Patels' belligerence

General Douglas MacArthur in his celebrated farewell address to the US Congress said,

"history teaches with unmistakable emphasis that appeasement but begets new and bloodier war. It points to no single instance where this end has justified that means, where appeasement has led to more than a sham peace. Like blackmail, it lays the basis for new and successively greater demands until, as in blackmail, violence becomes the only other alternative."

If the government goes soft on the demands of Patels in Gujarat for reservation, it will open the floodgates for similar unjustified demands from many other communities across the nation. The mischief needs to be nipped in the bud. Will Narendra Modi stand firm? Or, as The Economist asked in another context, "Does the prime minister prefer talk over deeds?" Will it be "Lights, camera, inaction!"?

Interaction on Marketing

I was asked to speak to 42 Marketing Managers of Indian Bank on 'Marketing mantra for the digital age'. As I normally do not speak on marketing, I made elaborate preparation for the 2 1/2 hour session. I also came up with what I called the 6-Ts of digital age marketing.

The session was eventually cut short to 2 hours since the bank's MD addressed the managers longer than scheduled. When I finished my talk, the participants cheerfully clapped. I did not know whether they agreed with what I was saying or they were happy that the session was over.

In the event, I forgot to mention the 6-Ts which was supposed to be the centre piece for my discussion !

'Prescient' Time

Time magazine in its issue dated 31st August, 2015 declared, "China isn't headed for serious trouble anytime soon".

Ian Bremmer, the author of the article 'The China Decade', must be cursing himself now! Should we start talking about "The decadent China"?

The dragon drags everybody down

It was sheer mayhem in Dalal Street on Monday (24^th August) morning. It was dismally colourful too. Even before the brokers could recover from the Monday morning blues, they began seeing red all over the place. It was one of those rare occasions when all 30 stocks in BSE S&P Sensex were in the red.

Dalal Street was not unique. Markets melted all over the world. These markets included commodity, currency and capital markets. Copper, nickel and oil found new lows. It was as if the pit was becoming bottomless. Chinese gravity was pulling everything down.

What was the origin, what is the course and what is the prognosis of this calamity? The epicenter is obviously China. China’s CSI 300 index spurted to 50% over 1^st January, 2015 by 30^th June, 2015. After that, it was all downhill. Now all the gains have been erased. Overemphasis on infrastructural development resulted in idle capacity of buildings, airports, bridges etc. (Moral: Economics in the long run does not brook any excess even in activities that are good in the short run.) Domestic demand started sliding. Exports slackened because many parts of the world are experiencing distressing fall in aggregate demand.

China is the largest or second largest economy in the world depending on whether you employ PPP (purchasing power parity) or not. Its GDP is about $18 trillion under PPP which is slightly in excess of America’s. It is obvious that any threat to such a massive economy will pose systemic hazard all over the world. This is exactly what is happening. China is a ‘too big to fail’ economy. Any misery in China is a body blow to rest of the world.

India is not de-coupled from China. Companies like Tata Motors and Tata Steel are devastated by the Chinese chaos. RBI Governor’s optimism that ‘the Indian economy is full of possibilities, even as much of the world is mired in pessimism’ is a bit of a stretch.

Are we in for a long term downturn? It is difficult to say. For every silver lining in the cloud, there are multiple forebodings. We were hoping that the US economy is well on its way to recovery. But the Yuan devaluation and its aftermath have thrown a spanner in the works or ,as the Americans say, thrown a (monkey) wrench in the works.

It may sound alarmist to fear that a currency war among various nations is in the offing leading to a Greater Depression than what was witnessed in the years 1929-33. However, let us not forget that uncertainty is the name of the economic game and nothing is ruled out in this age of the imponderables. To twist the Murphy’s Law a bit, even the unlikeliest event may yet happen.

Monday mayhem

Stock markets all over the world are going through an excruciating phase. On 24th August, global value of shares has shrunk by nearly US$ 10 trillion, almost the size of China's GDP. This loss on a single day is colossal, averaging around 6% in various stock exchanges.

China's market continues to sink despite the government permitting pension funds to invest 30% of their funds in stocks. This permission was given on 23rd August. It is ironic that communists in India are crying wolf over the Indian regulators permitting Employees Provident Fund Organisation to invest 5 to 15% of their incremental funds in equity. EPFO may have incurred substantial loss in their equity investments already. Bitten once, will it become twice shy? We can expect the communists to gloat over this development.

US $ is appreciating against all currencies save Yen and Euro. Japan and Europe will find their exports falling because of this. Federal Reserve Board of the US may postpone its intended increase of prime rates. Global uncertainty is escalating. RBI's moves will be worth watching.

Sundar Pichai jokes

Copied from the Net:

Since the current CEO of Google is Sundar Pichai, who is a Tamil Brahmin, there have been so many jokes made, related to it! Here are some Tambrahm jokes. If Google was a Tambrahm scenarios:

Search: Starbucks locations around me
Google: Ask Amma to make you filter kaapi

Search: Today's news
Google: Ean da? Unga Atthula The 
Hindu paper varaliya inikki?

Search: 'Mission Impossible' show timings in city
Google: Periya Tom Cruise fan a da ni? Poi Padi da!

Search: Hair cutting salons near me
Google: Today is Friday/ Tuesday, go tomorrow!

Search: Hindu baby names 
Google: If it's a boy, Thatha peru, girl Paatti peru.

Search: How to travel the world in ten lakhs 
Google: World travel'a? Shut up! Put 5 lakhs in fixed deposit & with remaining 5 lakhs, buy gold!

Search: Career options 
Google: Engineering + MS, Engineering + MBA or CA

Search: Holiday destination 
Google: Kovil

Search: Healthy food

Google: Thayir Saadham

Search: Recipe for chicken 65

Google: Error 404, not found

Search: What's special in December?
Google: Katcheris & Kovil Prasadam

Search: Swear words
Google: Abhistoo, Shaniyan, Kadangaara

Search: Restaurants
Google: ' Did you have your shower or no?'

Search: Honeymoon ideas
Google: Suprabhatham at Tirupati

Search: Lyrics for latest film song
Google: Song lyrics- a? Modalla idhu kathukko, " 

Vishwam Vishnur Vrashatkaro" ( Vishnu Sahasranamam) 

Search: Groom
Google: Did you mean groom with M.S. & employed in USA?

Search: Best wedding destinations in the world 
Google: Keep calm, it's Aadi Maasam now.

If Google was a Tambrahm:

-The logo would have a panchangam & refuse to work during Rahukaalam & Yamagandam!

- The OO's in Google would be replaced by Vadu Maangas in their logo

-  The number of results will always be multiples of 108

-  Neighbor's son's & daughter's Maths & Science scores will be visible on the home page

- Android's new releases will be named Paalpayasam, Kozhukattai, Parupputhengai, Jaangiri, etc.

- Google 's voice will be a Maami's voice

You get the point 

​AND THE PUNCH LINE ---

​

Punch line of the day !!

Even the Cash-Rich Google has to take 'Pichai' from India.

Virtual Parliament

Anguished by the washout of the monsoon session of our parliament, Chetan Bhagat has suggested that it is time that we explored the alternative of having virtual sessions of parliament. This is a welcome suggestion that will certainly prevent the culture of holding legislature to ransom.

Such a move will enable all parliamentarians to participate more effectively. Transparency will improve. This will also encourage the legislators to seek the views of informed professionals on various matters without the fear of being ridiculed. Outsourcing for expertise while the ownership will be with MPs will be good for the nation's development.

Parliamentarians used to physical wrangling will not like this idea. But they have no right to practise the dog in the manger policy of neither they will do their duty nor will they allow others to do theirs.