Do it yourself

Thought for the day “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them” -           Napoleon Bonaparte (French, 1769-1821) Word for the day Nettle (v) To irritate, annoy, or provoke. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day With the confidence instilled in me by the most honest political speech in at least past four decades, I declare the arrival of good times! Unleash the bulls. Bears may rest in 10-Janpath till their name is called. King of good times! My 9yr old daughter wakes up late in the morning and refuses to do her summer vacation homework. All persuasions in past four days have got one standard reply – Achhe din aa gaye hain (good times have come)!!! Incidentally her summer vacations started from 16 th May, the day election results were ...

Thought for the day “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. ” -           Confucius (Chinese, 551-479BC) Word for the day Verbicide (n) The willful distortion of the original meaning of a word. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day If this market rally is Modi rally, then 1999 Y2K rally was ABV and 2004-2007 infra rally was MMS. If you disagree, have a rethink! Who wants some cold nights in Davos At the moment Narendra Modi is not giving any impression of a man in hurry. In giving shape to his government, he seems to be to be consulting all the concerned. I guess it is better to iron out all differences well before the government is formed, rather than leaving them unattended and hoping that things will sort out on their own – pretty much a hallmark of the regime Narendra Modi will be replacing. In the meanwhile, the speculations abou...

Thought for the day “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” -           Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) Word for the day Adret (n) A side of a mountain receiving direct sunlight. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day Entire print and electronic media is highlighting caste of new Bihar CM. Why is it necessary? No change in strategy Since Friday afternoon a number of readers have asked me does the unexpected election results warrant any change in investment strategy. In particular, people are asking should we be chasing the financials and infra developers and thereby increasing beta of the portfolio. To this my reply is that I do not see any reason to change my core investment strategy due to government transition at the center for the simple reason that (a) I follow a strategy which is designed to be mostly policy independent and enjoys an o...

Thought for the day “My motto is: more good times.” -           Jack Nicholson (American, 1937 - ) Word for the day Venal (adj) Willing to sell one's influence, especially in return for a bribe; open to bribery; mercenary. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day Narendra Modi’s journey from IGI Airport to BJP office in Delhi on Saturday highlights that India now has a daring, accessible, and risk taker prime minister. Something gotta give Expectation is a strange animal. More you beat it, stronger it rises. Consistent underachievement is perhaps the only way to kill it. The astounding victory of Narendra Modi has beaten all expectations. Consequently, it has raised staggering expectations in all sections of the society. Mandate 2014 is unmistakably for a person who projected himself as epitome of pragmatism, development, inclusivity, nationalism and good governa...

Thought for the day “One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent, e.g., music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good nor bad to the deaf.” -           Baruch Spinoza (Dutch, 1632-1677) Word for the day Vane (n) A person who is readily changeable or fickle. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day L. K. Advani lost to Manmohan Singh in 2009 and to Narendra Modi in 2013. Why nobody has the guts to convey this to him and all those batting for him. Lets get back to business now By now it is widely anticipated that Indian will have a stable government in next few days and the economy in general will improve by the end of current fiscal FY15. The financial markets are vividly reflecting the buoyant sentiments of investors. Much of the confidence is also emanating from the fact that in general global economy, pa...

Thought for the day “The art of leadership... consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention.” -           Adolf Hitler (German, 1889-1945) Word for the day Ad hominem (adj) Appealing to one's prejudices, emotions, or special interests rather than to one's intellect or reason. Attacking an opponent's character rather than answering his argument. (Source: Dictionary.com) Teaser for the day In search for a strong leadership, should Congress consider a reverse merger into Trinamool Congress (TMC) of Mamta Banerjee? Whatever it takes In summer of 2012 when economists and analysts were busy preparing their obituaries for common currency European Union and peripheral European countries were declared pariahs in the financial market, ECB chairman Mario Draghi took the mantle on himself and d...