How China could trigger a Dollar decline?

Well, 'am neither an subject expert in forex matters nor an economist but bumped into an article in MoneyWeek while I was getting to understand Carry Trade (?)

An excerpt from the article;

"China does not have to sell any of its existing dollar reserves to precipitate a decline in the dollar - all it has to do is stop accumulating dollars. The current US trade deficit with that country alone is running over $20 billion per month, and that is not an insignificant amount. If China stopped accumulating foreign reserves, those dollars would be sold into the foreign exchange markets and I expect that when that happens, the dollar will fall."

Read the entire article here.

Broadband Speed Test

When I took up my broadband connection, I always wanted to ensure I got the speed that was advertised by the ISP and did quite a bit of google and came across a lot of sites. However, none of them were user friendly or interactive or comprehensive until I bumped into Speedtest.net

A very user friendly website, with exhaustive details like past results, country average, continental averages, etc. FYI, the site was revamped a few weeks ago. I personally felt the old one was good (is there anyone who likes a change???) but the revamped site has a lot of details, so I could probably live with the change ;-)


Oh, BTW, snapshot my connection below

We 4 ours 1

Don't run your imagination wild after reading the title of the post. This post is not about any freak population control methods for India, which I doubt may work in any case. The title is the USP for the Car Pool community formed in India's Technology Capital, Bangalore.

In a gallant attempt to ease the chaotic traffic scene in Bangalore, a couple of IT guys decided to kick start a free service, Commute Easy, the Car Pool community which already has about 3000 registered users.

According to their official website, the concept, which now is reality and infact spreading its wings to Pune, aims at;

• Decongesting traffic in Bangalore
• Lower travel costs and stress levels
• Bring about a reduction in pollution levels
• Broaden social network

What I find here missing (though implied in a different context) is the definite reduction in the consumption of fuel, spiralling prices of which has already lead to an all round increase in the price of commodities, essentials and what not?

So go ahead, breathe easy and commute faster!

Check out Commute Easy's official blog for updates and happenings.

Sivaji

I've been listening to Sivaji songs last couple of days and thought it definitely deserves a post.

The songs are fantastic! That's probably the least a Rajini fan like me can comment on the numbers. I'll have to probably start a seperate blog to detail on the songs so just the snippets here.

While Shanker - Rahman combination is proven for more than a decade, it would be extremely interesting to watch how Shanker has handled Superstar onscreen. The trio combination of Superstar, Rahman and Shankar is definite to storm the theatres.

There are 7 songs in the movie and are very "peppy", as quoted by one of my colleagues during lunch today.

Rajini's intro song, "Sooriyano Chandirano" sung by SPB simply rocks! The lyrics, beautifully written by Na.Muthukumar could not have been sung by anyone better than SPB. While it is not the usual thathuva (philosophical) song that feature's in every Rajini movie, this intro song is probably the best among recent Rajini movies.

Valee's done yet another "Mukkala Mukabula", "Telephone Manipol" with "Athiradikaaran..." in this movie. Sung by Rahman himself, the song has powerful percussion which is also believed to feature Rajini as he did in his olden days. It still amazes me as to how Valee, at his age can come up with such peppy, funky numbers.

A melody number (the only one in the movie!), "Sahaana Saaral" has two versions, one sung by Udit Narayan and the other by Vijay Yesudas. The pathos version sung by Vijay is awesome, probably because 'am not a great fan of Udit Narayan or maybe the song by itself was good. I can already visualize the song to be brilliantly picturized.

I ran out of my imagination trying to visualize the "Oru Koodai Sunlight" song. A peppy, funky, whatever you call it song, probably would potray the best of Rajini styles over the years. Alas, Style = Rajini!

The other two numbers, "Vaaji vaaji" and "Vaada Vaada" also deserve praise.

எஸ்கேப்

வெட்டு ஒன்னு துண்டு ரெண்டு என இருந்தவர், போதுமடா சாமி என எஸ்கேப் ஆக உள்ளார். தனது ராஜினாமா கடிதத்தை சாப்பல் இந்திய கிரிக்கெட் வாரியத்துக்கு அணுப்பியுள்ளர். ராஜினாமவுக்கு குடும்ப மற்றும் சொந்த காரனங்களே எனக் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளர் எனத் தெரிகிறது.

ஒரு வேளை, இனிமேலும் பயிர்ச்சியாளராக நீடித்தால் பாகிஸ்தான் பயிர்ச்சியாளரக இருந்த பாப் உல்மர் கதி தனக்கு நேர்ந்திடுமோ என்று கூட அஞ்சியிருக்கலாம்.

அவரை விட்டுத்தள்ளும், வந்த நாள் முதல் சௌரவ், கும்ப்ளே இப்போ சச்சின் என அடுக்கடுக்காக பிரச்சனைகள் மற்றும் சர்ச்சைகள்...

இவையெல்லம் பார்க்கும்போது வடிவேலுவின் "டேய் மாப்புள்ள ப்ரிய்யா இருக்கியாடா, ஒருத்தன் சிக்கியிருக்கன்..." தான் எனக்கு ஞயாபகம் வருகிறது

Exploring Vegetarianism

My wife and me strictly follow vegetarian diet, which eventually had also influenced my darling 3 year old daughter. However, I was curious to know her version of the reason for her not eating meat and asked her about it one day...

Her spontaneous reply was "coz we are all hindu's!"

While my immediate reaction was to laugh out loud, carry her in my arms and pour her with kisses in adortaion of her innocence, I then clarified her that being vegetarians, we refrain from eating meat.

However, I simply could not get out of my head if the answer I gave her was complete. Her accidental correlation between hinduism and vegetarianism indeed bothered me. I just wanted to do a bit of a google on this and bumped into the Bhagavad Gita, the holiest Hindu scripture. It read;

"He who sees that the Lord of all is ever the same in all that is -- immortal in the field of mortality -- he sees the truth. And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others. Then he goes, indeed, to the highest path" - Bhagavad Geeta 13.27-28

Furthermore, Thirukkural, one of the greatest tamil literature by Thiruvalluvar has an adhikaram (chapter) comprising of 10 kurals on "The renunciation of the flesh". One of it goes like this;

படைகொண்டார் நெஞ்சம்போல் நன்றூக்காது ஒன்றன்
உடல்சுவை உன்டார் மனம்

English translation: "Goodness is never one with the minds of these two: one who wields a weapon and one who feasts on a creature's flesh"

I just realised that my 3 year old daughter is indeed true on her supposition that hindu's are vegetarians!

Chandra's Checkmate?

In a move to save the desperate situation of Indian cricket (and ofcourse make money!), Subhash Chandra's Zee Telefilms has formed the Indian Cricket League, a cricket league parallel, to the BCCI. And what chandra had to tell on his new move?

"It troubles me that the country with more than a billion cricket fans and a million cricket enthusiasts fares so poorly at the international stage. A new approach must be taken for the sport to grow and prosper in the years ahead," Chandra said.

The games are believed to be of Twenty20 format, with 6 teams to start with. Each team will have 4 International players, 2 Indian players and 8 promising talents. Whether the games and prize money will be of any importance to the International and Indian players (seniors) but the visibility out of these games will be of utmost importance to the promising talents to make into the bigger leage!

Read the full story here.

இது தேவையா?

75 ஆன்டுகளுக்கு முன் எடுகக்பட்ட பழமையன கனக்கெடுப்பை உறுதியானதாகக் கருத முடியது எனக் கூரி, உயர் கல்வி நிறுவனங்களில் பிற்படுத்தபட்டோருக்கு 27 சதவீதம் இடஒதுக்கீடு சட்டதுக்கு இடைக்காலத் தடை விதித்த உச்ச நீதிமன்றத் தீர்ப்பை எதிர்த்து தமிழ் நாட்டில் ஆளுங் கூட்டனி மற்றும் எதிர்க் கட்சிகள் இனைந்து (அடடா, என்ன ஆச்சிர்யம்?) சென்ற சனிக்கிழமை (மார்ச் 31ஆம் தேதி) மாநிலம் தழுவிய பொது வேலை நிறுத்தம் மற்றும் கடை அடைப்புக்கு உத்தரவு பிறபிக்கப்பட்டு நிறைவேற்றப்படது.

இது ஒரு பக்கம் இருக்க, இன்னும் 10 வருடத்தில் இந்தியா ஒரு மாபெரும் வல்லரசு நாடாக உருவகும் என நாம் மார் தட்டி கொள்கிறோம். இது என்ன கொடுமையா இல்ல காமடியா?

தமிழ் வாழ்க!

வனக்கம்!

இது எனது முதல் தமிழ் வலைப்பதிவு...இன்றுதான் தமிழில் வலைப்பதிவு எழுதுவது எப்படி என்பதை அறிந்து கொன்டேன்...இதுதான் ஆரம்பம்!

Oh Dear...again!

My last post on this topic was about 45 days ago and again, its the same story now.

The Central Bank of India, RBI has increased the CRR and the Repo Rate by .5 & .25% respectively on Saturday. The markets, as expectedly have had a blood bath so far. The top private banks in India, ICICI and HDFC Bank have already announced the hike in lending rates and revision of the existing one's. All this for curbing the inflation rate that stands at an astounding 6.5% as on 19th March, 2007.

Floating rates for home loans are as high as 12% and fixed, a whopping 14%. Almost double in a couple of years. This is certainly going to hit a gamut of industries like automobile, real estate, cement and ofcourse banking. Money is going to be more expensive than before and consumers will have to think more, to be precise, carefully before going in for loans.

PKMC

I love acronyms and this one is the latest, though not commonly used, this one is for "Pachai Kili Muthu Charam", Gautham Menon's new Tamil flick after his last blockbuster, Vettaiyadu Vilayadu!

Gautham's taken a break from his usual Cops & Robbers storyline and ventured into a family (?) subject. The movie has Sarathkumar, Jyothika, Milind Soman and Andrea (debut) in the cast। Inspired by the book, Derailed, which was later done as movie in 2005 with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston leading the pack. IMHO, Pachai Kili Muthu Charam is definitely not for the conservative Tamil audiences, maybe would have remained a good fiction to read!

Sarath too does a different role, a soft one, something different from his usual Nattamai and larger than life characters. He seems to have done a decent job. Jyothika's plays Jennifer Aniston's role and I must say that it is a pretty strong performance and most importantly, effortless! Milind Soman plays the villain and is not too impressive. New comer Andrea, playing Sarath's dispirited wife does not add any pace to the movie. Both Milind & Andrea looked out of sorts throughout the movie. Gautham, once again, has lended his voice to his villain, last time being for Jeevan in Kakka Kakka.

The movie is really slow! I just could not resist the last 15 minutes, it was a big drag and Jyothika over doing (as always!) her character. The songs were also a let down, with just the Unakkul Nanae by Bombay Jayashree and Karu Karu by Karthik and others being just okay. All this for the successful Gautham Menon - Harris Jeyaraj combination in Minnalae, Kakka Kakka and Vettaiyadu Vilayadu. The entire movie seems to have been shot in the dark, especially the first half of it. More of Manirathnam's inspiration I guess (Joke!). Comedy goes on a vacation this time, never seen anywhere near the movie or the dialogues. I only wish Gautham spends more time for his next venture to make up for what he has messed up with PKMC.

PS: Grapevine says that Gautham Menon's next venture Varanam Ayiram (I just love this title) is also an inspiration from Hollywood, this time its Forrest Gump!

CWC2K7

A billion hopes shattered!

Change is certain!

I read from the online edition of the "Daily Thanthi" today that all vegetable and fruits vendors, across Tamilnadu will be on strike today protesting the entry of " Reliance Fresh" across the state. The worst part is that the eviction of Reliance Fresh in TN is supported by the ruling coalition partner PMK. The reason, small players will be wiped away in the course of time!

Isn't it so obvious that the buyers are then cheated / charged high by such vendors? If there is a competition, one has to stand up and face it or just quit rather than protest against something that is certain. Reliance's venture into retail is definite to benefit the masses. Do we all not know what the Ambani's, Tata's and Birla's are capable of? Do we not appreciate Reliance and Tata's achievement in the Telecom sector? How different is the retail?

Can one forget the sea of change India has experienced since the liberalization reforms started in 1991? Its high time people, especially politicians realize that change is certain!

Family Problems - LOL!

Two men, one American and an Indian were sitting in a bar drinking shot after shot.

The Indian man said to the American," You know my parents are forcing me to get married to this so called homely girl from a village whom I haven't even met once. We call this arranged marriage. I don't want to marry a woman whom I don't love...I told them that openly and now have a hell lot of family problems."

The American said, "Talking about love marriages... I'll tell you my story.

I married a widow whom I deeply loved and dated for 3 years. "After a couple of years, my father fell in love with my step-daughter and so my father became my son-in-law and I became my father's father-in-law.

My daughter is my mother and my wife my grandmother.

More problems occurred when I had a son. My son is my father's brother and so he my uncle.

Situations turned worse when my father had a son. Now my father's son (i.e.) my brother is my grandson. Ultimately, I have become my own grand father and I am my own grandson.

And you say you have family problems.... Give me a break!

Guru!

I watched this movie (the tamil version!) a couple of days back and really enjoyed it. The movie is inspired by the Business Tycoon, Dhirubhai Ambani's life and has been well scripted by Maniratnam. IMHO, Abhishek dazzled as Gurukant while Rai (as Sujata) seems to have lost her charm (???). Madhavan and Vidya Balan are also in the starcast and have done neatly. Mithun Chakraborty has made a definite comeback for the meaty role he's done in the movie as Nanaji. The songs were awesome (Rahman & Hindi, the chemistry works a lot) but the belly dance number by Mallika Sherawat was not warranted from some like Maniratnam despite that adding the flavour of Turkey / Middle East.

A serious and an inspiring movie!

CSE = Cricket Stock Exchange

It wouldn't be Infosys and Wipro here at the CSE but Tendulkar's and Lara's. Formed by whizkids from IIT and IIM, the virtual cricket stock exchange will be on till the end of the Cricket World Cup 2007. Having started with the IPO's, it is all set to launch the secondary market operations from 11th March when the real battle in West Indies begins :-)

According to the developers, virtual cash will be allocated for every participant and each of them are expected to invest it rightly to make more money. It could be IPO, Cash or F&O. The same rules as in a real stock exchange but the essence is learning the basics (or even the advanced) of stock markets without losing money :o)

Saddening...

It was yet another Tuesday morning at the office till there were mild tremors felt during 11:50 AM, just before lunch. Almost everyone on the floor felt it, and sitting on 20th floor is no joke. The tremors lasted for about 30 seconds or so but were really frightful. We had been out for lunch and the roads were much crowded than it usually used to be and we found people talking on their mobiles about the tremors. Soon after, we were back at our office and a fire alarm went off causing a bit of a panic after we were asked to evacuate. It was then played down as a false alarm. Shortly after, we again felt mild tremors, atleast not as serios as earlier. It was then on news we found out that there were a two quakes in Indonesia and quite a few lives lost. Pretty sad day after a lot of partying last evening for a farewell.

Year of the Golden Pig!

the chinese new year holidays are just over here in singapore but the MRT's and roads do not indicate so. the crowd is still thin and slowly catching up after a long weekend though few I know are getting back to work only on monday. however, most of the businesses are reopening today, the 5th day of chinese new year, as it is believed to bring luck!

while pig year comes every 12 years, a golden pig year comes in only every 600 years, that adds all the more excitement and of course babies to one of the countries that has the lowest birth rate in the world!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

burp!

not having packed lunch from home, i tagged along with a few other colleagues of mine who started for lunch. I thought we were going to Lau Pa Sat, the food court until one of my colleagues had other planes. we decided to go to The Soup Spoon. being a vegetarian, i was kinda reluctant till another colleague of mine assured there was plenty of choices for vegetarian. i assured myself and walked towards the outlet which was just past Lau Pa Sat opposite to our office.

I should say, the choice of vegetarian food was more than usual levels for a singapore restaurant. for the soup, i had to decide among Tangy Tomato with Basil, Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff, Meatless Minestrone Soup and Roasted Pumpkin with Caramelized Apple. Minestrone being my favorite, i apparently settled for with Falafel with Hummus wrap and an Iced Lemon Tea though there were choices of sandwich and salads.

I should say the food was awesome! Nothing more, Nothing less! Looking forward for another lunch / dinner to the soup spoon.

Bon Appétit!

Oh Dear!

With RBI hiking the CRR from 5.5% by a whole 50bps to 6%, the commercial banks in India are already scratching for options. The CRR is the cash reserve that all commercial banks will have to maintain with the RBI for their operations like lending and mobilizing deposits. The CRR, sadly does not attract any interest as a result the commercial banks will have to mobilise deposits to that tune, pay an interest to the depositors, and then obviously increase their lending rates.

The impact on the CRR hike definitely is not only on the stock markets as we have witnessed in the past few days with the banks uffering the most, but also in real life like performance of the banks, real estate, cement industry, steel, automobile sector and what not? A hike in lending rates, for home loans, which is already close to 12% by private sector banks is imminent and so are personal loans, auto loans, etc. This will definitely be a tool to curb the runaway inflation which stands at 6.5% currently but this will also put a check to the improving lifestyle of the commons.

The big question here is, was CRR hike the only way to curb inflation? Are we out of options? The answer, to my mind is NO! The government must have definitely put in its heads together to control exports of consumer goods and open up imports to ease the situation rather than hike CRR which now seems to have a bigger impact!