Quiet a Deepavali this time

I know that Raghu feels otherwise, and quite strongly at that, but I am very sure that this Deepavali yesterday, was easily one of the quietest (Raghu - I got the spelling right) I have experienced in recent times.

I may not have mentioned in these annals before, but the bursting of fire-crackers in my street is very much on the lower end of the scale. And this time around, with me taking a total back-seat due to my neck strain, there was hardly anything done in my street. If only the Neel Metal Fanalca folks come to sweep the roads, they are likely to think that my street was imported from some other country!

And even in the neighborhood, there is usually a lot of fanfare and celebrations. There are many vedis - sarams and bombs and single vedis - that are burst and usually it all starts by 5:30 AM for sure. Not this time.

Only on Saturday night did I see an increase in the festivities. Even then, it was not like usual. Usually, when I watch TV on D-Day, I'd have to increase the volume frequently to compensate for the noise outside. Not this time.

I dont think that an entire neighborhood suddenly woke up to the idea of pollution, global warming etc. I like to think that people are clearly thrown away by the exorbitant price tag associated with fireworks. And in these difficult economic times - I still don't think we have come out of the slump - the priorities of people has clearly changed and the consumption of fireworks has reduced. The age-old adage of "Kaasa Kari Aakkaadha" has been adhered to.

From my side, I didn't partake much in bursting of fireworks for 2 reasons. One, I have not recovered from my neck strain and didn't want to risk playing with fire-crackers. And two - sheer boredom.

Instead, I spent the whole day in front of the TV. There were 2 Tammu movies telecast and there was also an interview of hers at 10 PM. So I was there on my sofa from the afternoon till night, with frequent breaks for munching, bathroom visits and one solid break of 30 minutes when the channel itself had a break for News. That period was used mainly to watch my parents burst the left-over crackers of last year and then me taking a much needed shower.



When I finally called it a day, I am sure that my sofa and TV heaved a collective sigh of relief!

What to write?

There are so many things going on around me that I am actually having a writer’s block as to what I should write in my blog. Let’s look at each of them:

The global economic meltdown:
I am not an expert to go into the reasons behind this collapse. Nor am I well versed to summarise the reasons provided by the experts over the past so many months. And I definitely cannot say with any kind of conviction that the worst has come or is yet to come. So you are better off asking for acting tips from Vijayakanth than checking up my blog to learn about the current economic situation.

The mosquito menace at home:
For the past few weeks, there is a steep increase in the influx of mosquitoes at home. It is a well known fact that the popular repellants like All Out and Good Knight have lost their potency in being effective mosquito killers. So the only options left in front of us are to swat them with our hands or use the hand-held bug zapper. The latter contraption, popularly known as the “கொசு bat” costs around Rs.150 and is extremely efficient in providing மோக்ஷம் to the insect. I have been using it quite extensively over the weekend and at one time, noticed fumes coming from the bat after a particularly large mosquito hit the circuit.

Shifting of IPL out of India:
Nothing in the recent past pleases me more than this news that is breaking out this evening. When the wheels of the 2nd version of this tournament started getting into motion, I distinctly remember Lalit Modi saying that the Government cannot push the country to a standstill due to the General Elections. I felt it was a highly irresponsible statement and was clearly made by someone whose only purpose in life seemed to be chasing the moolaah. And to all the great citizens of this country who are saying that the terrorists have won because of the Government’s decision to not provide security, I have only one request – please remove your head out of the sand lest you start physically resembling the ostrich. I think when the drama surrounding this decision starts unfolding in the days to come, I will surely have something more to write here.

General Elections:
The General Elections are round the corner. There is a lot of political realignment going on, so it is too early for me to give my predictions. But I can definitely tell you what I want. I want the BJP to return to power. And for BJP to win (this may elicit a “Duh!” response from you) Congress and its allies need to lose. And my vote would very much be based on that policy.

Engae Brahmannan:
I have finally bitten the Tamizh Soap Opera (தொலைக்காட்சி நெடும் தொடர் ) bug. As long as I return home at a favorable hour, I make it a point to watch this serial. And it is not for the story, but more for the interesting interlude that Cho provides in the middle of each episode. I am a big fan of his and of late have started getting a strong desire to read the books he has published. Coming back to the serial, everyone says that the chap who comes as Ashok is doing a good job. But I beg to differ. I just don’t like his voice and modulation. And many times, I find his body language contradicting his mental make-up.

Freecell:
My latest addiction is to play this very traditional game that comes with Windows. I have now played around 275+ games and my winning percentage is 77%. Am trying to get it to the 80%+ mark, but it is getting very difficult!

Twitter:
I signed up to this service today. Don’t know how effective it is going to be considering that sending updates by SMS is going to cost at least 10 bucks every time, since it involves a special number. Their site doesn’t seem to be WAP enabled, so I may not find twitter that useful. Anyway, I will let time decide that.

Temple visits:
Believe it or not, I actually had 2 temple visits in a 15-day span this month. The first one was to the ஆறுபடையப்பன் Temple in Besant Nagar on the 8th and yesterday evening, I was goaded to visit the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthana Temple on Venkatnarayana Road. I really cannot remember me visiting temples at this frequency. I am probably getting old!

So as you can see, these are pretty much the type of things that I normally write a lot about. But due to some mental block accompanied by a return of the wrist pain, I am holding myself back a little. Hopefully, I should be able to write a proper post soon and as mentioned earlier, the IPL drama will give me enough ammunition to do so.

The Truth is Out There

No, this article is not about one of the most popular and iconic series created till date, The X-Files. This is about Satyam Computer Services which probably till last week or at least till last month, was one of the top 4 IT Companies in India. I chose this title since the media has used up all possible combinations like "there is not truth in Satyam", "no sathya in Satyam", "Satyam lies" etc. etc.

This is clearly one of the biggest scams to have hit the Indian economy and may make the work of The Big Bull Harshad Mehta pale in comparison.

I am not an investor in that company and so in some sense, I am insulated from the crash of the price of the shares of that company. But I shudder to think about those people who would have bought shares in Nov-Dec of '08 when the price was in the Rs.170-Rs.200 range, because that share is presently worth only 10% of that amount (I am not giving accurate numbers, but am not shooting in the dark either).

And it is not just the individual investors, but also institutional investors like LIC. LIC is the Life Insurance behemoth of India and if it is indeed affected by this crisis, I dread to think about the millions of policy holders who have taken a Policy with them? They've always enjoyed a Quasi-Government like status and the perception in the common man's mind is that taking a Policy with LIC is safer than with the other private players. But would they continue to have that advantage?
Check any of these search results to read about LIC and Satyam.

Then the employees. I am sure that quite a good percentage of employees would have stock options or would have been next in line to get some. So what happens to all those people? Look at the kind of money that they have lost out. And the more important worry for all employees is whether they are going to get their next monthly salary or not. Which in turn is going to impact the EMI they have for their home. If you are in a situation where your next salary is not sure, would you be willing to stick around? And if the employee carrying out his job is not doing it with a stable frame of mind, would his work be good enough?

And if it is not, would the clients who are paying for this work, still continue to extend their support to the company? And if the clients pull the plugs on their key projects, would the company be able to sustain any positive momentum? Remember, the economy across the globe is in a bad shape and the probability of a Western World client saying "Thanks. Bye" is very high.

Everyone agrees and acknowledges that the balance sheet of many a company - in all industries and fields - is always cooked up to paint a rosy picture. But the extent to which the numbers have been cooked up and that too for such a long period of time, has literally left all and sundry shocked beyond comprehension. And since the scam has shown up in the country's main industry of growth in the last decade or two, the impact has been higher. All companies in the IT industry are now going to be under the radar of suspicion.

While Ramalinga Raju may be the main culprit behind this fraud, I don't think the auditors PWC, some of the Board of Directors and even some of the senior management in the company can really escape the dragnet. Aiding and abetting a crime is as bad as, if not worse than, committing the crime. And if such senior folks in the company can claim ignorance, I am sorry to say, that response can at best only elicit a chuckle.

I also suspect that all the concerned authorities would have received adequate compensation to ensure that Raju comes out on bail soon enough. Furthermore, I am sure there are enough loopholes in our laws that will ensure that his conviction would be pronounced by the Supreme Court, after many appeals, only after 10 years. And by that time, he would have been deemed to have served the necessary punishment and let free. He would have also escaped any extradition to the USA where too many cases have now been foisted on him.

I only hope something good comes out of this fiasco and wish that the employees of Satyam do not lose their careers and lives due to the greed of an individual.