I never wanted to write a blog on politics but this subject was beyond that. The desolate state of Zimbabwean economy results in emotions which varies in extremes. It amuses you at one point, makes you laugh sometimes and sometimes you feel so sad and sorrowful that you really don’t know what can be done about it.
Zimbabwe became independent on Apr 18, 1980. At that time, the Zimbabwe dollar was more valuable than the USD (Can you imagine that?). Whats the exchange rate today?
While I am writing this, the official exchange rate hovers at: $1 = Z$30bn and this keeps changing every minute. And this minute by minute changes is not just with the exchange rates. The inflation rate is 2,200,000 and by the time I finish writing this blog, it will be much higher and by the time you read this, it can be anything around 3,000,000. The prices of goods goes up every minute
Imagine, you leave the house when the loaf of bread costs Z$50bn (yes you are right... its Z$50,000,000,000) and by the time you reach the shop, its already $100bn
The central bank in Zimbabwe have been printing currency notes in denominations never heard in any other country. Z$250,000, Z$750,000, and Z$1million bank note denominations were introduced in December 2007. This was followed by a Z$10 million note bank note in Jan '08 and by a Z$50 million note in April. Then there were bank notes in denominations of Z$100 million and Z$250 million to be released. Last I knew, the most valuable banknote available was for 100 billion Zimbabwean dollars (which ironically cant even buy you a proper meal or a bus fare)
My intention of writing this blog was not to cover the economics (there are enough intellectuals in the world debating about it), but to explore the practicalities of living in such an economy. The loaf of bread was just an example. As I said, the prices of goods change every minute. When you go to a restaurant and order something. By the time you finish your meal, the bill is based on what – on the price you ordered or the current quoting price?
How do people pay for their daily expenses. (Cash?...I am sure at some point of time, the paper on which the currency is printed will be more valuable than the denomination on the same; Credit Card... naaaa... forget it)
The coins are no longer available (No guesses! Metal can be melted and made more valuable)
So many arbitrage opportunities every hour
Wouldn’t it be better to go back to the old and traditional barter system (Instead of cash, I rather stock commodities… They may be more valuable to me)…
How does the central bank runs? What systems do they use? Can the systems even afford so many zeroes? How do they take care of minute by minute changes in the economy?
Do people keep their savings in banks? How do banks charge interest rates? How do they even calculate?
What about your cash withdrawl limits?
There are enough questions in my mind that I can go on.. and I am sure each one of you would have enough on your minds as well… so let me leave it at this
To end on the lighter side (yet highly ironic and satirical) … have you been dreaming for long to be a billionaire? Now is your chance…
In fact as someone said… the country can register itself with the Guiness book of world records for the highest number of billionaires
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
My visit to Tate Modern and the 'modern' arts
This weekend, I got a chance to visit Tate Modern in London. For those of you, who are not aware of as to what I am talking about, Tate is a family of four art galleries housing the UK's collection of British art from 1500 and of international modern art. The group is simply called Tate. The Tate Modern galleries are housed in the former Bankside Power Station, situated on the banks of River Thames. It faces the spectacular St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge (more famous for the many Bollywood shootings)
This has been in my ‘To visit’ list for quite some time as it features in the Top 10 London attractions and more so because the entry is free. (its quite strange here for tourist attractions in London, either the entry is absolutely free or its so high that you really need to scratch your wallet to visit them)
Anyways, this blog is not to describe the London attractions or even the architecture / heritage of Tate Modern. This blog is to describe the so called Modern Art and what it means. Everytime, I visit such modern art galleries and this time Tate Modern, the popularity of the same makes me curious. Is it only me who doesn’t understand them or my taste in art can never go beyond the classical sense?
The biggest difference is: In all classical arts, at least you can comprehend what you are seeing and the description is more to enhance the history in which it was created, life of the artist and in what circumstances he created the art; thus making it even more enjoyable and interesting.
Modern Art… first you cant understand what has been depicted unless you read the explanation; secondly even after reading it, you can create a thousand other interpretations of the same.
Let me take up two examples from the galleries of Tate Modern again.
First is a painting. The painting is complete dark blue except on the bottom edges, which is a bit of red and the top edge where it’s a bit of dark yellow. The description said something of contrast etc. etc. But would it be any different, if everything was red and edges were blue/yellow. Or may be just don’t paint it at all; leave it white and drop some black paint (can there be any more contrast than black or white)
Sometimes, I wonder how this would be different, if I asked a little kid to drop some colors on a wide canvas and let his imaginations go wild.
The second one was a movable art (or should I say running art): Martin Creed's Work No. 850 in which young runners, one at a time, will run every 30 seconds from one end of the gallery to another. And I always thought running was a sport (or at max, an exercise). But here I am watching people run in an art gallery as an art creation and we should not just watch them but also try to understand the meaning behind viz. vitality, physicality, movement, action (I can even say: preparing for 2012 Olympics, lack of open parks, concrete jogging tracks, etc.,)
I will not try to define the goals of such an exercise as the local newspaper covered it and debated it quite extensively (The Independent even said: Is art running out of ideas? Artists forced to explain modern art)
There are so many such arts depicted in modern art galleries worldwide, some priced beyond my decade earnings (or may be even more)
Ok, I don’t want to be harsh or rude; in no way I want to undermine the efforts of any of the artists. But, as I said earlier, its beyond my comprehension.
To think simply, shouldn’t art have a purpose, shouldn’t it interpret itself, shouldn’t it summarize the feelings, emotions, surroundings, climate, environment, human psyche, shouldnt it be pleasing to the eyes, and so on. It should at least achieve something. I leave it to your thoughts....
This has been in my ‘To visit’ list for quite some time as it features in the Top 10 London attractions and more so because the entry is free. (its quite strange here for tourist attractions in London, either the entry is absolutely free or its so high that you really need to scratch your wallet to visit them)
Anyways, this blog is not to describe the London attractions or even the architecture / heritage of Tate Modern. This blog is to describe the so called Modern Art and what it means. Everytime, I visit such modern art galleries and this time Tate Modern, the popularity of the same makes me curious. Is it only me who doesn’t understand them or my taste in art can never go beyond the classical sense?
The biggest difference is: In all classical arts, at least you can comprehend what you are seeing and the description is more to enhance the history in which it was created, life of the artist and in what circumstances he created the art; thus making it even more enjoyable and interesting.
Modern Art… first you cant understand what has been depicted unless you read the explanation; secondly even after reading it, you can create a thousand other interpretations of the same.
Let me take up two examples from the galleries of Tate Modern again.
First is a painting. The painting is complete dark blue except on the bottom edges, which is a bit of red and the top edge where it’s a bit of dark yellow. The description said something of contrast etc. etc. But would it be any different, if everything was red and edges were blue/yellow. Or may be just don’t paint it at all; leave it white and drop some black paint (can there be any more contrast than black or white)
Sometimes, I wonder how this would be different, if I asked a little kid to drop some colors on a wide canvas and let his imaginations go wild.
The second one was a movable art (or should I say running art): Martin Creed's Work No. 850 in which young runners, one at a time, will run every 30 seconds from one end of the gallery to another. And I always thought running was a sport (or at max, an exercise). But here I am watching people run in an art gallery as an art creation and we should not just watch them but also try to understand the meaning behind viz. vitality, physicality, movement, action (I can even say: preparing for 2012 Olympics, lack of open parks, concrete jogging tracks, etc.,)
I will not try to define the goals of such an exercise as the local newspaper covered it and debated it quite extensively (The Independent even said: Is art running out of ideas? Artists forced to explain modern art)
There are so many such arts depicted in modern art galleries worldwide, some priced beyond my decade earnings (or may be even more)
Ok, I don’t want to be harsh or rude; in no way I want to undermine the efforts of any of the artists. But, as I said earlier, its beyond my comprehension.
To think simply, shouldn’t art have a purpose, shouldn’t it interpret itself, shouldn’t it summarize the feelings, emotions, surroundings, climate, environment, human psyche, shouldnt it be pleasing to the eyes, and so on. It should at least achieve something. I leave it to your thoughts....
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Prepone
Continuing my quest to dig deep into the nuances of English language, there is another word that amuses me – ‘Prepone’
For those who hail form the country of Her Majesty, they would say its not a word… They would have heard postpone and will frown on the usage / meaning of such a word. Not surprisingly, while I am writing this blog, Mr Bill Gates creation fails to recognize this word and the spell check keeps showing an error. I myself have gone through many debates on this topic. Because for us who come from India, prepone is a very common and natural word to use.
The first time I heard of this word, I did a research on the global search engine (Google… I would love to write a blog on this as well but lets leave it for sometime in future). I found it very interesting to see that such a word doesn’t exist in the English dictionary. However, there were various links which acknowledged that such a word is indeed spoken in India and is classified under ‘Indian English’. One such link even claimed that the ‘New Oxford Dictionary of English’ and ‘Random House Unabridged’ have included this word with the origination as Indian English just like many other words originating from India like yoga, mantra, guru, jungle, karma, etc. But, I am yet to get an official confirmation on this. (By the way: there are a total of 350,000 words in English dictionary, out of which 700 are classified to be of Indian origins).
So without going further into the facts and the various versions/dictionary of English, let me just put my views.
To put it simply, if you can postpone something, why cant you prepone?
Sometimes I laugh off by saying that may be we know how to do things faster and hence can understand the relevance of such a word whereas others go strict by the project planning and if there is a deadline, it can only be ‘postponed’.
English has been a very flexible language with words taken from almost every other language and has thus incorporated words as per convenience. And hence, instead of using the more complicated versions existing today (‘to bring forward’, to advance, ‘to move up’), why don’t we just welcome ‘prepone’ into the English vocabulary as well?
May be we might learn to prepone things more than postpone them
Cheers!
For those who hail form the country of Her Majesty, they would say its not a word… They would have heard postpone and will frown on the usage / meaning of such a word. Not surprisingly, while I am writing this blog, Mr Bill Gates creation fails to recognize this word and the spell check keeps showing an error. I myself have gone through many debates on this topic. Because for us who come from India, prepone is a very common and natural word to use.
The first time I heard of this word, I did a research on the global search engine (Google… I would love to write a blog on this as well but lets leave it for sometime in future). I found it very interesting to see that such a word doesn’t exist in the English dictionary. However, there were various links which acknowledged that such a word is indeed spoken in India and is classified under ‘Indian English’. One such link even claimed that the ‘New Oxford Dictionary of English’ and ‘Random House Unabridged’ have included this word with the origination as Indian English just like many other words originating from India like yoga, mantra, guru, jungle, karma, etc. But, I am yet to get an official confirmation on this. (By the way: there are a total of 350,000 words in English dictionary, out of which 700 are classified to be of Indian origins).
So without going further into the facts and the various versions/dictionary of English, let me just put my views.
To put it simply, if you can postpone something, why cant you prepone?
Sometimes I laugh off by saying that may be we know how to do things faster and hence can understand the relevance of such a word whereas others go strict by the project planning and if there is a deadline, it can only be ‘postponed’.
English has been a very flexible language with words taken from almost every other language and has thus incorporated words as per convenience. And hence, instead of using the more complicated versions existing today (‘to bring forward’, to advance, ‘to move up’), why don’t we just welcome ‘prepone’ into the English vocabulary as well?
May be we might learn to prepone things more than postpone them
Cheers!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
How are things otherwise?
Well I just couldn’t resist myself to write on this...
I am sure many of you would have heard this question or asked this to others: How are things otherwise?
The irony of this statement is: We speak it so casually and usually when we would have already completed half of our conversation.
Typically: we would start a conversation like this:
Hi, How are you? How are things?
Blah blah
Blah blah
now when we do not know what else to ask or are left with no other details to share or no other topic to discuss about… bang… here comes the ace question
"How are things otherwise"
The respondent would think well we have already discussed everything… father is ill, mother is on bed, sister last week ran away with our driver, I am suspicious of my wife these days, boss is not happy with my performance so I might get fired by the end of next week, mortgage is still an issue… but ya otherwise things are fine
Somehow, I have found this question common only in Indians.
May be we do not know how to end a conversation
May be we feel its impolite to end it and expect the other person to end it
Or may be we just have got addicted to this
So next time when you are left with nothing else to add and the question you have in mind is “how are things otherwise?”, Think again. Perhaps 'It was nice chatting up with you' and 'Goodbye' would be simpler and less cliche endings to the conversation ;-)
By the way how are things otherwise?
Cheers!
I am sure many of you would have heard this question or asked this to others: How are things otherwise?
The irony of this statement is: We speak it so casually and usually when we would have already completed half of our conversation.
Typically: we would start a conversation like this:
Hi, How are you? How are things?
Blah blah
Blah blah
"How are things otherwise"
The respondent would think well we have already discussed everything… father is ill, mother is on bed, sister last week ran away with our driver, I am suspicious of my wife these days, boss is not happy with my performance so I might get fired by the end of next week, mortgage is still an issue… but ya otherwise things are fine
Somehow, I have found this question common only in Indians.
May be we do not know how to end a conversation
May be we feel its impolite to end it and expect the other person to end it
Or may be we just have got addicted to this
So next time when you are left with nothing else to add and the question you have in mind is “how are things otherwise?”, Think again. Perhaps 'It was nice chatting up with you' and 'Goodbye' would be simpler and less cliche endings to the conversation ;-)
By the way how are things otherwise?
Cheers!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Media can make or break an institution
I didn’t know my second blog would be so soon given the time I took to write my first one!
But anyways, this time I have a topic to talk about, so I am sure some of you who read the first one and were quite disappointed might have something to read further
Just like me, I am sure most of the other small – time investors use simple tools like html alerts to brief them on the updates, trading results, quarterly performances of the companies of their interest.
Today, one of my favourite companies declared its results and I got multiple alerts on their performance. Let me list the top heading for all the alerts for your simple reference before I move on as to what I am trying to say here in this blog:
I did a bit of further research on the same organization by the same media sources by looking at the last 4 quarter results and how the same media sources have been declaring it. Well the comparison for me was pretty astonishing to say the least!
The first three always presented a negative outlook on the company while the rest maintained a positive image.
If I did my own analysis of the financial results of XYZ, the results were pretty consistent every time; yet I was seeing different opinions and not just once or twice but pretty much everytime
And the measures for such different outlooks were quite simple. The financial results / ratios can always be presented the way you want. Just take the ones that appeal you and ones that do not. You can take the y-o-y, q-o-q, last 5 years, revenue comparison, stock performance, net profits, gross profits and if nothing else, compare it with market expectations (which I am sure is as varied as someone can imagine)
It is said that an average reader spends just 20 mins on a newspaper these days. Well I am sure in today’s busy climate and information overloads, it’s even lesser than that. We end up reading just the highlights or max the first 2-3 paragraphs of any news piece. And not just that, we all have one or max two favourite media source where we pick up all our daily dose….What happens if that 1 media source is biased towards someone.
And this is nothing new! I am sure everyone is aware of so many scandals where media stock columnists had their vested interests in certain stocks and hence their opinions were always biased. And why just companies, even at a political climate level, media sections are biased towards certain political parties
I am not going to write a full blown article or do a spoofy investigation on this but my main point through this blog is: Media can MAKE or BREAK an institution; Media should be unbiased but usually it is not; Think over it and do a bit of more research before trusting the source or making a decision
Cheers!
But anyways, this time I have a topic to talk about, so I am sure some of you who read the first one and were quite disappointed might have something to read further
Just like me, I am sure most of the other small – time investors use simple tools like html alerts to brief them on the updates, trading results, quarterly performances of the companies of their interest.
Today, one of my favourite companies declared its results and I got multiple alerts on their performance. Let me list the top heading for all the alerts for your simple reference before I move on as to what I am trying to say here in this blog:
- XYZ Falls on Conservative Outlook
- XYZ falls 2%
- XYZ Maintaining Prudently Cautious Outlook
- XYZ posts strong Q1
- XYZ Net Profit Gained 21% in First Quarter
- XYZ surprises with 20.7 pct profit growth
I did a bit of further research on the same organization by the same media sources by looking at the last 4 quarter results and how the same media sources have been declaring it. Well the comparison for me was pretty astonishing to say the least!
The first three always presented a negative outlook on the company while the rest maintained a positive image.
If I did my own analysis of the financial results of XYZ, the results were pretty consistent every time; yet I was seeing different opinions and not just once or twice but pretty much everytime
And the measures for such different outlooks were quite simple. The financial results / ratios can always be presented the way you want. Just take the ones that appeal you and ones that do not. You can take the y-o-y, q-o-q, last 5 years, revenue comparison, stock performance, net profits, gross profits and if nothing else, compare it with market expectations (which I am sure is as varied as someone can imagine)
It is said that an average reader spends just 20 mins on a newspaper these days. Well I am sure in today’s busy climate and information overloads, it’s even lesser than that. We end up reading just the highlights or max the first 2-3 paragraphs of any news piece. And not just that, we all have one or max two favourite media source where we pick up all our daily dose….What happens if that 1 media source is biased towards someone.
And this is nothing new! I am sure everyone is aware of so many scandals where media stock columnists had their vested interests in certain stocks and hence their opinions were always biased. And why just companies, even at a political climate level, media sections are biased towards certain political parties
I am not going to write a full blown article or do a spoofy investigation on this but my main point through this blog is: Media can MAKE or BREAK an institution; Media should be unbiased but usually it is not; Think over it and do a bit of more research before trusting the source or making a decision
Cheers!
Monday, July 14, 2008
My first attempt at blogging!
Ok here I am with my first blog!
After all the news, noise, buzz of blogging… I just couldn’t resist penning something down (well its just a phrase now!, I don’t even remember when was the last time I picked up a pen and a diary to write something; its Mr Bill Gates invention – The MS Office – the whole and sole armour used for this literary piece).
This sudden emergence of blogging initially surprised me, then excited me and then I started craving for my first blog, and all because there is so much fuss about it; to the extent that every-time a celebrity like Amitabh, Amir and thousand others started blogging, it became a headline, Not that I am saying that this will be the top news of all gossip columns tomorrow…but at least it will satisfy my thirst (and I must admit that it had become unbearable recently)
But the fun begins now… You know what I don’t have a topic to blog about; In all my last few months, when I had a subject, I couldn’t write more than a few words and today I just started and allowed the words to flow out. After all, what’s a blog…its just someone somewhere writing on something he wanted to talk about but couldn’t find a patient listener or didn’t have the guts to talk about!
So is the case with me… This blog is only a quest for me to initiate something… for all the bakwas that I couldn’t tell anyone and today I had some spare time to start. And you know what I don’t even care if someone ever reads it…I will keep reading on my own or may be force some friends of mine to read it (and YOU are one of them!)
May be in my next blog, I will be more organized, more structured, subject oriented, properly researched, detailed, thought through, careful with the choice of words and grammar, appeasing to the most avid and literary enthusiasts etc etc (or may be the next one might also be similar or even worse … who knows when will my so called creative juices start flowing again).
And so with a lack of topic to talk about and nothing else to add, I will close this blog now (and you would be wondering when did it start actually?)
Cheers!
After all the news, noise, buzz of blogging… I just couldn’t resist penning something down (well its just a phrase now!, I don’t even remember when was the last time I picked up a pen and a diary to write something; its Mr Bill Gates invention – The MS Office – the whole and sole armour used for this literary piece).
This sudden emergence of blogging initially surprised me, then excited me and then I started craving for my first blog, and all because there is so much fuss about it; to the extent that every-time a celebrity like Amitabh, Amir and thousand others started blogging, it became a headline, Not that I am saying that this will be the top news of all gossip columns tomorrow…but at least it will satisfy my thirst (and I must admit that it had become unbearable recently)
But the fun begins now… You know what I don’t have a topic to blog about; In all my last few months, when I had a subject, I couldn’t write more than a few words and today I just started and allowed the words to flow out. After all, what’s a blog…its just someone somewhere writing on something he wanted to talk about but couldn’t find a patient listener or didn’t have the guts to talk about!
So is the case with me… This blog is only a quest for me to initiate something… for all the bakwas that I couldn’t tell anyone and today I had some spare time to start. And you know what I don’t even care if someone ever reads it…I will keep reading on my own or may be force some friends of mine to read it (and YOU are one of them!)
May be in my next blog, I will be more organized, more structured, subject oriented, properly researched, detailed, thought through, careful with the choice of words and grammar, appeasing to the most avid and literary enthusiasts etc etc (or may be the next one might also be similar or even worse … who knows when will my so called creative juices start flowing again).
And so with a lack of topic to talk about and nothing else to add, I will close this blog now (and you would be wondering when did it start actually?)
Cheers!
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