Ahan's new blog

I've started a new photo and video blog to track Ahan growing up. Visit Ahan's blog here.

Cash for Votes - UPA Exposed

I am watching this live program on CNN IBN channel about the Cash for Votes issue and it is amazing how Amar Singh is still in office and the UPA government in power after such an expose! It is quite evident from the video footage that the three BJP MPs were offered money by Sanjeev Saxena on behalf of Amar Singh of SP.

More on Tapes of Cash for Votes here.

What a day!

Saina Nehwal beat the fourth seed, Chen Wang of Hong Kong to enter the Quarter finals of the Olympics. She played brilliantly to beat the higher ranked player, 21-19, 11-21, 21-11 in 52 minutes.

What a day it is turning out to be for India!

She now has a pretty good chance of making it to the Semi-finals as she plays an unranked player Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia who upset the sixth seed Tine Rasmussen of Denmark. Saina, if she wins the next game will then probably have to face the second seed, Ning Zhang of China.

Tune in for more updates from the Olympics!

India’s First Individual Gold Medal in the Olympics!

Abhinav Bindra, that's a name that created history today at the Beijing Olympics. He becomes India's first sports person to win an individual Gold medal at the Olympics, EVER! What an achievement!!

Abhinav claimed the Gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5. He did it in style too, soaking up all the pressure and delivering when it mattered most. Going into the last shot, Bindra and Hakkinen (bronze medal winner) were tied for first place, but Bindra secured the gold medal with his best shot of the final, an outstanding 10.8. Way to go, Abhinav!

Here is a photo of the hero! Read more details here.

The Olympics start today!

The 2008 Olympic Games start today in Beijing. The games will last till August 24, 2008. It's going to be an exciting few weeks from now till the end of the games. There are going to be some amazing clashes…FedEx vs. Rafa, US basket ball team vs. Chinese BB team, Mark Phelps going for 8 gold medals (will be a record if that happens), Brazil vs. rest of the world in soccer, I could go on. From an India perspective games to lookout for would be shooting, tennis and badminton.

India has sent a 57-member contingent and its support staff of 42! Gone are the days however of the Indian hockey team dominating the Olympics. In fact, if you leave out the exploits of the Indian hockey team, India has done miserably at best in the Olympic Games. We have managed to win all of 1 silver and 3 bronze medal's since 1928! The Hockey team has won us 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals since 1928.

There are 302 medals each (gold, silver and bronze) to be won at the 2008 Olympics. Let's hope we do better than our current strike rate!

Independence Day in Hyderabad

The car's (Santro) NOC will finally be done and available around the 14^th of August. All of us are going to be in Hyderabad this Independence Day to spend time with Baba. There are a few things to close from the movement perspective as well and the weekend will be spent in that.

Discussion right now is around how to get the car to Pune from Hyderabad? Do we drive it down here or get it moved through packers and movers in a truck. The distance is about 548 kms (good site to check distances between two cities in India, http://www.mapsofindia.com/distances/) so driving down is quite feasible.

Using MS Word to Blog

This is a test blog posted from within Microsoft word. One of the templates provided in Word 2007 is for Blogs. You can type up the blog in word and publish it from within word itself. You can configure the blog server that you use. Let's see how this works!

Other features include being able to edit previously published blogs. You can also have multiple accounts setup. Pretty cool I think. One feature that I am still trying to locate is tagging.

Lesson learnt from my son

Ahan is growing up fast and learning new things everyday. However, the other day I learnt a very important lesson from him - firmness of purpose.

Once he sets his mind on something, he does everything possible to get it. I've tried putting obstacles in his way, putting it way out of his reach, moving the target or him when he has almost reached his target. No matter what happens, no matter how many times he has to start over, he almost always puts in all his effort to get what he want.

I think there is a very important lesson to learn there. Perseverance and determination win over any and all obstacles.

My new mobile phone - HTC Touch

I lost my Motorola mobile and so was on the lookout for a new mobile phone. I was looking for a smart phone and the comparison was between the Apple iPhone and the HTC Touch. I checked out the comparison between the two phones on various sites and settled on the HTC Touch.

Official site for the phone is here.

Here is an excellent comparison of the HTC Touch and Apple iPhone.

Moved to Pune

We all moved to Pune around end of May. I had applied for an Internal Job Posting for a new unit in December and got the job. Release took some time due to commitments. Life has been really busy since, partly due to the moving and partly because of the work in the new unit, so I haven't been able to blog regularly.

Leg 2 – Praveen’s Wedding and the drive back to Mangalore

The morning was spent catching up. Rajini fixed us a breakfast of bread and omelet with hot tea. The plan was to start from Mangalore after lunch. Praveen’s parents also stay in Mangalore and the groom to be was in town so Randhir and I paid him a quick visit. Praveen looked his usual calm and composed self.
Rajini’s brother along with some of his friends were expected around lunch time. They were stopping en route from Mumbai. Their plan was to drive down to Cochin, a total distance of about 1,500 odd kilometers! It reminded me of my days in the states when we used to drive such fantastic distances. Anyway, lunch was finally had at around 3pm and anyone who has had Rajini’s food will agree that some sleep is in order afterwards. We just lazed around. Hours came and went by and yet we had not started for Honnavar. The distance of about 180km or so was to take about 4 hrs, as some part of the road was not good. We were going to do it in Randhir’s car. Meanwhile Praveen had already started for Honavar and kept calling and checking with us on whether we had started and we kept saying we would start in a bit. The hour finally arrived at 11pm! Don’t ask why and how, but we decided we would start that same day. The drive we peaceful or should I say the sleep was peaceful. I managed to stay up for only about an hour and then dozed off. You could hear snores from the back seats and Randhir was the only one awake (thank God for that). He woke us all up at 3am in the morning to announce that we were finally at the Hotel. Praveen had taken care of the bookings and we just had to check in and sleep, again. We all obliged.
We all got up hungry and headed down for a quick breakfast of Mude Idly’s, wada’s, and dosa’s. After a quick shower we all headed to the venue of the wedding.
The wedding hall was quite unique in that it was a cinema theater converted into a wedding hall. We were unable to secure any seats in the stalls but were only too happy to be seated in the Balcony! We were just in time for the ceremony and it was good to see the couple. They look very good together. After a sumptuous lunch served on banana leaf we headed back to the hotel to check out and start on our way back to Mangalore.
There were quite a few places to see on the way back and we had to choose what we wanted to see. We decided to stop at Murudeshwar. There is an amazing temple of Lord Shiva here. The idol of Shiva is huge and the temple entrance is magnificent. “Size matters” is put to the best use here. You are overwhelmed by the sheer size and beauty of the idol and the temple entrance. To make things more scenic its right next to the sea on the beach! Words cannot do justice to the location and the temple so I’ll just let you go through the photos instead. Check out all the photos here.
We reached Mangalore around 10pm and headed for the Royal Treat restaurant to have dinner. Their Biryani was certainly unique. I’ve never had white biryani (the color of the rice is white, not the usual yellow). It certainly was yummy. Meanwhile, Randhir was calling his contacts in Mangalore to arrange for a cab for us for our trip. We decided on having a car with us round the clock instead of taking a bus to Madikeri and depending on the local transport for sight seeing around the area. Fortunately a Chevy Tavera was available and we asked him to report at 9am the next morning to commence the next leg of our vacation. That brought an end to another wonderful day. And yet, our entire trip to Coorg still lay ahead of us.

Leg 1 - Trip to Mangalore

Geeta and Ahan were already in Bangalore and I took the 7pm Bangalore express from Hyderabad on the 25th. The train journey was pleasant and the train was on time. I reached Bangalore in the morning and we had our train to Mangalore to catch at around 8:30pm that evening. Packing was quick as most of the stuff had been packed and brought along from Hyderabad. We chose the train as Ahan wouldn’t sit in one place and so bus was not a viable option. We had booked through Tatkal as the plan was pretty last minute (also getting tickets through the regular quota is pretty difficult). Unfortunately though we couldn’t get any AC tickets and were left holding sleeper class tickets. As expected it was hot and humid as we neared the coast. Geeta and Ahan were sleeping on the upper berth and Ahan was not getting too much cool air I think. He got up in the middle of the night due to the heat but slept well when I put him to bed on the lower berth with the windows open. However, that meant I had to stay up to watch over him and it gave me an opportunity to test out the new Chess software I had loaded in Geeta’s mobile phone. Playing chess and listening to music simultaneously made 2 hrs pass by without any problem and when sleep finally got unavoidable I moved him to the upper berth with Geeta and slept.

We were greeted in the morning by these breathtaking views of the Western Ghats. I had heard a lot about the scenic routes all along Konkan Railway, but seeing is believing. Here is a shot of the train trudging along in the morning mist of the ghats. It got really uncomfortable as we approached Mangalore though. The heat is not so much a problem as is the humidity. The constant sweating is what makes you really uncomfortable. To add to it, the train was running late and we finally reached Managlore all of 2 hrs late at 10am in the morning. Randhir and the kids were at the station to receive us and it was wonderful to see them after all this time. The last time we had met was when they had visited us in Bangalore about 15 days after Ahan was born.

Vacation at Coorg

We just got back from a much needed break in the hills of the Western Ghats, at Coorg. Praveen was getting married on the 28th of April in Honnavar, Karnataka and it was Rushil’s 8th and Rushab’s 2nd birthday on the 2nd and 3rd of May. With the holiday on the 1st, taking off for the remaining 4 days in the week made a lot of sense. Also, Geeta has been wanting to go on a holiday for some time now and this seemed like the opportune moment. Well, it couldn’t have been time better spent, in the company of friends and nature. I had also promised some photographs from the new camera phone, so here goes, a day by day account of the entire trip with lots of photos.

Twinkle twinkle little star...

Game shows have taken over the TV prime time slots these days. From "Kon banega crorepati" (Hindi version of who wants to be a millionaire) to "Bol baby bol" to "Kya aap panchive pas se tez hein", everyone seems to be asking questions. Better than the soap operas I say. They at least make you think. Here is a question that probably everyone must have asked as a kid. I am not sure how many of us know the correct answer though.

"Why do stars twinkle?"

Now, be honest and try to answer it without asking someone or searching for the answer. You can use the comments link to drop in your answer. The correct answers can suggest a topic on which I will post a blog or send in their questions or comments which I can post on this blog.

Sony Ericsson K810i

Geeta's old mobile stopped working so we were on the lookout for a new phone. Requirements were -

1. Decent Camera & Flash - atleast 3 MP as she would need to click lots of snaps of Ahan. Also flash was a must as there would be a lot of situations where the snaps will be taken in insufficient light conditions.
2. FM Radio & MP3 player - must have again as both Geeta and Ahan love to listen to music and it provides a good means of TP.
3. Speaker Phone - required as for Ahan to listen to music it will have to be played on the speaker phone.
4. Video & audio recording - required to capture those amazing moments with Ahan.
5. Bluetooth - must these days
6. Stylish and new - Obviously, if a girl is going to use it!

After a lot of comparison we chose the Sony Ericsson K910i. Its a new model and we got it in a nice color, especially for the ladies! It has a 3.2 MP camera (cybershot) with Xenon flash and all the other features that we were looking for. We compared this phone against the Nokia N73 and Music Express phones and W910i by Sony Ericsson.

Here is a link to check out all the technical details of the phone.
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k810-1839.php

We are very happy with the phone. The screen clarity is good, the phone is light and nice to hold and easy to operate. No issues what so ever with the software or anything other thing. The camera and flash are superb (one of our most important reasons to go for this phone, due to the cybershot brand name). It came with a 2GB card.

I will post some of the photographs taken with it and more updates in the days to come.

Tumse hi...Tumse hi

Everytime I hear the song "tumse hi tumse hi", a very strong emotion takes me over. It is a little sad and nostalgic but very haunting. I just cant get away from the tune and the song. Here are the lyrics. Its from the movie "Jab we met" starring Shahid and Kareena.

na hai yeh pana, na khona hi hai
tera na hona jane, kyun hona hi hai
tum se hi din hota hai, surmaiye shaam aati, tumse hi, tumse hi
har ghadi saans aati hai, zindagi kehlati hai, tumse hi, tumse hi
na hai yeh pana, na khona hi hai
tera na hona jane, kyun hona hi hai

aankhon mein ankhein teri, bahoon mein baahein teri
mera na mujhmein kuch raha, hua kya
baaton mein baatein teri, raatein saugatein teri
kyun tera sab yeh ho gaya, hua kya
main kahin bhi jata hoon, tumse hi mil jata hoon, tumse hi, tumse hi
shoor mein khamoshi hai, thodi si behoshi hai, tum se hi, tum se hi

aadha sa wada kabhi, aadhe se jayada kabhi
jee chaahe kar lu is tarah wafa ka
chhode na chhoote kabhi, tode na tute kabhi
jo dhaga tumse jud gaya wafa ka
main tera sarmaya hoon, jo main ban paya hoon, tumse hi, tumse hi
raaste mil jaate hai, manzile mil jaati hai, tumse hi, tumse hi
na hai yeh paana, na khona hi hai
tera na hona jaane kyun hona hi hai

Mentoring

At work you will meet two kinds of managers. Those that mentor and those that dont. I think there are huge advantages to mentoring and hope that the day will soon arrive when every person has a mentor.

A mentor is a midway position between a boss and a teacher. It is someone who helps more by way of example. (s)he should be able to manage people well and supervise their work to see if they are on the right track. Just delegating the work and following up to check on the closure status is not the same. You need to be involved, have the necessary know-how and be ready to help out if required.

Another important aspect of mentoring is for the mentor to have an open mind in disseminating knowledge. Don't treat the tricks you have learnt as a top secret, share your expertise with the mentee. It is good to see someone following in your footsteps or even taking after you!

Having good listening skills are also a must. As a mentor, you should not only listen, but also be able to understand the situation. You should never be overbearing or make your advice mandatory. Give the person room to disagree, your role is just to provide helpful suggestions not to enforce them.

As a mentor you should have excellent interpersonal skills. A wide range of experience can make you an interesting person to be with and to learn from. A good knowledge of the world and the way things work is necessary if you want people to look up to you.

Successful mentoring can bring about a drastic change in organisational working and culture. It can encourage new aspirants and minimise corporate jealousies thus making way for an open atmosphere where learning abounds both for the experienced and inexperienced alike.

The MMTS option

I've decided to give a try to the more greener and stress free MMTS mode of travel to and from office. Today was the first day of the experiment. I have taken a one month pass between Secunderabad and Lingampally. Irrespective of the time of the day it takes about 1 1/2 hrs. I am planning to take an auto to the Secunderabad station, MMTS from there to Lingampally and the office shuttle from the station to office. The time for the train journey is about 45 mins, 15 mins for the shuttle to office, 10 mins to the station from home and rest is transition and waiting time.

Its not a bad option when compared with the driving to work option, where the stress of driving in Hyderabad's traffic is killing! Time wise mornings are worse off compared to driving but evenings are on par or better. The real advantage though is the stress factor and I hope the energy I conserve through the MMTS option can be focused on other more important things.

Hyderabad's new airport

The new airport at Hyderabad is commencing operation from today. Ashwin is traveling to Pune today and he has the unique opportunity of using the airport on the very first day of its operation.

To me decision of closing down the Begumpet airport and moving all operations to the new airport smells fishy. While I am not against the starting of the new airport, I dont see any logic behind closing down the old airport and shifting all operations to the new airport. The civil aviation ministry and state government together should have put the necessary infrastructure in place before taking such a drastic decision. The commute time to the new airport from the center of the city is anywhere between 1 1/2 to 3 hrs depending on the traffic situation. Also, the cost of operating out of the new airport is much more for the airlines (and ultimately the customer), than out of Begumpet.

Inspite of some airlines and the public asking for the older airport to be kept open for some more time or for operation of some of the low cost airlines, the decision was still made (in haste) to move all operations to the new airport. Obviously someone in the ministry has vested interests and this kind of blatant biasing is still not being checked in this day and age!

Healthy babyfood recipe - Ragi Soup

We have started Ahan on a healthy homemade recipe of Ragi soup in addition to boiled apples and ripe bananas. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Ragi flour
Water/ milk

Procedure:
1. Sieve ragi flour through a muslin cloth. You can tie a muslin cloth to a container (not too tightly) and pour the powder on it little by little. Collect the powder in the container that has passed through the cloth. The powder that remains on the cloth needs to be discarded. You may use it for adults, but it shouldn't be used for babies.
2. Take a teaspoonful of this powder in a glass, and add a little water to make a paste without lumps. Then add 3/4 glass of water or milk and make a thin solution.
3. Heat this solution on low fire. Bring it to a boil. Keep stirring. As you keep boiling and stirring, the colour of the solution will change slightly indicating that it is done. You can continue to boil till the desired consistency is reached.

Feed the baby this soup when it is lukewarm. Initially you can begin with a thin solution and slowly increase the thickness of the soup as the baby grows up and gets used to it.

Who gets the credit?

One of the most important aspects of managing a team is recognizing the contributions of the team and sharing credit appropriately. Responsibility and accountability comes from owning the mistakes and failures and not hogging the credit on successes.

It is of paramount importance that the team never gets a feeling that the manager or senior management is not fair in all transactions. One often sees managers socializing based on gender, culture or other interests and it is very important that this be controlled. I remember an episode from the TV serial "Friends" where Rachael takes up smoking to be around with the Boss because her boss and her colleague (who both smoke), keep taking all the decisions when they are at the smoking lounge. I am sure we all have witnessed this in some form or the other at our place of work.

There is no doubt that the manager, being at the helm of the team is the one who is responsible for everything that the team does. (S)he owns the successes as well as the failures, but it is alarming to see managers take responsibility only for the success and point to others when there is failure! Worst still is pointing to the team for the failures, then working with them to fix the failure and take the entire credit for the success!

Ahan starts on solid food

Yesterday, at all of 5 months and 10 days, for the first time Ahan tasted food other than his mother's milk. Anand was in Hyderabad on his way to Dubai and it seemed as if everything came up aligned for this. Geeta had checked with the paediatrician earlier in the day about starting Ahan off on other foods and he was all for it. Ahan too has been showing inclination to eat for the past couple of weeks when he accompanied us at the dinner table. With the "mama" at Hyderabad it was the opportune time.

After much discussion and debate over what to start with, I won (for once) and we gave him some boiled apple. I thought it was better to start off with natural and fresh food when compared to packaged food like Cerelac.

Ahan enjoyed every moment of the first "dinner" he had! He attacked the spoon with gusto and was even ready to eat straight from the bowl! It was good to see him enjoy his food and I am glad we started it when he was ready for it.

IT IS NOT EASY

To Apologize
To begin over
To admit error
To take advise
To keep trying
To face a sneer
To be unselfish
To be charitable
To avoid mistakes
To be considerate
To endure success
To keep out of a rut
To forgive and forget
To profit by mistakes
To think and then act
To subdue an unruly temper
To make the best of little
To shoulder a deserved blame
To recognize the silver lining

BUT IT ALWAYS PAYS

Earnings Guidance - Needed?

A majority of the companies across the world provide earnings guidance. It's in the form of a target number that the company projects it will reach in terms of revenue, profit, growth etc. It is provided by companies because providing guidance increases liquidity for companies that might otherwise be ignored, and liquidity helps to reduce volatility. Also companies like to tell their stories themselves rather then letting analysts speculate. Another reason is earnings are a key part of corporate performance. Such information is important for the market to know.

And yet, the evidence continues to build that the theory of earnings guidance is all wrong. There are many who look at guidance in a negative light. They contest that it imbeds perverse incentives (to manage the numbers rather than the business), relies on dubious assumptions (that earnings should be stable), and feeds into a short-term mentality. The stock market existed for centuries before guidance became common practice in the early 1990s, so it can certainly function without it. Also research by McKinsey actually suggests that for large companies earnings forecasts actually increase volatility because the fact of hitting or missing creates trading action.

Earnings guidance is not knowledge. It is just an educated guess, or rather, an aspirational one that far too many companies will fold, spindle or mutilate themselves to meet. Take the example of Enron for the worst-case scenario of guidance gone amok. Companies like the New York stock Exchange (NYSE), Berkshire Hathaway, Google, and JP Morgan Chase do not provide a earnings guidance. Good economic performance is a process, not a number. All these companies provide other details to the market like medium-to long-term goals for each of its businesses, return on equity, company's priorities, strategy, issues and finances. Even the Chinese Communist Party gets this concept. Like Warren Buffett and the gang at Google, China has come to recognize good management requires that numbers be servants, not masters. Their newest five year plan does not feature an economic growth target.

Companies ought to re-look at the need to provide earnings guidance and see if other parameters can be provided instead.

Innovation at the railway station

Baba went to Bhadrachalam last night and all of us along with Ahan went to the station to see him off. It was after a long time that we went to see off Baba and it felt nice. He too felt nice and it was the first time that the entire family was together in the new car.

Yet again gettting a platform ticket at the station was a time consuming affair. The counters for getting a platform ticket ought to be different from the ones where you get train tickets. I did notice a novel idea though. I am sure we all know of the weighing machine at the station. Well this one at Secunderabad station had weight, height, BMI and platform ticket all in one for Rs.5/-. Pretty novel idea I must say. Three bucks for the platform ticket (valid for 2 hours) and two bucks for the other services being provided. There is need for more such innovation to be brought to the common man. A commendable effort on this one.

Ahan starts turning on his stomach

Since yesterday Ahan has started turning on his stomach! Yesterday he turned 4 months and 12 days old. He is mostly turning on his left hand side. Its a pleasure to see your baby growing up and Geeta and I look at each other with a sense of accomplishment and pride each time he does something new.

The EV/EBITDA ratio

An alternative to the P/E ratio that is often used is the valuation multiple or enterprise multiple called EV/EBITDA. EV stands for Enterprise Value and takes equity as well as debt into consideration. EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. The advantage of this ratio over P/E ratio is that it takes debt into account in the numerator and the denominator is not distorted by the effects of individual countries' taxation policies. The enterprise multiple looks at a firm as a potential acquirer would. Obviously, a company with a low enterprise multiple can be viewed as a good takeover candidate.

Keep in mind though that enterprise multiples can vary depending on the industry. Therefore, it's important to compare the multiple to other companies or to the industry in general. High growth industries command higher enterprise multiples and slow growth industries have lower multiples.

Ahan comes home!

I brought Geeta and Ahan home today from my in-laws at Bangalore. Atti and Vishu (my mother in law and brother in law) also accompanied us. We reached early morning at 4:40am and Ashwin came to receive us at the station with the new car. The journey to Hyderabad was pleasant, especially so for me since it was the first time in the last few months that I was not traveling alone! Plus this was also the first time that I was traveling with Ahan!

We visited the Ganesh Temple on our way home. Ahan entered the house after the traditional "aarti". Geeta's "oti bharane" then followed. Baba will be home this evening from tour and we are all eagerly awaiting him. He called and we spoke this morning and I could make out he is just counting minutes. We missed Aai today. She would have been so happy to receive Ahan home. Anyway, I am sure she is overlooking all this and making it happen.

Now that Geeta and Ahan are home, time spent at home will be all the more special. There will be reason to come home as early as possible and weekends would be awaited that much more. I am looking forward to spending time with MY family! :)

All about P/E ratio

When you are evaluating a company for its value from an investment perspective one ratio that everyone looks for and talks about is P/E. You will see everyone referring to it and talking about it in the equity markets. Here are some answers to common questions -

What is the P/E ratio?: P/E stands for Price to Earnings ratio. It is the price of an equity share of the company divided by the earnings of the company against each equity share. Let us look at each of these parameters in detail.

• Price of an equity share (P): This is the prevaling price of the equity share of the company in the market today. Pls note this is different from the face value of the share of the company. A share of face value 10 may be priced at a premium to (above) the face value or at a discount to (below) the face value.
• Earnings per share (E): It is calculated as the profit earned for the most recent 12 month period per each outstanding share. For example if a company makes a profit of 100,000 and has 1000 shares outstanding, the earnings per share are 100.

What does P/E denote?: From a financial perspective one would like to pay a price for an investment equivalent to the profit (earnings) that can be derived from the investment. So ideally one would like to have a P/E of 1. Since the earnings of a good company are bound to grow (increase), one might want to pay a price greater than the current earnings of the company. So the P/E becomes > 1. If the company is not making any profit, or making a loss for that matter P/E becomes < 1. So essentially P/E denotes what the market thinks of the company's growth prospects. If it is a high growth company one would like to pay a steeper price than the current earnings and if the company is low or medium growth then obviously the price will be lower. Also if the company is growing its earnings quickly the P/E will become low. Obviously then a lower P/E denotes a value investment (value investments will be covered in a later blog).

What is the right P/E?: There is no one number that can be specified as the appropriate P/E for a company. Various factors like business environment, economic growth rate, regulations, demand, projected growth rate, etc. contribute to the determination of what one feels as the correct P/E for an investment. Since its a ratio of Price to Earnings, lower the value, the cheaper the company is to own.

Word of Caution: Know that the P/E can be manipulated! Since the concentration is on lowering the P/E ratio, it can be manipulated by increasing the denominator. Lets say company X has 1000 shares outstanding at a price of 800 per share and earnings of 100,000. Current P/E of company X is 800/100=8. Now company X decides to buy back 200 of its shares at 800. The new P/E of X is 800/125=6.4! So even though the company did not actually grow its earnings, it managed to lower its P/E just by buying back its shares!

Tips for taking baby for immunization

I was in Bangalore this weekend to spend time with Geeta and Ahan. I had never been with them for his immunization visits and we planned this to coincide with my travel there. Baba often said that the pain of a parent when their child is hurt cannot be explained but only experienced. Over the weekend I realized what he meant.

Geeta and I knew fully well that he would be fine in a couple of days but both of us had our stomachs in knots seeing him in pain. The little fella on his part was very brave. It didn't take him long to realize that the pain intensifies if he moves the leg where he was given the injection and he quickly adjusted making sure the leg is kept as immobile as possible.

Regular Medomol drops ensured fever didn't stay on for too long and we kept him distracted from the pain. He loves going out and we kept him distracted by taking him out. When we got back home, we put him to bed at the earliest and he too seemed to cooperate. He woke up energized but the leg was still hurting. Through the day the fever and pain subsided and he seemed to be getting back to his natural rhythm and antics!

My advise to all parents taking their child for immunization dose -

• Don't panic, the child will be uncomfortable for some time but there is nothing that your love cannot cure. Cuddle and comfort them.
• Keep them dressed comfortably. The area where the syringe was used will hurt and so make sure there is no further irritation due to tight clothes.
• Keep them cool, don't overdress them. Especially with fever, it is better to keep them open.
• Keep Medomol or your paediatric prescribed fever medicine at hand.
• Keep track of what distracts them, when they cry due to the pain, this is what will come to your rescue.
• Take turns in taking care, else both of you will be exhausted at the same time.

New movie Release

Latest Blockbuster "SAARE ZAMEEN PAR" ..

Premiered this week & Running Successfully all week at BSE and NSE..

Directed and Produced by Ambani Bros,

POWER ON.. MARKET GONE

Carnage on Dalal Street - Day 2

If yesterday was a shock, today was spectacular. Within 5 mins of the market opening the BSE sensex had hit the lower circuit of 10% and trading was halted! A drop of about 2000 points in 5 mins. An event which prompted the PM and FM, to intervene and issue statements that the fundamentals had not changed and that India would continue to grow at 8-9% clip. When trading resumed after an hour the markets still traded volatile, recovering then sinking and finally recovering to an 800 point loss to close the day. Weak cues from the global markets and the margin trading issues contributed to the carnage.

This is a good time to enter the markets. One of the main principles of value investing is buying low and this situation provides the right environment to choose the stocks and invest in them for the long term. Ofcourse, a lot of research and analysis needs to be done before investing, but if you believe in the Indian growth story and dont have that much time, the best idea would be to invest in Index funds. The advantage being their low expense structure since no one has to manage them and inbuilt diversification.

BSE Sensex Melts!

Boy, what a day! We lost over $169 billion or Rs6.69 lakh cr in market cap today. Everything was going in just one direction, DOWN. The BSE sensex fell 7.41% to 17,605. A fall of more than 1,400 points in one session! About 38 companies lost more than 20%. The fears of an US recession along with the expensive P/E of the Indian market triggered this free fall. Now the big question on everybody's mind is whether this is the bottom or they is more pain to come. There is no use timing the market. No one can. The best option is to buy on fundamentals and stay invested for a longer time period.

With the markets at current levels, for someone with enough liquidity its a good time to enter the market. Obviously no one knows what will happen from here, but if you invest on fundamentals and value, you should stand to gain in the long term. Happy investing.

Bobby Fischer is no more

One of the chess world's greatest geniuses, Robert James "Bobby" Fischer, has died at the age of 64 in Reykjavik, Iceland on 17th January. Bobby Fischer became famous as a teenager when he playing for America became the first and thus far the only american to win the official World Chess Championhip in 1972 by beating Russia's defending champion Borris Spassky. This was during the cold war and many publicized this as a America vs Russia battle.

The Chess world will definitely miss one of its greatest master. May he rest in peace.

What is Web 2.0

We hear the term Web 2.0 being thrown around so much these days. What is this Web 2.0? Is it a technology; is it an architecture or features? Well, I think we should visualize Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices. It is basically a collection of principles that successful business of the current world have applied. Some of the practices and principles of Web 2.0 are -

Treating the web as a platform:
Web services, deliver the software as a service, not as a product
no releases, just continuous improvement
no licensing or sale, just usage
leveraging customer self service
reaching out to all the corners of the web not just the big few
service automatically gets better the more people use it
Harnessing Collective Intelligence:
use of tags - collaborative categorization (folksonomy)
effects of user contributions (users add value and get other users)
Infoware not software:
own certain classes of core data
continuous maintenance of data
treat users as co-developers
Lightweight programming models:
loosely coupled systems
think syndication, not coordination
design for hackability and remixability
Design software for multiple devices:
software written above the level of a single device
Rich user experiences:
rich user experience delivered over the web

Use of challenges in cricket?!

With the controversy that has followed the 2nd test between India and Australia with regards to the umpriring, I think we should rethink the whole umpiring situation of today. Those that have played the game will tell you that the human touch is still required but having so many decisions go against you is plain unfair. We should probably approach it the way tennis is doing it. The captain should have an option to challenge 2 decisions per inning. Upon challenge the 3rd umpire will be consulted. If the decision given by the umprire on the field is correct then the challenger loses one of his challenges. However, if the consultation leads to reversal of the decision the field umpire has made then the challenger still retains his challenge.

Its time we learn from our mistakes and get innovative. Making a mistake once can be forgiven, but repeating it is a sin!

The joys of parenthood

Everyone who has had a kid told me how their lives changed when they had a baby. Hearing about the sleepless nights, no time for each other or themselves and the child taking over everything you had in your life up till that point was scary. At the same time though, they also spoke fondly of the joys of parenthood and for a non-parent that somehow didn't seem as appealing. I mean how and what are you going to enjoy when you cant sleep for nights on end, have no time for yourself or your spouse and all your life revolves around the baby!

Like they say though, marriage and parenthood can only be understood when you go through it, not by listening or reading about it. Geeta and I became parents on September 28th 2008. We have a lovely boy, Ahan. Incidentally the day also happens to be Ashwin's birthday! What a special gift for him it was!

My view of parenthood is that its the sweetest joy you can experience. You feel no pain in doing things that definitely looked painful before and probably are too! Its like the things you do when you are in love but this one is even more absurd. I know why they call a baby a "bundle of joy". The feeling you feel when they smile at you can only be explained by saying its the purest form of joy you will ever experience. Nothing in this world comes close to it!

Geeta and Ahan are still at my in-laws place in Bangalore so I am not really going through the paces yet, but I am eagerly awaiting the day when they will be here. Also the time I am spending during weekends at Bangalore are getting me prepared and providing a good insight into the life once they will be here. If someone now asks me about parenthood, all I will say is "You should not go through life without experiencing it"!

Will he Gamble?

The 2nd test match between India and Australia is very interestingly poised after 4 days. Australia leads us by 200 odd runs and all the talk is about what target they will set us. Will Ponting go after the 16 consecutive test match winning record of Steve Waugh or play it safe? I think that he will play it safe and wait to close the series in Adelaide, where he will fancy his side's chances on a bouncy track. From India's point of view I think we probably missed out winning this test due to the poor umpiring. It is appalling to see caught behind's, leg before's and the third umpiring messing up decisions all in favor of Australia. I cant comprehend why after BCCI asked the team management to lodge a formal complaint, we have decided not to do so! I mean, isn't suffering injustice wrong too? Also, Ponting advocates his opponents to walk when they know they are out and the umpires don't get it right. Mate, what happened? Why did you or Symond's not walk when both of you were sure you nicked the ball? Is this your sportsmanship? Why don't you walk the talk?

It has been a good test for India so far. Our batsmen were finally able to assert themselves and they all looked good. Ganguly is in sublime form and every time he sets foot on the pitch he looks good for a ton. He is unable to convert his start into a big inning though. Laxman was classy as ever and Dravid too was able to get some runs. Harbhajan's knock was special. Obviously, Sachin's knock was the highlight.

It was Sachin's third hundred at the SCG and it was a relief to see him get the hundred! With the recent spate of getting out in the nineties, it was important that he start 2008 on a fresh note. I think the 5th day can be made very interesting by Ponting if he wants to. If he can gamble and give India a target of just under 300, it will turn into a good fight since India might be interested. Anything over 300 I think will force India to play for a draw. I just hope he gambles and India get a chance to get even in the series. Only then will we know if this team has it in it.

Starting a business in India

For some time now, I have been thinking about starting a business and last night I got into thinking all about how to go about doing it. The first thing obviously is to find out what is required to start a new business in India. Searching on the topic yielded the following results -

• http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreTopics/StartingBusiness/Details.aspx?economyid=89
• http://www.legalserviceindia.com/company%20law/company_formation_procedure.htm

The first link lays out 13 steps that need to be done for registering a new business along with indicative times and cost for each step. The second confirms the process and discusses it in a little more detail.

Two documents that are required and that can be done upfront are the MOA (Memorandum of Association) and AOA (Articles of Association).

The purpose of the MOA is to communicate to the public the state of affairs of the company and its purpose of being and operating. This aids various stakeholders of the company (creditors, suppliers, shareholders, etc.) to evaluate the extent of their risk and also possibilities of the company to overcome them at a future date. A memorandum of association is required to state the name of the company, the type of company (such as public limited company or private company limited by shares), the objectives of the company, its authorised share capital, and the subscribers (the original shareholders of the company). A company may alter particular parts of its memorandum at any time by a special resolution of its shareholders, provided that the amendment complies with company law.

The articles of association of a company are the regulations governing the relationships between the shareholders and directors of the company, and are a requirement for the establishment of a company. Together with the memorandum of association, they form the constitution of a company. Articles of association typically cover the issuing of shares (also called stock), the different voting and dividend rights attached to different classes of share, restrictions on the transfer of shares, the rules of board meetings and shareholder meetings, and other similar issues. A company is free to amend its articles of association at any time by a special resolution of its shareholders, provided that they meet the requirements and restrictions of the Companies Acts.

Happy New Year 2008!

I have been thinking about maintaining a blog and thought to use the New year day as an opportunity to start it. I hope I will be able to "maintain" it and it wont end up being a one time thing. There really are a lot of topics to write about, from work related topics to writing about parenting (since I am a brand new father), to writing about my interests and other thoughts. The challenge I think is to keep it going since the interest and energy levels probably wane off once the initial excitement dies down.

Baba got a new car on the 26th of December. Its a Honda City and its absolutely fab! Of course we did a lot of analysis. The contenders were Hyundai Verna, Ford Fiesta, Maruti Suzuki SX4 and the Honda City. We found the City to be the best fit for our needs. We have got a nice Bluish Silver with Beige (PU combination) interiors. We also added the Cobra Security system (just a fancy name for the remote keyless entry, though it has an ultrasonic alarm in case of a breakin). A few other extras found their way into the car as well! Now we have a choice to make every morning, does the Santro or City go to office with us?!