Society, culture and welfare economics

Keynesian theory of welfare economics calls for movement of money in the market. It recommends that the money should always remain in the system so that the economic multiplier effect can come into being taking the economy on the growth path. One of the radical thoughts of this theory was the role of the state in the economy in order to provide the path for growth. In times like the one we face today, Keynes would recommend the expansion of fiscal deficit, spending by government to make up for the money withdrawn by other entities (banks, corporates, consumers etc). To an extent, most central banks and governments are resorting to this when they see that effects of monetary policy in form of rate cuts are not having the desired effects. In a nutshell, Keynes says spending has to be encouraged so that there is money flow in the system and to re-spiral the economy towards growth.

Religion has always been thought of as something which we practise because our fathers did so or purely on basis of faith and beliefs. For a society or culture to take shape, religion or faith has been thought of as the basis. That religion could be driven by economics seems far-fetched. However a deep thought in to this shows the inherent relation. In fact, economics drives most of our activities, so why should religion be kept out of it.

Most of our festivals prescribe specific activities to be performed. If its colours for Holi, its crackers for Diwali, dandiya for navratri, pandals for Durga Puja, boat races for Onam. These notwithstanding, the custom of new clothes, painting of houses, charity to poor, span across all festivals. The underlying thought is, patronage of these specific industries and skills by stimulating demand of those through these festivals and customs. It provides for jobs for millions which in turn, provides money in the hands of more people which implies even more spending. Crux of the matter being flow of money through the system. Symbolically, Hindu philosophy describes Lakshmi the goddess of wealt and material prosperity as being very fickle. She keeps moving from one place to another, providing prosperity to the multitudes but no one can keep Lakshmi with themselves forever. What this means is, prosperity of a society is possible only when money flows (symbolically referred as fickle mindedness of Lakshmi).

Another thought which closely resembles modern day welfare economics model is using money as an enabler for growth. Keynes says money should be an enabler and used in the right manner to provide for growth in the right. The objective should never be storing and hoarding money / wealth. Because when that happens, money remains outside of the system and retards growth.

An old legend provides a similar lesson. It is said that Vishnu and Lakshmi had an argument as to who is greater amongst them. Vishnu said people follow dharma and are righteous and hence he is superior while Lakshmi's contention was people would do anything to be rich and prosperous and hence she is superior. They descended on earth to test their views.

Vishnu went to a village as a sage and found people welcoming him to their homes and offering him their belongings as per the custom. Vishnu requested the villagers to give him only a house to live and that too one which no one is using. So he was given an old house as per his wishes making Vishnu feel that he was right. But it actually proved to be otherwise. Lakshmi went to the same village as an old lady with a ragged bag and asked for water. When she was offered in a glass she refused to take that saying she has her own golden cup in which she would take the water. To people's amazement she threw away the golden cup saying that she never uses it again. She repeated the act multiple times throwing golden cups here and there. It naturally spread like fire in the village and people assembled in front of the old lady asking her what she needed. She placed the same request as Vishnu did. The villagers in their greed threw the old hermit out of the house and gave it to Lakshmi. Now it was Lakshmi's turn to feel proud that she was superior.

The climax of the story however was, when the sage after being thrown out was wandering, he found people fighting over the golden cups as to who should take it home. And, they called the sage himself to preside over the fight and assist the villagers that what is right and do justice.

The legend points to the fact that even when material prosperity is available, it can only be a medium and even to use it rightly, it needs an objective and the correct path. Philosophy says, that where there is 'dharma' there is Vishnu and where there is Vishnu there is Lakshmi.

So if you use money to pursue a rightful objective, you achieve growth. But if you want achieve money and prosperity it will always slip away in absence of direction.

Its a game of quid pro quo - you give some you take some

Corporate & Consulting Jargon

At the outset, here goes two confessions - One, this post has come up as a result of a blog of a kid just out of his engineering college trying to settle into the shoes of a would be manager in the first few weeks of his new b-school. He's learnt two of most common jargon used in corporate more so in the consulting industry today. Second, consulting industry respects firms & individuals who can simply "add value" to simple things to provide a strategic direction and draw top management attention. Bamboozled...? Keep trying not to?
Coming to the two most commonly used ones - " We are taking a look at it" & " We will get back to you" - strictly speaking in most cases this would be the response to the person who has raised a question and if you dont even know what it is leave alone the answer to the question! Wannabe MBAs learn this the first from their seniors when they submit their carefully crafted assignments & hope for a good feedback from seniors! There is ofcourse a presumption here that seniors will look at it and let them know! Seniors always are in the "looking at it " "will get back" mode!
Now, for some consulting "value -add" to these! In the very first place what is value-add! Much bandied about but no one realizes unless they call consultants themselves who can make them realize! The consulting version of "will get back" is now "circle back" or "touch base"! Maybe because "getting back" sounds too lowly or prudish!
To get an initial overview has become "to take a first stab"! Interactions between two persons/processes/systems have become "touch-points"! Providing a maintenance guideline has changed to providing a "sustainability framework"! And to think of it, I have not gone towards bandying of words like alignment, strategic intent, perspective (to my knowledge the most commonly (ab!)used words"! Financial modelling is now equated with just basic revenue / cash flow projections!
I am still learning! People who are trying to welcome to the club! You can see for yourself the effect such "versions of truth!!!" have on people at large! Otherwise how will they dole out their largesse to us in form of fees! We provide them "value" with some solid creativity spiced up with an impressive verbage like "we will split the hair into two for our analysis" (meaning we will get into bare details)...they provide us the moolah! you give some, you take some.. Game of quid pro quo!

Entry & Exit!

Entry and exit - antonyms in english, antipolar in direction but equal in importance at every phase in life! A grand entry into a phase of life and equally respectable exit is desired..
Whether the entry is grand - depends a lot on the people surrounding you. But the exit is almost always depends on how one has conducted oneself in that period of time...One of my teachers used to say, one should always exit before people want you to...rather you should exit when people want you to stay...this can be at a party, or for an artist on the stage floor, or a cricketer or even a politician...Humans however have a tendency to cling on to their existing states till of course the system pushes them away. The system when pushing you will not even for a moment reflect your stature and your contribution, status etc etc.
Even the great Kapil Dev was forced to exit despite the fact he was gunning for a world record. The entire media was abuzz that he was in the team only because of the record. Even if that might be the truth cant the system provide that concession to a sportsman who has given volumes to his country to be proud of!
Where this blog comes into the picture is in between the entry & exit, ones activities & actions almost always determine the propensity of the system to push you out! Most often the exit then becomes a quiet and nondescript one! When we came to NITIE there were a bunch of seniors, professors and everyone welcoming us, trying to make things & life in general easier and comfortable...The exit for almost all of us has been a quiet one with a few handshakes and lo! your 2 years come to an end! Everyone is left with a job and suddenly realizes he is on his own entirely! The very objective of most of us to come for an MBA was this job but now this doesnt seem as bluechip as it seemed to be 2 years back! Suddenly the desire of clinging to the same environment & cushion emanates but the system does not allow you to!
However, life as always has a way of evening things out! When you exit one you enter another system! And most often it is a little difficult to cope with it but even you have grown up! It is only then that you realize the ultimate truth! The objective of each entry & exit is to contribute a little bit so that you are not absolutely unprepared for the next entry!
That breaking off or coming out of a long relationship is painful is known universally! But not many realize that it actually makes you that much wiser when you enter the next one! Entering a new relationship is ofcourse difficult not because of the vestiges of the previous but more because you are more informed about your own self and your expectations! In Google-speak, the quality of your keywords and search strings become more refined hence search throws up fewer but definitely much better results!
It is therefore upto us to make our exit as less painful and more graceful! More importantly, realize the takeaways from it as each system is like an inn for the weary traveller which provides shelter for the life! You give the comfort of an existing system to enter a new one but the system returns you with the experience and wiseness to enter the next! You give some- you take some! Quid Pro quo!

Fate & Free Will

Hindu culture has ingrained in us a deep sense of fate. We all have a common habit of saying that everyone comes into this world with a described fate and incidents, achievements, failures and even death happens according to that prescription of Fate. Grandmothers describe Lord Yama as the guardian of Fate and say that he has an accountant called Chitragupt who keeps a track of all good and bad actions and our Fate is described by our actions in our previous life.
However, Hindu culture also implores you to perform Poojas/other ceremonial rites like Karva Chauth by which it says that bad times can be warded off or long life can be ensured. Now if Fate has prescribed them before how can they be changed?
Lord Krishna says "Karmanyevadhikaaraste maa faleshu kadachana" in the Bhagvath Gita. He advises that you are to decide your destiny by your actions. We have heard many great people advising us as well that it is only human beings with their intellect can decide their future according to their Free Will. Now again if our past life has ensured a sequence of events/results Free will and "Shaping one's own destiny" are irrelevant.
Hindu mythology provides an astounding example of how one can defeat Death which is said to be beyond us. It describes a princess Savitri who marries Satyavan despite knowing that he would die within an year of marriage. She remains a dutiful wife and lives a righteous life devoted to her husband in the hope of a reversal as a result of her actions. However Fate is Supreme! On Doomsday the noose of Lord Yama falls on his body and pulls out his soul. The legend continues that Savitri follows Lord Yama and in order to ward off her insistence he grants her 3 boons (except the grant of her husband's life ofcourse). She asks for the prosperity of her in-laws poor family, her own family and as a third boon asks for a son. Lord Yama in his haste says "Tathastu" and asks her to leave. Savitri still follows much to chagrin of the Lord! Savitri chides him that despite his promise he fails to keep up his own boon. To a surprised Yama, Savitri says if husband is no more, how could she have a son? The Lord of Dharma that Yama is, He had to uphold his own promise and had to return Satyavan's life to her.
The legend uphelds the victory of determination and will over Fate even in matters of Life & Death which has always been considered by elders as irrevocable.
All this brings us to the question of "Fate vs Free Will" - which among them dominates? This question specially dogs us when we tend to take important decisions in our life. Personally, I have found people resorting to Fate when results of decisions/actions are not favorable and trying to take credit on their determination and will when actions bring positive results.
Without doubt, however the matter is one of intrigue and can determine one's own attitude towards life/decisions/actions. So what does the Hindu culture tell us on this subject through its intricate fabric of habits legends and tales?
A holistic view goes to show that its actually "Fate and Free Will" and never "Fate v/s Free Will". Since Hindu culture believes in rebirth, it says actions in this life will revert back to oneself in this life itself and if that does not happen in full measure it balances in the next life. That is in effect, our own will and actions determine our destiny and Fate. Both are two sides of the same and both follow each other in a cause effect relationship.
As always, its a two-bit cycle. Your actions determine the results and the same results determine your further actions....It thus goes on and on as a Game of QuidProQuo

Why are we moving away??

How does our past influence us? Specially the past which was never a part of our lives and about which we have only heard and read about in books. The past of our country which is seeing a sea-change in attitudes tastes and preferences now. The new brigade is seen to be in an advantageous position because it was brought up in post liberalization era where profits where not wrong, extravagance was appreciated and envied and flaunting the order of the day. If you have it show it was the mantra. Now that cud be wealth to well-toned bodies! This brigade was talented and energetic to work hard and dared to dream. Situtaion demanded people who could shape up their dreams and lo behold! here appeared encouragement from all quarters including politics, media and what not...People might be wondering where this piece of prose is heading....It actually heads nowhere because we, ourselves as a society are heading where??? to nowhere....Every major city is at a cusp of conflicting and confused identities. A traditional Chennai is gradually being dumped with resto-bars and lounge-bars and unfortunately the increase in them is equated with city getting developed! Where have more logical parameters like transport, infrastructure, roads gone?
Gone is the old charm of Calcutta with its Durga Puja...the Puja itself competes with discs and extravagance and flaunting of the people. There is a clear divide amongst people who still listen RabindraSangeet and the new brigade which has been rarely exposed to it!
This is not a pessimistic or a communist feeling that we should revert back to old days because old is gold. India today is at an exciting threshold now. The people who dare to dream never had it so good. Profits are not decried anymore and rather any wealth & prosperity obtained through hard work is exemplified and eulogised! However, as an individual I am at splitsville to say the least...Is allegiance to traditions foolhardy? Why cant we look into the rationale of our traditions and then reject them? Arent we still under colonial influence only that it is being replaced by reasons like globalization and westernization? Why still anyone speaking better English is thought to be better or smarter? Why do people have to freak out at pubs and malls to celebrate? Why is extravagance = celebration? And what if I dont want that shall I be called as a 91 year old instead of 19?
On one hand we seem to be self-assured and confident and on one hand we seem to be confused...Societal and peer pressures try to shake off the Indian roots but something which is ingrained is impossible to amputate...Its thrown everybody from politicians to portfolio managers, from brand managers to media into a topsy turvy zone where you can only expected the unexpected to happen....
At threshold of its 60th Independence Day, India is still like a new bride who is waiting for her "ghoonghat" to be pushed over and her moon-face to be revealed! Lets not forget ourselves in the deluge of consumerism! Lets bring new ideas and theories to explain ourselves rather than resorting to existing ones! Because India is new! And as is the trend the Indian mantra we always follow Bollywood - "Chak De India"...Lets give her our best...and take the best from her!
As always you give some you take some! A Game Of Quid Pro Quo

Finance after all!!!!!!!!

Finance...most glamorous subject, profession, domain and what not...the study of tricks with money or what is popularly or pristinely termed as investment banking, has to have big bucks..after all one is playing with big money and that too that of others..winning some and losing some....Therefore we come to define rather think of the subject of finance as one which deals with money...Ways and means of making money.
However a very interesting paradox is you cant make money from anything or nothing...To make money you got to have money.now where do you get that money from...Before this leads to the usual chicken and the egg scenario let us focus on the subject- as the typical MBA would say-..Money...What is money after all?? One would think what a stupid question was that...It actually isnt...Come to think of it money is nothing but a notional value that one attaches...symbolized by the currency today and barter in the ancient days...Akin to a dot in geometry where it is a symbol which addresses the notion of a point..coming back to the subject, money has now led us to currency as we have to have a material object to represent....But what is a currency or very simply what does a 100-rupee note mean...Contrary to the general opinion it actually doesnt mean Rs 100...It is actually a promissory note by the governor of the RBI saying that he is liable to pay the holder Rs 100...so when we give a 100 rupee note to say a shopkeeper we actually transfer the liability to him. the conclusion- we all are behind wealth which in itself is a notion...
In fact nothing in finance is material...depreciation, cost of capital, net present value, you name it you can see...a subject that has evolved to be the most strategic one in the present times is one which is completely immaterialistic...
Possibly that is why people chase it...a mirage worth chasing all your life...finance...the subject..more you delve into it...more you theorize...more complex it becomes...
As always nature plays a game of quidproquo...you develop theories make more money and more complex it becomes for you to make more money....but the subject the notion lingers on....providing academic bliss to some and mystery to others....prosperity to some misery to others ( again notional mind you)....you give some you take some

Classical music fading away?????

Reading through the latest Outlook’s cover story of lack of heirs to ageing musical maestros hit me hard. Apparently, there are a number of gharanas which have become existential through history books only and there is no one to carry the torch ahead. The magazine itself points out through the words of the masters that the younger generation is not willing enough to tread this path. Reasons vary by the multitudes ranging from lack of financial security to lack of interest. Personally one feels the availability of various other entertainments and the arduous path prescribed by the masters over the generations are the major impeding factors. Today practicing and aspiring musicians will simply rubbish the famous “mombatti ka riyaaz” saying that there is no time. For the uninitiated “mombatti ka riyaaz” is a term employed when practice is measured in terms of no of candles that burnt and not in terms of hours. On an average the candles used to burn for four hours and great ustads like Vilayat Khan used to aspire for title of “paanch mombatti riyaazi” (that is the one who practices till 5 candles are completely burnt). These seem fairly tales to us when these are real stories that took place not more than 3 decades back. In a span of 3 decades situations have changed dramatically as is evident from current scenario when we see there are no heir apparent for greats like Bismillah Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and many others.

Today the music is more an entertainment than a path to spirituality and salvation. The better the PR and hype greater the aura surrounding the artiste. Even the standard of the audience is derogating and the demands are more populist rather than classy. It is also evident from the trends in the more popular musical form of Bollywood film music. The purists might wrench their hearts but people are making money in the business. The correlation coefficient between quality product and business capability is fast tending towards zero. So what is the end of all this drama? As always you have to give lot of time sweat and patience to achieve class in the classiest form of classical music that India has maintained over millennia. It is again a game of quid pro quo…you give some you take some…you put in the effort music promises you liberation and peace….

2- The number The concept

Two. The prettiest number espousing the greatest concepts in logic, mathematics, philosophy, physics, electricity and why even database. The only even prime number in mathematics. The number whose powers can be added to get any integer of any magnitude. The number of logic states (0 and 1). The no of states in which an electric charge can exist. The number of physical states- male and female. The number of sides in a coin. Philosophy says Vidya and Avidya. Hindu Religion says Shiva and Shakti. Jews say Yahweh and Shekinah. Physics says proton and electron, neutrino and anti-neutrino and even matter and antimatter. And in each and every place when the two are fused they become the whole or there is nothing left of them. Or viewing from another angle the two are different sides of the same. Hinduism says Shiva and Shakti are incomplete without each other and truly they are two sides of the formless nameless spirit. Before Genesis the universe was void and thus when matter was created its opposite antimatter also came into existence.

All this brings us to the principle of duality which is the very basis of nature and for the more realized souls it’s the singularity in this duality that strikes.

Einstein showed that light has to be treated as a particle as a stream of photons to explain photo-electricity which thus came as a full circle in Physics after Newton’s corpuscular theory of light which was later disproved by Huygen’s wave theory to support interference and diffraction. It was then accepted that light can be treated as a particle as well as a wave in different conditions in concurrence with Nature’s duality. Similarly Einstein’s E=mc^2 also propounded that mass and energy are interconvertible and they are nothing but two different states in which any thing can exist. De Broglie’s equation also showed that even humans can be treated as a wave when they run but we don’t do that because the wavelength is too small to be significant. But one cannot deny its existence.

Even electricity and magnetism previously treated as separate subjects are now accepted as different expressions of the same force when seen from different frames of reference. The power of 2 and its powers can be seen from the Egyptian legend. It says that once a king was impressed with a farmer and asked to him choose anything as his reward. The clever farmer said that he wants the courtroom measured and for the first square inch he needs a rice grain and for each further square inch measured double the previous number of rice grains would be added. The king laughingly acceded but little did he expect that at the end of the measurement that number would be staggering.

Coming back to duality Nature has very rightly chosen this principle in order to maintain the balance in its scheme of things. The perfect example is the presence of two forms in its most exalted creation-humanity. Masculine and feminine are two completely contrasting forms having different views, ideas, psychology, mental make-up everything so to speak. But no one form is superior to the other as a whole. The feminine might be responsible to for the deliverance of new life but even that is not possible without the masculine. The spiritualists would say a child is the Divine’s reflection because it is a result of the union of the two forms and when the two forms unite in Nature – it might be physics, maths, philosophy- it becomes the whole and either completely destroys itself or creates a completely new form.

The Gita says the events are the results of one’s own actions. The old adage says “As you sow, so you reap”. Everything happens in a two bit cycle of cause and effect. Cause and effect- again two in number. That’s why they say Nature and life- “it’s a game of quid pro quo.” You give some you take some. Give and take.