Archive for August, 2009

Jinnah was a great Advocate….

I was quite amused that a rabid communal (but an honest and capable administrator – please realise there is no contradiction here) Mr. Modi has banned Jaswant Singh’s book. Mr. Modi I am in possession of a book which has said ” What attracted me to Jinnah …was the force of his personality …AND MORE [...]

Where to invest? Will you help Subra?

Question: I’m a 56-year-old teacher and my husband recently passed away. I own the home in which I live, but do not have a pension or any investments. All my monies are in public provident funds, national savings certificates, and bank deposits. However, I will receive Rs. 20 lakhs from my husband’s life insurance policy. [...]

Committment to one’s job

One very important characteristic of high achievers is their ATTITUDE towards the field in which they are. Roger Federer immediately said yes to WADA testing. Nadal cribbed but then accepted it. Indian players backed by the Board will initially say no, but may say yes under pressure. A decent chance of getting T-20 into the [...]

The Bear Market is over…

There are many signals which are likely to confuse you about bear markets and bull markets. Unfortunately the market does not ‘pre-announce’ the start and stop of ‘bull’ and ‘bear’ markets. You need to look at signals – monetary, philosophical, psychology, and physiological! You could look at how people behave, what they say and what [...]

Moral hazard: Brokerage business

This is an amazing first hand story in the brokerage business. Once upon a time not long ago I happened to be associated with a stock broker who was the 3rd generation stock market broker. He was the Chairman of a brokerage company which we had floated to become a member of the National Stock [...]

Moral hazard: Bank loan waiver

Banks lending in rural India is a great thing to have happened. Most people who borrow are genuineĀ  -but there are some politically supported borrowers too. The main reason why a person in India (or in any part of the world too!) repays the loan is ‘because it is the right thing to do’. This [...]