Posted 11:58 PM by The Consultant
A Financial Thriller!!!!

The sudden clamor of the alarm woke him up. He sprang to attention. All around him, he could see only figures and figures. HDFC Bank… 250.45, ICICI Bank…. 159.05… Reliance…345.20…. HLL…167.15. He felt lightheaded. He still recalled the time when he was all fresh and raring to go. Now, he felt as if he had lost the will to compete in the game. In those days, he was one of a kind. He was not up to the mark anymore. Newer, younger and smarter operators had entered the market. He was no longer the star attraction. He missed the fan following he had.

Well, it can’t always go your way. There are always ups and downs in the stock market. Why should his life be any different?

With an effort, he completely expunged all these depressing thoughts from his mind. He concentrated on the job at hand. He did some quick calculations. If he gave a sell order now on HDFC Bank, he could make a quick killing on the downturn that would come near the end of the day. He thought about the previous patterns he had observed in the HDFC Bank shares. He felt that he should go ahead with the order. He immediately entered his price in the huge order book. The order book gave a disinterested beep to signal that the order had been received. Damn, even the order books nowadays knew that he was no longer important. “I will show them, I will show them that I am right. Experience does count for something.” He uttered to himself. He knew that the brain that he possessed was of exceptional caliber and he knew what he was capable of. It was just that his recent attempts had met with failure.

Beep!!! The order book beeped. His order had been accepted and the deal had gone through. He noticed with pleasure that despite his sell order, the price was going up. He did another quick calculation and then gave one more sell order. The order was executed by the system. The price continued to rise relentlessly. He could not believe his eyes. It was going to be a big day indeed. He gave another order.

Till 2.30 pm, he gave sell orders worth nearly 5 crore Rs. Now, he waited for the downturn that was bound to come. The newsflash when it came left him numb. “HDFC Bank posts 30% growth in Q1”. The price was already on its way up. The phone started ringing. He looked at it but didn’t feel like picking it up. With an effort, he picked it up. It was his boss. He heard him out, gave some feeble answers.

He stood up. A crazy thought entered his mind. He looked around. No one was paying any attention to him. He started walking, his mind made up! Suddenly he started running towards the glass window…

The next day, there was a small item of news.
“Rajesh Mehta,32,a noted stockbroker committed suicide by jumping out of the window. Almost all the share prices fell by a whopping 8%…”

The boss stared at the news item. Rajesh was always very smart. He knew what drove the market sentiments…..

Posted 7:49 AM by The Consultant
Creativity, Textbooks, Teachers and other question marks

What should be the ideal method of teaching? What should be the ideal education system? What should be its objectives?

All of us have been a part of this system for the first 20 years of our lives. Hence, it is not surprising that most of us have certain opinions about this system or the lack of it, as some may wish to point out.

Before I launch a scathing attack on this system, I must admit something. I am a product of this system. I am at a particular level because of the system. But I feel that there is some scope for improvement. (There is always some scope for improvement in every system ;-) )

Every person is born with some degree of curiosity about the world around him. As he grows up, he starts asking questions. Some kids ask more questions, some ask less. I feel that the best way to preserve this curiosity is to provide clues that will mystify the kids even more. The idea is to make them find out the answers themselves.

Our textbooks should be designed with this idea in mind. It will take a really creative mind to write a textbook in this fashion. Our textbooks provide ready answers to all our questions. There is no fun, no thrill, and no excitement in that. Reading a textbook should be like an exploration expedition of a semi dark cave full of treasures and tantalizing clues. The teachers should act like guides who know the path but will only show a clue or two once in a while.

Can you imagine a school like this? Where the pursuit of knowledge is not driven by rules and exams but by students and their unending thirst?

Education system tries to make conformists out of us. It tries to give a structure to the way we think. But the creativity is unstructured. It is like a bird soaring up and up into an infinite and unending sky. Giving it a flight path and asking it to stick to it does not make sense to me. For, the people handing out the flight path don’t know where the journey ends, if at all. The duty of the old generation is to arm the new one with imagination and then watch them disappear beyond their own brand of imagination.

Posted 6:53 AM by The Consultant
Why do we need exams??? Part 2

The point of this and the last post on exam is not to discuss whether or not the exams should be continued or not. The point is to establish that exam in its current form is a totally unnecessary procedure that does not serve any purpose whatsoever.

When was the last time that you felt that the question paper was really challenging and it was a real treat to answer that question paper? How many instructors possess the caliber to test the students?

Then what should an ideal exam be like?
1.It should be able to test all your knowledge about the topic.

2.It should be able to see whether you have gone beyond what was taught in the school and tried applying those concepts in challenging practical situations.

3.The examination should not be designed to judge whether a person has achieved bare minimum. It should be designed in such manner that the examinee would be able to assess his knowledge vis-à-vis the stringent requirements of the world.

4·The objective of most examinees is to achieve passing grades. Hence, they end up with some half-baked ideas about the topic that they actually go on and implement in the world.

I can go on and on…

But the central theme of all my ideas about the ideal exams is the practical considerations. If the practical life is robust enough to judge a person, then what is the reason for all these exams?

Is there any flaw in these arguments? Please let me know….

Posted 10:17 PM by The Consultant
Common Civil Code

There is some hope now that all the citizens of India will be equal in all respects. The Honourable Supreme Court has rightly observed that there is a difference between having religious freedom and having different laws for different religions.

But I doubt whether the political parties in India have the guts or the willingness to administer this bitter pill.

There have been many instances in the past where the Justice system has intervened on behalf of the citizens.

However, one fundamental and glaring inefficiency in our legal system has been ignored for too long. The delays and inefficiencies in our justice system needs to be addressed. More about it on Saturday. Have a rather tough exam at 2.00 p.m.

Have a nice day!!!!

Posted 11:10 PM by The Consultant
The Socialist

It was a glorious morning! It had been a long time since I had had 10 hours of sleep. Everything felt so right, so perfect. I opened the door and stared at our football field. It was a beautiful cool morning.

Suddenly, I realised that something was wrong. OH MY GOD!!!!!! There was no social justice! The capital assets of production were being owned by a few capitalist pigs! I looked at the contents of my room.

I felt dizzy. I had too many capital assets in my room. I had a computer, some books and a scissor. I had committed what I, a true socialist, would call the gravest crime. I was depriving my fellow countrymen from earning their daily bread. I hung my head in shame and self-recrimination. I thanked the lord for the enlightenment!

OH NO, another sin!!!!!! Thank Marx, I realised it just in time. I was thanking the god, a non-existent entity, a creation of the capitalist pigs, a peddler of the most dangerous drug called religion, a thing that I can call many more names. Hrmmmmpppppph!!

I dragged my computer, all the books and the scissor to the hostel common room. I came back to my room, my face shining with pleasure of satisfaction. I saw our safaiwala passing by. I asked him to stop and told him that he could use my computer and scissors whenever he wants. I wanted to tell him that he could use the books also, but then I realised that he cannot read English. The safaiwala looked at me, confusion writ all over his face. He was obviously trampled on for too long by these fat capitalist pigs. He had forgotten all about the social equality. I explained to him patiently that I was a socialist and that he was the victim of a capitalist plot. He had the right to use my computer, as it was something he could use to produce and make money. Then I started explaining to him the concept of socialism and how it is the only hope for the mankind. I could literally see the change in the thought process of the man. Initially he looked confused and bewildered. Then I could sense from the changing expressions on his face that he was beginning to understand. Suddenly, in the middle of my explanation, he asked me to stop. He looked at me as a fellow socialist would and said, “Babuji, I have understood what you are saying. I will always support you in all your endeavours. Now, I have some work to do right now. Meanwhile, please get some sleep as you look tired.” The concern in his voice was touching and I decided to follow his advice.

I flopped down on my bed and closed my eyes in bliss. I had just removed some inequality. As I slept, I dreamt of a socialist India. It was a really beautiful dream. Everyone was smiling a socialist and equal smile. Everybody was so equal that you could actually see the equality sign between two people talking to each other. Plans were afoot to uplift the downtrodden like the cats, dogs and pigs (not the capitalist ones!). Biologists were talking about genetic engineering to remove the physical and genetic inequalities. There were no classes in the society. Classification was banned in statistics.

As I dreamt, I smiled a triumphant smile. The victory was complete.

Be warned, all ye capitalist pigs! The socialist is going to destroy all your capitalist designs.

Posted 7:23 AM by The Consultant
Why do we need exams?????

Exactly 1,454,889,789 years ago, in a galaxy not far far away (In fact, in this galaxy itself) some bureaucrat suddenly became creative. His mind started racing so fast that he experienced dizziness. He got up from his chair to rest his back. (Bureaucrats need frequent breaks to rest their aching backs.) He cursed the chair that did not allow him to sleep properly. Then he tried to catch hold of the idea that he had thought of. But as bureaucrats don’t meet these creatures called idea very often, he caught hold of some non-idea creature in his mind and termed it idea. That non-idea creature was called evaluation process. The bureaucrat was pleased by the non-idea creature and decided to use it in practical life. It gave him new means to create obstacles, paperwork, problems and other such unnecessary things in the smooth lives of the non-bureaucrats.

Since the inception of this non-idea, lives of almost all human beings has been plagued by tension, trauma, failure and other such unnecessary things. I happen to be one of those human beings and I want to register my protest.

Exams or evaluation process of any sort is entirely unnecessary. But some people still float arguments that support this non-idea creature.

Let us examine these one by one.
1.People study only because the exams are there.
Quite true. But these are the subjects that they deem unnecessary in their lives. If a person is passionate about something, he will study it whether or not the exams exist. If someone does not want to study something, why should he be forced to do so? If in the course of his life, he finds that the particular stream of knowledge he had ignored in the past is quite essential for his survival, he will learn it by heart.

2.You cannot judge a person without exams.
How many exams really judge our abilities? How can we say that X is less capable than Y just because Y got more marks than X? Maybe Y really likes that subject and X does not. Maybe Y has a better handwriting. Maybe X cannot write that fast. How many evaluators are really good at those topics? How many evaluators really believe that they are doing something important? How can we ensure that the subjectivity element does not affect the evaluation process?

Remaining arguments in the next post. One disadvantage of having 3 finance courses and advanced marketing research is that you do not get much time to sleep and blog.

Posted 5:26 AM by The Consultant
Ultimate Joy!!!!!!!!!

After 6 years of hard work, failure and patience, finally the Gods have smiled. I have become a CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT!!!!!

It is one of the happiest moments of my life. Even getting into IIM Lucknow was not such a joyous occasion.

I hope that all of you experience the kind of happiness that I am feeling today.

Have a nice day, all of you!!

Posted 11:12 PM by The Consultant
Cricket Quiz!!!!!

My first cricket quiz and I made it to the finals!!!!! I was always skeptical about my quizzing abilities, especially after sitting through one of Gaurav’s quizzes in which I had no idea what on earth he was asking. So, when I got him as my partner for the cricket quiz, I was rather happy, though I doubted my ability to contribute to our team’s victory.

The elimination round had 25 questions in which I got some rather tough ones right. To quote a few, (How can I resist bragging?) –
1.What is the similarity between 1981 Headingley test (Botham leads England to victory despite following on) and Kolkata test (Laxman, Dravid, Sachin and Harbhajan)?

The answer is Peter Willey. He was a player in the first and umpire in the second.

2.Who is the only player to have scored unbeaten hundreds in both the innings of a test?

Aravinda Desilva

3.Southernmost Test Venue?

Dunedin (New Zealand). (Gaurav overruled and wrote Hobart. :’( )

In the finals, I opened our a/c with a guess that turned out to be true. However, the quiz was not conducted in a fair manner. : @

Some useless system called infinite rebound system (Suggested by Gaurav) was used. The sole aim of this system is to ensure that Pushkar and Gaurav get incredibly impossible questions. To give an example, in 1902, Adams hit the ball in the air that hit a sparrow, so identify the spectator who bought 456th ticket in that match.

But our competitors were getting some really easy ones.

Who got Tendulkar’s wicket in India-Zimbabwe match in 1999 world cup?
Tendulkar did not play in that match.

I don’t like this system at all. In fact, I have designed a system called “ The Management Guru system”. In this system, the quizmaster comes and shows us a piece of paper on which a question is written. Then, he shows us another piece of paper for exactly 8 seconds on which the answer is written. Then we have to dig deep into our memories and write down on a piece of paper what the answer is. (We may use the same piece of paper)

What a superb system! It tests the eyesight, the memory and the reading skills of the participants.

Then the quizmaster goes to the next team and asks them to guess the answer that we wrote. It is so simple and efficient.

I hope that Gaurav employs this system the next time he conducts a quiz.

Posted 1:19 AM by The Consultant
Conducting arguments through comments system is also not a good strategic move.

Posted 10:36 PM by The Consultant
The TechGod!!!!!

And finally I have done justice to my amazing programming talents! Soon this site will be full of amazing technologies like zonkboard, pictures, links of IIM Lucknow etc.

Posted 12:54 PM by The Consultant
Falling ill in a business school is not a good strategic move. All the promises that you had made to other people cannot be fulfilled. Your entire schedule goes haywire. You miss quizzes. Then people keep asking you why you missed them, telling in great detail how easy they were.

For last couple of days, I am watching the lives of other people flash by. The freshers are especially busy with their workloads, committee interviews and all. It is depressing when you see others busy with their tasks while you just sit idle doing nothing.

I remember my school days. In those days, it was fun to be ill. I didn’t have any deadlines to meet. I could just stay in the bed, read a book or two and enjoy the wonderful tomato soup that my mother made.

Falling ill is not a good strategic move if you don’t have anyone looking after you. :-(

Posted 10:40 PM by The Consultant
Forrest Gump

All of us have to make some choices in our lives. Many times, there is no doubt in our heart as to what is the right thing to do. Yet we end up doing the wrong thing. Then we try and justify it. We say that we were being pragmatic and sensible about it. But when we are alone and we have nothing to do, we keep thinking about these decisions wondering why we didn’t have the courage to do it the right way.

I wonder whether it is our intelligence that hinders us from making these right decisions. We think about the consequences, we determine the course of action that will benefit us the most. If we are only able to think what is right or wrong and not what is profitable or otherwise, will we make the right choice?

This is why I love this movie. Forrest is a simpleton. He has limited intelligence, but he knows what is right and wrong. He has very simple reasons for doing the things that he does. He does not care about the consequences. In a world full of insanity, this “stupid” is the one making all the sane choices.

Sometimes, the contradictions in our lives look so logical.

Posted 8:24 PM by The Consultant
War, Peace, Human Beings and Full Metal Jacket

Contrary to Gaurav’s expectations, I really liked Full Metal Jacket. Yeah, it is too explicit, but so is life!
I have read a few books on war like Catch-22, War and Peace and some Hemingway. I wonder if there exists a difference in opinions in the western world and the eastern world.
All the Indian war stories that I have read so far paint a very different picture. I wonder if there is any book by any Indian soldier who has fought in a war. It would be interesting to find out what an Indian soldier thinks about a war….
In the last scene of the Full Metal Jacket, the Joker shoots the sniper and moves on. I guess that is the only thing one can do about the war. Shoot, congratulate yourself that you are alive and move on!