The Sine Curve of Life...

Really interesting conversations are rare. In one such chat, a friend came up with a question. ”What do you think is the most important quality that a person should possess?” At that time I could not come up with anything substantial. After the rendezvous, this question kept on lingering in my mind. After all what is that one parameter which is of utmost importance. I am normally acceptable to all kinds of personalities. Rather, it is the diversity amongst us which makes everyone unique and special in his or her own way. Someone might be really interesting, some might not be so much fun, but there is an individual trait in every person which differentiates him from the other mortals.

So, what is that trait? Finally after thinking a lot about this, I could come up with only one major quality. Major, because it is one trait that can be generalized across all kinds of people. It is being humble in your best times. In my opinion, a person who understands that good times and bad times keep coming and going, both in our personal and professional life, has a long way to go. The simple sine curve below shows the essence of life more than anything else.






As the cliché goes, “Each dog has its day”. So whenever you are in a happy state of mind and feel it’s your day, it’s essential to have your feet firmly grounded. One should never forget the people who were with them in the low periods of their life. The same applies to the other person also. If an acquaintance is going through a bad phase, we may try to help the other person. If that is not possible or will be of no use to them, then just let them be. There is no need to bully the person. I am saying all this not because this is what we were taught in moral science classes but simply because the sine curve is inevitable and applies to everyone. The maximum one can do is delay the periods of trough. But for every crest, there will be a trough. So try to make maximum of the peaks and just be careful while the lows.

"I told you so..."

The previous post i wrote was two years back. And today, in a recessionary economic scenario, most of that has come true. A few days before i was talking to one of the friends who had inspired me to write " Another Irrational Exuberance". My conversation with him made me think again about something I always thought of. And so I am penning down my thoughts here.

When a friend in distress reveals a problem to you, there are two options. One is to just listen and give the person a streak of optimism and hope for the future. The other one is very easy. It is to blame the person for what happened and say, " I told you so...You should have listened to me". Most often we do the second thing, though we might feel genuinely for the other person. But then, if we contemplate and place ourselves in that person's situation, we can safely conclude that this was certainly not the reply the friend was expecting. Well, you may be right in the first instance but are equally likely as any one else to make mistakes, especially when it comes to thinking about others.

So the next time a friend reveals any problem to you, please dont act God. Just sit back and listen. The maximum you can say to console the person is to learn from their mistakes and move on. Because if you can't lend a patient ear, then there is no point for the other person in having you as a friend.

Another Irrational Exuberance

For many people of my age ,the best way to keep in touch with old pals is orkut.com. Finding friends after all these years is indeed a delight. But it was recently after meeting a few old school friends, that I pondered over a very disturbing trend which has strongly integrated into the way many young people think. And this is the topic for my first blog.

Contrary to what you might think ,I am not talking about call centres as its a very cliche subject about which a lot of talking has been done and even more stuff has been written. And above all I dont find anything wrong with that. What i am talking about is the large number of people who are taking up the so called "financial jobs". To be precise,people who are wanting to become or have already become a 'stock market analyst' like my friend, without taking any formal education for this . This applies more to students from the commerce background.

As we are all aware, there is a very strong positive sentiment regarding the Indian economy all over the world .The financial scenario is like never before when the stock market has quadrupled in the last three years and there may be a lot more to come. The big Indian companies are delivering the best results continually, quarter after quarter and their balance sheets reflect the same. This has led to an obvious escalation in their valuations. Seeing others making quick bucks around themselves, there are many people who want to join this bandwagon. The easiest way they find to make money is the bse where they can 'double their money' in every few months.

Everyone knows that this kind of growth is not going to continue forever. While the economy may continue to boom, the same cannot be said for the stock market. There are many small triggers which can lead to a reversal of fortune on the Dalal street or even the Wall street for that matter. For instance, god forbid, if we have another terrorist attack in any of the big economies,the stocks of all the big IT companies will fall like a house of cards. The retail investors will be disinterested and many such analysts will lose their jobs. Many people who have strong equity investments will have to face the obvious consequences.

You might think that I am a hardcore pessimist who holds a very negative view of such a booming economy. The only thing which I want to state is that a good market does not translate into a good stock market all the time.And without proper knowledge in this sector,people can do well only when the market is in an upswing mode.The only thing which always stays with an individual is the money which is made by his own hands. If one wants to take proper advantage of this scenario,it should be through hard work in the manufacturing or services sector. After all the only materialistic thing which stays on with a professional is the assets created in the form of his work experience. While i certainly do not rule out an investment in sound companies, a full time career for so many people in the stock market, without any formal education in this sector, and just to make quick money, seems to have a bleak future, not for the market but for these individuals.