionary atmosphere.....We never imagined that buying -selling-moving-negotiating will be so exhausting and tiring yet fulfilling and gratifying..........DH and I fought, laughed and learnt a lot during these months and I am sure we grew along the way.... For me, that's what accomplishment is all about... Both of us wanted to make the best of the situations and at the end we did exactly that !! So, as we are finally settling in our new home.... I am back to my writing... Along with de-cluttering my house, I hope that I have cleared my mind some as well... So now I can focus back on all the things that I enjoy doing... And I must admit the last two months of hard work paid off well in last two weeks....Truly one of a kind reward ! My younger sister visited us unexpectedly and we both had heck of the times... Sometimes, dreams do come true on short notice.... So here's to the job well done ! and I am back !!

Happy Father's Day!

Writing is becoming my well found hobby all over again. Back in the college days, I was really good at writing... Won many prizes for my writing gigs including elocution / debating / essay competitions.... I loved to write then..... After Graduation though ,somehow, my writing went way by side... Many new / exciting things did happen along the way... but my writing stayed on the sideline.... I guess I was about to forget that I enjoyed writing... But there he was -My Father determined not let that happen... My life inspiration belongs to my Father.. completely........whole heartily...I have grown up watching him express his thoughts and feelings in many different forms including poems, pictures, short stories and wonderful letters he wrote us. Now the medium has changed to SMS, IMs and e-mails but the expressions and feelings are still the same. I respect the care, the thoughtfulness, the maturity of this witty man who I am blessed to have as my Father. Babuji. all my life, I will always be thankful to you for encouraging me to dream new and dream big ! Nothing and nobody can stop me from that.... I am in awe of your strength, your integrity, and your painful endurance you deal with daily. I hope that I can somehow, someway come close to having your strength, your wisdom and your boldness to make you a proud dad. Sometimes good luck showers upon you even before you are born. I am truly blessed to have the presence of a wonderful, loving and rationalist wise father!!! YOU ARE MY HERO!!!! Happy Fathers Day Babuji !!!

Trip to the garden center

Yesterday, I just strolled trough the Atrium Garden and got few clips of the bloom .

It was such a sensory delight. Gorgeous weather ,vivid colors of beautiful flowers...

Had a wonderful refreshing time... I love visiting garden centers, nurseries this time of the year.

Its such a delightful experience. The flowers are in bloom all over the place and nice breeze makes it even more enticing..

Browsing these pictures can relay the sense of relaxation time and again.........

The little red bird is back

I have been listening to its sounds for last few days if not weeks now... Today I spotted it for the first time for this season. The Little Red bird Cardinal.... We have a nice tree line in our backyard and every summer we get delighted to see this cute little red bird. ... It's too feigity though I haven't been able to capture it into good lenses yet...

It's not our pet bird so we don't have him all year long. But we do miss not having him around during those dreary snowy wintry days... My family prefers to see it in its natural habitat.. All we do is add some bird feed here and there...

Thank you little red bird for migrating back... My backyard looks prettier than ever with you around.........

My Home for sale

This morning our house went on market for sale….. We were preparing for this to happen for a while…… But today it seems real….. The guy came and put the sale sign up on the yard… Since this morning I have been feeling somber if not downright sad….We are excited than ever about moving in our new dream home in months ahead…and we have been wanting to do this for a long time now… But, at least today, I am not feeling that thrilled about actually selling my home.. You may think it’s a ranting…..and maybe it slightly is… After all, I am the last person you will find that gets attached to THINGS that easily… I like having things but getting emotionally attached to them is just not my thing… really……... I would rather preserve memories than preserve things …But for the first time I am realizing its little hard to sell something that sort of defines you in many ways… For that matter I don’t think I have sold anything in my life ……sounds funny right? I do have an MBA in marketing so I think I know the knickknacks of selling but in real life I don’t remember going out and selling anything …not even a cookie…….. And now I am ready to sell my home… A house that we made into home for last 7+ years… A home that saw several ups and downs as our family grew… I don’t remember being this emotional about leaving the apartment and moving in here… After all, there was no ownership there… It wasn’t a personal property… but now that I have been preparing this house for sale and trying to go neutral and de-personalize everything to appeal to the potential buyers, its making me realize just how much personal attachment I have here…. Moving on is mantra of my whole life… I will be more than ok tomorrow… after all, I have done this before… just over a decade ago, I left all my personal attachments behind and was headed for something new, exciting yet unknown life here in US and look how wonderful that has turned out to be… Bitter-Sweet? You bet… and certainly this time its not that difficult…. A brand new dream home is getting ready for us and we are more than eager to move in soon… But today, I just want to pause and take my time to cherish the memories I have shared in this home… a beautiful starter home that will be somebody else’s soon…. Leaving it behind is emotionally harder than I ever thought… I guess that’s what a home does to you!!!

The CPI needs revision

All last week the buzzword on the street was drop in CPI... The deflationary pressure on Consumer Price Index. I don't know about you but I am not buying this stuff. I sincerely believe that time has come to change how the CPI is calculated. I know the economics world will have their swords ready to fight it both ways.. but as a consumer on the main street and a law biding taxpayer, I strongly support the idea that the CPI measures need to be changed. The US economy ( for that matter the Global economies) currently is dominated by service sector pricing... Gone are the days when only goods mattered more than services. The price of the goods in general have been pretty much stabilized thanks to cheap labor and ability to transport these goods across the universe ( that explains why American could afford closets filled up with baubles and trinkets...mainly because that got cheaper relative to income) ... But that certainly doesn't apply to services. Service sector ,to a large extent , can not be utilize these resources and thus the demand and supply for the service sector can be artificially manipulated. The spending really grew in service sector and this is where it hurts main street pocket books.. The drop in the CPI hardly matters to your pocket because everything that is service related is going up at the rate of 8-10% and its not counted.. All essential services including health care, education, child care, insurance, ....services that matter as much as goods for your day to day existence...but that are not counted in CPI....And salaries haven't kept up largely due to the wrong measure of CPI...I think there needs to be an Index that measures both goods and services or cost of living in total and the policies should be based on that new Index. To revert, the Great depression of our time, several policy revisions are needed ..I strongly believe that CPI calculations should be one on the top...

I am being loved again

This is the time of the year when I feel like I’m being loved all over again….don’t we all need those reassurances once in a while?...... My birthday and Mothers day usually happens within days apart…… So many of my friends called, e-mailed, buzzed, texted and pinged to wish me a happy day. I am truly thankful to all…. I really have a great sense of appreciation for all those heart felt messages. (Especially me who is terrible at keeping up with the calendars for everyone else… sorry, I really try) Thanks to internet, our social networks are expanding more then ever and its becoming easier to connect…. I am blessed to have a great loving family at home and having great friends is icing on the cake… really ….Its part of me being opinionated and emotional at once…..( TG my hubby has figured that out) And then there comes Mothers Day! To a great extent, on a day to day basis I am not sure I really care to be bragging about being a mother….. Well not today… Today I feel proud to be a mother! My boys are so small and they sometimes need me every second of the day…. really…Some days its tiring, boring, irritating and most definitely doesn’t seem that rewarding….. Not today… Today I feel loved all over again… I feel wonderful to be with them being part of their blossoming life. … Today gives me chance to reflect upon things that are important....even though at times they don’t seem to be so… I don’t have enough words to express how grateful I am towards my mother and my mother in law…. I feel fortunate to have great roll models that helped shape who I am and who I will be for my boys and folks around me……. I like to dream big, dream really big and being loved and appreciated about my own existence is certainly one of them. Thank you all for letting me realize that all over again. It means a lot to me.. Have a great day everyone!

Forces of Nature

I woke up and looked outside the other day and nature had done its wonder all over again. Oh… the spring has finally arrived. Suddenly mind feels fresh, cheery and airy.. for the matter of fact, the weather is still quite lousy with all the clouds, rain and chill...its anything but springy but suddenly trees outside decided that enough was enough.. it was time to change and there they were full of life... Sometime I wonder how do trees go through this cycle of transformation year in year out tirelessly.. Not a long ago, just about month to be exact, this was the backyard scene.... It feels so gloomy, dark and wet….. just two different shades of white... they make such a big difference though......... The days are starting to get longer and longer .... I guess I am feeling the sense of optimism all over again. sure not all spring and summer days will be bright and colorful and not all winter days are boring and dreary.... But nature has its way of rejunvating the mind, body and soul and I am glad to pause for a moment and cherish those ways. On the Earth day, I was trying to figure out how I can contribute to make the earth greener? To a great extent, I am not sure what ever I do will make that much of a difference.. Nature and its forces are so powerful after all.... nothing we do can change that.. My religion believes in worshipping the five elements of the nature. .Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space. The whole concept is based on harnessing the energy of these forces by worshiping and accepting their power for our existence. I am not much of a religious person but I do like this stuff. The sense of ambivalence.. so powerful yet so humble….. the basis of all our existence……I know mood changes are natural...(really) but almighty nature’s mood changes are so intriguing ,amazing , mesmerizing…. Happy Spring!

Pointing at an Upswing ?????

In my earlier post, I had indicated that there were evident indicators that the stock market was oversold. Around that time financial wise-guys on renowned TV channels were predicting to see the markets increase by over 25….Now, approximately 30 days later, the S&P500 has increased by 26% and the Dow Jones Industrial Averages has increased by 24.5%. Today’s sell off with flu fear doesn’t really indicate much of anything …A major portions of these gains were allocated in financial services, technology, large cap and small cap growth stocks, consumer retail, basic materials, international emerging markets and high yield bonds. Although fact remains that through April 13, 2009, the Dow Jones is down about 8% and the S&P500 Index has declined by approximately 5%. The often asked question is whether we have seen the bottom of the market earlier in the year, and now will move forward or if this is a bear market rally. The stock market has had several rallies so far this year exceeding 20% gains only to give it all back and establish new lows. No one can attempt to predict the market unless you are a fortune teller (I am starting to believe that theory now) But by adapting to the changing trends has potential to the greatest probability of success. Is it time to move offense onto the field and increasing the equity allocation???? That’s the million dollar questions. We are yet to see if the bulls start running all over again and bears take the shield. But it certainly possible that market will hover around 8000 range for good amount of time ahead. Gold has shown a strong resistance at 1000 level. Not a long ago a number of analysts were predicting Gold to make it to $2000. it almost looks like oil at $200 type of scenario. Somehow for last several months Gold has not managed to move out 800-900 range and it’s not looking very promising to go beyond that in near future. And then there is Oil. Not much surprise that oil is starting to climb up not as much as last year but up with summer approaching.. Funny how it always has an upswing beginning of summer year after year. There is more to it than just supply /demand price adjustment but for couple more months, Oil will have its good days of the year.. I personally hope the flu news doesn’t take the wind out of sail. But we will have to watch and see. For now, a number of indicators including better than expected earnings from several corporations give an optimism of upswing. And we need that more than anything. Too much prolonged depressing news is not good for anyone’s well being. We have to plough through these pockets of good news and keep going…!!!!!

My take on Self-improvement

Ever since somebody invented spam on internet, inbox cluttered with forwarded messages of various kinds has become sort of daily ritual for almost all of us. There is one thing to get information and there is another to get overloaded with information. I am not sure when the line crosses between the two. Some send me jokes, some good quotes and some information of every possible kind...But everyday, as I open up my e-mail and check and delete big portions of these forwarded messages I am sort of frustrated. Not today....Today was different …blame it on lousy weather day ;) Today I decided to actually read a few… ( now please don’t raise a eyebrow thinking that I have nothing better to do. I really do..… and BTW, I do see those pouting faces, smug expressions towards this stay at home mom trying to kill time reading forwarded messages… ouch… its OK I get it) Anyway getting back to my story…A lot of times we want to read these inspiring messages. But mainly they are worth a glance and delete…But today whatever I got through was a cornucopia of information. After I got through a few, it seriously caught my attention. Sure these inspiring messages do make you feel good for a while and then we forget all about it. But what if we really decide to act on these in real life? Will it make everyone’s life better? Will it make us more happy and content? Sure we can compare ourselves to a given situation …personality quiz kind of… we can evaluate our behavior against the best possible behavior under given circumstances. And maybe.. just maybe try to implement some of those traits to become better individual… what’s wrong in that? I am not sure there exists an ideal character. All of us are bound to have those doh moments where we think we could be better. That where the process of self evaluation comes into play. One can just analyze oneself, try to figure out what could be better and figure out ways to improve upon those.. a continuous self improvement process that can make us better…( possibly better at everything ) I have reputedly heard that personal characteristic traits don’t change. As you grow up character is not easily impressionable either. I am not sure I totally agree with that. I do believe that if we start to change our thinking pattern positively, it is possible to change our behavior patterns positively too. Regardless of the age and circumstances. Powerful thoughts bring lasting impressions on the behavior. After all, all grown ups at least want to be best role models for their children. So it’s tough but doable to be roll model after all….(…….now I see…..doh again….) As one of my forwarded MESSAGE goes, “In my mind I'm the one so I'm shining like the sun"

Living up to the potential

This is how it happens all the time...when I return from India after my long trip, the nostalgic feelings sets in invariably.... No doubt I miss my family more than anything but along the way I also miss being first class citizen, I miss people, food, pollution, noise and everything that defines India... I know the fact that the grass is always greener on the other side. Besides US is after all a dreamland of the world..... On the contrary, I feel almost scared about what to expect next when I do return to my birth land... I have a snapshot of the things I love about India... and every trip back home makes me feel displaced in time. Malls on every corner, school kids with cell phones, multiplexes, bistros, baristas, McDs... All these were not necessarily part of my 'Indian dream'. The world is becoming a global village and all countries are starting to look like mirror images of America…..in varying degrees maybe but not by too much margin... I had been warned about several things that strike a 'returning' Indian. The noises, the throngs of people everywhere, the stench of human excrements, and the general hum and buzz of everyday life in a country alive with diversity. True to these expectations, I did realize many of these things to be true…..They were not hard hitting and they didn’t unduly bother me. But the main thing that did become painfully noticeable was the level of expectations from this country. It's surprising that each and every thing seems to be rid with a kind of mediocrity and substandard-ness. The quality of roads, services, products, in fact, of time and value... I am still trying to figure out why there is so much discrepancy between the amount of talent in this fertile nation and the output or infrastructure it bears. Agreed, populations are so large that it is but natural that sustenance goes beyond available means. But does this mean that it will forever operate only at a certain percentage of its possible potential? When and how will this change? And then comes the painful thought of realizing and achieving our own potential.. Its more like dreams unlimited situation.. All of us have such a huge potential yet I read that average human being uses only about 20% of that brain power over the course of life... So where's the hindrance... what's there that stops us? Lack of imagination or too much influential stuff cluttering our minds and consequently limiting our potential? ...Is it the catch up game or the palpably false phenomena? I am not sure I know the answer... but somewhere deep down the fact of not living up to the potential does bother me... whether its me personally or the country which I care about deeply….. Both ways......I will just leave this tinkering thought here for now….

One day without pitter-patter ;)

Today we are forgetting the words silence, quietness and peace. Chaos, clutter, noise, loud speakers, sound pollutions have become all but unfortunate part of our life. Blood pressure, headaches, deafness are becoming common illnesses. We try get a break, to attain peace, we run to beaches, resorts, forests, tourist destinations away from big cities. Then again all those places are crowded too. Peace of mind brings concentration. Peace of mind also helps you be introspective. Moreover it can help you think .I think in this world littered with propaganda advertisements, we need to focus back on thinking independently. Creativity needs peace of mind. Mind feels tired and exhausted with constant noise and chaos. Your ability to work reduces in such environment. What if everyone decides to keep a silence for a day? It will be very tough for me with kids around but its worth giving it a try...Remember reading the phrase 'while speech is silver, silence is gold '. So true! Words are effective but sometimes silence is more powerful. Just the way body needs rest, our mouth needs silence to rest. I think if you control your internal chaos through silence and introspection, outside chaos will automatically stop. Silence can bring peace. I am deciding to switch tv off from my life at least for a week. I am consicensoiusly trying to be more pithy with my expressions ;)as well.. I will let you know the results shortly....Stay Tuned !!!

Small Break

They say that sometimes small things can bring big gains... just as much happiness and satisfaction as big things. Time is really precious thing and its becoming more and more scares. We need to take small breaks to pause for a little in this fast lane life. Moreover, it has becoming increasingly important that we mange the equation of the little time you have to spend it happily and on the budget. Now that I have been running around with two little toddlers who demand my attention every minute of the day, I am realizing how important it is to break away for few minutes. You have to spend time for yourself. It maybe in very small increments but its so much needed. A tonic to refresh your mind from stress, traffic, exhaustion, noise and what not... a small break to gain better perspective at things all over again. It maybe just few deep breaths or a quick shut eye meditation away...

And indeed there was a rally

In my last post, I was optimistic about the rally on the wall street over last week. And indeed there was a rally... Al bite maybe for a short time but it came at a time when everyone desperately needed a ray of hope. Nobody really knows if the stock market has seen the bottom and will move up from here. It could very well turn its back and start its downward trend again leaving us with false hope. Many of the wiseguys on the financial news channels sound convincing on both positive and negative predictions. Currently small cap growth,large cap growth stocks look attractive. Consumer retail sector is promising and so is technology. Looks like financial services stocks have bottomed out and showing some positive turn ... No one is smart enough to predict the future markets accurately but optimism sure matters. So Cheers to the rally and hoping for more !!

Hoping for a rally

It has been a roller coaster ride over a year in the market; a ride that just seemed to continue to go downhill with no bottom in sight. It has been an incredibly difficult year for everyone. Navigating through these challenging markets is unnerving…..but there seems to some ray of hope at least for short term….. Legislative actions aimed at mark to market accounting principles could trigger a rally in financial stocks and the overall stock market. In fact, some wise guys are predicting to see a rally of up to 25% in stocks. There is also an expectation that the so-called Uptick rule, which limits short-selling in stocks, could be restored soon. It is somewhat believable since Stock markets have been so beaten up and equities have been so oversold. One will have to watch for realistic trends that are sustainable. The current scenario still dictates the defensive strategy allocation for underweight in stocks and overweight in cash and bonds. However one can certainly spot some improving trends in utilities, health care and technology sector besides ever green energy and bio tech. When market does turn around the small and mid cap growth stocks are expected to outperform large cap growth and large cap value stocks. This widely popular theory should hold true. And this should provide some great incentive for bargain hunters. Though one has to keep in mind that short-lived rallies are common during periods of extended declines as the market searches for a bottom. I think buzz word for current scenario is caution with optimism…. Cheers!

Glittering Gold

In my previous post Trifecta, I had mentioned about recessionary pressure in all three major aspects of the global economy…namely falling prices in Stocks markets, Crude and Gold… looks like that trend is about to change… The gold is starting to venture out on its own... Based on conventional wisdom it was expected that the gold and precious metal prices usually showed inverse relationship to stocks and oil…however this time that trend was bucked for quite some time… Now though it appears that the Gold is reversing that pattern… the Gold is shining all over again………. For Gold investors it is good news but realistically this trend will not help the recession scenario much…..In the precious metal sector the silver is scaling new highs in the prices and so is platinum. The private investors, mutual funds and hedge funds returns should sizzle at least for this sector. In that sense it appears that precious metals are after all precious despite inflation or deflation. This provides a good indicator for the asset reallocation strategies as well. I am not sure on a large scale basis how many small investors own a gold or similar metal but current trend proves that a good % of the portfolio invested in gold could bring in good results. I expect the gold to keep rising based on current global economic scenario. Though dollar is gaining strength due to weaker currencies else where, the demand for gold as a safe heaven is going to be higher for quite some time…and that should push prices up at new record levels. So for now all that glitters is GOLD after all …. At least a small portion of the investors have something to cheer about…

My Musings

Slumdog Millionaire…..if someone thinks I am adding my two cents to millions and millions bites that has been attributed to this film, you guessed it wrong…there is not much to add about the movie from my side… What I am trying to pin down is my exact feelings about such rag to riches stories glorifying extreme poverty in developing countries. Poverty makes me sad no doubt but I have lived good years my life side by side with it… Growing up in India, there is no escaping these scenes of sad plight of human life… slums and posh locals almost live hand in hand in urban India and people mostly have accepted that … What makes me wonder is…. Why the western world is so much intrigued by the poverty in Asian and African continents….It almost makes me furious when I read that throngs of visitors are lining up to see the slum world of Dharavi… that’s to me is sick…poverty and slums are all over the world .. those who are so curious to see human sufferings ;why don’t you venture out in the welfare projects and public housing neighborhoods of your own city?… If you care so much about the poor people why don’t you help the one in your own locality? I guess most of these crazy curious visitors won’t dare to put out feet in such neighborhoods (popularly called hoods, ghettos and barrios of the west) why would you then glorify the slums in Asia and Africa? In US and Europe poverty is like a taboo.. Behind the glitz and glamor of all big cities lies the sad fact of slums. Every town has its share of not so fortunate folks but western world has done excellent job of masking it. In US and Europe such poor people get congregated in different neighborhood almost like a social outcast… whereas in Indian subcontinent it exists hand in hand all over…that’s the difference. You will need to make a special trip to see these areas in US and Europe otherwise you will be fooled to believe that it’s a land of riches only…. Now that I have observed both these continents for a good amount of time, all these emotions came to surface after watching Slumdog Millionaire….Asian poverty is intriguing because it can win accolades of fame and fortunes for westerners… and that why this years Oscar winner movie is disappointing… for that matter, if I recall correctly, it’s the same rhetoric last few years… disappointing Oscar winners.. Then again why do I need to watch Oscar movies as the ultimate? I remember how stupid it was to see last summer Olympics when NBC made it seem like All American sports extravaganza… funny how the world of propaganda publicity works!! Thank god I have internet and thank god we have Google….. I can keep myself informed, entertained and educated the way I feel right ………...free, independent and unbiased …………. Peace!

Spend More and Save the Economy

The US economy flourished in the past by encouraging consumers to borrow and spend rather than save. The recent meltdown has created havoc on the consumers. Drastic spending cuts by the consumers have added exponentially to the recession and more than one can imagine. Government has been trying for some time to get its banks to lend and its citizens to borrow again. Even though the excess borrowing caused the problem in the first place, it appears that that may be the only way out of it as well. Historically low interest rates encouraged people to borrow and banks to lend. US personal saving rate fell from 12 % in the early 1980s to -1% in 2006. It appears like a classic catch 22 scenario where in order to revive the economy; the private consumption needs to be revived as well. Based on this thought, I was trying to do my share of spending ;) as if I need any extra reason to shop…Now my passion to shop has a worldly cause associated with it “spend more and save the economy ” …So what I have closet full of clothes, accessories and everything else that I really need.. So what my boys have roomful of toys and more clothes than they can actually wear…. And so what my house cluttered and stuffed with books, things, electronics and what not…. And so what home cooked meal is more healthy and nutritious than the outside one…Once you get bitten by this “spend more and save the economy bug” nothing should stop you from spending…. And that’s when this word “Recessionsita” caught my attention. Macmillan Dictionary website declared it the word of the week. It is one of the top fashion buzz words of 2009. The word recessionista means originally a person who enjoys dressing fashionably on a budget. It also encompasses the universe of dining, entertainment and beauty. How clever I thought that few intelligent minds are trying to cash in against these destitute situations. . If people can be so ingenious at the time of crisis of this magnitude, one must appreciate their efforts. As the world economy tanks, people are finding pleasures in finding bargains rather than splurging. Even for the well offs its beginning to appear gauche to show off their conspicuous consumption. So the new buzz word is spending smartly but cautiously. . It is very chic to save but even more chic to get a deal. Any girl wants to look stylish but also be perceived as smart. And no one likes frugal. So let’s do our share of reviving this economy. And maybe- just maybe we will help save few jobs along the way….The consumer universe has opened up as a bargain basement and let’s go find our treasures!

My Thoughts on Octuplets

The last few weeks this story has been lurking around in my mind. I have been reading in bits and pieces about the birth and related stories of the mother giving birth to octuplets. I am a mother. A mother of twins who survived an ordeal of complicated pregnancy and premature delivery. I know how hard it was to see my tiny twins fight for survival in early days of their life in NICU. And now as me and my husband are raising these toddlers, our constant struggle to give them as much love, attention and care as any other singleton child would normally get. Deep down in my mind that guilty feeling bothers me and nothing will make up for that. To me, how you raise your children is more important than just having them. Children are your blessings but also your responsibility of the highest order. All these feelings came to surface again when I read about the mother giving birth to octuplets. What was she thinking? If at all she was thinking? How can you be so selfish to have such high number of multiples just to make up for your troubled childhood and loneliness? I read that she already has six children before this. If she really wanted to have a huge-large family, why didn’t you think of adopting? There are thousands and thousands of orphans who could use loving and caring home. Was it necessary to put her and her babies’ health to risk? Research proves that more premature the babies are born, the greater risks they have of facing significant lifelong problems .Why did this mother put these babies through this ordeal? And who’s paying for the NICU and related costs? I know how terribly expensive it is for single NICU stay and in this case we are talking about 8 babies for several months. She’s going to be a welfare mom and really how can she make sure she can provide financially for the 14 children she's responsible for? As much as I would hate lawmakers and governments to decide how many children one should have, these types of irresponsible behaviors make me wonder if indeed law should ban giving birth to such high order of multiples. I can understand using reproductive technology for someone desperately trying to create a normal family, but why would someone who already has 6 children go through that? This controversial decision is anything but a heroic case and the mother should be condemned to the highest possible extent. PS: To all my blog readers, for this post, your comments are most welcome. I know its controversial topic and you may have differing opinion. Just go ahead and share…

Aspiring to be ......Somebody?

The whole thing is coming full circle. After all, it’s a generational thing. Couple decades ago, it was me. Now it’s my boys… I guess a few things don’t change no matter what. "What do you want to be"? Elderly people often ask this question. After all, somewhere deep down we all want to see our children to be more successful than us. With that base, we start directing our life and building our career path. No doubt, success demands a lot of hard work, dedication and perseverance. But when do we become successful? All of us have grown up with listening to elderly folks telling us to study hard to become ‘somebody’ big. Along the way the success is measured against someone else. The successful person is always someone else. And we are driven to catch up. The success, after all, is a fluid thing. What defines success keeps changing and catch up game is timeless. The moment we reach a milestone in our graph of success, the expectation height builds higher and then strive begins all over again. Absolutely nothing wrong in that. If we stop, life will be boring like hell. But along the way, sometimes we can loose our sight. There is a difference between aspiring to be somebody and aspiring to be big. The motivation should come from achieving our own success and being proud of that. It should not be based on trying to emulate someone else’s definition of success. I remember the time when I was reading Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The book is thought provoking and very well written. But I often felt that if someone doesn’t have any of those habits or if someone only has a couple, does that make you less effective? Does your self esteem go down if your habits are different than those of the so called effective people? And do habits really make you effective? After all, we have one life to live. Why measure it against someone else’s? Self esteem and pride are integral part of our own existence. I see it everyday in beaming faces of my little boys. As they are exploring this new world , they are trying to do new things on their own. Their faces lit up on every success, every clap and praise they receive. At the tender age of two, they don’t need to compare themselves to others. Their success is their own and they are delighted with their own achievements. That’s the spirit of success and happiness. We all had that spirit before and we have it now. I believe that we are that ‘somebody’ even now. You become big as years pass by. But you don’t become someone else. You are who you are. Aspiring to be somebody also means being unhappy with your own self. The more you imitate others, the more you lose your own identity. Be proud of who you are and where you are in your life. Celebrate your life. And define success on your own terms!

Let's Start Fresh

Every morning gives you an opportunity and every evening asks you what you did with that opportunity? I think no day is bad day or a good day. Our attitude determines whether it will be good or bad… And to great extent, how we wake up every morning determines our mood and attitude for that day. So, I think that the very first few minutes while we are waking up are very precious. I decided to switch our alarm clock for the same reason. Instead of waking up to the loud alarm, we decided to use musical buzzer. Its soothing and refreshing musical tunes wake you up lightly, happily instead of abruptly. (of course, you can’t savor it for too long, the music gets louder if you don’t wake up in time) To a great extent, it helped me set the tone of the day on a good note. My sister suggested adding Eau De cologne in the shower. Yet another simple but powerful idea to change the tone of the day. Now everyday quick bath is not boring anymore. I breathe a sense of refreshing air along the way. I have noticed that a refreshed mind opens up to new ideas and optimism and that’s what we need. When we decide to do anything, we have to put our heart in it. It may be a small thing or big project. Our creativity and efforts will largely determine the outcome of it. But sometimes, we try very sincerely, earnestly, with 100 % efforts but we fail to get the anticipated results. Such situations are disheartening. But we have to believe that it’s a short term failure. We shouldn’t get discouraged. We shouldn’t abandon our efforts either. Otherwise it leads to panic. One starts blaming others for their own failure. If few tasks out of several don’t get done, why blame the entire day? Besides, if we look back, there may have been something good hidden beneath those bad days. We just didn’t realize it at that very moment. Lets find out what those good things were. There is no point in dwelling too much over what all went wrong. One certainly should try to analyze the causes of the failure. Maybe our approach is wrong or the maybe we didn’t realize the whole picture and missed few things along the way. There are certain lessons we can learn from our failures. It’s possible to avoid certain mistakes and restart again. Tomorrow brings in a new day. An opportunity to start all over again. After all, mind blowing results are rooted in fresh mind and smart ideas. So let’s not dwell on having a bad day. Just forget it and move on!

Trifecta

Investors around the world are scrambling to find a safe haven for returns. Unfortunately in current situation there seems to be no right instrument to earn solid positive returns. In addition, the conventional wisdom is proving to be against investor community. The Stock markets around the globe are down at historic proportions including free fall in real estate prices, so are crude and oil prices and so are Gold and precious metal prices. Historically, the gold and the oil prices moved inversely with the stock. That helped many investors to eke out some gains in bad market. This time around Stocks, Oil and Gold are going hand in hand. Interdependencies across the world are bringing everything down and there seems to be no end in sight. So emerging markets are no longer safe havens neither are matured markets…..Gone are the days when the Dow was to touch 20000, Oil was to reach 200/barrel and Gold was to reach 2000. Pessimism is bad for everyone but just like millions other, I am looking for a ray of hope. I am sure the things will improve but sooner the better. While such gloomy scenario continues, I was happy to see a silver lining for someone who I care about deeply. My friend changed his job last year. He left Satyam (way before it collapsed) and joined Chase Bank (one of the “chosen” banks which Fed will save under any circumstances) Along the way, he turned down excellent job offers at Lehman Brothers and Nortel Networks (of course, excellent per standards of year ago) I am so glad all the lucky star were lined up for my friend who chose Chase over all other three. May you keep winning my friend ! And we will score hat trick gains of stock, gold and oil…

Satyam Saga

Just when we thought we learnt a lesson from Enron, another corporate scandal rolls in. This time, its Satyam Computers-Indian Software conglomerate. The truth is corporate greed doesn’t have national boundaries. The small investors remain with leftover pieces of puzzle and business schools get another case study. Sadly not much more happens after such mind blowing scams… Enron was cooking its books for years and Arthur Anderson; its independent auditors overlooked it for years. The collapse of the Enron caused the collapse of the AA and we were left with Big 4 instead of Big 5. Sarbanes-Oxley Act rolled in. All corporations made a big push for Corporate Governance and Control. It seemed that, finally, the corporate books were trying to look clean. Now the Satyam scandal bursts that bubble of trust all over again. This time it’s Price WaterHouse Coopers. Its auditors failed to do their due diligence and Satyam Owners could commit fraud of mind blowing proportions.

The internet has got the globe connected and world economies have become even more interdependent. So just overlooking the Satyam as Indian IT scam is a mistake. Its global implications are enormous. The Auditors ought to be independent no matter what. The auditing standards should be same across the world. We need to stop having different sets of regulations and accounting standards for different nations. One set of standards should govern the universe. The punishment for all those involved in such scam should be as strict as possible. In this global economy, the word transparency should hold its meaning. The PWC is just as responsible for assisting the scam as much as the founders who did it.

The corporate ethics demand the need of separation of duties and tight audit controls for all publicly traded corporations. With Sarbanes-Oxley act, these rules were reinstated in USA. It was a major undertaking for US corporations to reassure their confidence after Enron scam. The same should be applicable for all companies traded on American Stock Exchange. The worldwide recession has already given a major blow to the investor confidence. Such scandals make it worse. Indian Software companies are going to learn it the hard way. Just competing on the price differential is not enough. Quality, commitment and assurance are essential parts of winning equation. Sadly, all of these three values came in doubt after Satyam Scam. Once lost, it’s very hard to restore the trust and confidence. The effects of Satyam collapse therefore are far more than just monetary numbers. In a negations class, I remember learning “its ok to loose a deal but not ok loose your trust and Goodwill’. Sadly, that trust is once again lost ……..

Big Cow Wins !

So… here are the results of the Dow Jones year end close predictions . Thank you so much to all my buddies who responded to my earlier post. I know this year, it was very tough to guess the wild Dow Jones Industrial Average. No one had predicted such a sharp fall of worldwide economies. We were aware of the presidential election year disasters of the past. There were enough indictors pointing to the economic slowdown. But this time it turned out to be lot more than that. The Congress, the President (elect and elected) and the business leaders tried to rectify previous mess but it was too little too late. The world economies are dwindling between recession and deflation and most everyone is looking hopelessly at it.

I pray that the New Year brings in the peace and prosperity to all. We all more than deserve that. After all, all human beings are optimistic creatures and we will pull out of it. If we can ride this wave, who is to stop us ?

For the facts, here are the numbers

Jan 2, 2008 Dow closed at 13043

Dec. 31, 2008 Dow Closed at 8776

At its Highest of the year Dow was at 13137 and at its lowest it had reached 7449.

AND NOW THE WINNER IS: ( let the drum roll begin)

PATYA at 8700 !!!!

You go girl !!! +/- 50 is allowed but you came the closest. So you are hereby declared the 2008 BIG COW (like BIG BULL) of the stock market…….