A Dollar Can Go A Long Way

How far can someone take a project with his/her own limited resources: capital, labor and time. I wouldn't guess too far. Maybe a term paper or something.

Turns out, I was wrong. I recently found out a colleague here at B-school, all of 25, is running a school for underprivileged children in interior U.P., India. The school teaches 72 kids enrolled in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades who otherwise would've been employed as cheap labor somewhere. The colleague's associate pledged his land and together they erected a few rooms on top, lo and behold the school was ready. It's employed 6 full time teachers each taking home a meager $25/month. The school provides tuition, uniforms and books, all free of charge. Turns out, a Dollar can go a long way, further than the few sticks of chewing gum most of us presume. Umesh, if you're reading this, I'm proud of you, man.

As for me, my currency is in savings waiting to be invested in ways to con gullible kids of rich folk, who are looking for new avenues to throw their inherited or easy-earned wealth at.

The ForEx Crisis of 1966

Guess what I learned in history today? India began the process of liberalization in 1991, but it could as well have happened in 1966. Many of the circumstances that led to loosening the controls on private industry and domestic markets existed in 1966 too. India was experiencing a ForEx crisis, with insufficient funds (post foreign aid commitment) to import food grains to meet even half the nation's demand for the year. So the currency was devalued. But socialism was still high on the Government's agenda. And increased import barriers, export subsidies, and taxes marked the aftermath. In a world where 60+% tax slabs existed in Europe, and socialism was quite popular, India was only following suit.

Thanks to Indira Gandhi's leftist inclinations and the Nehru legacy she had to support, a generation lost the chance to see a India take up the classical definition of development. The US-backed WB/IMF just couldn't do in 1966, what they did in 1991. India might have missed the entire semiconductor revolution, but luckily for the private sector the timing matched the IT/telecom revolution.

More than properity, it's about trust. It's about the Government giving people the space to think, and the opportunity to decide what's best for themselves. Collective wisdom, should always perform better than a few self-proclaimed experts deciding a country's future.

My Grandmother

My GrandMa suffered a paralytic stroke week before. She was home alone. Her frantic phone call to my Uncle was "Come home soon, I can't understand but something's happening to me...". My Uncle was at the hospital. My Aunt's family was there. The day before, her family saw a mild emergency of sorts too.

My Uncle rushed back home. I don't quite know what state he found my GrandMa in, but by then her entire left side had experienced a heavy attack and had lost a great deal of sensory and motor ability. There aren't too many people at my uncle's place, so everyone was pitching in to take care of her, walking her to the bathroom etc. They've finally sought domestic help too, now that my GrandMa can't insist against it.

After a week, my GrandMa has shown signs of partial recovery. She can use her palm, so she leans on a chair to walk, wears a gown by herself etc. Now my Uncle and family are teaching her the basics again, after more than 80 years, when her parents must have held her hands while she took her first steps. And so life goes round full circle. Erik Erikson's eighth stage of ego integrity.

While I'm thinking of the restaurants, malls, theaters and clubs I should check out, there are buildings in between - the police stations, the judicial courts and the hospitals. As much as I'm scared of these places, something tells me, the visits are inevitable. My GrandMa is doing ok now. At least, that's what it seems from a distance. She's always played her pain down, she's too strong, tolerant and courageous to discuss her own miseries. I can't even guess what's passing her mind as she observes her own body lose function.

15th August and Goldman Sachs

Last night the recruitment presentations were on the basics of "Investment Banking" (IBD) and "Trading" (Markets), while this morning the program at the auditorium revolved around patriotic sentiments as the country turns 60.

The presentations last night briefed us about the methodologies of valuation, discounted cash flow etc. under the IBD banner and sales, trading, structures and research (in order of decreasing glamor and bonuses), all essentially in equity, under the Markets banner. Financial accounting, i.e. the balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement better make more sense to find footing in IBD. In markets the 2 key words are "buy" and "sell" and the plays are in options, futures and derivatives. Markets is a zero sum game, but for biggies like Goldman Sachs, it is the company's cash cow.

This morning I saw the Indian tricolor waving in the morning breeze. I was holding a box of Bengali sweets in my hand. The feeling was nostalgic, quite dichotomous from the ambitions and confusion that simultaneously arose the night before. The college staff had showed up in large numbers and had brought their families along. The kids were running around, the adults were busy in small-talk while munching away on their sweets, the spirits were high. Inside the auditorium, the music, dance and drama clubs were about to begin their performances. I realized something, albeit temporarily, (is it Swami Vivekananda I'm quoting?) "It isn't what you do, but how you do it that matters."

Under the sun, with a satisfied sweet tooth and no classes to attend today, life, my friend, is good.

Sardar Patel and Karl Rove

Today, I wished an uncommon wish. I wished Sardar Patel would have lived past December 1950, maybe another 5-10 years, all active in politics. "History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme." - Mark Twain. These days, history class turns me on. Sardar Patel was a balancing force to Pandit Nehru, who was bent on pushing his socialist agenda via planned development. Sardar Patel was a proponent of the free market. He wanted capitalist forces to take their own course. He was against excessive Government control in the private sector. After his demise, the equations changed and socialism ruled. So followed a couple decades where entrepreneurial efforts were discouraged, considered with suspicion or micro-managed by review committees consisting of self-proclaimed experts. A country of a billion plus would have been very different today if Sardar Patel spent the 1950s in the halls of the ministerial offices. But his time had come and he had already contributed more in this nation's political arena than most others can dream of.

Sardar Patel might not have continued in the 1950s in India, but there is relief, in the United States, Bush's brain has finally moved out of his White House Office. Karl Rove, the supposed master Republican political strategist, was a mere shadow behind George W. Bush, but apparently he pulled all the strings in the White House. The Valerie Plame (CIA agent) case and the firing of U.S. attorneys are representative of a career chequered with political manipulation. Karl Rove has finally decided to call it quits, hopefully, making the world a less dangerous place to live in.