Direct subsidies to farmers

Modi is focusing on farmers, at a time when there is a looming national drought. And rightly so!! For too long, the sharks have been swindling the money earmarked for farmers.

Now, the subsidies are going to go directly to farmers. Need to wait and watch the efficacy of it's implementation. I do foresee initial hiccups, but with almost 1.1 Billion Aadhar cards issued, there should not be much problems in reaching out, coupled with Jan Dhan accounts.


A fantastic step, in the right direction, along with neem-coated urea. I want Modi for another two terms please!!

http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/narendra-modi-govts-big-fertiliser-subsidy-roll-out-in-june-here-is-all-you-need-to-know/599052/

The statues of Liberty and Shivaji

We Indians have a very unique self-persecution complex.

We admire, when a Warren Buffet or a Bill Gates become multi billionaires. But we can't stand it, when an Ambani or a Tata or a Birla makes it to the same league. " Without the sweat of the workers, these guys would not have made it there. See! The workers are still where they are!!" It is as if Gates and Buffet made every worker in their companies uber-rich before they got there!!!

We gape our mouths open, marvelling at the Statue of Liberty. But when a grander Shivaji statue is being planned, our socialistic brainwashing over 69 years makes sure we ridicule that effort. Never mind the economics of it. Once the heart is captivated by the socialistic nonsense of " oh! That money could have been spent on farmers committing suicide in the same Maharashtra!! " , then mind stops working.

The socialist mind ignores the fact that this project us going to have trickle down effect on the city's economy, by way of creating at least 5000 more jobs for the long term, and many more during the period if construction. When the statue is inaugurated, there is going to be ferry services to the island, and that in itself will create multiple jobs on a permanent basis, much like what Liberty is witnessing today. Not to mention the boost for tourism ( give me the name of ONE worthwhile tourist place in Mumbai other than the Gateway, today. Contrast that with what Shanghai , for example, has to offer).

The socialist continues to harp the farmer dirge. Make no mistake. Farmers are in dire need of help. The Mah govt is already taking steps. And much more is needed. No doubt. But why send an economically beneficial project, that has the potential to generate long term jobs and add to the Mumbai city economy, to the gallows, in the name of the hapless farmer?

Did anyone ask what happened to almost 65,000 crores supposedly spent on irrigation projects in Maharashtra state alone, since independence? Did anyone dare to ask " show me the dams, viaducts, the canals and the borewells which were used as alibi, to siphon off money meant for the farmer?" Did anyone dare to ask " by, after 70 years of independence, farmers don't even get basic water facility for irrigation. Why, even after spending so much money, farmers are driven to the wall?"

Yes, farmers need a better chance to survive. Fight for their rights, if you wish to, dear socialist. But on a standalone plank. Question the expenditure of the allocated funds. Make sure there are no pilferages. Make sure that the money meant to be spent for the farmer, ends up just that way. If you do, you can keep both the farmer happy, and the face of the Shivaji statue sporting a majestic smile, from the Arabian Sea.

But, in the name of the helpless farmer, don't exhibit your "crabs in the open basket" attitude. Don't try to kill a project that will be seen as prestigious, not only for Mumbai, but for the whole state.

http://www.ndtv.com/mumbai-news/on-board-hovercraft-pm-modi-lays-foundation-stone-for-rs-3-600-crore-shivaji-memorial-1641393

Supreme Court bans non BS-IV velhicles

On the face of it, today's Supreme Court verdict confirming the ban of sale of any vehicle that is not BS-IV compliant after April 1, is welcome. This will certainly help improve emissions across the country, especially in the bloating metros over the long term. A few metros have also worked on pollution compliance of public buses . taxis and autos. These measures will bear fruit over a longer horizon.

It is amusing to see some non-compliant auto compaies cry foul. They were intimated to move to BS-IV in 2010, and here they are, 7 years later, sitting complacently and hoping that the SC would oblige their lobby to continue to produce and sell polluting vehicles. It is even more amusing to see them cry about a possible 30000 crore loss, citing unsold inventory. Who asked them to produce, until the last date, knowing well that there is a strong possibility of this ban happening?

That having been said, the question to the central and the sate governments is - what have they done about the 1960s Fargo lorries, Ambassadors, lakhs of lorries that resemble mobile mosquito fumigation machines than trucks, and all other old vehicles that simply do not deserve to be on the road?

I will still give the benefit of doubt to the governments, both central and state, and hope that they come out with a practical plan to take old, dilapidated and polluting vehicles off the road - in spite of those mighty bribe-receiving arms of the RTOs.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/auto/miscellaneous/supreme-court-bans-sale-of-bs-iii-vehicles-from-april-1/articleshow/57891089.cms

The "Metrosexual" Musician

The very mention of "Carnatic Musician" would typically bring in images of either a man with a kudumi, with layers of Vibhuti or Naamam, dotted liberally in between, with Kumkumam, in a Silk dhoti and Angavastram ( later adapted to silk shirts), or a lady in nine-yard sarees, face awash in turmeric, and a big Kumumam on the forehead, garnished by a liberal dose of gold and dazzling diamonds.  

Sartorial preferences have morphed over the last 3 or 4 decades, in tune with changes in the societal preferences. For the ladies, the gold and diamond seem to get "richer" in looks, and so does the Silk saree, which has shorted mostly to six yards now. For the men, those  symbolisms of religion ( Vibhuti, Naamam et al) have all but vanished from the forehead. A half-beard, to compete with the latest film hero, is in. Shirts have given way to Silk kurtas, though the Dhoti has largely remained. Quite often, the kurtas compete in glamour with those of the music band that leads a marriage procession! Clearly, religion is passe' , and haute couture is in.

But time has not only touched upon the musician's exterior. His content has undergone huge changes too. Rather than sticking to the songs of the  famed "Musical Trinity" , musicians are unafraid of dishing out hitherto unknown and unsung songs of composers in the vernacular languages. So a Tallapakka  Annamacharya or a Muthuthaandavar today jostles for lung space as much as a Shyama Shastri or a Dikshithar, though, by and large, the instrumentalists prefer to "play" it safe, with "known" fare, for obvious reasons. After all, you don't want the listener to grope in the dimly lit Sabhas on what song is being dished out.

But more! Today's musician, on the average, is suave, well-travelled and rather well-heeled. Unlike many of the musicians of yore, today's musician is well educated, in the conventional sense. Because he gets to see the world, literally and figuratively, his thought process has undergone a tectonic shift, too. Sometimes, you even see the odd musician fancying himself as a "liberal". He is not shy to discuss his favourite brand of Scotch in public. That would have been nothing  short of a disaster, not so long so, when the norm used to be slip to the back-stage and quietly gulp that peg rather surreptitiously. Today, the musicians clearly are at ease, discussing social topics, from LGBT to caste to politics to Cricket, and, on to films. And I personally am able to FEEL the reflection of the musician's thought process, on the performance on stage. While tradition is still being stuck to, by and large, innovation, and even invention on stage, are increasingly taking a bigger share of the pie.

Is this all good for Carnatic Music? Well, I leave that to you to decide. 　





http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/An-equal-music/article17311955.ece

When to exit long term stock holdings

This is not for short term punters. Nor for swing traders, who look mainly at charts for entry and exit. This is also not for investors who remain in a stock for 2 to 3 years max and then jump ships. This article is for those long term investors, who are willing to wait out in select stocks, hang on to them for sweet compounded annual rates of return, but then do not know when to call it quits.

I have been one of those investors who has hung on to quite a few of my investments over the long term. I do punt in some select stocks, I do take undue risks in some fancy small-cap stocks, but my main investments remains with stocks in whom I have believed over the long term. That belief has kept me hanging on to them even in the "worst" of stock market times.

I had invested in stocks like HDFC ( my all time fav stock), Lupin, L&T, Mahindra and Mahindra, UPL etc. since the early 2000s. I had hung on to them even during the great meltdown of 2008. In fact , I had added to my positions when the markets crashed. Before the crash , about 40% of my holdings were in such long term (LT) stocks. Just before the crash, I had fortuitously smelled the oncoming crash, and had exited about 30%, leaving my 30% in the market to suffer the pangs of the crash, along with the blue chips.

I used the spare cash, to " square off " some of the 30% positions in the market, but also to add to my LT stocks. Over time, I came out unscathed, but there was a lot of short term pain. But even during those painful days, I had refused to quit the HDFCs of the world.

So, what parameters did I use, to either hang in, or exit? The yardsticks I used were a few:

1. How strong is the management? How ambitious are they? Do they have the track record? Is their ambition not over-ambition?

Example of HDFC - they passed on all the above. I am still holding on after 15 years. Same with Lupin.

Bad example of Renuka Sugars - I was stupid enough to believe in a strong management in a cyclical industry, that , in hindsight had bitten off more they could chew. I had to book a huge loss and get out

2. I do not bother much about valuations, which are transitionary, over the long term. What looks like overpriced today, could become more affordable tomorrow, with earnings growth. Key then is - are earnings likely to continue to grow?

Example here is for M&M, which I had quit: M&M had diversified business under the strong leadership of Anand Mahindra. Their tractor business used to balance out any vagaries in the other parts of their business and vice versa. But circa 2012, I realized that their earnings were unlikely to grow much, given that the tractor biz got flat. IN hindsight, my call was spot-on.

Bad example is L&T, which I continue to hold. They pass the muster in the parameters of point 1 above, but I was not able to foresee the global oil price meltdown coming in 2014. I am still holding on, because oil too is cyclical, and it is a matter of time before it picks up again. The moot point is - whether in this interim period of 3 to 5 years, my investment could have yielded better returns in an Eicher or a Bosch. The answer is Yes- which is why I call it a bad example, even though my logic of staying on per se, is right.

3. Are the companies doing whatever they are doing, absolutely right, and is there any risk of their going wrong or a threat of looming competition? Surprising as it may sound, some companies get into a sweet spot in the market from which they are seemingly not dislodgeable. Examples are : Balkrishna Industries, Lakshmi Machine Works, Bosch, Page Industries, UPL , and to a lesser extent, Eicher Motors. 4. And then there are those quiet performers, which do not warrant an exit for decades, because they keep doing more of the same, and in the best possible manner. You wont get multbaggers here overnight, but your investment is in safe hands, and would yield decent returns. I know there are people out there, who argue that, rather than staying on forever, it is better to go in and out more often to maximize your returns. As I said, I bank on my punting stocks for that, and would leave the better part of my money in such stocks above. If you wish to go in and out of stocks every third day, then that is purely your call. Accordingly, your choice of stocks will change too.

The distressed farmer

It has become a sickeningly regular affair. Year after year, those despondent farmers out in the dusty outback commit suicide, driven to the extreme by sheer helplessness. The successive governments show token gestures, the media sensationalizes it, and a few drops of rains is all it takes, for deja vu.

In this poetic trilogy below, I have tried to capture the scene and the mood of the hapless farmer who took his own life away, unable to swim against the tide of fate. In three different languages. The flavour is the same, across the three. The presentation and context may vary.


The distressed farmer
================

Fleas circle my mortal remains
Hoping for a meal of blood.
The poor souls do not realize
that I am their food now,
Because of sustained lack of food.

My once strong body,
That had carried many a sack
Full of grains, to the shanty,
Is now ready to be carried,
To be devoured by fire.

Those strong arms, that
Planted many a sapling
And gave green life
Far into the distant horizon
Had dared to take my own life-
Crop head or human head,
The sickle knows only to harvest.

I am used to the stunning green
Of the crops swaying in the gentle breeze
But years of prolonged drought
Had made me to stop staring
My open , lifeless eyes now gaze
Into the empty blue sky
Into an abyss of famine.

Water had receded into oblivion
In the canal, the pond and the well
And took away with it,
Any remnant moisture in peoples' hearts
Not to mention the last drop
Of tears in my weary eyes.

There was no water,
To quench my parched gut
No soul to water my drained spirit
My endurance was long dead
Before I decided to kill myself.

Just as the fleas settle down
On my claret collar
They are shooed away -
By a torrent of water.

From out of nowhere
Long after my absolution,
They  brought buckets of water
For the customary ablution!!


कुछ बाक़ी नहीं
=========

ज़मीन जल चुकी है, उम्मीद अब कुछ बाक़ी नहीं
ऐ खुदा बस करो , तेरे इम्तिहान में अब कुछ बाक़ी नहीं।
आखों में आंसू , सीने में शरम, हालात से मजबूरी 
इनके अलावा मेरे पास और  कुछ बाक़ी नहीं ।

सोचा था - मेरा पसीना फसल बनके लहराएगा एक दिन
पर अब मायूसी की तूफ़ान के सिवा और  कुछ बाक़ी नहीं।

आशा की तुख़्म को बोना था खेत में - पर अब
लगान का वज़न के अलावा और कुछ बाक़ी नहीं ।

सोचा था - पेशा बदलूँ तो क़िस्मत भी बदलेगा
पर बेखूफ़ी के अंगारों से और कुछ बाकी नहीं।

ज़िन्दगी का हर मोड़ अब मेरे लिए बंध है
रास्ता-ए-ख़ुदकुशी के अलावा और कुछ बाक़ी नहीं।


பொய்த்த வானம், போன மானம்
=======================

காய்ந்து வெடித்திட்ட நிலத்தின் மடிதனிலே
மாய்ந்து  கருகிட்ட நெற்பயிரின் பரவல்
ஓய்ந்து  மருகிட்ட என்மனதை நோக்கிப்
பாய்ந்து  வந்தது தரித்திரக் கதறல்

முப்போகம் பார்த்திட்ட காலமும் போய்
எப்போது மறுபடியும் ஊண் என ஏக்கம் 
தப்பாது என் குடும்பம் இனி வறுமையிலிருந்து
தப்பேதும் செய்யவில்லை, பின் ஏன் தண்டனை?

ஆண்டாண்டு காலமாய் உழவனுக்கு சாபம்
தீண்டாமை கொடுமையினால் நீர் தர மறுப்பு
மாண்டாலும் சரி , அவர் தயவு இனி நமக்கு
வேண்டாமே என வானத்தைப் பார்த்தேன்.

கார்முகில் போன இடமோ கடவுளுக்ககே வெளிச்சம்
பார்முழுதும் வறட்சியின் கோர தாண்டவம்
ஏர்பிடிக்கும் என் நிலைமை என்னென்று சொல்வேன்
வேரோடு என் குடியை அசைத்திட்ட வறுமை.

ஒரு வேளை உணவுக்கே வழியிங்கு இல்லை
தர வேண்டும் தன் கடனை- ஈட்டிக்காரன் தொல்லை
பிறகென்ன செய்வேன் , வழி வேறு இல்லை
இறப்பைத் தழுவினேன், இனி இன்னல் இல்லை 

- D-

Photo courtesy: the Internet



  

 



 

The quirk of fate

It has been a year, to the dot. A year, since my friend Raghavan decided to press the button of the parachute all of a sudden, and headed straight to heaven. He had probably fumbled when pressing the button. Which probably explained the rather gory scenes.

The end was vicious, and totally unexpected. His family was hit by a meteor, as it were. All who knew him, were devastated. But, probably next to his family, I was one of the most affected. I was in the final stages of completing my Chemo regimen when he had died, and my Oncologist had prohibited me me from seeing him one last time, for hygiene reasons. Just 48 hours before he had succumbed to a massive heart attack, we were talking for 3 hours on the phone, and I was scolding him for not doing his exercises regularly, and not taking his health seriously. But then, he was gone. Gone, in a jiffy.

I could not see him off physically then. I am unable to see him off my mind, one year after. Not a day passes without remembering him. 

We became friends a quarter of a century ago. Through our respective professions. I had the chance to work with him, while he visited India, on a few projects. We had hit it off instantly. Both of us were very argumentative in nature ( I still am). Our vista of interest was similar, and so, we used to discuss, and end up arguing, on many of them. We used to talk for hours - in person, on the phone, and at work. But, invariably, at the end of it all, we used to smile and laugh the day off.

We were the bouncing board for each other. We used to share our thoughts, feelings, those dark secrets..  what real friends should be doing. We used to chide each other when we felt that the other person was doing something wrong. We were a sort of conscience-keeper for each other.

I still remember that fateful day, when Raghavan and I went casually to the hospital, in 2015, since I was feeling unwell. It took all of 45 minutes to turn my world upside down. When the doctor had broken the news of my Leukemia, Raghavan was the only one with me at the hospital. He had broken down inconsolably. He was a lot more worried about me, than I was, about myself. He probably thought my story was over, then. Little did we all realize it would be rather his story that would end sooner.

While looking for photos of Raghavan for this post, I realized that we had practically never taken photographs together!! I had to dig through my archives
for this decade-and-half old photo! We probably had taken each other's presence for granted. Probably thought that we were going to be around, forever, and never bothered to take portraits.

In anyone's life, people come. And people go. But there are a few who stay. A few, whose thoughts linger. A few, who leave an indelible impression, in one's life.

My dear Raghavan, dont ever think that you can escape from my arguments! God has given a few wonderful and close friends. He took you away from me, for now. But, one day, I will join you in heaven, and we can continue our friendly banters.