Everyboy's blog

Avatar - Short Review

2009-12-20T08:25:00.002+05:30

I went to see Avatar - the 3D version - yesterday in PVR-Phoenix, but when I came out I had a feeling I am leaving the planet Pandora. The visual effects are so out-of-the-world (literally!), you would not think, even once, that it is fiction. The picturization is such that if at all man finds life in another planet, a common man would think of this movie's portrayal as to how the new planet would actually be. Some of the scenes in the movie are dream-like: something which is very hard to conjure even in the longest siesta on a Saturday afternoon. Quoting from elsewhere: when the Oscar nominations for the year are announced, this movie would feature in all possible technical categories and most likely win all of those. I strongly recommend all to watch this in 3D and enjoy the ultimate movie experience. Having said that, the story is not something out of the ordinary - it is a simple hero-saves-people storyline. Go for this movie and let James Cameron take you for a trip around Pandora.

Is this the greatest movie in the recent past? I would say 'The Dark Knight' is easily the best in the recent past, if not the greatest of all time. Nonetheless, I would watch Avatar at least twice again.

Innovative Promotional Offer -2

2009-08-20T20:25:00.001+05:30

Only Kishore Biriyani can come up with such things...

Thiruvalluvar Statue

2009-08-10T17:43:00.005+05:30

Human Body:Appendix::Tamilnadu-Karnataka Peace:Thiruvalluvar Statue

The DemiGod Thiruvalluvar had already written a kural (couplet) on avoiding such farcical, useless and potentially dangerous deeds. Remembering from one of my Thirukkural lessons in School:

461. அழிவதூஉம் ஆவதூஉம் ஆகி வழிபயக்கும்
ஊதியமும் சூழ்ந்து செயல்
Weigh well output the loss and gain
And proper action ascertain.

I do not think the statue would in any way help the bonhomie between Tamilnadu and Karnataka; instead it would just act as sink for crows and source of further disputes.

Sustainability of GDP

2009-08-03T16:23:00.002+05:30

Oftentimes it is considered that a growing GDP is a panacea. We (at least yours truly) have believed that an increased Government spending and investment in infrastructure will ‘always’ lead to growth in GDP and hence it contributes towards the panacea for all economic frailties. But as this article from ‘The Economist’ conveys, the constituents of GDP will be an important factor in deciding whether or not the increased investments will have sustainable impact on GDP.

Let me try to give a brief summary of the above article:
GDP = Consumer Spending + Government Spending + Investments + (Exports – Imports)
Further breaking down, GDP = (Household Spending + Corporate Spending) + Government Spending + Investments + (Exports – Imports)

If growth in GDP is not accompanied by growth in Household Spending, that growth in GDP would be short term and would not be sustainable in the long run. Hence for a sustainable and long term growth in GDP, the Governments should target increasing contribution of Household Spending to GDP.

50 things

2009-07-24T17:58:00.002+05:30

Wish there was someone who gave such guidance to me before my college days...
50 Things

A Thought

2009-07-17T13:28:00.001+05:30

Why do we celebrate 'Patriotism'?

Sometimes I think patriotism is one of the root causes of many evils in the world today.

Meh!

2009-07-13T20:30:00.002+05:30

Economic Ramblings

2009-06-17T15:20:00.002+05:30

Cross posted from my other blog: Lifestyle Investments

Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, Inflation, Interest Rates – some of the popular terms any student of Economics will go through, somewhat boringly, in their introductory courses. These concepts when linked to the real world can throw some interesting viewpoints about the various burning issues. In the last 12 months, the central banks/Governments of most countries have, more or less, uniformly and uncharacteristically followed expansive monetary policies to the extent of bringing interest rates close to 0%. This is inline with the Governments’ fiscal policies which are more or less expansive – at least at planning level. An expansive monetary policy and expansive fiscal policy will ring a nice note in one’s ears that things are going fine with the economies. In most cases, this could be true; it may not be so this time around.

If the Governments go for an expansive fiscal policy, the Government will spur spending. For spending, the Government needs money – there are multiple options for the Government to get the money. One, it can print money; two, it can issue bonds and raise debts. The former has its own implications on interest rates and the dreaded fear of deflation resulting in increase of the real cost of borrowing. The latter, however, depends on some other factor so far not mentioned: Debt-to-GDP ratio among other things. The Government’s ability to borrow is inversely proportional to the Debt-to-GDP ratio – less the debt to GDP, the better the borrowing ability of the Government – sounds very intuitive.

There is always a partisan view of the credit rating agencies’ role in the financial world. Irrespective of the side you are in, there is a considerable weight attached to the ratings given out by these agencies. It is only common-sense to believe these agencies downgrade those countries with less borrowing power and less repaying capacity. A very simple indicator of these is the debt-to-GDP ratio. Let us take the case of India. If Debt-to-GDP ratio increases (as this would be most likely the case in the late recession / early recovery stage of the business cycle that we are in; as the GDP would not rise as fast as the rise in debt), the agencies downgrade the ratings of the Government. If this happens, there is a double whammy effect as the existing Government bonds would lose value, investors may begin to dump and the Government would be at a disadvantage at raising money from the markets. Essentially, the market forces would be against an expansive fiscal policy. This is very pertinent in India’s case with a Debt-to-GDP ratio of 58% (compare this to Chinese Debt to GDP ratio of 18%) – so Government may not be able to follow expansive fiscal policy along with an expansive monetary policy.

If it persists with expansive monetary policy in this scenario, there would be too much money chasing too little economic activity, leading to the most commonly known economic term – Inflation. With so much political sense also attached to Inflation, no Government will be willing to let this happen. So, are we heading towards restrictive monetary and restrictive fiscal policies: not likely as this again also has a political and economic cost attached with the R-word and no one wants it. All this means is that the Government has to raise money from somewhere without losing its credit worthiness. The likely sources, I believe, would be PSU divestments, tightening of personal tax regime among other things. All this means is the Government would not be able to undertake a 'market-friendly' budget this time - expect no major tax cuts, duty cuts etc.

The scenario mentioned about India does hold true for developed economies like US (whose monetary policies are more expansive and debt-to-GDP ratio is higher). If China believes the US dollar denominated treasuries are downgradeable, it would be Armageddon – again in 2009. Brace yourself.

Mongoose Bat

2009-05-30T07:48:00.003+05:30

Please do not think this post is about some National Geographic topic on Mongooses and bats, it is the latest invention in cricket which is 'supposed' to revolutionize it.

More details about this 'bat' can be read here; but I fail to understand how a shortened bat will become more powerful when it is alwyas believed bigger and wider the better for bats (not only there!!). But the aerodynamic bat mentioned in the link does sound interesting.

Another ICICIDIRECT sloppiness

2009-04-29T10:16:00.003+05:30

There are, indeed, reasons behind why people are dissatisfied with ICICIDIRECT's services

Even Paris Hilton would have done better (with her website ;o))...

Informative picture

2009-04-27T20:18:00.002+05:30

After a really long time, I got a decent forward which ought to be shared.

Here is a picture that contains numerous famous personalities with name and wiki links on mouse over.

Thanks JC.

Brilliant!!!

2009-04-05T23:26:00.002+05:30

Federico Macheda, your goal was a moment of bliss for any Man U fan!

Top Joker Quotes

2009-02-09T16:58:00.002+05:30

Dark Knight: The more I think about this movie, the more I am liking it. I now begin to hunt for Heath Ledger's other movies as well. It is a pity that he is no more.

Some of the quotes of Joker I liked the most:
"I’m like a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do if I caught one…I’d just do things."

"I believe… whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you…stranger."

"You know, madness is a lot like gravity… sometimes all you need is a little push."

"Introduce a little anarchy, upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos, I’m an agent of chaos , and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair."

"Don’t talk like one of them, you’re not! Even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak–like me. They need you right now. When they don’t…they’ll cast you out. Like a leper. See, their morals, their code: it’s a bad joke. They’re dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. You’ll see, when the chips are down these civilized people will eat each other."

"I don’t want to kill you. What would I do without you? Go back to ripen off mob dealers, no, no, no, no, you…You complete…me." (Whenever I think of this dialogue, I somehow relate Rafael Nadal telling it to Roger Federer)

"You… you just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You are truly incorruptable aren’t you. You won’t kill me because of some misplaced sense of self-rightousness. And I won’t kill you because…you’re just too much fun. I get the feeling that you and I are destined to do this forever."

Innovative Promotional Offers

2009-01-10T08:29:00.002+05:30

Naan Kadavul - Music Review

2009-01-08T12:11:00.003+05:30

On hearing the songs of Naan Kadavul for the first time, I sensed the underlying theme in the songs is one of either theism or empathy with the blind and the weak. Let me go one by one:

Om Siva Om Om Siva Om Ruthira
Vijay Prakash

The tone of the song is as given in the title is one of Rudram. This tone is initially set by the blowing of conches and the sounds of Udukkai at the start, which is then brought down by the Om Chants in praise of the Rudra Shiva; the vocal then continues the praise of the Lord. A noticeable fact about the song is that it is entirely composed in Sanskrit (need to confirm this, but lyrics is nowhere in Tamil). When I was thinking the song will keep on increasing its tempo, it slows down to include another 30-40 seconds of slokas. In spite or may be because of this break in the tempo, the song, post the slokas, builds up the tempo quickly in tune with the tone of the song. When the first utterance of 'Aham Brahmaasmi' occurs, the tempo reaches its crescendo and it does make one remember the gems of Thiruvaasagam. I adore this song for the number of Omkaras and the Rudram in it .

Kannil Paarvai pona piragum
Shreya Goshal

After the ferocity in tone of the earlier song, this one is exactly opposite. With a mood of pathos, a nice melodious tune, yearning voice of Shreya Goshal and the simple, powerful lyrics will make one empathize with the plight of blind orphans. The melody in the song is not allowed to flow owing to the strong thumping background beats which probably are conveying the pathos tone of the song. There is one small note in the song which I guess is a direct copy-paste from one of Thiruvaasagam's songs. At some points in the song, I thought Shreya's voice was too high pitched and the words at those moments were not legible as they were in the other segments - which get exposed more so because Ilayaraja sings the same song in his own voice later in the album.

Maatha Un Kovilil Mani Deebam
Madhumitha

Probably the shortest song I have heard - this one runs only for 42 seconds. With hardly a couple of lines of lyrics, the song I must say is really well sung with the tone being slightly more upbeat compared to the earlier song. This song reminds me of the 'good' (good as in good, with absolutely no pun) songs sung in the electric trains of Chennai by blind people, this I say with utmost respect to every one involved in the song and to the blind singers. I say so mainly because of the clarity with which every word of the song is uttered by the playback singer.

Amma Un Pillai Naan
Sadhana Sargam

The tone of the song is one of reverence and self-pity backed up by excellent lyrics. Though the content of the song is such, the tune is more merrier than the earlier songs and hence the mood is light while the lyrics are not so. I wonder what the reason of this mismatch of mood and words could be. The main spoilsport of the song, though, is the playback singer. Sadhana's high pitched voice towards the end of one stanza is appreciable, but the pitch does not come down for the start of the next stanza and the lyrics are not legible in multiple places.

Oru Kaatril Alaiyum Siragu
Ilayaraja

No one can bring life to a song with his/her voice like the maestro. This one is with the same tune of the earlier song "Kannil Paarvai pona piragum", with 90% similar lyrics but this one is much better than the earlier one; every single word of the lyrics is legible unlike the one sung by Shreya Goshal. I somehow get to feel this one is kind of a eulogy to the character singing the earlier song.

Pitchaipaathiram Yenthi Vanthaen
Madhu Balakrishna

This is a purely devotional song praising the almighty and praying for complete surrender. The lyrics of this song are simple and conveying the meaning exquisitely. I must admit I mistook the singer, Madhu Balakrishna, to be someone who is related to the great Balamuralikrishna. It is not the sweetest voice around, but definitely reminds me of another great KJ Yesudoss. To me, this song is the best of the lot.

As a regular listener of Ilayaraja's Thiruvaasagam, I could not resist comparing the present one with His magnum opus and I was able to observe some common notes between the two. This could have been so just because of the similarity in the tone of the songs. Overall, I would say the music album of Naan Kadavul is definitely a must-have, must-listen one. I think the songs with female singers could have been better sung. Ilayaraja, I guess, is still unable to find a replacement for S Janaki. The album has only increased my expectations for the movie, Naan Kadavul.

Snippets of Naan Kadavul lyrics I liked:

Vidhiyenum yezhuthellaam vizhi neeril azhiyumo?

Pengalai silaiyile thozhuginra ulagame, yaen sol?

Kanaavil kooda inbam, kaanaathathu enna jenmam..

Oliyai pole oru thunai, vanthu sendra thunbam yaarkkum undo?

Engengum inbam irunthum, un pangu ponathengey?

Porulukku alainthidum porulattra vaazhkaiyum thurathudhey

Pitchaipaathiram Yenthi Vanthaen
Pindam enum elumbodu sathai narambuthiramum adangiya udambenum
Pitchaipaathiram Yenthi Vanthaen

Ghajini - A Review

2008-12-25T00:55:00.008+05:30

Here's a review on Ghajini, please proceed, none of the plot will be revealed, whatsoever.

With Aamir Khan in the lead and the celebrated eight packs and the build-up promos with Khan v/s Khan duels, this Ghajini had accrued considerable amount of hype. The hype reaching its peak with the producer of the Tamil version suing the producer of the Hindi version for copyright violation. Unlike many other movies with such inflated hype, I must admit this movie fails to disappoint.

The present Ghajini till its intermission has replicated the Tamil version in its truest form and sense; in whatever little places the movie has differed from its original it has been for the better. Most of the memorable scenes from the original are retained, thankfully, without an iota of attempt to modify. Full marks to the makers for that. This episode of the movie till the intermission is easily the liveliest stretch. I had opined in my earlier review that I would not write negative comments about Asin; but this time around I am unable to find a single flaw in her performance. I liked her and her role in this movie so much it can be an antidote for her role in Dasavatharam. My non-tamil friends with whom I watched this movie gave some comments on Asin of which I am repeating two. One, after her introductory song, "She is a chick looking girl"; Two, after her first scene with Aamir Khan, "She is expressive, the chick can act". All through, if there was one clap-winner in the movie, it was Asin. Deservedly so.

Everyone, including the director A R Murugadoss, said the climax of the Tamil Ghajini actually a no-climax and one which spoiled the entire movie. This time around the second half and the climax of the movie has been changed drastically to eliminate the feeling of bungling which happened earlier. I must say the director has succeeded in making the audience not feeling let down after an impressive first half. Most movies would have ended after the 'climax fight'; here the movie carries on to show further things which to me was the icing on the cake and to my friends it appeared like a drag. How much of these praises should go to Aamir Khan and how much to A R Murugadoss are left for arguments.

There is no Ghajini without Aamir Khan. Aamir would have been on screen for at least 95% of the movie and he has carried it so well that only superstars can do. Macho body, impressive acting, charming face, style - a treat to watch. If Tamil cinema has Kamal Hasan, Hindi has Aamir Khan. He has put in efforts and the results are there on the screen. It surely is one of his very different and noteworthy performances, but I still prefer Aamir Khan in a Lagaan or a Dil Chahta Hai over Ghajini. But one thing, just like Kamal Hasan, I can see Aamir Khan ageing - a non-missable fact from the close-up shots of the stylish CEO Sanjay Singhania.

With so much positives over the original version, I feel there is one area where the Tamil Ghajini scores over its Hindi counterpart: songs. I feel the Tamil songs (and tunes) composed by Harris Jeyaraj were much superior to the ones in the latest release. This is not to say the songs of Hindi Ghajini are bad, but they are comparatively.

Does this movie have only positives? Obviously not, there were lots of gaps in logic which only an Indian mind can digest. I am not going to spoil the fun by pointing out each of those. But errrr, some of those: an empty Mumbai-Goa second class compartment; 3 BMWs escorting the BMW in which a travels, always; a villain who kills multiple dons on surmise and who does not kill the actual threat but 'cleans up' his memories. This list is definitely indicative. Though needed for the story, the violence in the movie is on the higher side and is literally gory. I wonder why Jiah khan got the role which she played in the movie, her apathetic acting was showcased in the presence of Aamir and Asin. Reyaas Khan as Inspector was funny, a better choice could have been made there as well.

Whenever a movie is a re-make of another, comparison with the original is inevitable and this Hindi Ghajini scores over the Tamil version in most departments: Aamir better than Surya, Asin (Hindi) better than Asin (Tamil), climax (Hindi) much better than Climax (Tamil). There should not be any comparison of this movie with 'Memento' (which according to me is the best screenplay in a movie) as the story line is thoroughly different, the common thread is just the ...errr....ya..'short term memory loss'.

Overall, this is a good movie - a worthy watch in a theatre inspite of its logical gaps. Treat this as a superhero movie interspersed with cherishable episodes of romance, music and 'memories'.

Update: Article by the hero of the tamil version - Surya

Career Destruction

2008-12-16T17:02:00.002+05:30

I do not remember knowing any better career decimating crime than this: Anti-kidnapping consultant kidnapped in Mexico. I wonder what the kidnapped guy does once he is freed; I suggest him to call himself a victim of credit crunch – no one questions and if he is big (uff..if he is more than 6 feet tall), probably, some Governments may even give him nice compensation package.

Elsewhere, a president says, “I do not know what the man told, but I could see his sole (read: soul?)”. I think lots of things could have been different had he seen people's soul a lot earlier.

Comedy of accents

2008-12-16T14:58:00.003+05:30

Tamil news channels often come up immense creativity which will make anyone laugh (like this one); the latest one has got to do with Monty Panesar being called Monty Pannee Sir

Booking Profits

2008-12-15T13:44:00.001+05:30

In the last 5 days the Indian markets have gone up by 5-6%; all those who entered at sub 2700 levels would be better off (IMHO) booking their profits now. If you are a small retail investor with exposure to multiple stocks, booking profits would incur substantial transaction costs; to avoid the same, the best way out is to enter into suitable number of long put option contracts. The only risk is that the number of option contracts may not exactly match the underlying stock holding. But this strategy will help at least to book profits for major portion of your holdings. I prefer long put than shorting the futures as the downside risk (in case the markets go up from current levels) of long put is limited to the premium paid, while the downside risk of futures is unlimited.

Gender of my blog

2008-12-15T10:47:00.002+05:30

Based on the content of my blog, I am classified as a man (with 79% probability!) according to this site.

Constructive Sales – Is it a Tax Haven?

2008-12-04T15:49:00.000+05:30

(This is probably the most anachronistic post I could ever make, but still…)

If you are one of those who holds a low basis stock - e.g., you are some one who had shareholdings in a private company, which later got listed and still trading at a premium or you bought into some shares and they are now trading (still) at a substantial premium (eg. Educomp Solutions) – and want to exit those positions, you would have to encounter capital gains tax at 10% + the surcharges. (N.B.: Capital gains tax for shares traded through the exchanges is levied only if profits are booked within one year). There is a way out to defer these taxes and probably end up not paying any tax ‘legally’ (as Indian Capital Gains taxation window is just one year) if you enter into some form of ‘constructive sales’.

Constructive sales is just that for whatever profitable positions you hold, the realization of which might entail capital gains tax, you can enter into an offsetting position like shorting its future, or direct shorting of the stock (if allowed, at present it is not allowed). The day you enter into such a transaction, you have virtually locked in your profits; you are more or less insulated from future price movements, at the same time you are technically not liquidated your position which means you have eliminated your risk, essentially booked your profits but do not have to pay the capital gains tax. Let’s see how the second leg of the ‘short sales’ work. After one year of your initial share purchase, you can sell your initial shareholdings in the market which attracts zero capital gains tax and also close your short position simultaneously (or sometime later).

Let’s see a hypothetical example. I bought 10 shares of Educomp Solutions on June 1, 2008 @ INR 1000/share. On July 1, 2008, Educomp solutions had reached INR 1900 per share and I decide to close out the position and book profit. If I do a direct sale of the share, I would have booked a short term gain of INR 9000 (900x10), for which I need to pay tax of at least INR 900 (10% of INR 9000). The constructive sales alternative: On July 1 2008, I enter into a short position in the far month futures contract of Educomp, say at INR 1950. On expiry of this futures contract, I roll it over with the far month contract available then. I keep doing this till June 2009. In July 2009, I decide on closing out the short position in futures. If in July 2009, the futures contract of Educomp is trading at INR 2500, I will incur a short term loss of INR 550 (2500 minus 1950) in FY 2009-10 which can be set off against any short term gains and a long term gain of INR 1500 (2500 minus 1000) which attracts zero tax. Effectively, my net gain from the entire set of transaction is INR 950 (1500 minus 550), but I do not end up paying any tax even though I eliminated any risk after just one month of entering into the deal (June 2008 to July 2008).
The above is called constructive sales and the same is disallowed in US. But I am unsure about the same in India and so as long as it is not disallowed, we can make some amount of tax avoidance (and not tax evasion ;) ) All of the above has an assumption, the individual has enough liquidity for the futures contract margins and the transaction costs are not very high (I assume the latter is true in case of an HNI with adequate investible amount and transactions).

Self-sufficiency & Terrorism

2008-12-03T15:56:00.001+05:30

OM: When did India lose its self-sufficiency in rice?
PS: I don’t know about this self-sufficiency thing; but why are you asking about it all of a sudden?
OM: Because I heard Bush is sending Rice immediately to help counter the present crisis

Terrrorism - An Opinion

2008-12-02T10:20:00.003+05:30

There have been extensive coverage both in MSM and blogs on the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. It pains to realize how each one of us is exposed to such acts of barbarism and I strongly feel that we need to get out from the "it won't happen to me" syndrome and at least start thinking on ways out of this menace. I am no expert in the domain, so apologies if my opinions are too naive.

Mission: We need to put across a strong message to one and all who are in positions of responsibility (or the politicians) - "Politicize Terror, Lose my Vote"; for the ones who have some brains, it can be interpreted as "Politicize Terror, Lose my Tax". I am not suggesting that the politicians have had a role in the recent attacks, I am only reinforcing that if politicizing terror is not stopped, as Kapil Sibal says here, we are only aiding the terrorists and their agenda. I read elsewhere on the Internet that terrorism cannot be stopped (I wonder how USA has been able to avert any major terrorist attack after 2001) and the victim nation can only react 'strongly' to such acts. The sad state of affairs is India is neither able to prevent such acts nor able to react. If nothing changes in a country after serial bomb blasts in 4 major cities, after scores of lives have been lost, after giving reservations for terror (Hindu terror v/s Islam terror), then the problem is far more systemic than the ineptness, inactivity, fashion-consciousness of the Central Home Minister, or loose tongue of a Deputy Chief Minister. So, dear politicians, please develop a system which aids in preventing future acts of terror and definitely one which aids in speedy, effective reactions to future acts of terror.

As a passing thought, I believe, the day (utopian though) every one turns atheistic/agnostic and unpatriotic, terrorism will die.

Quote!

2008-11-26T12:59:00.000+05:30

From a forwarded mail:

Easy to think about improving
Difficult to stop thinking and doing it

When Newspapers are wrong

2008-11-19T15:06:00.002+05:30

As a person with prospective investible money, I was eager to know about various ‘value-picks’ (hee hee, yes, you can get bamboozled once more) based on Price-to-Earnings and Price-to-Book ratios in the Indian capital markets. There was a huge hue-and-cry in the recent days (months?) that Tata Steel is quoting at a P/E of 1.0. The source of this information is none other than Economic Times, the leading pink paper has been highlighting that the company’s P/E is 1.0 (in its hard copy and not on their website). And based on that the self-proclaimed investment gurus omnipresent in my surroundings keep suggesting to buy the stock. Luckily, owing to not having any better thing to do, I checked Tata Steel’s financial statements of FY 2007-08 and for the first half of FY 2008-09 - according to which the Earnings per share (EPS) comes to Rs.67.17 (based on full year FY 07-08) and Rs.87.92 (annualized based on first half of FY 08-09). Given this and the fact that Tata Steel is quoting in the range of Rs.160-165, the P/E for the same is in the range of 1.8 to 2.4 and NOT 1. If you are one of those who look at the ratios given in Economic Times and think they are sacrosanct and proceed to invest, beware!

I presume this to be an error from Economic Times side as their website shows the actual P/E and not the one (and 1.0) appearing in their hard paper.