Short Sellers - a different tribe altogether

  The past week was a tumultuous one in the Global Financial Markets.  Financial Tsunami must have been the most used word this week.  One after the other, the so-called icons of Wall Street started collapsing like nine pins.  First, it was Bear Stearns followed by Freddie Mac, Fanny Mae, Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch and then AIG.  For once, the Americans were caught with their pants down.

  Everybody, from the person on the street to office colleagues, friends etc were totally engrossed with the events that took place in the USA. I was also following the developments closely on TV.  The happenings at Wall Street was being telecast by the minute.  The day before the FED came out with a bail out package, the stocks of some of the financial companies were getting thrashed down by the Short Sellers.  As a panic reaction, the SEC banned Naked Short Selling.  This took the wind out of the sails of the short sellers and they were forced to cover up.  The Short Sellers, as a tribe are one with a view quite opposite to the one held by the majority of the investors.  I get fascinated by the way Shankar Sharma, considered to be one of India's leading Bears, comes out with his opinion during such demoralising times.  He just goes on and on about all that is bad about the markets and this just sends shivers down one's spine.  If anybody gets a chance to hear him, please listen to him, it is amazing.

  In these times of utter dispair, one famous quote by John Templeton, which was shown on one News channel should act as a soothing balm to all troubled minds.  It goes like this

"  Bull Markets are born in utter dispair

    They rise with skepticism

    They mature with optimism

    Then end in mania".

Chennai's MRTS

   Ever since, the Mass Rapid Transit System (MTRS) was introduced a few years back in Chennai, I was really fascinated by the Railway Stations.  I have travelled probably 10 times.  Every time there is a match at Chepauk, I travel by MRTS.  Even though the route is quite a eyesore (it rises just above the Cooum river, passes through the nearby slums),  it is indeed a pleasure travelling right on top of everything, literally.  

Google's Knol

  Google's Knol launched very recently, is quite similar to wikipedia.  I do think there is a fundamental difference between the two.  In wikipedia, I think, there would be only one page on any article and that can be edited by any person apart from the originator.  Whereas, when I tried searching in Knol, I found several articles on the same subject written by different authors.

  Recently, when I was searching for information about a particular item, I found the one in wikipedia to be the most accurate and the most updated one.  The feature of allowing anyone to edit any wikipedia page is the main reason behind wikipedia's success.  The contents of wikipedia would therefore most probably be the latest one on any subject.

  On the other hand, on searching Knol, one gets the feeling that the contents are individual-centric and can be edited / updated only by the individual concerned.   There is however a feature wherein any individual with a google account can edit any article, which would be sent to the owner of the piece for acceptance by him.  

  Let us wait and see how Knol can rival wikipedia. My feeling is that wikipedia is well established and it would rather be very difficult for knol to overcome wikipedia.  Wikipedia's success stems from the feature of allowing pages to be edited by anyone, which would invariably result in the pages getting updated immediately.  Just like, when Abhinav Bindra won the Gold at the Beijing Olympics,  I was rather anxious to find more details about him in the net.  To my surprise, I found that wikipedia had already updated the fact that he had won a Gold medal.

  Knol, can be successful, if the contributions come from experts, thereby enabling Knol to be become a truely reliable source of information.  But, that is a long way to go. By the way, wikipedia has already got Scholarpedia, which appears to be more or less similar to Google's Knol rather knol is similar to scholarpedia, since it was started much earlier than Knol.  

  Anyway, for people like us, it is boon that we have so many reference material available for free on the net.

my experience with Orkut

Even though I knew about Orkut and various other social networking sites, I refrained from joining one.  One, I do not socialize much, two, the image about social networking sites is also not too good considering the kind of stuff that is available in these sites.  The other thing is I am not used to the kind of language used in social networking sites, chatting sites etc.  Sometimes, I just can't understand what the hell they are saying.  Clear signs that I do not belong to the new Y generation.

    However, I gave it a try.  I was surprised to find the amount of people who are using Orkut. Quite a few relatives of mine are using Orkut.  I did not know that our community is so advanced.  May be I have become too old to realise that this is the in-thing now.  I also found out that there was an exclusive website for our community, which is amazing.  Thanks to Orkut, I am getting to know my Community better.

     

Google Chrome - clutterless browser

  The first thing I did today morning when I heard about Google's new browser - Google Chrome, while reading the newspaper, was to immediately switch on the computer and download the brower.  I was eagerly anticipating this feature knowing Google's caliber.  One thing that sets Google aside from rest of its competitors in all fields is that it is clutterless, simple, easy to use and faster than others.

Google chrome is without doubt the fastest browser I have handled till date.  It loads much faster than Internet Explorer , Firefox and Opera.  This day reminds me of the day when I first used Google's search engine, which was refreshingly different from the rest of the search engines, which were existing at that time.  

Thank god, I will now stop using Microsoft IE and Firefox for browsing.  What a pain it was to use Microsoft IE.  At times, without any reasons, the pages stopped loading and imagine the amount of clutter that existed on the screen.  Removing them is a painful job.  Unless a person is tech savvy, it is impossible to handle such browsers.

Let us wait and see how Google Chrome will change the way Internet Browsers are designed, knowing Google's ability for springing surprises.  Google delivers everytime.

Aamir Khan's New AD

Aamir Khan's new ad for Tata-Sky is a brilliant ad. It is a fantastic ad and an innovative one at that. I really enjoyed Aamir's acting. Only he can act like this. Hats off to Aamir.

P.S - Now only I came to know that Tata and Sky, UK have a joint venture in DTH. More than 2 years, since TATA SKY was launched, but I wasn't aware about this fact.

International Left-Hander's day

I was pleasantly surprised to note that today is the International Left-Hander's day and that too the 17th annual celebration of left-handers' superiority. It is a shame, being a left-hander, not to know about the International Left-Hander's day.

Forgotten Khashaba Jadhav

While browsing the net, especially on Abhinav Bindra's Olympic feat, i happened to read an article on Khashaba Jadhav, independent India's first individual Olympic medal winner. He won a bronze medal in the bantam weight category of wrestling in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. It is shocking to see the contrast between Jadhav's victory and Abhinav's victory. The article was written by Rod Gilmour in his blog for the Telegraph, UK. khashaba Jadhav's medal winning efforts at the Helsinki games must truely be a remarkable effort when compared to Abhinav Bhindra's gold medal winning effort at Beijing, considering the era in which Jadhav was competing and also the strata of society from which he came from. Truely, a remarkable feat.

Some more articles on him at Rediff.com and sify.com

Gold Medal for Abhinav

What a historic moment for India today. Shooter Abinav Bhindra's Gold Medal in Shooting must rank as the greatest sporting moment of India till date. What a day it was today. I was just about to leave for office at around 9.20 am. Suddenly, the Shooting Finals event was being telecast live on DD-Sports. Just before that, i knew that Abhinav was placed at the 4th spot with a score of 596. I watched with bated breath as Abhinav started moving up from 4th position to 1st slowly but surely with consummate ease. The tension was gripping. In the last round he was placed on joint first place with Henry Hakinen of Finland. I was just glued to the Television with the firm belief that come what may, barring a disaster, Abhinav should definitely be among the medals. I was just praying that he keeps his nerve and shoots a decent one. Suddenly, when I saw the Bullseye being hit, I jumped with joy knowing for sure that he won the Gold.

What a moment! I was lucky to have viewed the event live on TV. This man is made of nerves of steel. He just did not show any emotion at all after winning the event. What a world class performance. The whole nation salutes you son.

In the evening, when I was watching NDTV, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that NDTV Sports correspondent Anusuya Mathur could not control her tears, when she saw the Tricolor being hoisted for the first time in 28 years in Olympics. Truely, a great moment to be cherished for ever.

Last place finishes at Olympics

Jonathan Crowe's DFL Blog covers the last place finishes at the Olympics.

I fancy the names of a few indians in the list.

Indians at the Olympics - Blame game has started

Come Olympics, the entire nation wakes up and expects great things from our hapless athletes. Once the games are closed, everything is forgotten and everybody is back to their own routine. Instead of identifying the reasons for such poor performance and trying to find solutions to it, we just crucify the athletes who failed.

We should learn from China. China was not even in the periphery in most of the sports some 30 years ago. They went about executing a plan which included building infrastructure for sports, imparting training, getting all the children involved in one sports or the other and today they are reaping the fruits of the seeds sown years back. We instead of following the chinese example simply critize the atheletes who participate in the olympics against all odds. These athletes have the motivation to take to such sports, which do not provide them any financial security, just for the sheer love of sports.

Atleast now it should be realised that Olympic medals cannot be won by doing nothing about infrastructure, training, involving all the children. Our culture is not a sporting culture. Most of the children are encouraged not to take to sports, lest it spoils their studies. It should be made mandatory for every child to take to sports, at the school / college level. Thats where, I believe the solution lies.

As sports lovers, we should look at the performances of the various world class athletes who take part in the Olympics, rather than getting disappointed with the performances of our athletes. I am looking forward to watching Swimming, cycling, gymnastics, athletics especially Michael Phelps and the kenyan athletes, who take part in the middle / long distance running events.

Yesterday, I happened to watch the Cycling road race, which took place, on DD. The spanish armada consisting of Alberto Contador, Alexender Valverde, Carlos Sastra, Samuel Sanchez, Oscar Freire took on the Australians led by Cadel Evans, Stuart O Grady, Micheal Rogers, the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank and Kim Kirchen. It was really exciting to watch though slightly different from watching Tour de France. The people you get to see alongside the roads when watching Tour de France were missing here. The course though looked eye-catching. Thanks to cycling, one gets to see such scenic beauties, which one normally cannot see otherwise.

Coming back to the race, it was really exciting to watch riders who normally compete with their compatriots on the basis of the cycling teams they represent, take on their team mates from the other countries. It was especially funny to see the Schleck brothers, who shieldedarlos Sastros through the mountain stages in the Tour de France from Cadel Evans, attacking Sastros here. For once, it was different. But unfortunately due to our own DD's rather strange kind of programming, one could not see the finishing live. At that point of time, a live interview with Mr. Suresh Kalmadi was being telecast. I just can't understand the timing of the interview. Who wanted to listen to such interviews, when some exciting live action was taking place. Thank God, Tour de France was telecasted on Ten Sports.

I am looking forward to the individual time trial event, where Fabian Cancellera, Stefan Schumacher are expected to win.

Beijing Olympics 2008

What a spectacular opening ceremony. It was really amazing to see Li Ning "run" around the rim of the stadium and lit the Olympic Torch, followed by a dazzling display of the torch being lit around the world. Hats off to China for providing such a spectacular opening. Hope the 29th edition lives up to the reputation of being the best ever olympics.

What happened to Roger Federer

Being a Roger Federer fan, i just could not digest that he could ever lose a Wimbledon match. I just did not have the heart to watch him suffer silently in the match. The forlorn look he wore at the presentation ceremony gave it away. In fact, except for a brief period when he came back from the brink in the third set to win, he did not look like the old Federer, we are used to watching. Federer's tennis reminds one of John Keats's famous poem 'A thing of beauty is joy for ever'. The way Federer plays tennis is indeed a joy for ever. He is just poetry in motion. The racquet appears like an extension of his arm and his movement is like a gazelle around the court. The slowmo ad of Federer for Rolex showcasing his movement is a sight to behold. Federer's game is pleasing to the eye. The connoisseurs, the cynics and the ordinary public loved to watch him play.

But how long can somebody carry one like this. Father time has caught up with him. Now younger legs are starting to catch him. Nadal and Djokovic are two formidable adversaries he has to contend with from now on, even though the former has been around for quite some time. It is looking like Federer is not enjoying himself as he used to when he was winning everything. This year, particularly, he has looked very vulnerable. From now on every other tennis player would be looking forward to defeat him in a tennis court, which till recently, was only a dream, which could never be fulfilled.

Now that Federer has lost at Wimbledon, I hope that he retires immediately from professional tennis. Fans of Federer would not like to watch him losing to all and sundry. Federer must forget about records. Records are nothing when compared to the pleasure one had while witnessing his matches. Now-a-days he looks like any other tennis player not the divine one he was a few months ago. Roger, we dont like you to labour around in the court. Thanks for the pleasure you gave us all these years. It was sublime tennis not witnessed by me at least, for all these years i have been watching tennis on television.

Blog for foodies

I happened to search for a dish's name which was referred to by my friend. I came across this blog which has some wonderful recipes -------- http://akshayapaatram.blogspot.com/. Hope u find it useful. It does contain links to quite a number of related blogs -------- http://akshayapaatram.blogspot.com/2007/06/pantry-essentials.html It is quite amazing to note that there is such a lot of information available on the net, which should be of great use to many. Happy cooking and eating.

Tour de France

The Tour de France is one of the most exciting and fasinating sporting spectacles that I look forward to watching every year, on television. I have been watching Tour de France for the past 10 years. I just love watching the tour. You get to watch France in great detail during the three weeks that the tour progresses through the entire length and breath of France.

The number of people who come out in the open to watch the tour is simply great. The french people really love the tour and millions of them are out on the road to watch the tour. It is a indeed a great spectacle. You get to see various castles (chateau or chateaux) built as early as the fifteen century, right across france. They are simply breathtaking. You also pass through various small towns with their unique architecture, age old buildings, breathtaking country side with huge fields, forests, mountains, valleys etc.

No doubt the tour is so popular right across the world. I am a bit disappointed with its coverage in the print media and television media in India. They just do not give enough coverage to the tour. They just keep highlighting only the negatives of the tour viz., the doping countroversies etc.

Leave aside the media coverage, any body who gets a chance to watch it, better watch it. You will love it. It is one of the most grueling sporting events held every year. The tour offers everything to different kinds of riders, yellow jersey for the overall leader, green jersey for the sprinters, polka dot jersey for the king of the mountains and white jersey for the best young rider. Apart from the scenic beauty, you get to see some breathtaking cycling. The riders have to ride an average of nearly 200 to 250 kms everyday for nearly three weeks. The speeds at which the riders cycle is also incredible reaching nearly 70 to 80 kms per hour. At times their heart rate touches nearly 170 to 180 beats per minute generating a power of nearly 800 watts, which is quite incredible.

The best part of the race is the one which takes place in the Alps and Pyrenees mountains, where one gets to see the breathtaking valleys, mountains.

During this period, the likely winning group of riders get away from rest of the riders and at times there is a time lag of nearly 2 hours between the winner and the ones who form the rear of the race. In the flatter course of the race, the Peleton (the largest bunch of riders who keep riding together) is a sight to behold. The manner in which the Peleton devours the break away group of riders is awesome. It is very rare that any rider can actually win a stage by breaking away from the main Peleton.

The last stage of the race is in Paris, where one gets to see the riders cycling around Champs - Elysees, which is again a sight to beyold. I am looking forward to watching the tour over the next three weeks. My only wish is to visit France and get to see the places. I am really looking forward to it. I happened to vist google.com/tourdefrance2008 which is also quite breathtaking to watch.

I am not sure if there is any such tour which is available in India which can showcase the entire landscape of the country. I hope one such event can be held in India also, which has got even greater diversity when compared to france.

Euro 2008 Finals

Spain won the Euro 2008 finals as was widely predicted. Fernando Torres was creating havoc in the German's territory. He literaly tore their defence into shreds. He came close to scoring once before he actually scored. He soared high in the sky to head a fantastic cross from campdevella right into the left post leaving poor lehmann gasping for breath. It immediately sent shivers down the spines of the Germans, who remained mostly ineffective during the entire first half except for sporadic moves into the spanish half. The German midfield was totally ineffective, with fringes forced to pass the ball back to his defenders, whenever he got hold of the ball.

Ultimately, the goal came due to a mistake by Phillip Lham and Lehmann, who instead of dealing with a pass decisively, which sent Torres on a goal bound move, tried to fend off the strong Torres. Torres was too strong for them and he scooped the ball over a diving Lehmann to send the Spanish crowd into raptures.