Jajs Dieting

Its been almost a month since I've been dieting (religiously). Phew !!! I've not eaten normal food (read typical Indian - Marwari food) for so long now that I don't even miss it. In the last 30 days or so, I've lost 7 kgs (little over 15 pounds). Yessssssssss. Last month when I checked my weight, I was shocked to see that I've gained considerably. Once I got out of that shock, I decided to do something about it. Well I am an emotional eater (kinda) and exercise was never my thing (where is the time ??? ahem ...). All I have is strong willpower. So I decided that I will cut down on unhealthy food and will adopt a healthy lifestyle. For the last 1 month I've been eating - Corn, Cucumber, Tomato, Cabbage, Sprouts, Grams, Beans, Apple, Orange, Papaya ... basically fruits and vegetables along with stuff like Popcorn and Puffed Rice. I try to eat 'em raw as much as possible. If at all - only olive oil is used and that too very sparingly. I even try to drink sugar-less tea (2 cups/day max). I have completly chucked wheat or anyting made out of it, milk and milk products, rice, stuff like potato and banana, sweets and desserts, chocolates ... basically all things that makes me fat (but darn tasty ... buhuuuu). For the past couple of weeks, I've been doing little bit of jogging in the morning as well. The results are encouraging and I hope to continue this regimen for couple of months more. My target is to loose 20kgs (45 pounds). So 7 down... 13 more to go.

Wish me luck !!!

Diwali 2008

The Screwjob

This week my mid–term appraisal was done. As expected, it was not to my liking. I did get not–so–bad rating but not the promotion (which I deserved). When I asked why the promotion was not given, I was told that I was not responsible enough. Funny, since I got the highest rating in the last appraisal cycle (6 months back). Let me conveniently ignore the fact that as late as in August, my boss appreciated my efforts ... let me just erase it from my memory. The question is – how come an ‘irresponsible’ guy like me got a Star rating? And if I was that good 6 months back, what the heck did I do in last 6 months which turned me into a slack? No, no wait ... I got it ... I think I have a hunch ... hmmm ... how can I forget that I quit the project couple of months back ... foolish me. Now that I am no longer an ‘asset’, I got screwed (to put it mildly). I guess the promises made to me last time are just that – promises.

The worst part of all this commotion is that I really worked pretty darn hard in this project (2+years). That’s quite some time in a single project (by IT industry’s standards). This after the fact that the client (let’s call him Bob) is not the most accommodating (to say the LEAST). Not a single person in my project is a happy chappie. In fact, in past 2 years, I have seen 2 project managers (including the current one) quitting, 1 team lead quitting, many team members quitting. No matter what they say, they themselves know that one of the main reasons of quitting was – his royal highness. Unlike them, I would be very honest. My one and only reason for leaving the project is Bob. Who else in right mind will walk out of a project which has huge growth potential? Well such an idiot can only be yours truly. The project is about to go in major expansion mode and it offers a long term New York stay. Only me ... only a fool like me.

I am a passionate kind of a person ... whatever I do or believe ... I do it with full gusto. If I don’t like anything, I won’t do it – no matter what. I never cared for the consequences before, and will never care for them in future. Once my senior manager told me that I should be more ‘politically correct’. Huh !!! Isn’t being ‘correct’ (only) good enough? Since I just had it with the project, I decided that I will leave it before I completely lose my mind. Being a professional, I told my manager that I would like to leave the project since I don’t think I can convince myself to give 100% and if I can’t give my best to the project, I should not be a part of it. Surprisingly, I was let go ... without much hue and cry. But when it came to appraise me, I was robbed. Anyhoo ... I have rejected the appraisal and waiting for my next round of meetings with the senior management to get the ‘right’ answers for all the ‘wrongs’. Fingers crossed ...

Little training update ....Today I got an appreciation letter because of my training efforts. The training was very well received (not my words ... I'm quoting from the letter ... HEHEHE). Along with the letter, I am now entitled to reimburse purchase of a book worth INR 250. Wuhuuu !!!!

Training Day

Am back ... did not had time to blog for the last 3 days because I was busy preparing for the QTP training that I and Gaurav were to gave. Since the nature of training was very technical and the audience well informed and educated, it was a real test for us to come up with effective power-point presentations and examples.

Couple of weeks back, I and Gaurav decided that we would give training on QTP since it is very popular topic in my office (specially among the tester group) and not many people in my organization gives training on QTP. We learned QTP recently and were very enthusiastic about the idea of imparting wisdom (Haaa !!!). So we coordinated with the training department and scheduled a 3 days long training from Wednesday (of 2 hours each). Wednesday came and we both were very jittery on day 1 because we are not used to give presentations and speaking in front of an audience. It was a case of classic stage fright. Also, we did not plan the training properly. Even the presentation slides were not very organized. The room was full of eager ears. They were really up to it for the training. We had planned 2 hours long training but it ended in less than 100 minutes. We did explain everything that we planned to, but not in the most effective way. I would say ... not the best of days and the training ended in just OK mode. At the end of the training, we sat down and decided that we need to have a proper plan and a good presentation. We decided to make the training more informative and also decided that we both will share the training 50-50. I went home and stayed up till 3 in the morning to make a ‘fundoo’ presentation and jotted down examples to present. I also planned the way to conduct the presentation and its ‘flow’. Thursday came and the presentation went much (much) better as compared to previous day. We almost used the slotted 2 hours and gave lots of illustrations and examples to support the presentation. When we came out of the training room, we felt like kings. We followed the same method and divided the topics among ourselves for the next day. Again, I stayed up pretty late to create the presentation. Today was the third and the last day of training and we absolutely nailed it. It went really well (better than what we anticipated). We were so good today that couple of girls came and told us that it was a really good session and they thanked us for the training. I looked at Gaurav and he was also happy as Larry.

An hour later, I asked Gaurav to check with the training department about the feedback for the training (if any). And soon Gaurav emailed me the final feedback score. WOW !!!! unbelievable. We got an overall 4 out of 5 ratings (21 feedbacks for 3 sessions). The best part of that feedback chart was number of 5s that we got for Knowledge of the Subject, Quality of Training Material, and Presentation and Communication Skills. Gaurav called me up and said that couple of people even told him that this was the best QTP training given in our office. WA WA WI WA ... and the best part of the feedback – it was genuine. We did not ask anyone to fill the feedback form. That’s make it more special. Oh how good am I feeling today ... I feel vindicated that I can do good things if I work hard enough and do the work sincerely.

Tonight ... I will sleep like a baby :-)

Cheers

Banning short selling

Today, Vishesh (my boss) raised a peculiar question – why the government is not imposing ban on short selling in the stock market. Ahan!!! Being a strong believer of market, I disagreed. My reasons are simple – if you do not ban unprecedented rise of stock market, then why to curb market forces in time of downturn? And just like uptrend, downtrend is also a fact of market lifecycle. Tools like short selling and margin trading are legalized for a reason and that reason is to earn money. I know the very concept of margin trading and short selling reeks of gambling; but hey who am I to question such things? If wiser people have made them legal then a person like me can and will use them to earn money. Who doesn’t? If I’m taking the risk of shorting a stock, then I must be eligible for the profits (if any). People have this notion that money can be earned from stock markets only in bull runs. But if you play smartly, bear market also gives you plenty of opportunities to earn pocket full of moolah.

Coming to the question again – Isn’t it against the whole concept of market? He said that people are earning money off other people’s misery. I was not very amused by this statement because the statement was very oxymoronic. Capital markets never cared for emotions and welfare. I know that loads of people are severely affected by the savage downturn, but that doesn’t mean that government should go out of the way to help them. If a person is taking a risk of investing his/her hard earned money in a legalized gambling den, then he/she shall be solely responsible for it. Government’s only role is to monitor the market for illegal activities like inside trading or stock operators. I am sure I’m not leaving a good impression on any comrade with my ideas (although I must confess I really like the idea of socialism), but such is the nature of capitalistic market.

Poking nose into

After suffering for god knows how long I visited an ENT specialist yesterday. For as long as I care to remember, I have been prone to common cold, nose bleeding, and excessive sneezing. And for the past one month, my throat was aching like hell. Anyhooo ... the doc told me that I am suffering from Granular Pharyngitis and Allergic Rhinitis. D’uh !!!

OK OK I know these terms sounds like big fuckups. Calm down ... nothing like that ... I’m suffering from acute allergic reaction. Funny thing ... h’uh ... you won’t believe but I knew about my allergy for a very long time ... but whenever I use to tell anyone (including my mom), they thought that I was being ‘snotty’. Haaa !!! how yall like me now ... I told yall that I just can’t handle all this dust and pollution in India ... I was not lying people ... Anyhooo, bad news is that there is no permanent solution of this irritant ... so I may have to pop pills for life. On a lighter side, this may be my first long term commitment with anything ... hahahaha

C yall soon ... have a good night

Taking Stock

Yesterday was one of the most memorable days in world economic history. Not everyday you get to see a coordinated rate cut by central banks across the globe. Countries like US, UK, China, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, European Central Bank, and other Asian countries had cut rates. It is hard to believe that the US rates are as low as 1.5% only. How low can one go? Well, these are some of the extraordinary steps taken at really extraordinary times. Not since the Great Depression, the economies around the world are shaking. The banking sector in few “bankable” countries is in a state of total hara-kiri. The situation is so bad that the governments are bailing out banks with mind boggling sums of money. Big steps like curbing short selling have been taken by many countries. Even in India, the central bank cut rate and securities exchange board eased norms for foreign investors. In fact, the board just reversed the P-Notes clause that it introduced last year. The clause was introduced to curb huge inflows of foreign money into India. Now it is removed to attract more foreign capital inflows. Oh! how the mighty has fallen.

On any other day, steps like these would have resulted in 1000 points rally in the equity markets. Amazingly it did not happen. In fact, the US stock market fell more than 10% after the “mother of all bailouts”. We too went down heavily even with the rate cuts and investor friendly policies. Not only this, the fall in crude oil prices is having absolutely no impact on market sentiments. The mood is absolutely somber and the risk appetite is gone. For the past few months, analysts all over the world were in self denial. They assumed that it is a blip in market system and we would get through this pretty soon. However, the environment today is echoing a very different and negative story. The world markets are in a bear hug and that too with some vicious force. Even being one of the most resilient economies, Indian stock market fell almost 50% from its all time highs within a year. If the rise was quick and ferocious, the fall was even faster and vicious. This may make you question the micro and macro fundamentals of Indian economy, but to tell you the truth, the answer still would be the same as it was a year ago. There is no reason to doubt the Indian story because we, being a well regulated economy, are shielded with outside madness and greed.

Even after the realization of great Indian dream, I wonder why the heck our markets are falling like pack of cards. Well there are no easy and quick answers to this question, but with all my little stock exchange experience, I came out with the following market pointers:

Sentimentalism – It may sound like total BS, but I have found that the stock market is very sentimental and finicky in nature. Very often, it doesn’t even look at the fundamentals of a particular sector or organization. The prices may rise and fall – just like that – sometimes without any reason. So if someone is advising you to buy/sell a particular stock, don’t follow the advice blindly. Go by the sentiments for that stock in the stock market. A real life example of this would be Essar Steel. The stock was about to be de-listed from the exchange, but in the last couple of weeks, it always used to hit the upper circuit. Mind blowing, isn’t it?

The great hope – Information is real-time these days. It spread faster than a wild fire. With the advent of online trading, many computer literate average Joes have entered the stock bullring. They latch on to any small positive tit bits about a stock and buy it at any cost. Valuations and PE are alien concepts to them. RNRL and RPL are examples of such great hopes – at the time of boom madness, they used to jump 20-30% on a regular basis. The only reason behind it was hope. Funny thing was (and still is), both of these companies haven’t even started their business and their valuations were among the most expensive in the world.

Invest slowly and widely – Spread your wings, but slowly. Do not enter into market with all your life savings and never put all your eggs in one basket, even if the basket is made up of solid gold.

Get out and get out fast – Most of us tend to have unrealistic price goals, particularly selling price. We look for instant gratification – doubling the money in no time. Well you may get lucky once or twice, but not always. Keep your stop losses and selling price reasonable and strict. It doesn’t matter if the stock you sold skyrocketed another 50%. When we sell a stock (even at good profits) and it jumps, we tend to loose heart. We think that we sold it too soon. Believe me, this guilty felling led us into setting unreasonable sell/buy price. As a trader, if you have set a profit margin of 5-10%, then get out at your initial decided price. A recent incident makes me laugh my brains out. You must have read this in newspapers – Microsoft offered Yahoo $40/share and Yahoo rejected it by saying the price is ridiculous. Even when the big corporate estimators said that it’s a very good price. But the deal was rejected. The last time I cheeked Yahoo’s stock price, it was $14. So even if the price doubles, it won’t be anywhere near to the initial offer. Sometimes selling really makes sense.

Buy low and sell high – Do you know who gave this simplest of philosophy? Mr. Warren Buffet – the world’s greatest investor. Just remember that there is a difference between ‘price’ and ‘value’ of a stock. If you have studied a stock, then look at its value and growth potential. If you have good reasons to believe that there is good chance of upside in a particular stock, buy it. As I’ve told you, market doesn’t always go by the valuations. At times of panic, some stocks goes well below their real value. Whenever you encounter such situation, grab the opportunity and invest. Don’t worry if the price falls because if you are patient enough, the stock will be back to its real price. Remember, market may be sentimental, but it is not a fool. Market always has a way of finding good stocks, even if it may take a while.

Never say never – Never assume that the prices will rise or fall forever. Nothing is written on stone in stock market. If a stock is really blue chip today (I mean expensive), it won’t remain that way always. I’ve seen few stocks which flew like eagle but tanked like a bomb. If you think you won’t get that stock at this price, then you my dear friend are wrong. Market has a very bad habit of humbling biggest of players. One of the biggest investors in India, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala once said - Market is like weather, you got to bear it weather you like it or not.

Do not get overboard – There is a saying in Hindi – इंसान को पैर चद्दर से बहार नहीं फैलाना चाहिए. Roughly translated – Person should not protrude the foot out of the sheet. If you are a small fry, try to avoid trading on margins. You should trade within your capacity. Buy/sell stocks only if you can back it up with money in your bank account. Do not do margin trading because it may land you on sticky wicket.

Don’t panic – Yesterday (when market tanked again), I bought few shares of one of the most stable banks at a very attractive price. But then it fell more, and then some more. I kept on buying it at every fall in small quantities. Ultimately, the average cost of that stock came out to be really really cheap. By the end of the day, I sold all of them for a good profit. If you have invested in a good stock, don’t panic. Once the dust is settled, it will be back to its real value.

Be brave – We are human and we will make mistakes. Sometimes we invest in some stock and then we realize our mistake. Do not hang on to it. Get rid of it as soon as possible, even if it means selling at losses. Do not get disheartened. Because the capital that you recovered by selling the bad stock, can now be put to better use. Invest it in some good stock and you will soon offset all your losses. In the end, your portfolio may look bad with few reds, but when you see the final figure at the bottom, you will feel good. Just remember, you are not the god of market. You will make mistake and try to use that failure as a founding stone of your next big profit.

Be alert – Keep yourself updated with latest news and developments and try to analyze them. Listen to educated/experienced voices. The more the information, the faster the information - the better it will be for your portfolio. Don’t just sit on your bum once you buy a stock. Just buying and forgetting about a stock is not a long term investment. You got to keep analyzing the situation in timely fashion to protect your investment. If you buy a stock for long term, but it yields great results in shorter duration, then don’t hesitate to sell it, unless you have good reasons to belive that there is more upside in future.

Transit Devils

When I was coming back to home in the metro, I suddenly started thinking why I hate traveling in crowded public transportation ... I had my notepad with me and I started to jot down few of nuisances which really peeves me ... some of them are as follows:

• Stinker – I don’t know about you guys, but have you commuted in a crowded bus or metro lately… gawdddddddd ... people stinks (no pun intended ... they really do). We live in a tropical country ... sweating is our birthright ... but scientists have made few “tools” just to oppress this right… things like perfumes and deodorants. These products are there for a reason ... they are not mere good looking bottles on shelves ... we need to use them more often and as often.
• Scratch off – This one is really unnerving for most civilized societies. How many times you’ve seen a person just “touching” himself/herself in an inappropriate manner ... No no no ... don’t let loose your voyeuristic sailboats ... I’m talking about people scrathing and digging the unmentionables. Sometimes, some places where no human being should go ... you get my drift ... the less said the better.
• Hair raising – Most of us Indians are blessed with “forests” all over our bodies ... its in our genes ... we can’t run away from it. But, we can at least curb their growth. Remember ... “your” forest is not a part of fight against global warming. Girls ... I'm talking to you only. Cut them !! Keep your hands and legs clean ... at least
• Grunge - C’mon this ain’t 1992. The grunge look is not cool. People, at least try to wear clean clothes ... even if they are not in-sync with the latest fad. Being untidy is not a look ... it simply shows how clumsy you are ... and nop it doesn’t look good – not on most Indian men and women.
• Couture – This one is mainly aimed at Delhi babes. I know you are the best looking girls in India but c’mon do you have anything in your wardrobe except for jeans and tees? And Delhi dudes…. What’s up with those bathroom slippers ... do you need to take a leak all the time or what ... why those freaking chappals all the freaking time?
• Vocal – This is like a nightmare. How many times you have seen a person talking on his cell phone like he is in the war and he can’t hear the conversation because of bombs exploding in the background. If not this, then playing the radio as if the railcar is one’s bedroom

Don’t even think that I was being politically correct ... Yeah ... I’m talking to you dames ... you also are in the same boat.

Anyhooo, got the remote fixed yesterday ... the world started to make sense again ... LOL

Planned Leaves

Woooo... today is the second day of this 4 day long weekend... I’m already excited about the next 4 day long weekend... which is next week by the way. HAHAHA. These quick breaks have made me realize why I did not took more holidays to unwind. You won’t believe when I checked my leave records on my office website... I was stunned to know that I’ve taken only 23 holidays in past 40 months, which makes less than 7 leaves per year. Wa Wa Wi Wa !!!

To be very honest I never got the opportunity to take long vacations due to work and stuff. That’s so freaking SAD. The only holiday I’ve taken in past 3+ years is the one when I went to Thailand in 2006. On my way back home, I decided that I will go on vacation every year – no matter what. 2007 came and I had to go to New York for an office trip. It was supposed to be a short one but I stayed there for almost 2 months. Later on, I went to NYC 2 more times so all in all I did not miss vacationing. However, now that I got these long weekends, it made me realize that I should take vacationing little more seriously. It makes you forget about stuff that bothers you in office and in general.

On a more mundane note – my idiot box’s remote is broken and I’ve got to get it fixed ASAP. Gotta see the news... HEHEHE... you know what I mean ;-). Also, I got a haircut today. Man what a relief. The curls were growing longer day by day and the tentacles started to poke my eyes and they got real messy to manage. Moreover the weather is getting sticky again... which I think is a sign of freaking global warming. How else you define temps like 37°C in the month of October ??? Goddamn !!!

Allrighty... time for some music and do some QTP learning... so long

Gandhian Way

Today is Mahatma Gandhi’s 139th birthday. To be honest, for a very long time, I did not believed in Gandhi’s ideology of non-violence and peaceful non-participation of anything you believe is evil. To be fair, the world around us does not make us believe in Gandhivaad. As we are racing ahead, we are so getting consumed with materialism, religious intolerance, and an insatiable appetite for destruction of all things good. If we stop and think about all the things we have done and are continue to do – we would be horrified by our own actions. I’m not saying money or religion is the root of all evil – hell they are the very basis of our survival today. However, materialism and religious fundamentalism have become a part of our social DNA.

As I’ve said that for a very long time I was against Gandhi’s ideology. However, as I’ve grown older (and hopefully little wiser), I’ve realized the fact that Gandhi’s messages are still relevant for modern times that I wonder sometimes – have we really changed (read progressed) in past 50-60 years when Gandhi was fighting against the English Goliath? We may think that we have progressed in terms of lifestyle, knowledge, morals, values, and basic human rights. However, we have also progressed in mass destruction of nature, unprecedented religious fundamentalism, corruption, integrity decay, and consumerism. It is like taking one step forward and two backwards. If we look closely, the world has not changed that much. It’s the skin that has changed, but the skeleton remains the same.

My interest in Gandhi started when I saw Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi. As a student, we Indians are taught about Indian greats like Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, and Bose. However, being a kid I always used to wonder how a person can protest in a non-violent manner. We always used to have Gandhi versus Bose discussions and in the end Bose always scored over Gandhi in terms of popularity. It is not surprising because as a young man would you really like to get slapped and not hitting back? The answer would be unequivocally NO. If someone hits us, we will hit back. Not like Gandhi who used to offer his other cheek if someone slapped him. A similar scene from the movie really made me take notice of this man. In an incident, (actually the movie was biopic so I would not call it a scene), Gandhi was burning registration certificates and a policeman hits him with a stick. Gandhi falls down and picks up another certificate and burns it. He does it till the time he was beaten unconscious. As a cinematic scene, I was stunned to what I saw and I was absolutely amazed when I realized that this happened for real. Even though Gandhi was not the inventor of “non-violence philosophy” (which I believe is the core value of Hinduism and Buddhism), but he surely was the first modern day practitioner. He re-discovered the power of godly ideas like peace and truth to fight for freedom and injustice. I won’t call him my role model but I surely would like to emulate one quality of him and this is to do what I believe is good.

What you do is of little significance. But it is very important that you do it – Mahatma Gandhi