The Aryan Expedition

I have moved...

2011-03-25T10:44:00.005+05:30

...to tumblr. Like my friend Venkat, I wanted a change and tumblr has been refreshing.
Head over to http://mayankarya.com for Aryan Expedition. I have imported all the content from this blog since inception over there too.

Watchlist-cum-Portfolio Template

2011-01-21T12:19:00.002+05:30

This is a watchlist-cum-portfolio template I created and modified from the web. It sources the stock codes from yahoo finance.
I have kept buy levels for stocks on the watchlist as BUY UNDER. The Buying Heatmap changes colours based on the current price of the scrip relative to the BUY UNDER price. Red means the CMP is farther away from the buy under price and green means its closer to the buy under price. Once the CMP falls below the buy under price, the scrip name cell changes to black background with green text.
The refresh button runs the macro query to get the latest prices from finance.yahoo.com

Disclaimer - I got the barebones template from the web and modified it to suit me and I think others should have access to it, so its here. Also, the stock names are arbitrary, so if the SEBI/ IT dept of India are watching this, these are not the stocks I hold :D
Any questions/ clarifications, please email me. This template is filed under the "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)" Creative Commons License. Please ensure if you share/ reuse or modify this template, the CC license remains in the Excel sheet.

You can get the file here.

Come on You Reds

2010-01-15T23:09:00.005+05:30

There has been much vitriol about the Glazers family’s ownership of Man U and the huge debts they have saddled Man U with, not to mention the increasing interest payments. There has also been talk about an Asian consortium putting together a 1 billion dollar bid to buy out the ownership from the Glazers family. The jury is still out on the pros and cons of both the options, but I have a different take on the subject. While it’s not rocket science to comprehend how these spiralling debts can hasten the demise of a football club (look at Leeds, Newcastle and now Portsmouth) it becomes imperative for fans to get a grip. Man U definitely needs to get into new hands where the revenues from the Theatre of Dreams aren’t used to service the debts or personal loans of the owners. I propose the fans all over the world to take over the club through a trust/ association ala the MUST (Manchester United Supporters Trust). Here is my plan:

I assume Manchester United has 500 million fans worldwide. (Wiki Answers lists the number at 320 million, but let's assume). If each fan were to contribute one dollar’s equivalent, we could garner $ 500 million. This is neither enough, nor practical. Here is how/ why. Being a fan of Man U doesn’t mean one has to have money; what about children or people from third world countries and fans that’re actually trying to make ends meet or don’t have money to spare? A practical model for this would be equity. Fans buy shares of Man U according to their appetite, wealth and fancy. Assuming each share’s face value to be $1 and further assuming about 8.65 million fans do not buy any shares due to reasons mentioned above or otherwise, we can raise $ 1.10 Billion. Here is how:

Now, it is safe to further assume that there will be some wealthy/ affluent fans that will be willing to buy 1,000 shares each while there will be some fans too that would barely buy a single share for $1.

So, here is the deal: Buy out the Glazers by paying them $ 1 Billion. That leaves us with $ 100 million in cash. This can be used as the transfer kitty for the summer window. These shares bought will not be the actual Man U shares traded on the exchange. They will be the shares/ equity in the Trust – the MUST or other such investment vehicle. The shareholders of the trust will vote for the executive council – CEO and other officials through online voting or other such means so that it is purely democratic. The people elected as a result will run the club. Although I agree it’s a half baked idea and lots of fans would have thought about this idea or even worked on it, I though I should share it with you so maybe someone can fine tune this proposal. After all, fans know best(at least better than the Glazers)!

Up(to)Date

2009-12-12T12:27:00.000+05:30

So yeah, after more than a year since my last post, I'm still hanging in there. A lot has happened to me personally and professionally over the last year and a half and most of you know about it. Letting bygones be bygones, I'm turning a fresh leaf on this blog. Hope to be more regular from now.

I've also hopped on to the personal domain bandwagon and most of my social networks and a short bio can be seen on http://mayankarya.info

As far as what's new, I'm working on an idea for the past 6 months and hope it will see the light of the day ASAP(go figure). I also have a couple of other ideas I'm fine tuning.

Over and out.

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon

2008-11-12T10:28:00.008+05:30

It was a foggy start to the last day of the week. My body was coming to terms with the fact that there wasn't supposed to be the 12 hour marathon slumber like on every other Sunday. Instead, there was supposed to be another marathon on Sunday, the 9th November 2008 - The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. I had registered for the Great Delhi Run (7Kms) at a spur one fine day. And I started making plans on my marathon conditioning and schedule of training a month before the start. Needless to add I never trained. I woke up at 6:30 on Sunday and brought my ass to the starting line straight from bed! But the experience was exciting, the body stimulated by the sights and the adrenalin of doing something like this for the first time spurred me on. I ran(walked intermittently) the 7 km track in 38 minutes. I was elated. Along the way, I would keep an eye on the official photographers and whenever I saw them from afar, I would make it a point to run with all the efforts showing on my face, to make a pretty marathon picture. And when I found out my photos from the marathon-photos site, there were only the photos from the finishing line, with my arms raised and an all-conquering smirk(yeah, not smile) on my face!

I'm a happy man though, at least I did what I set out to. I've set my eyes on the Half Marathon next year - the full 21 Kms race. And I guess one year is a decent enough time to train hard. Lets hope I can do it without breaking down.

Weird Dreams...

2008-09-01T10:20:00.006+05:30

We all dream, we see nightmares. Some remember them, some don't. I usually have dream free sleep; dunno if I dream or not, I don't recollect anything when I wake up. But there are those so called "recurring dreams" or nightmares that, as the name suggests re-appear every once in a while. You may think I'm stupid, but I constantly dream that I've been asked (dunno by who) to count from 1 to a billion in order to proceed( dunno where!).It only gets weirder. Sometimes I dream that I'm asked to count from 1 to a billion between in one breath! It's as if the agent of death won't allow me to breathe unless I count!
It doesn't only sound suffocating, it feels suffocating as hell when I wake up. I mean how the hell can anyone count from 1 to a billion in between two breaths!??!

To be honest, I have never divulged this to anyone. But believe me, it is an overpowering feeling second only to the recurring dreams during my school going years. So, when I was in 10th grade, I used to dream I was walking somewhere and BANG! There is no more land to walk on. Instead, there is a wall like cliff in front and I had to scale this wall to get ahead. Quite metaphorical IMHO. With no ropes, no protective gear, I forge ahead... scaling the wall step by step. And finally, I emerge at the other side, don't ask how. I remember seeing this particular dream during the run-up to my Board Exams. And I remembered this dream when it was announced in school that I had topped!

This cliff dream has eluded me since then. There are times I urge myself to dream about this fantastic "overcoming the odds and emerging victorious" kinda dream only to wake up empty handed. I guess I'm not that ambitious anymore, and so life doesn't present challenges seemingly impossible at first that can be overcome in dreams - leading to reality.

This is what I'm working for...

2008-08-29T16:28:00.004+05:30

...this is what I got as a raise this year!

Time to wipe the dust off my résumé...

10 Calculations to know

2008-08-25T11:24:00.005+05:30

I came across this splendid article in Outlook Money.

It talks about 10 of the most useful financial calculations for us to know. Most of them are to be fed in MS Excel while some can be simple calculations you can do mentally or on a sheet of paper. I found this article very helpful.

Presented below is the abridged text from the article above:

1. Compound Interest
I want to take a loan of Rs 1 lakh to buy a used car. How much will the car cost me at an annual interest rate of 8 per cent for four years?
The compound interest formula can be used here to calculate the final cost, which would include the loan amount and the interest paid. The amount that is actually paid for Rs 1 lakh is Rs 1,36,048.90. The total amount of interest charged for borrowing Rs 1 lakh is Rs 36,048.90.
Formula: Future value = P(1 + R)^N
Type in: =100000(1+8%)^4 and hit enter. P: amount borrowed; R: rate of interest; N: time in years.
Also used for: Calculating the maturity value on lumpsum investment (bank fixed deposits and National Savings Certificate, for example) over a fixed period at a certain rate of interest.

2. Compound Annualised Growth Rate
I had invested Rs 1 lakh in a mutual fund five years back at an NAV of Rs 20. Now the NAV is Rs 70. How should I calculate my returns on an annual basis?
Compound annualised growth rate (CAGR) will be used here to calculate the growth over a period of time. The gain of Rs 50 over five years on the initial NAV of Rs 20 is a simple return of 250 per cent (50/20 * 100). However, it should not be construed as 50 per cent average return over five years.
Formula: CAGR = {[(M/I)^(1/N)] – 1} * 100
Type in: =(((70/20)^(1/5))-1)*100 and hit enter. M: maturity value; I: initial value; N: time in years. CAGR here is 28.47%.
Also used for: Calculating the annualised returns on a lumpsum investment in shares.

3. Internal Rate of Return
I paid Rs 18,572 every year on a moneyback insurance policy bought 20 years back. Every fifth year, I received Rs 40,000 back and Rs 4.5 lakh on maturity. What was my rate of return?
The internal rate of return (IRR) has to be calculated here. It is the interest rate accrued on an investment that has outflows and inflows at the same regular periods.
In the excel page type Rs 18,572 as a negative figure (-18572), as it is an outflow, in the first cell. Paste the same figure till the twentieth cell. Then, as every fifth year has an inflow of Rs 40,000, type in Rs 21,428 (40,000-18,572) in every fifth cell. In the twentieth cell, type in –18572. In the twenty first cell, type in Rs 4,50,000, which is the maturity value of the policy.
Then click on the cell below it and type: = IRR(A1:A21) and hit enter. 5.28% will show in the cell. This is your internal rate of return.
Also used for: Calculating returns on insurance endowment policies.

4. XIRR
I bought 500 shares on 1 January 2007 at Rs 220, 100 shares on 10 January at Rs 185 and 50 shares at Rs 165 on 18 May 2008. On 21 June 2008, I sold off all the 650 shares at Rs 655. What is the return on my investment?
XIRR is used to determine the IRR when the outflows and inflows are at different periods. Calculation is similar to IRR’s. Transaction date is mentioned on the left of the transaction.
In an excel sheet type out the data from the top most cell as shown here. Outflows figures are in negative and inflows in positive. In the cell below with the figure 4,25,750, type out
=XIRR (B1:B4,A1:A4)*100
Hit enter. The cell will show 122.95%, the total return on investment
Also used for: Calculating MF returns, especially SIP, or that for unit-linked insurance plans.

5. Post-Tax Return
My father wants a bank FD at 10 per cent return for five years. He pays income tax. What will be the returns?
The post-tax return has to be calculated here. The idea is to know the final returns on a fully taxable income. Interest income from the bank is taxed as per your tax slab.
Formula: ROI – (ROI * TR)=Post-tax return
Type in: =10 – (10 * 30.9%) and hit enter. You will get 6.91%
ROI: rate of interest; TR: tax rate (depends on tax slab)
Also used for: Calculating post-tax returns of national savings certificates, post-office time deposits, and Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme

6. Pre-Tax Yield
My brother says that the investment in public provident fund (PPF), which gives 8 per cent, is the best. Isn’t 8 per cent a low rate of return?
An investment’s pre-tax yield tells us if its return is high or low. The return on PPF (8 per cent) is tax-free. Also, this has to compare with returns of a taxable income to estimate its worth. For someone paying a tax of 30.9 per cent, the pre-tax yield in PPF is 11.57 per cent. At present, there is no fixed, safe and assured-return option that has 11.57 per cent return and a post-tax return comparable to PPF’s 8 per cent.
Formula: Pre-tax yield = ROI / (100-TR)*100
Type in: =8/(100-30.9)*100 and hit enter. You will get 11.57%. ROI: rate of interest, TR: tax rate, (depends on tax slab)
Also used for: Calculating the yield on an Employees’ Provident Fund or any other tax-free instrument.

7. Inflation
My family’s monthly expense is Rs 50,000. At an inflation rate of 5 per cent, how much will I need 20 years hence with the same expenses?
The required amount can be calculated using the standard future value formula. Inflation means that over a period of time, you need more money to fund the same expense.
Formula: Required amt.=Present amt. *(1+inflation) ^no. of years
Type in: =50000*(1+5% or .05)^20 and hit enter. You will get Rs 1,32,664 as the answer, which is the required amount.
Also used for: Calculating maturity value on an investment

8. Purchasing Power
My family’s monthly expense is Rs 50,000. At an inflation rate of 5 per cent, how much will be the purchasing value of that amount after 20 years?
Inflation increases the amount you need to spend to fetch the same article and in a way reduces the purchasing power of the rupee. Here, Rs 50,000 after 20 years at an inflation of 5 per cent will be able to buy goods worth Rs 18,844 only.
Formula: Reduced amt.= Present amt. / (1 + inflation) ^no. of yrs
Type in: =50000/(1+5%)^20 and hit enter. You will get Rs 18,844, which is the reduced amount.

9. Real Rate of Return
My father wants to make a one-year bank FD at 9 per cent. On maturity, he says, the capital will be preserved and he would get assured return on it.
It is true that fixed deposit is safe and gives assured returns. However, after adjusting for inflation, the real rate of return can be negative.
Formula: Real rate of return=[(1+ROR)/(1+i)-1]*100
Type in: =((1+9%)/(1+11%)-1)*100 and hit enter. -1.8% is the real rate of return. ROR: Rate of return per annum; i: rate of inflation (11 per cent here)

10. Doubling, Tripling of Money
I can get 12 per cent return on my equity investments. In how many years can I double or even triple my money?
Formula: No. of years to double = 72/expected return
Type in: =72/12 and hit enter. You will get 6 years. For tripling, type in: =114/12 and hit enter. You will get 9.5 years. For quadrupling, type in: =144/12 and hit enter to get 12 years.

My Movies - 1950s & 60s

2008-08-17T16:34:00.004+05:30

There can be two reasons why my earlier post on my movies collection didn't attract enough hits and/ or comments:

1. Not many of you who read/ happened to pass by this blog are into old movies
2. Some of you haven't seen these movies before.
3. Lets add another one - Nobody gives a damn!

So be it. As I promised, here is the list of movies I have from the 50s and 60s.

Now, for my favourites:

Rear Window - Absolutely delicious Hitchcock fare.
On the Waterfront - Marlon Brando all the way.
The Killing - A fantastic no linear coupe movie.
12 Angry Men - By far one of the best male performances ever from just about everybody in the cast. Brilliant.
Vertigo - Again, one of Hitchcock's best according to me.
To Kill a Mockingbird - Having read the book, I was elated with the way the film was made. Very, Very good.
Dr. Strangelove - I never knew Kubrick could be so into black comedies. Fantastic fare with Peter Sellers.

Well, so much for my catalogue. I will come back again with the 1970s later. Meanwhile, I'll go watch 12 Angry Men again...

Is Michael Phelps really the greatest Olympian in history?

2008-08-17T00:07:00.004+05:30

Is Phelps eight times greater because swimming decides that getting from A to B in the fastest possible way needs to be subdivided into all manner of bizarre strokes?What if we say to Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay that they can win multiple gold medals if they run 100m, then run it while hopping like a roo, then dancing like a chicken, (not a duck, of course, because the locals would soon have them roasted, wrapped in pancakes and covered in hoisin sauce)?

While not taking anything away from the Big Mike, I quite like what the author has to say here...

My Fantastic Movies Collection

2008-08-12T17:30:00.005+05:30

I am on an extended long weekend break from work so I thought I might as well catalogue my Movies. While at it, I said to myself why not ask you guys what your favourite movies are and discuss mine.

One of the major aims of this post is to find out which movies I've missed out on. I have most of the IMDB Top 250 movies in my collection; at least the ones that appealed to me enough to merit a place in my collection. I find IMDB as a mixed bag really, the site id est. Even though some people find it hard to digest the rankings, I found it to be a nice startng point to build one's catalogue.

Over the course of the next couple of days, I will start posting my collection, decade -wise and hope you guys can enlighten me on what I'm missing out on. I might add here that some movies in my collection aren't there for their cinematic qualities but for the sheer reason of my wanting to watch them.

Lets start with the Pre 1950s:

My personal favourites from the list are :
It Happened One Night
Citizen Kane
and
It's a Wonderful Life

Lets see what your favourites are. I could do with some recommendations. Tomorrow I will post the 1950s & 1960s list.

I'm alive

2008-08-01T10:58:00.002+05:30

Just so you all know, this blog is still alive. I'm going to be back with a vengeance soon and there will be a slew of posts; I have ideas banging inside my head already.

Brace yourselves for impact...

So, what does Mayra mean?

2008-02-27T22:48:00.006+05:30

Thats one of the first questions everyone asked us after Mayra was born. To tell you the truth, we didn't really think about a meaning before choosing her name! Quite unlike most Indian couples who pour over the world wide web to pick baby names from a zillion sites. And Kunal, Mayra is staying by the way. There is no way this name would be changed. :P

I had thought of the name way back; actually around the time it dawned on me that Rashmi was the one I would spend the rest of my life with. And thats how I conjured up this name:
MAYRA = MAYank + RAshmi!

I had always pined for a beautiful baby girl... And wishes are answered as you can see.

"So, what does Mayra mean anyway?"

Well, we did it the other way round. We sought for the name meaning after choosing the name. And surprise, surprise!! Mayra does have meanings - 3 of them which quite pleased me!!!

Mayra
Beautiful
Latin Name

Mayra
Flourishing; creative
Spanish Name

Mayra
Spring, The wind
Australian-Aboriginal Name

Its a beautiful name after all! And to top it all, I'm not sure if any other girl in India has that name... Mon amour - Mayra

How to save Tax with Home Loan

2008-01-18T10:31:00.000+05:30

or, Save taxes with a Housing Loan. Er, this title has been chosen deliberately for SEO. And it is a noble thought at that cos most of you who've meandered here from Google or other search engines wouldn't have been here had it not been for SEO and my submissions of the Aryan Expedition on search engines! He he...

So, I'm writing about this here as a matter of need rather than just for plain tax saving. As one's salary increases over time, there is very little one can do to save taxes; the Rs 1 Lakh limit for Section 80C just does not help. Higher salary means higher tax bracket(soon the highest tax bracket) and therefore more and more taxes. As a matter of fact, my employer deducts tax at source from my present salary today which is as much as about 65 % of my salary when I started working about 4 years ago! So what do you do? Having utilised the Section 80C to the maximum extent possible, the best way out is to go for a Home Loan.

Presented here are some of the best links to scout for information on home loans. The best way is to compare Home Loan offers from various banks and HFCs and go for the best offer:

http://www.indianpropertyloans.com/
http://www.honeybeeindia.com/

Here is an illustration on how much tax you can expect to save by taking a home loan. You can find your own tax savings by entering you info here. Very good tool.

For this illustration, we've considered a Floating rate Home Loan of Rs 30 Lacs, for 20 years and considered the taxable income of our friend Ramu to be Rs 5 Lacs. We've taken this loan from IDBI Home Finance which offers probably the cheapest floating rate home loan @ 10.25% p.a. Monthly rest.

Here is what we get:

For the first year, Loan Repayment(before tax benefits) is Rs 3,53,392 which is the summation of Rs 3,05,281 of Principal and Rs 48,110 of interest. The Tax payable(without the Home Loan) is Rs 1,18,830 (We haven't considered the other rebates / deductions like Section 80 C here for the sake of simplicity). Now here is the best part - with the Home Loan, the tax payable comes out to only Rs. 72,930. The Annual Tax saved comes to Rs 55,522 (Rs 45,900 + Rs 9,622). So, Ramu's Annual Repayment(after tax benefits) comes to only Rs 2,97,870. This has also reduced the Post Tax Effective Interest Rate(PTEIR) of the loan to 7.69% p.a. Monthly rest.

The Total Tax saved over the period of this loan, that is 20 years comes out to a neat Rs 11,60,565(A-B):
(A)Total repayment over the period of the loan WITHOUT tax incentives : Rs 70,67,832
(B)Total repayment over the period of the loan WITH tax incentives : Rs 59,07,267

The Annual Tax saved figure will keep on increasing with each passing year except the last 4-5 years when Ramu won't get the full tax benefits. The explanation which is given on the link I provided above is reproduced here:

You will notice a drastic fall in the effective interest rate that you pay after TAX benefits.

The above table examines for you the year from which you are not getting your full tax benefit. Normally, in the last couple of years you may not be able to avail the full tax benefit as the level of interest & principal payments are low. However if you don't have the full tax break even earlier than that you may not be efficiently using the Tax Policy. Go back and try to reduce the tenure of the loan (or take a larger loan) to get higher tax breaks.

You might also want to see how post tax effective interest rate changes as the Tax Policy changes in the future or the tax rate that is applicable to you changes.

So there you have it! Saving income tax by taking a home loan. Works like a charm I'm told, although I have to give it a try soon myself...

ELSS V/s NSC

2008-01-15T22:39:00.000+05:30

This is in response to a comment posted by Ankur on my earlier post - Tax Saving for free! . This reply is for the benefit for everyone who would like to know this and therefore I've made a new post out of this instead of a comment.

You cannot compare apples with oranges. As a means of tax saving, ELSS and NSC are comparable but not when it comes to liquidity and returns potential(well, risk is another parameter here). NSCs are the poor and uninformed choice in case one can go in for a slightly higher risk(in the case of ELSS as it is equity oriented).

The lock in period for ELSS is 3 years while it is 6 years in the case of NSCs.

Another fact, ELSS dividends and redemptions after 3 years are completely tax free while the interest income from NSC is taxable. Taking a five year horizon, the post tax return from NSC comes out a POOR 11.25% p.a. only while the average post tax return from ELSS funds over the corresponding 5 year period is upwards of 80% p.a.

I guess you'd already know that equities tend to give the best returns over the long term, so tax saving for the long term will be definitely better in the ELSS way than the NSC way. It also beats inflation over the long term thereby giving the best real returns. Finally the disclaimer, ELSS returns are not guaranteed unlike NSC.

Trust this all will prove the point sufficiently, otherwise I have all the time in the world to validate my views! Thanks for the comment btw, keep 'em coming! As a parting shot, here is an illustration on the kind of brutal out performance of the ELSS over the others(read NSC, PPF etc):

How does an ELSS give you the two-in-one advantage of saving tax and wealth-building? The graph below is an eye opener.

If three separate investments of Rs. 1,000 each were made in June 1999 into NSCs, PPFs and in an ELSS, how would they fare? The Rs. 1,000 invested in an ELSS would be worth approximately Rs. 12,266 today. In sharp contrast, none of the fixed rate savings would be worth more than Rs. 2,077. If you are willing to ride the ups and downs of the market, you may find that an ELSS could be an ideal way to save tax and create wealth for your future.

Sources: ELSS data - ICRA MFIE. PPF, NSC Data - Indian PublicFinance Statistics 05-06, Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs). To represent ELSS, we have considered the performance of the five largest ELSS funds that published their first NAVs on or before June 30, 1999. Assumes an investment of Rs. 1,000 begun on June 30, 1999. PPF - Assumes Rs. 1,000 invested in the Public Provident Fund. For the purposes of simplicity, rate changes announced any time during a month are assumed to be effective for the entire month for the purposes of calculating accrued interest at the end of the month. Interest for the month is calculated by dividing the effective annual PPF rate by 12. For the purposes of simplicity, interest is assumed to accrue on monthly balance in the PPF account. Portfolio value shown here is notional value based on accrued interest till Jun 30, 2007 only. NSC - Assumes Rs. 1,000 invested in NSC at the prevailing interest rate. Assumes half-year compounding at prevailing interest rate. Past performance may or may not be sustained in future. The minimum amount actually required for these investments may be more or less than Rs. 1,000. This graph is for illustrative purposes only. Ending values are rounded off.
https://www.fidelity.co.in/learning_centre/tax/know_about_the_ELSS_advantage.html

Songs I'm listening to currently

2008-01-14T11:55:00.000+05:30

A handy music streaming widget, Radioblogclub gets 5 stars for being a saviour for a lot of people who would like to listen to their favourite songs without having to download tons of mp3s.

The best part? You can customise the Radioblogclub player to create a playlist of your favourite songs and post them on your blog, like I've done here. You can also add mp3 songs from your own library to be streamed on the radioblogclub's servers. I'm in love with this little number, Hey there Delilah by the Plain White Tees. And this song is what prompted me to put all the music I like in one place and share it with the rest of the world at the same time.

Pretty neat, eh?

p.s. It's been bringing quite a lotta traffic lately on this forsaken blog, this tiny music player here! :)

Tax Saving for free!

2008-01-14T11:35:00.000+05:30

Yes, it's possible. As elucidated in this Economictimes article, you can save taxes via the Section 80C tax which provides for deduction of upto Rs 1 Lakh. We're talking about ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Scheme), a diversified equity mutual fund with a lock-in period of 3 years from the date of investment.

The strategy is pretty simple. Consider a case wherein Ramu has been investing in ELSS over the last say, 5 years. The ELSS investments made by him in the year 2005 are out of the lock-in period now in 2008. What this means is, he can reinvest the ELSS investment of 2005 in this year and still be eligible for the Section 80C deduction. So essentially, he hasn't dug into his pockets to invest for this year. Ramu can shift his 2005 ELSS money to a liquid fund and in a couple of days shift it back into the ELSS fund(which qualifies as a fresh purchase). The double whammy here is that equity mutual fund investments if done by the individual himself (that is applying for mutual fund purchases in person at the AMC office) attract no entry load. Thats a cool saving of the 2.25% entry load as well!

You can check out the best(preferably 5 or 4 star rated) ELSS schemes on Valueresearch

We call it "Aam ke aam, guthliyo ke daam" in India! So there you have it, tax savings for free. Works like a charm for poor people like me...

Core Analyst School KL, December 2007

2007-12-20T14:03:00.000+05:30

KLPD

2007-12-20T10:29:00.000+05:30

Q. What is the Police Department of Kuala Lumpur called?
A. KLPD

Before you start ranting about PJs n all, let me give credit where it is due. To Siddharth, cos this was his PJ. Which brings me to the point. I'm back from a two week sojourn in Kuala Lumpur / Putrajaya, Malaysia. I was there on a training (can you believe it?). This is known as the Core Analyst School and brings analysts from all over Asia & Australia together. Needless to mention it was one BIIG party. I made friends, tried to learn Japanese, worked hard(ly), partied harder, shopped for fake Tag Heuer watches & Mont Blanc bags(hard to tell the difference!) and had a whale of a time. I have since sobered up from the Hangover I got last Thursday.

Have no idea what all to document here but it was a rocking experience. Some frozen moments from this trip are here; most of the others can be seen on my Facebook profile. I promise to divulge more later.

A-SEN-CHAR

2007-10-23T14:56:00.000+05:30

I know it's been quite a long time. Funny thing is I can't say I had been busy; cause I haven't. It's been one of the free-est couple of months of my life. And I can't seem to decide whether I'm loving it or loathing it.

Having quit ABN AMRO Bank in August, I landed up here in Accenture and heaven knows how relieved I am. No more sales calls, no more TARGETS, no more humiliation. I'm by myself, so to speak. As I mentioned earlier, I'm looking forward to using my grey cells here instead of the parroty sales talk.

Now, being free is more than a metaphor here. Literally speaking, I am not on a project currently, so I'm free; and figuratively speaking, I'm free from all the hassles I just described. I like it here. Made some friends, have the weekend off, do NOT have to wear a tie everyday etc. What? You call this cool? Wait till you hear the other side.

I get up every morning at 7 now. Not for exercise, to catch my cab @ 7:40. It takes me 1.5 hours in the morning & 2 hours in the evening commute. That's just one of the downsides here. Being chained to your desk for long does mean an onset of obesity & lethargy. I'm bogged down by the latter; trying my best to stave off the former.

The other downer is the paucity of time to kill time; know what I mean? Not knowing what to do with time on your hand is such a waste. That's why to kill time, I started trading on the markets. Needless to say, I traded my money in the markets with experience. Having lost quite a lot on speculation, I'm trying my best to turn my mind away from it. But what do I do?

Free as a bird!

2007-08-13T15:12:00.000+05:30

The day has come. Refer one of my earlier posts on Ideal Job. Well, my time starts now. Tomorrow is my last working day at my present organisation. Needless to add, I'm excited.

With this change, I'm actually changing my profile. Yes, I'm moving away from Banking & Financial Services; into Management Consulting.

Hope to do good in my new role. And hope this will allow me to use more of my neurons! So long...

Have you ever wondered...

2007-06-28T15:48:00.000+05:30

... how would someone else do if he/she would be in your shoes? Would he/she(we'll use he from now on, just for convenience; he/she is too much work!) be any better than you. And who would he be? Anyone you know, or some stranger?!?

Truth is (at least for me) no one can fill the other's shoes. I can't imagine myself in someone else's shoes for sure. I rant, I curse, but still I am me. I won't change anything in me, but changing circumstances, I'd love to!

I digress. Just back from another one of those humiliating team meetings. How I wish I could be insulated from all the crap I get. I've managed teams myself and I've given shit to my team sometimes but I've always been most approachable and pally with my team. I used to play hard with them and I also partied hard with them. I was genuinely interested in their progress and they would certainly know me as an amiable boss(hate that word!)

Which brings me to my present state. What to do now? Things just aren't going the way they are supposed to be(leave alone "the way I want"). I said it before, I say it again, I don't deserve this.

my BAD?!?!?

2007-06-25T12:40:00.000+05:30

So a client makes a notional loss of 0.26% on one of the investments I advised to him. He fails to see the 15% absolute gain on the other investment he's made from my advise. What does he do? He pooh poohs me and goes about redeeming the loss making investment & buys a ULIP!!!!

My bad... Right!

It's more frustrating to note that this ULIP sale comes from a colleague who has absolutely made sure his / her bancassurance targets are overhauled! And the client says I have failed to advise him properly. For the seasoned advisors who are reading this blog, here is the actual lowdown:

My suggestion to the client was Rs 3 Lacs each in Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Midcap Fund (investment horizon of 2 to 3 years) & ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund (at least one year; being a thematic fund). Needless to say, the cash component in the Sundaram Fund, albeit a cautious strategy meant a drain on the returns. The Infrastructure fund however, true to market movements, cashed in big time. Both investments were made in Mid January 2007 and the client actually thought I was not advising him properly because I wasn't churning the portfolio!!! Beat that.

Sometimes I wonder if my self righteousness is actually impeding my so called performance. But then, if I would start doing what every other unscrupulous advisor is doing today, I would soon quit this profession. I do what I do because I love advising clients on their money. Not because I want to win every other incentive contest at the risk of murdering my clients' portfolio. Its another matter if I qualify for a contest or two after I've done my duty for my client.

I really am worried how my work shapes up in the future. What I'm sure of is that I will always do whats right for my client in whatever profession I choose at whichever step in my professional life.

As for my client, I sincerely wish someone like me runs into him and tells him what a foolhardy decision he has made, not because then he will understand what I did for him was right, but so that he doesn't make such mistakes again.

Films I've watched recently

2007-06-17T21:46:00.000+05:30

Just some of the films I've watched recently:

One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Beautiful, especially Jack Nicholson & the superb & haunting soundtrack. Must watch!

Taxi Driver
This one had a different kinda effect on me. I didn't really like it, but it did leave an indelible impression. De Niro is very good and again, the soundtrack, specially the background score made it a good package. Can't get over the fact how pretty Cybill Shepherd looks in this one, considering all my memories of her were from Moonlighting!

V for Vendetta
Natalie Portman is not only a stunner, she can act as well! I liked the script, reminded me of Orwell's 1984. Not bad at all! Hugo Weaving does a phenomenal job as well.

Love Story
Having read the book by Erich Segal, I wanted to see the movie adaptation. It didnt live upto expectations at all. Its a bad attempt, the only saving grace being the Love Story theme music every now & then. Everybody who's read the book would hopefully concur its a downer, the movie adaptation that is. Am waiting to lay my hands on the movie adaptation of The Fountainhead now. Just out of curiosity, to see how Howard Roark's buildings would look like on screen!!!

Cheers!

Death of a Salesman

2007-06-13T15:56:00.000+05:30

They say I am not cut out for sales. That I do not have that fire (whatever that means). They say I work for my clients, I make investment decision solely keeping their needs in mind, which does not necessarily take the organisational needs in mind.

I say, so be it. I do not take that as criticism. Thats more like a compliment; at least I dont sleep every night with curses from clients ravaging my peace; with the thoughts of how clients' hard earned money is being put to waste.

I aint no salesman if this is what salesmen are supposed to do. And I'm sure I wont last long like this. Which brings me to the question again - What am I supposed to do?!?!?!?

Ideal Job

2007-06-07T18:00:00.000+05:30

You might say this sounds like utopia. But what if your job was something like the first two to three months of joining a company and the last one or two months (like serving notice)?!?!!?

Thats what I call an ideal workplace life! The honeymoon never ceases...

Yes or Know

2007-05-16T16:42:00.000+05:30

When you know they know, its best they know you know.

When they know you know, its best they know you know they know.

When you know they know you know, its best they know you know they know.

Should I beware?

2007-05-15T17:59:00.000+05:30

Been reading a lot on how blogs have come to define their authors and how a lot of agencies track blogs to better understand a person and all. What I'm trying to say is this - recruitment agencies / job consultants etc now have another tool for their background check of a candidate - blog!

So I was just wondering if and when some recruiter does get to see what kind of emotional outbursts (mostly related to my pathetic work life) Ive been piling up on this blog; he/she will definitely have a good idea who I am and what I've been subject to. They can write me off by saying I crumble under pressure, am stressed out, cannot work under chaos, am unsettled etc. Which is true for most of us, right? Its just that I use this blog as a famed punching doll, to vent out my frustrations and to bare all my work life emotions in front of everybody at the risk of appearing weak & vulnerable.
So be it.

I have been giving serious thought to go see a career counsellor and find out what I'm really supposed to do with my life. The resolve is stronger with support from Sid, who claims he is in the same boat as me. Of course he is still single which makes him much less of a competition when it comes to finding a true calling; i mean he still has time, lots of it! There are times when I think all my creative juices & sense of humour etc have dried up in this never ending quest for that one more sale, that push for incremental target achievement and all that crap at work. I mean I wanted to be in media & advertising for god sake!! What the hell am I doing here in a BANK!?!?! And then there are times when I get my pay cheque and am led into believing I am bound to this life, this ever repeating sequence of 24 hours every day rut in which I am just rotting. I've heard a lot from a lot of people that this shit happens to all of us, and one gets out of this eventually but frankly this has taken so long with me I think I will remain in this forever.

Toota Sanganak

2007-03-13T18:22:00.000+05:30

Thats devnagari for a broken computer. Its been more than 3 long days since I used my PC - its broken. Lots of things which seem wrong with it. All I hope is the data remain intact. You know, with all those endless searches on the world wide web trying to fill up my 80 GB SATA, I won't wanna lose out on any of that.

Pakistan is going to fight it out with the Windies tonight (at least here in India) for the opening match of the 2007 World Cup. The timing couldn't have been better - matches start around 7 p.m.!!!! I guess a DTH service on a new LCD / Plasma TV would well be worth it, wotsay? Aaah, if only chlorophyll had monetary value!

Have you ever had this feeling when you are blogging and dont knwo what to write? I have this now. So..... what should we write here....... ummmm..... how do I fill up this window with characters..... erm.... well, yea... cigarettes prices have increased in Indi after the Budget. The once Rs 2/stick Wills Navy Cut is now Rs 3!! Benson Hedges Lights is still an afordable Rs 4/stick.

Have I lost it yet? What else...hmmmm.... ,..

2007-03-12T15:26:00.000+05:30

In my spare time I like making models on personal investing, trading strategies, financial goal mapping, financial plans , investments plans etcetera.
One of these which I'm trying to use myself and tweak it regularly is what I call the 10% trading strategy. It addresses 3 different scenarios basically with my supposed market reactions and what the investor (me in this case) can go about doing. As you can see its still primitive and the various permutations / combinations can be dizzying, but for simplicity this is how I would go about. Here it is:

Needless to say it does not take into account the vagaries of the markets in entirety. What this manages to achieve though, is the fact that trading demands consistency and careful monitoring with Stop Losses. After all, if it was easy, everybody would have been minting money by trading on the markets.

Random

2007-03-08T12:27:00.000+05:30

Selling with passion - that was the topic of a training I attended yesterday. It was mostly global gyaan, with a few sales closes, the process etc thrown in. Not bad, but not very good either. Kunal recently suggested a career move - out of banking, id est. Come to think of it, its no big deal for me what with this being my 3rd job in as many years! Another change... well, lets see. Apparently the fact that I have an IT degree apart from the quintissential MBA may just help me get that. Fancy titles, though - Consultant / Analyst etc. Having thought about it and after discussing over it, I guess why not. But before that, let me do all I haven't done while I've been here in banking. Let me go about ruthless, persevering selling to the hilt before taking a bow, if at all!

No, no, no. I haven't decided to move on, its just a thought, a very interesting one at that. So I'm embarking on doing just that. Give me a week and I will update you with how it went. And all this while I thought I was an advisor...

Well, come back (or Welcome Back)

2007-02-27T17:49:00.000+05:30

...after all, its your own blog, your puching doll. So I'm back at doing what I am best known to..on this blog, that is. WHINING!

There are different kinds of pressures but I would like to demarcate them into two broadly. One is when you dont have the stuff and are expected to deliver/succeed nonetheless.

The second is when you are provided with the stuff, and you TAKE on pressure yourself so that it doesnt come to you later. Does this make sense at all? I think it does...

I have been plagued with pressures throughout my life, yes sir, I'm a regular pressure cooker. So what if it doesnt show; I'm adept at masking. Presently I'm stuck with the 2nd kind of pressure which has a judicious mix of the 1st one but mostly its pressure nonetheless. Needless to say I hate it. Just for update sake, I've been bumped off to a suburban branch from the Central office where I started working here. Good, bad I don't know. But it sure sucks. Its like joining a new company altogether. Completely new people, hostility, suspicion gets the better of you soon. It has, actually. That is why I feel so "at ease" when Im here in the Central office. As if I'm home. You remember the rut I used to write about? Its the same here. Thats how my career seems to be moving as well(not moving as in moving forward). My first job was at CP, 2nd at Noida, 3rd again at CP and in the middle of this one I have been bumped off again to Noida!!!

Some positives though, my wife's started working again; she had quit when I quit ICICI in June 2006 and has been selective in accepting offers subsequently. But I guess frustration got the better of her and she landed up doing a 10 to 7 in Gurgaon!!! Yippeeee we are DINKS now.

You know what, I don't feel like blogging now, will be back later.

?!,.

2006-10-27T14:34:00.000+05:30

Question mark? Exclaimation mark! Comma, Full Stop. Grammar punctuates the language; and questions, exclaimations and commas punctuate life ending irrevocably in a FULL Stop. No its not even a "period". Its the end. No coming back (unless you believe in the after-life).

And so life goes...

And so I digress. I am not religious, leave alone being spiritual. But the quest for the unknown which ravage my thoughts literally have no meaning. I won't say I am unhappy. But this state isn't the same as being happy. Does everyone go through this? I'd think yes, barring circumstances, but then what do you do about it? Everyone is trying to make a living, how / doing what / with what are probably the many differentiators which dot the life and make the living while at it (living, that is).

At the time of pouring these thoughts over this blog, a million thoughts race my mind, plus the odd voices of those around me. A bedlam; a mishmash of a multitude of voices. I know my life is better than many; and I'm not even complaining that a lot of others have lives better than mine, but the fact is my life isn't good enough for me. Lets face it. A directionless, demotivated, weary individual would tend to think along the same lines. By the way, isn't this a rehash of what I've been posting over the Aryan Expedition off late? But isn't this right if this is true? I mean rambling along similar lines over and over again do mean that something is wrong after all. But who am I trying to prove this? No one. This is for me. I wonder how I'd feel five, maybe even two years down the line reading these posts. Will it be any better? Or will I have gone down under. Questions! (with the exclaimation mark suffixed) Them punctuations...

Idle mind

2006-10-10T13:23:00.000+05:30

is the devil's workshop. You think (actually you don't think; you have thoughts) about completely inane things and dont know what to do. That is the state I am in right now. Fuck man, is there no order in life at all? You wake up in the morning half realising its another start to 24 hours of shit; and the thought petrifies you. This horror is something like when you had your Board Exams and you were shit scared about it, cause it really mattered to do well. Voila! Thats it - I want to do well. Maybe I am putting too much pressure on myself; might as well be that times are shitty right now. Can't do anything about it. Why the hell is it always supposed to happen to me? Those who point fingers would do well to know that I play to win; everybody plays to win, don't we? Its another matter that if there were no losers (no pun!) winning wouldn't have been worthwhile. Oh sweet success! Where art though?

Sometimes I wish I could wish. And the wish'll come true. No horses now, no riding. The fact is I am no worse than the people around me if not better. So how come I bloody mess up whatever I do? Actually I don't even get the friggin opportunity to mess things up; things are just not happening. If my ass got saved this time, what is the bloody guarantee it won't be whipped next time? Or is it that I've turned too whiny? Or too complaining. Nah, can't be. I cannot be compared to myself 3, even 5 years ago. Those were grand days. Bereft of hassles, full of life itself. Why the hell have times changed for the worse now? Is this a rut I've gotten into myself? Will I ever come out of it if this is actually a rut? When?m was How? Am I the average pretentious banker?!? A banker! you may think. This noob is a banker!!!?! Yes I am one and like to be called one. Another matter that I suck at it BIIIG time; at least my numbers seem to suggest so. When will my million dollar (even a million rupees will do at this point of time) come my way?!?!?!

You know most films you like do not deal with the mundane vagaries of everyday life. They play to a theme, a plot, a specific set of audience; well most of them. I wonder therefore what did Joel Barish do most of the time when he wasn't with Clementine or thinking about her? Can I be a Howard Roark ever? I know Roark was practical, but is being Roark practical? I'd say more idealist than practical; but hey, who am I fooling? I lived Roark while reading the Fountainhead and thought identifying with him was the closest to living him out. How about Holden Caulfield for that matter? If only fiction could have been more factual! Just had the hunger pang. Gotta have some nourishment now. How bloody predictable of me! Just when I actually got thinking, hunger strikes me...

Very soon..

2006-10-05T15:30:00.000+05:30

I will battle it out with the villains. 1800 IST to be precise. Hell hath no fury I tell you. Even though I am in the pits and diffidence just feels like one of my nick names, I am pestering myself to stay determined! To fight it out. Wait for the gory details once I'm through.

HERE I COME

No friggin title. Why the hell is every friggin post supposed to have a friggin title?!?!

2006-10-04T17:28:00.000+05:30

Am so goddamn furious now I couldn't help it. I have nothing else to do but write aimlessly. I do admit that I am looking out for those silly grammatical errors and typos, but on the whole this is gonna be one helluva outburst.

This is my bloody blog and I write whatever I want to, right? Who the hell do you think you are saying right (or wrong)? I was asking myself. Right then. When the going gets tough, the tough...bull crap. Even if I'm not tough, I will get going (pun intended again). As I mentioned in the earlier post, the juices have all dried up. There is really no fun nowadays. I am not that shallow or weak, mind you, but I have my defenses, and I am entitled to whine once in a while. Why the hell do I have to portray calm always? I do whatever I want to and that applies to everything. What was that word.... Calling, yeah. What the hell is my true calling? Am I supposed to do this forever? Is there something else I am somehow missing out? Where is my square hole? When will I fit in? These are not your average distress questions one asks dear lord. People who know me know I'm an atheist, an agnostic, take your pick. Why don't we get sunshine in winters and cool winds in summers? Why didn't I have the money when I needed and why don't I have the time now when I need it so goddamn much? Why am I always left wanting? Am I demanding? So be it, I AM demanding. I want my time, I want my way, I want my sunshine and I want a goddamn break.

Life's a bitch...

2006-10-04T17:15:00.000+05:30

...and then you die! The lyrics from NAS couldn't be more pertinent at this juncture of my wasted life. Some would argue that this is taking it a bit too far. But how do you explain a life full of situations and circumstances which make one nothing but a gross misfit?!?!

I know times change; and so do situations; but how about a rut? Stagnation anyone?!? Life's been real unkind to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. I have mine. And I am one of those who have been handed a raw deal. Lets put it this way, Ive had no deal (pun intended). Forever waiting for the right opportune moment, rueing what one has and what one has BEEN THROUGH is not the way, right? Perhaps I make no sense here; maybe I'm being a bit too hard on myself but the stark truth is I have not found the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. And who am I doing all this for anyway? Why am I doing stuff? Whats it gonna get me? Whats it gonna get me to? Searching for answers, I puff my way to glory...

What am I really doing here I don't know. What?

Somewhere over the rainbow

2006-10-03T14:47:00.000+05:30

Thats the name of this song by which has gotten into my head and I keep on listening to it day in and day out. I heard this song a week ago while driving down to work in the morning. And in case you haven't heard it, please do so; it has that calming, happy and bright feel to it and I love the melody.

The version I am talking about is by the late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. To find out more about this song, go here:

Go here to know more about Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

If I could turn back time!

2006-10-03T12:04:00.000+05:30

Most people would do this or that only if they could turn back time. One of the few thoughts that race my mind almost everyday when I look at the equity markets quotes is... If only I could turn back time, I could have bought XYZ or ABC or whatever... only if...

Am back after a longish weekend break aided by these holidays - Dussehra, Gandhi Jayanti (Dry day!) etc. A new month has started even before I could take in the ignominy of having not performed well in September (my birth month!!). Hopelessly want October to work out the way I want otherwise the Diwali will be nothing more than Diwala for me. Lots of my CBS mates are expected to converge in Delhi over the end of this month. It will be fun I think to meet up with all after such a long time. Reunions are surely in the air. I have my Somaiya Alumni Meet on 14th October in Mumbai (how I wish I could go there! damn airfares); CBS Alumni is happening this Sunday here in New Delhi; and so on.

Updates

2006-09-27T10:47:00.000+05:30

Venky says "kuchh update kar bhai" so be it.

As far as updates are concerned, I'm back in the quagmire of business / dhanda / paisa - whatever you wanna call it. The only problem is that this dhanda isn't happening only!!

Call it my misfortune or whatever, but the word TARGETS has alwayas had a tendency to bully me! Not that I get cowed down by them; just that I never fully measure upto them (the targets, that is).

Had my birthday last week; got my share of birthday wishes - on the phone, e-mails, on orkut etc. Come to think of it; it really is no big deal, right? Once a year you celebrate to mark the day you were born; thats it!

And I hate working now; not that I don't like my work (these are 2 different things); just that I don't wanna work at all. I do enjoy my work and I respect my profession. I don't know what I'm saying; but maybe this is not my true calling! All my creative juices and vellapanti have dried (a certain applewala will surely vouch for that)

Have been watching some movies lately. Just finished 12 Angry Men with excellent performances from an all male cast! Some of the others I have recently seen and enjoyed:

Fight Club The hindi version is such a dud, man!
American Beauty (watched again ; the first time was in CBS days... sigh!)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind one of the few romantic movies I loved! And Jim Carrey is a very under rated actor

So much for an update, right?

Google - Search engine

2006-08-03T12:20:00.000+05:30

Try a google search with the keyword - search engine and the first result will be www.google.com
Right?
Wrong.
Try doing that and see for yourself!!!

Pretty good...

2006-07-31T12:30:00.000+05:30

Thats what, right? Considering the fact that the first tip from this hallowed blog in over a year has turned out super duper hit.

KRBL has just hit its second target of 108. Its trading at 108.15 on BSE at 12:20 p.m. I say, it should hit another upper circuit at least tomorrow.

Now isnt that good?

Tell you what wasn't good, was (still is) my health. Yep, the good ol virus hit me hard last wednesday forcing me to stay home this whole week. Too bad, I tell you, the weekend plan was all out for a toss, am still feeling weak, and as always, dont feel like working.

That was the reason I didnt blog all this while, and now that Im back to work (yes, I had to.. sob sob), I'm back to blogging as well.

So, I say no more T spiritual world, no more Opal industries, only good, clean, profit making tips from now on. Wotsay?

On this happy note, I leave you with a delivery call :
INOX Leisure (CMP 116)

Target 1 ( 1Year - 3 Year range) : 257.00/
Target 2 ( 5 year): 425.00/

Do tell me 5 years from now when this stock hits the 4 figures. I say the 5 year target may well be hit in 2 years.

To insure promptness

2006-07-25T17:12:00.000+05:30

The fact that the mission statement of this blog states giving free stock tips is one of the important constituents, means that there have to be some.

So here is the latest tip.

Buy KRBL (CMP 87)
Target 1: 94
Target 2: 108

Estimated Profit for Target 1: 8% (Rs.700/- per 100 shares)
Estimated Profit for Target 2: 24% (Rs.2100/- per 100 shares)

We'll have the reportcard soon.

Rain

2006-07-25T14:08:00.000+05:30

Yes it rained today. Lots. But when you've not had your B&H for 3 long hours, how does it matter if you get wet trying to trudge your way through the barrage to the panwala to get your fix. Thats what I did, and boy was I drenched!

Anyway, its stopped now and has left behind the residual clamminess in the air. Me happily parked on my seat under the cool airconditioned environs of this office!

Had a blast last night. We celebrated Venky's birthday at ZEN in CP after being booed away from Russian Cultural centre where our jack just didnt work; after waiting for 45 minutes at United Coffee House (which was jampacked on a monday night!!! monday night, my god. Why dont ppl just cook n eat @ home). Finally landed at ZEN at 2200 and had our fix of chilled Sand Pipers, Mongolian chicken n the starch and all livened up by Bobby, the buffoon!!!

Almond Fudge Feast at India gate at 0030 and we were done! Btw, if you havent checked out the whacky vids at youtube, you better start now. Dont forget to see "If you come today" by Dr. Rajkumar - damn funny eeenglish song from the 70s south indian movie - Operation Diamond Racket and the "Punjabi Terminator". Cool stuff.

9 months

2006-07-24T14:50:00.000+05:30

Its been more than 9 months since I last blogged here. But then, thats what 99% of blogs are!! That also probably means that if you actually don't know me, this blog has failed to apprise you of what happened in these preceding 9 months. Not that its a great story n all, just that these 9 months were spent in ICICI Bank, my second job after Reliance MF. Come to think of, it really was just a passing phase, with no real fire happening in my life. Wait... what did I just say? No fire? OMFG!!! Fire was there, yes sir, plenty of it. How? Well, sample this: while filling an online form, at the marital status drop down box, I now choose M instead of S or U. Got that? Yes, this happened in February of 2006. That, my friends, is fire for you. Right up ma behind!!!

Well, one must be wondering how and/or why the bloody hell did he start blogging again now? Thats probably beacause I have too much spare time at work these days. You see, I am in the gestation period of working in a new job. Yes, the third job in my illustrious career spanning exactly 2 long years(that was not a typo, it is 2, not 12, not 20, thats 2). And boy, am I proud! Kunal is the one who has stolen the march in this department, but by the looks of it, I guess with another 2-3 years I may just beat him. Not that I am doing this for fun or just for the bloody heck of it(am I using bloody too often?). Its just the circumstances, you see. I love that word, you can attribute each and every thing to this word and it will absorb it. Good boy, circumstances.

Yeah, so here I am at ABN Amro, staring into the concrete jungle of Connaught Place through the windows and listening to the occasional fax tone, the phone lines, the tapping of my keyboard(oops, its a keypad now, yep, a brand new lenovo thinkpad's) and others' keypads around me and I am glad I am away from the pandemonium of Ibank in Noida's electricity starved sector-18 market.

Back to Barakhamba Road, back to shankar market's rajma chawal. anand's biryani, wenger's shami kebabs n all. Its going good till now, after all, Ive been working just 2 weeks now. And yes, I did take a one month sabbatical after quitting ICICI Bank(Did you raise an eyebrow after reading quitting? A long story, maybe in another post). Bit of a double edged sword if you ask me. Although its a great relief n all, but when there is no cheque at the end of the month which you've got so bloody(there it comes again!) used to it, and the expenses dont know you've taken a break, you better start balancing your balances. Which was tough.

Anyway, I guess this has turned out to be one helluva longish, boring post (more to follow btw), I'll call it quits now.

Benson & Hedges Lights beckons me now. Ciao!

Newest tips reportcard

2005-09-06T00:49:00.000+05:30

So, how have the markets behaved? During this preceding two week period, we have seen the markets close above 7900, Katrina lashing out at New Orleans, Oil jump to $70, Sania Mirza making great progress in the US Open and what not.

Heres a look at how we have done with the latest reccos given on 19th August:

Not bad, eh? Book profits as soon as you can as is evident from above. Happy investing.

Not bad, eh?

Buy this...

2005-09-01T11:41:00.000+05:30

Buy T. SPIRITUAL WORLD as soon as you can. CMP on BSE is 4.56 (1st Sep 2005 12:42 p.m.) This should reach at least Rs 7 soon. check out tspiritualworld.com for details about the company.

Newest tips

2005-08-20T02:46:00.000+05:30

Long time, no tips, eh? Here are some reccos imao:

CMP as on 19th August 2005

1. CCL Products India - 360 Target - 450
2. Pokarna - 232 Target - 300
3.Champagne Indage - 269 Target - 315
4. Balrampur Chini - 86 Target - 150
5. Dutron Polymers - 37 Target - 45
6. Rayban India - 92 Target - 120
7. Spenta International - 23 Target - 30
8. Subros - 173 Target - 265
9. Electrosteel - 401 Target - 510
10. Indraprastha Med Corp - 48 Target - 65
11. Mahindra Gesco - 216 Target - 312

Remember, no guarantee of returns. Also, book profits whenever you can. The golden mantra...

Its not important to try to time the market, whats important is how much time you spend in the market

Moral of the story :Long term investing pays. Marrying your stocks is also not right, detach and book profits. Happy investing...

Sambhar of 69 V/s Hotel Karnal-a-fonia

2005-08-19T02:10:00.000+05:30

I received a mail from a friend which had this spoof on the lyrics of Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams. Damn funny. And then I saw the same lyrics posted on a blog. So I posted this comment on this guy's blog which goes:

Hotel Karnal-a-fonia

On the dark GT highway
Some lice in my hair
Warm smell of some dhabas
Rising up in the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a ttharra joint
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I must have drunk over a pint
There he stood in the drive way
I heard his truck helper yell
And I was thinking to myself
This had to be Devinder Singh Behl
Then he belched, and scratched his head
And he was on the highway
And the other drivers leaning from their truck doors
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel Karnal-a-fonia
Vaddi changi place (vaddi changi place)
Vaddi changi place

Massage, manicure, pedicure at Karnal-a-fonia
Any kind of ear (any kind of ear)
You can clean it here
His car's grill was definitely twisted
He's got a Maruti-Benz
He's got a lot of petty petty MLAs
Whom he calls friends
Dancing bhangra in the courtyard
See surdie sweat
Some dancer is this Devinder
Armpits stinking wet
So I told the bell captain
It's made a reservation online
And he said, oye khoteyya our internet hasnt
Worked at all, since 1999
And still those drivers were calling from the drive way
Woke me in the middle of the night
I know I heard them say

Welcome to the hotel Karnal-a-fonia
Itthey karlo rest (itthey karlo rest)
Itthey karlo rest

Aish karo at the hotel Karnal-a-fonia
Kudi umr bais (kudi umr bais)
Will serve you nice
Daler on the ceiling
And on the walls in every guise
And waitresses dressed like actresses
From flicks of Subhash Ghai's
And in the downstairs canteen
I sat down for my meal
Butter chicken, and sarson da saag
Had a shock when they showed me the bill
Looking for help I saw Devinder
Dancing wildly on the floor
I had to find my hostess back
Oh where is this Gurpreet Kaur?
Relax said Milkha Singh
Play golf with my son Jeev
Tu ban gaya Punjab da puttar
Now you can't ever leave...
So here I am,

Wasting life at the Hotel Karnal-a-fonia
Vaddi changi place (vaddi changi place)
Vaddi changi place

Converted to member of Hotel Karnal-a-fonia
Whoever arrives (whoever arrives)
Stays till he dies !!!

As far as Sambhar of 69 is concerned, here it is:

Sambhar of 69

I had my first real six rupees,
stole it from my father's pants.
went to a madrasi hotel,
to eat the sambhar of 69.
Me and some kadke dost,

had it all and we caught bukhaar,
jimy puked, joey got ulcers,
and Bagga ne maari dakar.

Oh when I went back there now,
the food was as stale as ever,
and though it was 1999,
still the sambhar was being served over there,

that was the worst food of my life.

Therez no use in complaining,
when you got no other place to eat,
rushed in the evening to the doctors clinic, but he too was at the toilet seat, yeah

standing there waiting outside,
nurse told me I will wait forever,
oh and when I held my breath,
I knew that I had to use that loo there
That was the worst food of my life.

Back to the sambhar of 69.

Man I was getting killed,
I was full and restless,
I needed to unwind,
I guess nothing can wait forever - FOREVER... NO!!!!

And now the dhabas are changing,
new dishes have come and gone,
sometimes when I pass that old madrasi lane, I still smell it, I can't be wrong.

Standing in those unwashed clothes,
the waiters still call me in there,
oh the way my nostrils burn,
I know that it will be served forever,
what was the worst food of my life.

yeah it was the sambhar of 69,

the sambhar, the sambhar, the sambhar of 69 .....

Thanks Navkendar for these gems!!!

More gibberish

2005-08-14T00:28:00.000+05:30

In one of my previous posts, I produced some gibberish I received in my hotmail inbox. Today, I present some pure nonsensical gibberish from my yahoo inbox. Sample this:

----- Original Message -----
From: Jocelyn
To: 3BbRSW@msn.com ; Jocelyn@yahoo.com
<6fx5m@yahoo.com>;

Enter an old tear that is the monkeys own giving out she is young and rose-lippd cherubin-- ay there look grim as hell.

Invitation No. XC-1217TV

Dear xxx@yahoo.com

Mortgage. You have been pre-approved. Your Approval# is: C1-33921H2
You can get $263,000 for as little as $263 a month, thanks to your pre-approval.
Visit us, Fill out the form, no obligation Pull cash out, or refinance.. No long forms or quastionnaires. Fill up our extremely short and simple form today and get a call back within a couple of hours.

Start saving now, just click here.

Slave ill bear you hence sirrah saucy fellow! Then all the children of israel from among the children of israel sin through ignorance in the valley that is upon him and his sons and of the lord hath blessed thee. Slave ill bear you hence sirrah saucy fellow!
I have spoke with one gender of herbs or distract it with my power work without it. Slave ill bear you hence sirrah saucy fellow!

The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender immediately by return electronic transmission and then immediately
delete this transmission, including all attachments, without copying, distributing or disclosing same. E-mail is not a secure means of communication. Please advise us if you would prefer to use an alternate form of communication. We accept no responsibility or liability for loss or damage arising from the receipt or use of this transmission. Unless otherwise specifically stated, any opinions expressed are those of the author only and this transmission is not
intended as a recommendation or solicitation of an offer to purchase or sell any security or related financial instruments.

I have spoke with one gender of herbs or distract it with my power work without it. Slave ill bear you hence sirrah saucy fellow! 196570896

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!!!

2005-08-10T02:29:00.000+05:30

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!!!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification.

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.
Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m.and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

Now that you have read this here and maybe at a lot of other places, come the real shocker!!!

Its another one of those so called URBAN LEGENDS!!! Read more:

Mars Spectacular

Claim: The planet Mars will make a once-in-our-lifetimes remarkably close approach to Earth in August.

Status: Multiple:

Mars passed extraordinarily close to Earth in August 2003: True.
Mars will pass extraordinarily close to Earth in August 2005: False.
Mars will pass close to Earth in October 2005: True.

Origins: The piece quoted above is another example of an item that was once true but is now being circulated again, long after the events it describes have come to pass. This article was relevant back in 2003, but it is not applicable now, two years later.

Mars did make an extraordinarily close approach to Earth which culminated on 27 August 2003, when the red planet came within 35 million miles (or 56 million kilometers) of Earth, its nearest approach to us in almost 60,000 years. At that time, Mars appeared approximately 6 times larger and 85 times brighter in the sky than it does ordinarily. (The message quoted above was often reproduced with an unfortunate line break in the middle of the second sentence of the second paragraph, leaving some readers with the mistaken impression that Mars would "look as large as the full moon to the naked eye" and not realizing that the statement only applied to those using viewing Mars through a scope with 75-powermagnification.)

Although Mars' proximity to Earth in August 2003 (referred to as a perihelic opposition) was a rare occurrence, the red planet comes almost as near to us every 15 to 17 years. To the unaided observer, Mars' appearance in August 2003 wasn't significantly larger or brighter than it is during those much more common intervals of closeness.

Mars will have another close encounter with Earth in in 2005, but that occurrence will take place in October (not August), and the red planet will appear about 20% smaller than it did during similar circumstances in 2003.

The Mars phenomenon of 2003 was featured in a couple of articles on the web site Space.com which are still well worth the reading: Mars to Get Closer than Ever in Recorded History in 2003 and Orbital Oddities: Why Mars will be So Close to Earth in August. Interested observers also joined Mars Watch 2003 through the MarsToday.com web site

Disgraceful...

2005-08-09T22:02:00.000+05:30

Its not as if the Indian team has a habit of losing finals. Actually, it has a habit of undeservingly entering finals and making complete fools of themselves. Shoddy, is what I'd call the performance, Styoo-pid is what Yuvraj did, and Harakiri is what describes the middle order's performance.

As for the coach, it really doesnt matter if John Wright would have won or if its Chappell's loss. The fact is, the Indian team loses and wins by itself. Nobody, just nobody can credit or discredit anyone with this team's performance (mostly the lack of it) but the team itself.

Its come to a point that now I watch just the firt 15 overs for Sehwag's tukkas / lappeys / slogs and if by the end of the match, India wins, its like, who cares!!!

Shame on you, Team India (or whatever its supposed to be called).

Fastest PC in the world!!??

2005-08-09T02:45:00.000+05:30

Thanks Shankar for the mail. I guess this is insane. Check it out for yourself:

4.2GHz* Accelerated Hyper-Threading Intel® Pentium 4 Extreme Edition CPU w/ 2MB L3 Cache
512K L2 Cache
2MB L3 Cache
950MHz** System Bus

PCI-Express Architecture
PuRam™ No System Hard Drive Configurable
Up to 100 times faster than ATA/SCSI/FC
HD based designs with Data Burst Speeds up to 8GB/s and I/O data requests at over 150.000 I/O sec.
Enhanced CacheFlow™ Technology
SuperBIOS™ IBPT Technology
H2O™ Industrial WaterCooling Architecture
667MHz DDR-II Dual-Channel RAM up to 4GB
Up to 16GB Total RAM with optional RamDrives.
Near 10Gb/s Memory Bandwidth
Serial ATA-150 Connectivity
UltraSCSI-320 & FiberChannel Expansion
Up to 4 Terabytes of Colossal Storage Capacity
Intel Performance Acceleration Technology
PCI-Express X16 Grapfics Technology.
Ultra High-speed 16x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
Front Panel Multi-information LCD Status
Display, External removable HD Storage racks with LCD Monitoring or Multi-Optical Drives
interchangeable bays
FireWire 400 & 800 Ports
Full-Duplex USB2 480MB/s Ports
Multi-Channel Digital AI Audio with Artificial Intelligence Audio-Sensing Technology & S/PDIF Digital interface
Gigabit LAN with AI Net (Artificial Intelligence Net-Diagnosing)
Optional Wireless LAN 802.11g Turbo (108 Mbps) with 10x the speed and 4x the range of 802.11b featuring Dynamic Rate Shifting Technology.
Provides the highest available level of industry standard 128-bit WEP encryption supporting VPN pass-through.
Internal Bluetooth
Optional TV Tuner
Optional Fax/Modem
650W VF-Speed Power Supply
AI Ultra-low noise Q-Fan technology
Artificial Intelligence Auto-Recovery BIOS
European high-end critical components qualityworksmanship.
Absolutely stunning design

Anyway, I dont think it has any use for me. Me happy with my AMD 2800, thanx Kunal...

1980's Classic Hard Drives

2005-08-04T19:01:00.000+05:30

Look what I found!!

...and I used to think 80 GB would be more than enuff for my new PC. How times change...

Apple IPOD shuffle 1GB with Fm & Voice Recorder for under 6K

2005-08-04T02:22:00.000+05:30

Couldnt beleive it, right?? Just found an IPOD clone on the web. They call it the Super Tangent Player! Blatanly, a taiwanese company by the name of Luxpro has ripped the design of the IPOD shuffle, thrown in some more features and launched it as Super Tangent Mp3 player!

Check out the features:

MP3/WMA-DRM + FM Tuner + Voice Recorder

Supports MP3/ WMA/ WAV (ADPCM) playback
Supports WMA-DRM playback
Worlds first voice guiding digital portable player
24-bit advanced digital signal processor
Normal and Super Bass sound pattern selection
Full band FM radio
High quality digital recording from built in microphone
USB flash disk
5-direction navigation button
High-class, colourful and enhanced plastic meterial
Built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery
12 hours of continuouse playback
2 hours quick charging to 80% battery capacity
Replaceable rechargeable battery design
USB2.0 high speed
Automatic key-lock function
Firmware upgradeable

Though blatant knock-offs of branded electronic products are not uncommon, the thought of one actually making its way to the CeBIT show at Hanover this year was brave if foolhardy. The Luxpro Super Tangent (formerly the Super Shuffle) is an interesting MP3 player immortalized less for its feature set, more for its attempt to go one up on the iPod shuffle!!

Apple unveils multibutton mouse -- without the buttons!

2005-08-03T14:11:00.000+05:30

One of the best analogies I ve seen between computers and soccer : "The really interesting thing about Apple coming out with a multiple-button mouse now is it shows just how far the goal posts have moved in terms of what constitutes ease of use for an ordinary computer user," said Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, director of research for the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, Calif., and a computer industry historian.

read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/technology/03mouse.html

Anyway, now I guess 3rd Person Shootout games on the PC will get better, for us who dont have game pads, that is...

sCARy thought(s)

2005-08-02T23:58:00.000+05:30

Now that Maruti has rolled out an upgraded version of Alto at the existing price tag(the car looked good in the ad), its even more confusing for consumers like me who make buying decisions as if its the last decision they'll ever make in their lives. What this means is that we (and I speak for all who buy like me) take a lot of time deciding what to buy based on features, cost, price, benefits etc and then (if at all) reach a decision (Kunal knows what Im talking about). Decision - I hate this word. I hate making decisions, hate the word CHOICE even more.

Anyway, the topic here is the decision of buying a car. For a guy like me, who's been caught up in making a decision of going in for a new car (obviously, not buying a car, but thinking about it!!) is more of a trouble now. Though Alto has been given a facelift and all, it will still remain a small small car. Santro fares well on maybe looks and pedigree but is a dated car and upgrading from a santro to a santro really makes no sense at all. Zen, on the other hand is even more dated and doesnt warrant a buying choice as of now. Wagon - R, hmmm... I remember what Aseem used to say about this one - Its not a wagon, its not a car..... Its an AUTO yaar!!! Still it offers more in terms of comfort and engineering at the price its available at. Indica V2 - a solid car, but I wouldnt want my neighbours to think I have started renting out my car as a taxi. Palio, Poor Automobile, Leave It Out!!! Voilla, not bad, eh?!?!

Leaves me with Swift and Getz. While I like both of them for various reasons, I (obviously) still cant make my mind which is better. And for the price they are available, might as well put in a couple of lacs more and go in for a so called lambi gaadi, why not? So, Honda City and Hyundai Accent really mak..... .... .... ... .. .... ....

choices choices choices, indecision indecision indecision

Loooong time...

2005-07-30T01:18:00.000+05:30

Yeah, its been a long long time since I last blogged. Felt like it, so here goes. Just came back, caught a flick - Saher. Not bad, the film. Although I could not help bash the director for not being extra vigilant about minute observers like me. You see, the movie was supposedly set in 1996. How on earth did we have CNG buses in Delhi at that time or INDICA V2 for that matter?!??!? And would the director explain the new bisleri bottle, Skoda Octavia and numerous other things in the film in 1996-98? Am told that it was a low budget film, but c'mon Kunal, if it had to be that way, what was stopping the director to base the movie in 2004 for godsake?!

Just made me remember I saw a white car zooming past the backdrop in LOTR when Gandolf comes visiting the village on his chariot and Frodo pops on to it. Do u guys recall it?

Anyway, what I've been upto, is that I've been upto nothing of great consequence. Am tired of the same ol job after just one year here. And I have started to feel the void left by Venkat in just one day that he's been gone. Good for you buddy, make the most of it while I make amends with my solitude. And dont you forget to get me my Palm Zire 72 SE.

Regarding the stocks, well, due to paucity of time and energy, I have not been able to post the reportcard but mind you the returns on my tips have been phenomenal!!! The markets are just a tad under 7700 and its great. Just hope the party continues and we make money. Shall surely come back with more TIPS later. Meanwhile, ITR has to be filed tomorrow at godforsaken Pragati Maidan. Its gonna be my first ITR, lets see if the babus there have me running around or not.

Peace.

01:17 a.m., Saturday, 30th July 2005

New Office

2005-01-14T20:06:00.000+05:30

Yeah!! Moved into the new spacious ultra modern office today. In the same building as the older one, this is not bad at all. Barakhamba Road rules!!!!

P.S. I hope the fact we have moved from 4th floor to the 8th might also mean our achievemnets double the same way!!!!! Ciao for now...

Reliance / Re Alliance

2004-11-26T16:32:00.000+05:30

No smoke without fire they say. Dunno whats gonna happen. All I know is that the scrip looks very attractive at these levels and maybe buying this now and holding it for 6 months shall reap rich dividends.

REPORT CARD - The WALEE Shares

2004-11-16T16:41:00.000+05:30

India - The land of festivals...and holidays Diwali, Dhanteras, Vishwakarma Day, Bhai Dooj, Childrens' Day, Eid. Good fun lazing around.

Diwali was ok, but the real diwali is just round the corner. Pardon the pun, but the sensex seems set to go the 6.5 K mark in the next 2 months, what with oil now under $47/barel. Even the Indian Petroleum ministry has reduced petrol prices by more than Re 1!!! The Sensex has touched the magical 6K mark twice in the last 5 days and barring some sell-offs ( triggers set by many at upwards of 6K mark). we should see the 6.5 K levels within the next 2 months.

Talking about the Report card, well, I myself am amazed at the results. Here are the results(From 30th October2004 to 16th November2004 - around a fortnight):
Name___________Price 16th Nov______Price 30th October
1. Goldstone Tech___________ 24.60_____________ 25.75

2. Hind Oil Exploration____ 91.80_____________ 93

3. Aventis________________ 1125.00_____________ 956
(went upto 1151)
4. Radico__________________ 216.30_____________ 209
(went upto 228)
5. Vijay Solvex____________ 17.40_____________

6. Vijay Textiles__________ 184.00_____________ 150.60
(went upto 192)
7. Modern Steel____________ 72.30_____________ 58.40

8. Fairyland Am____________ 76.40_____________ 65.35

9. Videocon Leasing________ 180.90_____________ 145.75

10. Bilcare________________ 392.60_____________ 389.90
(went upto 414)
11.Swan Mills______________ 478.10_____________ 451.15
(went upto 518)
12. INTERLNK FIN___________ 118.50_____________ 111.50
(went upto 131.25)
13.Nile Ltd________________ 89.55_____________ 66.65
(went upto 101.75)

Some new tips later in the evening...

THE WAALEE Shares

2004-10-30T15:47:00.000+05:30

With Diwali just round the corner I am in no mood for anything at all. Days are getting shorter here and winter seems to be setting in. I dont know what I'm gonna do for the long diwali weekend, but i guess all I'll do will be sleep.

On the markets front, they appear range bound with an upward bias till diwali. I hope Oil prices come down to $40-45 levels soon else the markets'll crash.

Lets have some report card analysis of what I sugegsted in the last post:

Name Price on 21st Oct Today's price

Sarla Polyester 43.25 went upto 50, closed at 42.40

Steel Strip Wheel 100.40 closed at 128

National Mineral 529 went upto 576, closed at 532

Valecha Engg 113 went upto 121, closed at 111.20

Seagul Leaf - loss of Rs 3

Not bad, eh?

Now, for some new scrips to follow:

1. Goldstone Tech
2. Hind Oil Exploration
3. Aventis
4. Radico

5. Vijay Solvex

5. Vijay Textiles

6. Modern Steel

7. Fairyland Am

8. Videocon Leasing

9. Bilcare

10.Swan Mills

11. INTERLNK FIN

12.Nile Ltd

Till then, Book profits...

On the sports front, it has been a catostrophy for Indian Cricket. The Final Frontier has been left to tatters by the Australians giving Indians their first series defeat in over three decades. Shame on them...

New picks

2004-10-21T16:28:00.001+05:30

Hi all. its been a very busy fortnight, a result of which couldnt post here. Now that I am relatively free, here are a few more fresh tips:

sarla polyester (is up 9.95% today itself)
valecha engg. (way to go...)
STEEL STRIP WHEEL ( will go north from here)
NATIONAL MINERAL (dark horse)
SEAGULL LEAF ( good returns at low prices)

The rest is usual... Delhi weather is now experiencing some nip in the evenings, and work is fine.

I think the authorities are trying to bluff us into the Veerappan Killing, i still feel he's alive.

On the dismal cricket scene, I fail to find a reason why parthiv and yuvraj are persevered with. no doubt, we'll lose the series 3-0.

And yes, I dont know who is this Deshpande dude?? and I have no idea who has been replying with my name. Kunal Deshpande??!!?!?

Shanti Gears & Walecha Engg

2004-10-08T18:45:00.000+05:30

Check these out. small caps suddenly seem the flavour of the month!!!!

Sarla Polyester - Up , up and away...

2004-10-08T13:53:00.000+05:30

Look at this scrip!!!! how it goes... From Rs 16 in July to Rs 40 in September!!!! Gosh, how I wish could travel back in time...

India All out for 246 thanks to patel and pathan who saved the ignonimous threat of the follow on. I hope this atleast goes on for a draw. Australia 1 down immediately, pathan strikes a lethal; blow in only his 4th delivery. Langer gone for a duck.

Australia CEMENTS the first test (Pun intended)

2004-10-07T18:22:00.000+05:30

Ultra Tech Cemco... underperformer in the cements sector is supposedly doing well now. check this scrip...

India with another humiliating performance is 6 down for 150. Australia seems set to whitewash this final frontier.

All in all, a plain day at work. got to rush off with work tomorrow. A hectic day beckons.

2004-10-07T13:53:00.000+05:30

Sathavahana Ispat Ltd : This is the buzz right now. The sensex up 58 point at 5772!!!!

I hope TVS Motors report come clean...

Australia 474 All out, and India???? 1 down in the first over itself... Final frontier!!! huh.

2004-10-06T18:58:00.000+05:30

Sensex down 45 points. To sell or not to sell, that is the question... Thats that for now...

Australia 300 odd on Day one of the first test.

2004-10-06T16:54:00.000+05:30

Finally some gibberish as I promised. Received an email from a complete stranger (read: spam). funny one at that. Heres what the sender had to say:

"building sad ask stand eat catch later along, cause led embarrass brightthoughts humorous brilliant truth health" thoughts deal she ways. littleoccasion table example repetition trouble?carriage stranger safe secretary glad tuesday. let take certain hopes near.attention entered stone ashamed nature? why fire degree afterwards, far godeducation ache nay meant"pleased otherwise similar delicious dining exaggerate conscious grabbed many,length thousand best second mischievous feeling stayed.dropped discussion only arctic followed cry seize describe" hearing took lonelyidea blood pride arctic eat marriage low" wish servant presently save girl soon heaven leave sudden"

laugh your heads out...

2004-10-06T14:35:00.000+05:30

Won the match and even participated in it. 1 wicket in 2 overs, a catch at Point and a not so pretty batting display, but all's well if it ends winning!!!

Hearing a lot about ONGC, Aravind Mills and ICICI Bank.

Virgos, they say, have very good analytical skills. so , Im trying my hand at analysing the quantitative impact of what all we've been doing at work the last 2 months. I guess this should throw up some unbelievable numbers...

2004-10-05T18:03:00.000+05:30

Last post before heading home. day well spent. kinda enjoying the plethora of things to do on the job. makes me feel busy, and thats good. but there is nothing to look forward to coming back home. unlike the times in bombay. MBA sure was fun...

2004-10-05T16:22:00.000+05:30

If you look down from one of the high rises in Conn Place, you will see a lot of trees... makes sense in a concrete jungle like this one. rows of greenery interspersed with concrete blocks, thats what it looks like. I hope its stays the way it is.

Sesa finaly closed at just under 740!!!! The sensex down 7 points. Happy diwali in the making... :)

Got to finish Da Vinci Code tonight. cant put it down. Saw a copy of "1984" at a friend's house yest. Have got to read that one as well... remember Aravind telling me its a fine piece. Saala, he must be enjoying the stiff upper lip in London right now (no puns intended).

Have a cricket match to play tomorrow. contrary to what most people like about this sport, I prefer fielding to batting or bowling. gives me a sense of accomplishment. and soiled pants. must make runs this time, must...

2004-10-05T11:26:00.000+05:30

Sesa Goa is at 52 week high!!!! CLSA says it should go even higher!!! I guess booking profits now should be the sane option.

Have been reading "The Da Vinci Code". Man!!!! what mystery... gripping.

Am in the process of buying my own PC here in Delhi. life is so boring without connectivity. Bombay used to be so much fun... surfing the web way past midnight gives you such a thrill. still, making ends meet is a problem right now. I mean how can i get a Pentium IV for sub 15K??

2004-10-04T17:23:00.000+05:30

So, the sensex ended up around 90 points to close at a 5 month high. what do we make out of it??? I dont know. I have stopped predicting. cant seem to know where it is headed.

Monday blues have finally struck. last 2 days being off, just lazed at home. have to get some work done this week, the sensex aint gonna help much I guess (there I go again, predicting the vagaries of the sensex).

some tips :

TVS Motors
E Merck
NTPC to open 25-30% higher.

Lets see where this takes us.

2004-10-04T14:07:00.000+05:30

Hi
This time the posting is gonna be furious. Have just re-invented myself to blog. from now on this blog will be a treat for financial information hunters as well as my punching doll.

2003-10-08T15:46:00.000+05:30

This is the first post on my blog. Its 0315 hours and am bored and tired working for the stupid research paper and all the other projects lined up in the next week. thats when i decided to blog!!! thats it...will doze off now..

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2003-10-01T00:00:00.000+05:30

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