Do it yourself

Thought for the day "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." —Joseph Stalin (Georgian, 1879-1953) Word for the day Ersatz (adj) An artificial substance or article used to replace something natural or genuine; a substitute. (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none By sleeping in planes, working round the clock, and frugal eating - PM is vindicating the stance of CPM leaders that he is not PM but a RSS Pracharak. But what's objectionable in this? First random thought this morning Shankaracharya of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth has attributed the drought in Maharashtra to the worship of Shirdi Sai Baba by the state's people! Is he implying that three Jyotirlings (Shiva), Lord Panduranga (Vishnu) and Dev Shani, who are seated in the State, are watching the people suffer and die just because some of them happen to be worshipping a noble man? Someone please inf...

Thought for the day " Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas." —Joseph Stalin (Georgian, 1879-1953) Word for the day Contretemps (n) An inopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mischance: He caused a minor contretemps by knocking over his drink. (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none A "Tea Seller", who also happens to be "OBC" given charge of BJP in UP. Is it a co-incidence, or some kind of cantrip.   First random thought this morning The question is not whether Gov. Rajan is some three year late in bringing QE to India, or he has done it deliberately late to maximize the impact. The question is how far he is willing to go the full distance like ECB. A midway reversal will certainly be destructive. Nifty: Change of track might be misleading In past six months commodity stocks have...

Thought for the day "Men have become the tools of their tools." —Henry David Thoreau (American, 1817-1862) Word for the day Vociferous (adj) Crying out noisily; clamorous. (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none Nitish Kumar has taken "Bihari vs, Bahari" to new heights. He says - consumption of alcohol is bad for health and economy, therefore he is banning it in the state of Bihar. However, the state will keep producing alcohol and export it to other states for consumption of non-biharis. First random thought this morning Happened to meet a 94yr old freedom fighter yesterday. He faced atrocities of British administration, served two jail terms totaling 32months. In his recollection, he had never chanted "Bharat Mata ki Jai", during his nine years of fight for freedom. He does not recall any of his colleagues in freedom struggle chanting it either. "Vande Matra...

Thought for the day "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. —Henry David Thoreau (American, 1817-1862) Word for the day Cupidity (n) Eager or excessive desire, especially to possess something; greed; avarice. (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none Rakhi Sawant: Ban ceiling fans to stop suicides. Rahul Gandhi: Congress is fighting a war of ideology.   First random thought this morning Increasingly, India is finding place in high opinion of global decision makers. After a really long period, global decision makers are enthusiastic about India. Some may like to split the credit between PM Modi's unprecedented & audacious marketing efforts, and TINA factor (given the poor conditions in other larger emerging markets especially China); while the others believe, it's just that the TIME of India has arrived. Rest everything is just a quirk...

Thought for the day "To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea." —Henry David Thoreau (American, 1817-1862) Word for the day Pugnacious (Adj) Inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative. (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none CPM almost ended UPA-I by withdrawing support over civil nuclear deal. A. Raja and Kanimozhi of DMK dented the image of UPA-II government so badly that Congress is reduced to just 44 MPs in Lok Sabha. Now Congress is joining these forces as minor partner in state polls. Rahul Gandhi was talking about some ideological warfare in Assam!!!   First random thought this morning A large part of foreign investments in India comes through "tax friendly" jurisdictions like Mauritius. We all know it well that not all this money is dirty. Likewise, many Indi...

Thought for the day "It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?" —Henry David Thoreau (American, 1817-1862) Word for the day Nimiety (n) Excess; overabundance. E.g., nimiety of mere niceties in conversation . (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none Will Congress both Assam & Kerala; and with that the claim to be a National Party? First random thought this morning Five key takeaways from the recently concluded T20 World Cup: (a) The shortest version of the game is inarguably the benchmark now (purist may please excuse me); (b) West Indies has definitely re-emerged as a major force in the international cricket (Is basketball declining in the Caribbean?) ; (c) Bangladesh has restored the balance in sub-continent, that got disturbed with decline of Pakistan (look forward to more bi-lateral business with the eastern neighbor as Mirpur emerges as new Sharjah); (d)...

Thought for the day "Wealth is the ability to fully experience life." —Henry David Thoreau (American, 1817-1862) Word for the day Insouciant (Adj) Free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant. (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none Do you think, like jewellers, the cigarette manufacturers are also fighting a lost battle? First random thought this morning The first sub Rs5 bidding for solar power bidding in India by American SunEdison was celebrated by the government a few month ago. Later, the company sought an exit from the project it had bid for. The same SunEdison has now filed for bankruptcy. One Enron had materially damaged Indian banking industry in 1990s. Do we another one? Nifty: Near term hurdle at 8K, midterm path clear Supported by huge FPI buying, Nifty ended the month of March materially above its earlier resistance of 7610 on monthly charts. This confirms th...

Thought for the day "In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes." —John Ruskin (English, 1819-1900) Word for the day Hibernian (Adj) Irish (Source: Dictionary.com) Malice towards none Reportedly about 4000 uber rich people have moved overseas from India in 2015. This has been a trend for past few years. What could be the primary motivation behind this?   First random thought this morning A recent visit to Uttrakhand was quite revealing. We could not find a restaurant in Dehradun, Mussoorie and Uttarkashi serving local food, while there were three in Mussoorie alone that served "authentic" Tibetan food. Despite a statewide ban on polythene, we saw most shops delivering goods in polythene bags. It was common to find heaps of plastic waste in Mussoorie. The local people were completely passive to the political upheaval in the state. The extant Chief Minister does not seem ...