Do it yourself

Thought for the day "Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." -           Aesop (Greek, 620-560BC) Word for the day Zeitgeist (n) The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day Heard on Rajpath last evening - In 2015 a dozen "famous" personalities will become" infamous"! Could you name any five? Is this a bear talking? In past two days I have received record number of hate mail. After lot of quarrelling with some dear friends, I admit that I am being little too much perceptive & judgmental. And perhaps, as one dear friend and valuable critic suggested, losing the benefits of naiveté. I could fully appreciate fans of Amir Khan castigating me for my profanity over "PK" (even though I did not make any comment about his acting skills...

Thought for the day "Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties." -           Aesop (Greek, 620-560BC) Word for the day Comity (n) A state of mutual harmony, friendship, and respect, especially between or among nations or people; civility. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day Taxi, auto, airplane, train, truck, tempo - have you seen any impact of lower fuel prices in any fare/freight? For once, let's go with the bulls There is a popular Hindi saying "Jungle mein mor nacha, kisne dekha".   It is normally used to convey either of two senses - (a) I do not believe in unverifiable claims; and (b) No achievement is meaningful if not demonstrated publicly. The critics of the PM Modi have been using this adage in the first sense, to discredit his claims of outstanding and holistic development in Gujarat and achievements of the 8 month old NDA government at the c...

Thought for the day "Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either." -           Aesop (Greek, 620-560BC) Word for the day Fritter (v) To squander or disperse piecemeal; waste little by little (usually followed by away) (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day Reports suggest Congress party has told Delhi assembly candidates to manage their election expenses from personal resources. The logical next step would be auctioning of tickets in Bihar, WB and UP assembly elections! Whatsapp GIMMs Since announcement of general elections early last year there has been overwhelming media coverage of the random utterances of some leaders who are mostly irrelevant in national picture and often derided as religious fundamentalist in media. The coverage has become more intense and frivolous in equal measure since the Narendra Modi ...

Thought for the day "Our insignificance is often the cause of our safety." -           Aesop (Greek, 620-560BC) Word for the day E xpatiate (v) To write at length or in considerable detail. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day So much hoopla for Delhi assembly elections!!! Will someone try examining the viability and profitability of carving out NDMC area as national capital and merging the rest of Delhi into Haryana and giving Chandigarh to Punjab? Would it help in solving the problems of water, electricity, congestion, and of course cost of governance? Reflective but not shakin' "Early in the morning time Late in the middle of the night Whenever this chill comes over me I wanna hug you with all of my might That's right and I'm sweatin' Oh, yeah you got me shakin' Mmm, you got me sweatin' Ohh, yeah you got me shakin' girl." -Jack White It's a nice warm feeling ...

Wish all the readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will be back with next page of my Diary on 12th January 2015.

Thought for the day "To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence." -           Mark Twain (American, 1835-1910) Word for the day Rubricate (adj) To mark or color with red. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day By VHP definition all Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims are converted Hindus. Then why Bangladeshi Muslims are illegal in India? 2015: Market outlook...the battle continues On December 16, 2013 when I sat to write my outlook for the year 2014 , the conditions were mostly reverse of what we have on our hand today. In the eternal war between the forces of Fear and Greed, the forces of fear then had exhausted most of their ammunition, e.g., EU disintegration, Grexit, PIGS default, hyper-inflation resulting from the Mints printing money incessantly, Iran reneging, Currency war erupting and endangering emerging economies, hard landing of C...

Thought for the day "Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today." -           Mark Twain (American, 1835-1910) Word for the day B eatific (adj) Giving joy, blessing or making exceedingly happy (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day Could VHP set the clock back insofar as economic deterioration of India since 19th century is concerned? 2015: Earnings picture still hazy, valuations not crazy "In economics things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could." Rudiger Dornbusch The dictum of Rudi Dornbusch has proved itself time and again. It is true for the present state of Indian economy and therefore corporate earnings also. The current consensus estimates for FY16 and FY17 corporate earnings are running at 17-18%. Most of these estimates appear to be discounting a sharper economic reco...