Do it yourself

Thought for the day "Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven." — Igor Stravinsky (Russian, 1882-1971) Word for the day Overslaugh (v) T o pass over or disregard (a person) by giving a promotion, position, etc., to another instead. Malice towards none The reaction of Congress leader over Raghuram Rajan's decision to move on clearly shows that it has scant regard for institutions; It prefers people over institutions. First random thought this morning In past RBI has had many illustrious governors who were well respected by the government, businesses, investors, bankers and global financial community. The outgoing governor Raghuram Rajan is just one of many and certainly not the only one. At this point in time, it is preposterous to assume that the new appointee will be less competent than him. If someone seeks my opinion I will vote for Urjit Patel, who I find equally competent. Nif...

Thought for the day "If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. Within a few months." —E. O. Wilson (American, 1929) Word for the day Villatic (adj) Of or relating to the country or to a farm; rural. Malice towards none Is CBFC social police or a constitutional institution? If it is constitutional - why it does not appear to respect the "Right of Equality" by treating male nudity differently from female nudity? If it is social police - do we really need it? First random thought this morning The media circles are abuzz with the juicy rumors of 2017 presidential elections. With BJP in poll position, normally it should be a "No contest". However, there could be an intense battle within BJP over choice of an "appropriate" candidate for the top post. As per media reports, BJP is considering...

Thought for the day "The world depends on fungi, because they are major players in the cycling of materials and energy around the world." —E. O. Wilson (American, 1929) Word for the day Onomatopoeia (n) The formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent. Malice towards none Surname "Gandhi" is nor an asset always. Ask the poor fellow Varun Gandhi! First random thought this morning The market participants are seriously worried about Brexit, as they were about Grexit a few years back. Someone has even termed it Lehman 2.0! I wonder - Has the world ended post Lehman 1.0? or WWI or WWII or Bretton Wood or anything else? Pakistan stock market that was shut down post Lehman, is the best performing Asian market this year and has been included back in MSCI. Let me assure you, after Brexit, it will be Trump and then something els...

Thought for the day "Change will come slowly, across generations, because old beliefs die hard even when demonstrably false." —E. O. Wilson (American, 1929) Word for the day Comity (n) Mutual courtesy; civility. Malice towards none If the Orlando event had happened in India, some parties would have alleged that BJP is in cahoots with the perpetrator for polarizing voters on communal lines. First random thought this morning Traditionally opposition leaders have been criticizing the incumbent government for failure on socio-economic fronts. The current scenario is no different. Opposition leaders across parties have criticized the Modi government for failing on various fronts, especially employment and inflation. This is mostly rhetoric. However, the Congress VP, Shri Rahul Gandhi went a step further and claimed that, if voters elect a Congress government in 2017 assembly elections, he would solve the Punjab drug...

Thought for the day "Every kid has a bug period... I never grew out of mine." —E. O. Wilson (American, 1929) Word for the day Heuristic (adj) Encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error: a heuristic teaching method . Malice towards none Making ROI of all elected offices "NIL" through constitutional provisions could be a short cut to eliminate corruption in the society! First random thought this morning The children who were born after liberalization of the economy in 1990s, have not seen unending queues for everything, including food, cement, two wheelers, houses, passport, etc. These are the people whose thinking is not constricted by the mindset of forced abstinence. These are the children who could freely dream big and aspire for the best. PM Modi is lucky to be at the ...

Thought for the day "When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all." E. O. Wilson (American, 1929) Word for the day Slyboots (n) An engagingly sly or mischievous person. Malice towards none After an intensive research of two years, I could find one good thing about Arvind Kejriwal - While all other parties use proxies for making nonsense, defamatory, unpleasant, and controversial statements, AK does it all himself. First random thought this morning I find controversy over the movie Udta Punjab, totally avoidable. To the CBFC - expletives are inextricable part of the common conversation in Punjab; drugs are as common as Lassi; even Amir Khan did pee on the wall of historic Red Fort in PK. To the film maker - the film serves no interest (artistic or public), as it shows a problem everyone concerned is fully aware of, and offers no worthy solution. Nifty: Some jitters ahead o...

Thought for the day "What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?" —Immanuel Kant (German, 1724-1804) Word for the day Dulcinea (n) A ladylove; sweetheart. Malice towards none The censor Board might have unwittingly supported the petition seeking ban on Santa Banta jokes! First random thought this morning The debate over PM Modi's speech to joint sitting of US parliament, suffers from over enthusiasm (BJP) on one side and avoidable cynicism (Congress) on the other side. There are some in "It's good....but...." (JDU) category also. But one thing is certain - no one could accuse BJP of arranging a "paid audience" to applaud the prime minister, like they did in case of Madison square or Sydney event. In serach of leadership - 2 In search for leadership, I visited all the sectors and concluded that at an umbrella level it is the Indian consumer who will lead the economy and ...

Thought for the day "Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another." —Immanuel Kant (German, 1724-1804) Word for the day Hypnagogic (adj) Of or relating to drowsiness. Malice towards none Pakistan is getting increasingly isolated in the global community. While BJP may be right in claiming some credit for this, it is largely doing of Pakistan administration and Army. In desperation our neighbor may try some misadventure. Are we fully prepared this time? First random thought this morning The people clamoring for a second term for Governor Rajan, have conveniently forgotten that he was appointed by P. Chidambaram, the then finance minister. It was a collaborative effort (GAAR deferment, gold import restrictions, FCNR deposits, USD swap for OMCs, etc.) that stemmed INR rout and led to dramatic improvement in current account. The point is why did these people no...