Naresh's Musings

Who cries when the innocents die?

2009-04-11T18:15:00.009+05:30

During the last several years, few words that have become a household name on every global citizen’s lips are Taliban, threat to Islam, jihadi, terrorist, mujahideen, fundamentalist, Hindu and Christian radicals, secularism and last but not the least, fatwa. I am sure there are many more that have escaped my attention but the objective of this article is not to indulge in their study, origin or semantics.

Their usage (the words stated above) can be heard in all kinds of environments.

•Political waterfronts where opposition parties are going through the sham motions of bipartisan support to the ruling party’s call of the hour to fight a progressive menacing creature called terrorism.

•Policies being adopted in boardrooms where global corporate strategies are being discussed factoring in the alleged terror threat to their institutions.

•Arm chair discussions over firangi spirits by inebriated pseudo intellectuals blaming everybody but themselves about the present endangered state of the nation, state, city, mohallah stemming from the current morass of terrorist activities.

•Eateries, beer bars and local hangouts where main street citizens are indulging in the why, when and how discussions and all participating voluntarily in a game called name the next terrorist’s target.

For a celestial being observing all of this from the outside far above from the heavenly clouds, this must unfold like a very colorful earthly tamasha.

The proliferation and popularity of the words stated above has been single-handedly brought about by the print and electronic media by their constant almost robotic and metamorphic use. Unfortunately it has become part and parcel of their daily rhetoric and rabble rousing.

We citizens sub-consciously have gotten so used to watching and reading about terror that withdrawal symptoms get initiated if we do not get to see or read our daily dose (almost like our daal, roti, subzi) of violence. Unknowingly all of us in a way have become echo chambers of the media.

I am willing to enter into a small wager and am confident that a lot of newspaper and TV news channel subscriptions would get cancelled if for a few months, as a simple exercise and behavioral experiment, violence was pulled off from their content menu voluntarily.

Their zeal to enhance their readership, footprint, what have you and in the process increase their TRP and other ratings has taken precedence over anything else. Nothing else really matters. In a manner they are no better than the so called jihadi mercenaries. The media have knowingly and systematically with utter disregard to the social responsibility role that they are supposed to adorn used the dissemination of the virus called terrorism to the hilt. This allows them to achieve their dual objective of maximizing their organization’s revenues and keep their viewers and readers truly fixated and mesmerized in a domain of deemed terror.

This glorification of notoriety then naturally allows them to increase their media tariff and enhance their revenues by glorifying suffering under the garb of them being the self appointed sentinels of the citizenry and watchdogs of liberty.

The media I am sure are fully aware that they are causing more harm than good by the constant regular blowing out of proportion reporting on terrorist incidents and activities that are taking place all over the worlds. In a way they are sending the wrong signals to the perpetrators that commit these heinous crimes. Giving more coverage than necessary is only bringing about empowerment and making the terrorist groups more daring and bold. And why not, their emissaries, the incorrigible media are their front runners always eagerly announcing their arrival and pitching for them in every home. The leaders of the terror cells have almost achieved iconic status and or at least the media would have us believe so.

I am not by any stretch of imagination suggesting that terrorist acts should go unreported. All I am advocating is that restraint, sensitivity, responsibility and the principle of “In the larger interest of the community” be adopted so that a balanced view is taken before reporting and not indulge in utter garbage sensationalism. “Taliban one hundred kilometers from Lahore and just 250 kilometers from India” was screaming recently as breaking news headlines constantly flogged by an Indian TV news channel. I sometimes wonder whether the electronic hardware if they had feelings would also start displaying apathy and the Malthusian Law of Diminishing Returns would exhibit its applicability in this domain also.

Do of any of us ever pause to stop and think who the victims are every time a senseless violence takes place anywhere in the world. Every time it is innocent men, women and children. Simple folks who have just been going about their daily chores trying to make a living, suddenly become cannon fodder involuntarily when such human madness is surrendered to. The wow factor dissolves into apathy within a few days after any terrorist incident. The victims sooner rather than later become statistics to be used by the media and wily politicians in posterity to prove a point or a desperate attempt to score an argument in forums attended mostly by an audience influenced by half baked information.

In the aftermath of the violence, does anybody ever think what happens to the family of the victims? How do they cope with the trauma that has embraced them permanently and left them handicapped in more ways than one?

My title for this read was an inspiration from a book of Robin Sharma titled “Who Cries When I Die?” All of us must dispense with our smugness and false sense of comfort. We must realize that one day anyone among us could be the next victim lined in the cross hairs of the terrorist’s agenda.

We must all cry out loud and do our bit to put an end to this macabre madness.

For the media, I have a suggestion.

Shed some tears.

God Bless.

Instant Infamy

2009-01-28T06:54:00.003+05:30

The Indian rogues’ gallery seems to have become a popular esoteric club where people from all domains are clawing each other to get early membership. The latest members in waiting are Ramalingam Raju, family members who collaborated with him, handpicked bunch of cronies and the biggest surprise of all, Satyam’s auditors (Rakshak Hi Bhakshak syndrome in play here). Of course a lot of Indian politicians qualify for membership in this celebrated institution hands down, with some of them audacious enough to show traits of hubris in this space.

At the point of sounding naïve, I have always wondered what is it that makes allegedly "educated" motley lot of people go ahead with the execution of economic crimes especially when their detection is most of the times a foregone conclusion.

In this digital age there is almost an algorithmic DNA trail for every accounting fiscal entry transacted. A desperate attempt is usually made by perpetrators of trying to disguise their misdeeds through layers of masking and apparent legitimacy of their transactions. With access to the plethora of forensic accountants globally and other fraud detection measures available to investigators, it is foolhardy, even suicidal to think that one can get away with such grave transgressions for an extended length of time. Of course having access to a battery of smart lawyers who can delay and or prevent incarceration sheltering under technical and legal loopholes is another potential bestseller title.

In trying to account for the current prevalence of economic crimes in our environment laced with performance pressures and deadlines, at least three factors need to be mulled over: the pace of modern life, a general lack of consensus about standards and values to live by, and the level of social alienation fostered by postindustrial society. Yardsticks by which success is being measured have become suspect. The age of instant gratification has become the psalm of the youth today. Materialism and consumerism have become the new mantras to live by. In the process if short circuits, cutting corners and fudging have to be resorted to, so be it. The social fabric of co-existence and living in a manner which is in the larger interest of the community has been torn asunder and the law of the jungle has been voted in.

I am of the strong belief that our present educational system is flawed. We are all taught at a very early age that the road to success is being successful in one’s career to be able to live a good life. Prima facie there is nothing wrong with that goal. Everyone wants to live comfortably and enjoy a good life.

The problem arises in semantics. One wishes that good life needs to be defined in a more meaningful manner where there is focused emphasis on the good of the community and not just on the individual self. I think it is imperative that right from junior school, courses are designed and introduced that expose young minds to the importance of community living and co-existence.

The word family has a lot of depth and needs to be properly understood. Most of us associate this word with our own kith & kin. United Nations as a concept started off with a very noble objective of serving the family of nations. Today it has become a playground for murky politics and furthering of country centric agendas. Wealthier nations are arm twisting smaller underprivileged ones into toeing policies which are in their favor. In return for their support a few lollies are dangled in their path. Nations also need to be empowered and this can come about only through empowerment of their citizenry.

Global warming, depletion of the rain forests, strip mining the earth, erosion of the ozone layer are all a result of thousands of Ramalingam Rajus globally at work trying to make their extra buck. Ethnic cleansing stems from intolerance. In a way we are all responsible for our present predicament and in some way or another have always been in search of our own cookie jars to put our hands and fingers.

All is not lost. The human race just needs to accept its faults and go through a reform and cleansing process. Otherwise the writing is very clear on the wall. Mother earth can only take so much and no more

In closing I suggest people to listen to one particular song from Raj Kapoor’s movie Teesri Kasam, sung by India’s legendary singer and my favorite, Mukesh. The lyrics are given below:

Duniya Bananewale Kya Tere Man Mein Samaayi
Kaaheko Duniya Banayi
Toone Kaaheko Duniya Banayi

Kahe Banaye Toone Maati Ke Putle
Dharti Yeh Pyari Pyari
Mukhde Yeh Ujle
Kahe Banaya Toone Duniya Ka Khela
Usme Lagaya Jawaani Ka Mela
Gup-Chup Tamasha Dekhe, Wah Re Teri Khudaai
Kahe Ko Duniya...

Preet Banaake Toone Jeena Sikhaaya
Hansna Sikhaaya, Rona Sikhaaya
Jeevan Ke Path Par Meet Milaye
Meet Milake Toone Sapne Sajaaye
Sapne Sajaake Toone Kahe Ko De Di Judaai
Kahe Ko Duniya...

Hari Om & God Bless

Buy an apartment & get short changed in the process in Maharashtra‏

2008-12-18T17:10:00.000+05:30

An article on why property prices are still artificially high in India was recently penned by R. Jagannathan in the Mumbai edition of DNA newspaper of Dec 18 2008. The opinions expressed were based on facts well researched and suggestions given by the writer were logical and well timed.

Several key issues in the article which are endemic to the real estate malaise plaguing this country were suitably addressed.

However one germane area that was missed out un-intentionally I am sure by the writer is the pre-meditated deception and fraud being perpetrated by the troika nexus of greedy builders, corrupt politicians and self serving bureaucrats on innocent buyers by allowing builders to sell apartments and real estate in India on the convoluted concept of super built up area.

More than the builders, I hold the bureaucrats & politicians responsible as they have turned a Nelson's eye to this deception to further their own vested interests. They happen to be passive investors and silent partners with the real estate developers. Without the tacit connivance of the regulators no real estate developer in India could get away with this brazen fraud. They (the regulators) have imposed grave injustice upon the hard working Indian citizenry by not bringing in suitable stringent regulations making it mandatory for all builders without exception to sell real estate only on the concept of carpet area.

Recent legislative amendment brought in on this domain several months ago in an allegedly progressive state like Maharashtra by the so called born again politicians & bureaucrats has been a complete eyewash and no more than an exercise in lip service. This alleged initiative was highlighted extensively in the media following the amendment to The Maharashtra Ownership Flats (Regulation of the Promotion of, Construction, Sale, Management & Transfer) Act, 1963, that made it mandatory for all builders to sell the flats on the basis of carpet area effective for all proposals submitted after May 12 of 2008.

Several grey loopholes have been intentionally incorporated in the purported legislative amendment that allows builders to charge once again on the super built up area (read as charge on areas that do not exist). And it is these politicians & bureaucrats, who are shameless and audacious enough in calling themselves the new Indian avatars & reformers promising Indians a new India and shouting from the rooftops of their ill gotten mansions “Bharat ko Badal Daalo”. What should be actually read in this message is “Corrupt politicians & bureaucrats ko Badal Daalo & unscrupulous builders ko Andar Karo”.

In a progressive country like Singapore, apartments and real estate can only be sold on carpet area basis and violations on this account attract enforcement of heavy penal provisions which act as a major deterrent. Builders in Singapore do not even entertain a concept of selling real estate on the concept of built up area. What is so unique about Indian builders that they cannot subscribe to this code of ethic? What happens to the concept of a level playing field when it comes to responsibilities of the builders? We all very well know the answer to this conundrum as there is no rocket science being practiced here.

To add insult to injury, each builder has become very creative in fermenting his own formula in the computation of the saleable area of apartments. The differential between the carpet & saleable area can be as high as 40%-45% and in most cases is not less than 25% anywhere in India. Is this not a fraud being committed with the blessings of the regulatory agencies?

What possible palpable justification can be given by the builder community for this deception of arriving at the saleable area when no other country allows this thuggery (concession would be too mild a word). A common grouse and crutch used by the builders is that real estate selling prices quoted on the basis of carpet area will become high stemming from a lower saleable area and may dissuade prospective buyers from buying.

This is nothing short of garbage talk. Markets in India as in other parts of the world are pretty well developed and matured. Prices at which transactions take place are always a reflection of demand & supply amongst other economic factors and I see no reason why real estate demand should behave any differently. Unfortunately the stark truth is that obese Indian builders have gotten used to unearned, obscene profits and are reluctant, almost defiant to see their golden eggs being downsized.

One sure shot way that I feel that this fraud can be immediately nipped is by all the pivotal lending institutions in India (ICCI, SBI & HDFC for starters) to take the initiative. All they have to is to come together and give a directive by way of an ultimatum to all the builders to pull up their act and tell them in no uncertain terms that funding will only be given on loan documents that reflect licensed architect certified carpet area and no other area will be entertained for loan disbursals. Why should the lending agencies agree to loan money on non-existent real estate defies logic? Aren’t they in a way enhancing their own risk exposure by allowing this deception? If the lending institutions switch off the money supply, the builders will have no option but to comply. After all over 90% of real estate transactions happen because of access to credit by potential buyers. Non-compliance will ensure that the builders get buried in their own unsold concrete inventories.

In the words of the English Preacher Santiz Frederick W. Robertson “There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.”

On another note:

The Hair Cut

One day a phool walla goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asks about his bill and the barber replies, ‘I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’ The phool walla is pleased and leaves the shop.

When the barber goes to open his shop the next morning there is a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a hawaldar comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, ‘I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’ The hawaldar is happy and leaves the shop.

The next morning when the barber goes to open up there is a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen vada pavs waiting for him at his door.

Then, a politician comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies, ‘I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’ The politician is very happy and leaves the shop.

The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are a dozen politicians lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the common citizens of our country and our politicians.

By the way the above anecdote has been recited by me based on a similar inspiration I read somewhere written by anonymous.

I close for now and only hope I am not doing wishful thinking here.

When will the madness stop? - Mumbai Mayhem

2008-11-27T19:05:00.000+05:30

Once again ordinary innocent people in the city of Mumbai have lost their lives for reasons they will never ever know simply because they happened to be caught in the cross hairs of mayhem & senseless violence perpetrated by retarded radicals fighting for a cause that they themselves are not able to elucidate.

Senior distinguished police officers of Mumbai and other law enforcement agencies have had to involuntarily sacrifice their lives in the line of duty, stemming from senseless actions of people groping in the dark. The life long suffering now to be faced by their loved ones left behind is nothing short of an emotional incarceration, progressive pain that can never be gauged.

Three icons of Mumbai, the Taj & Oberoi Hotels & CST railway terminus have been permanently scarred and become involuntary battlegrounds on which suicidal missions are being carried out by misguided sects with the end result being fanning of more hatred we all know and are too familiar with.

People in India by the grace of the almighty have become accustomed to facing tsunamis of all kinds. We were still reeling from the shell shock of the recent global financial tsunami that had descended upon us and Mumbaikars have this senseless terrorist act unfolding upon them. By the time this ghastly nightmare ended, more than 200 people have lost their lives. This chapter may be over but the book of hatred and killing is still being penned all over the world with country, city and sect centric chapters, each one unfolding no sooner when the ink dries.

The least that Mumbaikars and for that matter all Indians can now do is to awaken and empower themselves to ensure that this kind of a nightmare will never ever repeat again. Involving ourselves in a blame game and trying to find patsies amongst us to take the blame will only further the cause of the terrorists and will be the greatest disrespect shown to innocent victims of this madness. Each one of us has duty as individuals and as responsible members of civilized society to do our bit. Rendering lip service and armchair opinions are crutches used by pathetic cowards.

Yes, the people manning intelligence, law enforcement agencies and political leaders who have failed in their core duties for which they were employed or elected are no less in a way participant in this mayhem and need to be held accountable and suitably incarcerated.

We collectively can only deliver ourselves from this madness. I haven’t switched my allegiance to the simians as yet. Human beings are probably the only race in the universe who subscribe to self destruction. We all need to do atonement and seriously rethink about the meaning of co-existence. Are we so desperate to extinguish the human candle permanently and embrace darkness and become floaters in a sea of nothingness.

I close for now with a quote from one of the greatest leaders that the human race & planet earth was fortunate to have albeit for a short while: "Fear has its use but cowardice has none” - Mahatma Gandhi.

My Genuine Two Copper Cents On The Financial Meltdown

2008-11-06T12:03:00.000+05:30

Current issues are a favorite with me.

So much is being said about the financial meltdown, I thought it an opportune environment to share my thoughts with people like yourself who are reading this and also who I am sure are seriously concerned with the economic uncertainty that has crept in slowly in the US and global financial markets, mimicking a worm virus with each day unfolding new predatory strains.

Article after article that one gets to read written by mature, grounded sane individuals from all walks of society & from the four corners of this global world all have one factor in common in their research, findings & writings:

That this catastrophic financial tsunami that has befallen the entire global community was man made, simmering as a broth on a low flame during the last six to seven years and could have been easily avoided. It was sheer greed of the lowest kind that made:

• Government regulators turn a Nelson’s eye to the flagrant & large scale violation of their own time tested fiscal & monetary checks & balances by Banks, NBFCs, quasi financial service providers & financial intermediaries.

• Wall Street investment bankers becoming regular visitors in the illusory gold paved lanes of shadow banking to achieve ballistic targets & incentivising themselves with bonuses fatter than a McDonald’s whopper, on deemed & imagined income & cash flows. Esoteric complex financial instruments camouflaged with layers & layers of imaginary comfort peels under the garb of securitization were being peddled as if they were going out of style. The irony was that at the end of the day, the sellers knew what they were selling (worthless paper) but the buyers did not know what they were buying. Financial deals were taking place based on it being the flavor of the season and time being of the essence as if the financial bus terminals were running out of buses.

• SEC & other regulatory agency mortals getting their highs & fixes by star gazing at the meteoric rise of the equity indices at regular intervals and deluding themselves into thinking that the loosening & or tweaking of fiscal & monetary controls & regulations by them were actually acting as a catalyst to fiscal & economic growth.

• Organized sector major housing corporations selling their packaged wooden structures at inflated prices in cahoots with lending institutions with collateral offering of sweet heart kickback commissions to the banking heads to make them allot larger fund allocations for near sub prime & sub prime mortgages at usurious rates of interest.

• Risk appraisal agencies fudging reporting systems to circumvent compliance & regulatory issues, resulting in enhancement of their churn ratios to fatten their fee flows. They were in effect telling time looking at other people’s watches.

• Housing Mortgage brokers salivating & mentally masturbating over their commissions & throwing caution to the wind and hoodwinking the plain, simple hard working Joe & Jane Does of America walking into their dens by making them sign papers with complex finance algorhythms and confusing them with legalese. And to add insult to injury giving them a false sense of comfort by making them drink placebo spirits laced with imaginary elixirs.

• Republican & Democratic senators enjoying the ride in the dubious finance Ferris wheels set up in well marketed fairs all over the country. All of them gathering momentum & speed at an unrealistic pace completely oblivious of the doomed crash that would take place decimating everybody, individuals, corporations, institutions, countries and systems in the process.

• Print & Electronic Media going into a frenzy pitching & circulating the feel good factor & giving Americans a false sense of comfort into making them believe that everything was hunky dory & that home prices could only go up & up & never down. The writing on American walls was everywhere; it was just that every one wore their blinkers with a passion because in the short run no one wanted to look at reality, the mesmerized effect of ownership had taken its toll.

A lot of efforts are now being invested in a blame game and & simulated lynching by members of the fourth estate has become fashionable. Anybody & everybody has become a potential fall guy, from the fiscal weather man to the predictable lot of usual suspects.

Yes, introspection needs to be done & the guilty identified & suitably punished. A total overhaul of the regulatory framework & mechanism is required so that such self inflicted fiscal suicides on such a mass scale are never allowed to ever happen again.

I quote from an article I came across recently “No Currency Left to Buy the Big Lies” by John Cusack of November 3, 2008 in the Huffington Post:

James Madison said when he put power in the hands of the business elite, he would be entrusting"enlightened statesmen and benevolent philosophers who would devote themselves to the welfare of all." Clearly, he believed this statement in the way I guess some modern Republicans do. The only problem was that he eventually realized this didn't work and in 1792, disillusioned and worried about the democratic experiment, condemned what he called "the daring depravity of the times." He went on to denounce the business elites who, given ultimate power, "become tools and tyrants of government...they overwhelm government with their powers and combinations and are bribed by its largesse." That's how he perceived the system he had helped design.

The global community’s faith in the US as a leader has been shattered. Not simply because of the financial meltdown but because of the betrayal being felt globally that even in a country like the US where leadership, democracy are the hallmarks, all it takes is a motley lot of special interest groups to commit such a bizarre fiscal crime of the century, meticulously planned & executed in a short time interval of six to seven years.

No punishment thought of would be commensurate to fit the crimes that been committed by people in powerful positions & committees. Toilet paper had been upgraded as a negotiable instrument and people become adept at coloring it and offering it in various sizes & strengths.

Atonement needs to be done by all of us. It has become quite obvious that simply going to church on a Sunday morning has not being doing enough to keep us grounded. Value systems need to be redefined.

Does one really need to go on a stress safari in trying to own a 50” plasma & a home with a two car garage on illusory projected earnings based on principles of leveraging & un-realistic capital appreciation. Everyone talks about fiscal leveraging, why not go in for human leveraging in domains related to helping your neighbors, the under privileged, the old and infirm, the sick and plain folks needing comfort and assistance.

In finance, leverage (or gearing) is defined as borrowing money to supplement existing funds for investment in such a way that the potential positive or negative outcome is magnified and or enhanced. There is a flip side.

Human leveraging simply implies borrowing & sharing your & other’s ideas and skills for the benefit of the self and the community and there is no downside.

I still have faith in the US as a country and what it has stood for in the past and stands for at the present. Its political leadership, leadership in its legendary regulatory & financial institutions and in the federal government unfortunately has become a marketable commodity to special interest groups.

As outsourcing has become a successful mantra in the US, maybe, just maybe the US should as an experiment also, outsource leadership and fiscal management to get the country out of the quagmire of quicksand that it has voluntarily got itself into.

Saving Grace:The recent election victory of Barrack Obama has come in as a breath of fresh air not only to most Americans but to the global community by & large. I hope the disasters that he will be inheriting can be suitably addressed by him & his new team members.

God bless all.