There is no room for cutbacks!

I sometimes wonder, where is the line between non-discretionary and discretionary expenses these days? Slowly, but surely, more items are crossing the line to the non-discretionary side. No wonder it gets harder to find expenses that could be done away with during a recession.

Food, telephone, electricity have been necessary items from long.
People get bored eating the same food – so, a visit to the restaurant once in a while cannot be done away with. And how can I resist the idea of a visit to a mall / shopping complex before the dinner in the restaurant? Oh! I almost forgot the movie before or after the dinner. This is the minimum one has to do to get replenished after a long hard working week. Also, no one can blame me for not spending time with family.

And just landline telephone is too old fashioned these days. Imagine what would happen if someone asks me my number, and I have no cell number to share. How can one live with that trauma for the rest of one’s life? Value added services are the soul of any mobile service. Do you think that I have bought this phone only for sending and receiving calls? Are you out of your mind? And now that I have a cell phone, whenever I have to pass some time, all my contact list is at my fingertips. No longer do I have to sit in a public transport vehicle just looking outside the window and waiting for my stop to come. There is so less time to catch up with all the friends, family – forget the recharge that I have to do every 10 days or so – it is worth it. Moreover, it does not look good if one does not wish others on their birthdays, anniversaries etc.

Electricity has been a boon to mankind. Now, I have a whole range of ‘essential’ electronic items that I can buy. Television has become a part of everyday life. And is it possible to live without air conditioners and heaters given the climate change? I refuse to argue on the essentials such as refrigerator, toasters, juicers, iron, washing machine, audio player etc. Add to these things like DVD player, exercise machine and so on, and you get things without which a home cannot be complete.

I have not even mentioned two modern day essentials – personal vehicles and a laptop – and the set of accessories which are (you got it right) ‘essential’ to the core.

Walking is so passé that unless my doctor / physical trainer tells me to do so, my first step outside my home would be in my car. And not any car – one which is the highest model available within that particular species. Even if it is not the most fuel efficient and our home could have done with a cheaper car, this is a matter of status and that has to be carefully built. Don’t you know how difficult it is to travel by public transport these days? I know that thousands travel that way, but also thousands travel by cars. Are the car owners mad to buy these vehicles? When they can, why can’e we?

Laptop with the best configuration, graphics card, speakers etc. is something important for the kids these days. They need to start getting exposure to such modern technology from the time they are a foetus. Have you heard of the 16Mbps connection that is available in the market? So, what if the only work I do on the internet is checking my mails (and most of it is spam) – anything below 16Mbps is just too slow. I don’t like to be restricted when it comes to the amount of downloads I can do in a month. So, the unlimited plan looks the ideal for me.

Given all this, it is but natural that recession hits poor souls like me, the most. As you can understand from above, I am just living hand to mouth and there is practically no scope for cutbacks. I am so careful about my expenses, that there is hardly any discretionary expense that I can enjoy or have some savings for the future.

Service

Jaise sansar 'par' hain, aise hi sharir, indriyan, mann aur buddhi bhi 'par' yaani doosre hi hain. Isliye karmyogi inko bhi apna na maankar, inki bhi seva karta hain.
(You should serve the body, sensory organs, the heart and the mind for they are separate from you.)

• Sharirko nidralu, aalsi, pramaadi, nikamma aur bhogi na banne dena, sharir ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the body become lethargic is the service to the body.)
• Indriyon ko saansarik bhogo main na lagne dena, indriyon ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the sensory organs become craving for worldly pleasures is the service to the sensory organs.)
• Mann ko kissika ahit sochne main, vishayon ke chintan main aur vyarth chintan main na lagne dena, mann ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the heart - think ill for others, think about worldly pleasures and take wasteful tensions - is the service to the heart.)
• Buddhi ko doosro ke kartavya par vichaar na karne dena, doosra kya karta hain, kya nahin - yeh na sochne dena, buddhi ki seva hain. (To avoid letting the mind think - about the responsibilities of others, about what others do and don't - is the service to the mind.)
  

Vaastav main sharir, indriyan, mann aur buddhi main mamta-aasakti na rakhna he inki sabse badi seva hain.
(Actually speaking, to not get attached / fond of the body, sensory organs, the heart and the mind is the greatest service to them.)

Excerpt from Sadhak Sanjivani - Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj

The Four Factor Reloaded

I have told you before how the Four Factor has played an important role in my career. My apprehensions in that post was not baseless and I was offered admission at IIML. I declined the offer (after much thought) and chose to start my professional career. And the company I had an offer from was (you guessed it right) another in the 'Four' series. It was the Fourth largest investment bank in the U.S. at that time. I worked there for a year and then left the job to study further.

Initially, I had not particularly thought about starting my career (after MBA) from the field of Consulting. But slowly and surely, I got convinced about the whole field. I have already mentioned about my placement preparations before.

The preparations came in handy at the time of interviews. The first half of the interview day went rather well, and I thought my interviews had gone well. When results started coming out in the latter half, the future did not look as bright. Luckily, I had enough time to squeeze in a few more interviews and get a chance to get selected by one of the good firms on campus that day.

The day ended with me getting selected in a Consulting firm, that is considered to be the Fourth best on campus. And so, it happened again. I will be joining the firm soon and would be able to get a better sense of that rating (will want to see if it is just a campus rating or is it actually the case in the market). I am not at all complaining. I am happy to be joining that firm and very much looking forward to starting work.

Template for Objectives for any Team Analyst / Associate

This is a sample template to guide one through the task of developing a self-objective sheet that is required by some companies / managers. It could be useful for people working in investment banks, consulting companies etc. Some tweaking would obviously be required. This has been written keeping in mind an Equity Research analyst in an investment bank.

Industry Knowledge
Continue to develop industry knowledge.
[detail specific areas of focus and specific tasks or actions to be taken to develop that knowledge]

Technical Skills
Continue to develop technical analytical skills
[detail key areas of development around modelling, valuation knowledge, accounting, excel etc and how you intend to develop these]

Presenting Skills
Develop written and verbal communication skills

[Specific targets in terms of written contribution (news reportage, maintenance morning notes, proactive research), Morning Meeting appearances]

Understanding our Business
Develop your understanding of the Firm’s product offering and revenue generation potential and how you can impact it.

[Specific actions to spend time and build up a network with parts of the business outside of Equity Research – specific targets around Cash trading, Sector Specialist, Sales Trading, Flow Derivatives, Structured Derivatives, Fixed Income Research etc]

Idea Generation
Increase contribution to the team’s development of actionable ideas

[e.g. reference RETINA usage, day-to-day interaction with coverage analysts, non-maintenance publication targets on lead coverage stocks, interaction with Sector Specialists, Cash Traders, Flow Traders]

Profile Development
Build profile with internal and/or external clients

[Targets to spend specific time sat with sales/trading/derivatives desk, regular interaction levels with those groups, client interaction targets – ad hoc basis / regular coverage list etc, Sales/Trading survey targets, feedback from other groups]

Contribution to the Firm
Detail any targets for contribution outside your team

[Diversity, recruitment, etc]

To my Bank: When will you ...

Stop charging me for those demand drafts (or atleast lower the charges)? When I make a demand draft, I either give you hard cash or the amount gets immediately deducted from my account. Till the time the draft is encashed, you can use this money and earn interest on it. I cannot claim anything on the money for that period (which is fair enough). I do not believe that it takes a lot of effort to make that demand draft. I have thought a lot, but am unable to find why I have to pay that amount over the draft value. The benefit of the draft is that the other party (getting the draft) is assured that it would receive the money. But it is not that you have trusted me or are doing a favour (given that the money is already with you).

Stop charging me for ATM withdrawals from ATMs of other banks? Oh! I guess I am a little late on this. You have already done this. Or you have been forced into doing that (Thank you, RBI). Just because I had no other choice but withdraw from other ATMs (given the dearth of your ATMs), does it gave you the right to reduce my balance?

Increase the amount I can withdraw daily from an ATM? I thought that the ATMs were also meant for emergency. The current withdrawal limit does not justify this idea. The amount that you are allowing me today does not cover most kinds of emergency that I might face. I agree that you would have to manage your ATMs more efficiently (in terms of making cash available), but is that too much to ask?

Make it possible for any of your branches to dynamically become my local branch? These days when I travel (or even when I am in the same city as my local branch), I cannot be sure that I can go to any of your branches and do all the transactions I want to. Many of your branches are not connected to the central computing facility and so cannot even check my account balance. I do not have so much time as to travel to my local branch each time I feel like banking (irrespective of my location). The branches which are centrally connected charge me as soon as I step into the branch office. What is with that? I was of the view that technology usage is getting cheaper by the day, isn't that so?

Increase the interest I get on my savings balance? Let's leave everything I have requested upto now. Just think about this request. Don't you think it is high time that you do something about those meager interest rates that you proudly distribute to me for my savings? I have trusted you with my money and I know that you earn thick interest on that money by lending them to various individuals and institutions. I think you deserve that for all the hard work you do in managing this wealth. But I also deserve to get a somewhat better portion of those proceeds.

Consider the correct savings balance amount while calculating the interest? I see that your profits have increased very rapidly in the last few years. Still you have not left your old habit of squeezing every single Rupee from your customers. If I understand, I do not get interest on my balance on a daily basis. It is calculated on a monthly basis. The amount is taken to be the minimum of the balance between the 10th of the month and the end of the month. Is such behaviour really necessary? (Again the RBI has come to the rescue and has accepted my request. This will be applicable from the beginning of next financial year)

I will wait for your reply and until then would have to operate in the system that you have already set in.

Your loyal customer.

P.S. I have not spoken anything about your phone banking or internet banking offerings. The reason is that, only when I see substantial progress on these basic requests, can I see myself commenting on those. It is not that I have nothing nice to say about you. The ease with which I can get loans from you these days is unprecedented.

My grandfather

My grandfather died about one and a half months back because of a heart attack. If I have to choose one person whose behaviour, habits etc etc (pretty much everything) that I would want to adopt, it would be his.

He was 76 years old but was more fit than me. He lived a life full of sensory control and with a divine aim. From the time I remember, he had been a very religious person. The unique thing about him was that he did not limit himself to reading or listening to religious things, he had fully imbibed everything divine he came across. Many people came to offer condolences to my grandmother, and the one thing that everybody said was - If there was one person they knew who saw God in everyone and everything, it would be him.

I fail to remember a time when he spoke to me and did not talk about God or some religious thing - even if the conversation was for a few seconds. I was with my grandmother for over a month and witnessed the conversations that happened as people came to offer condolences. I was just amazed at the number of people he touched. There were strangers (to us) who came and just started crying (and these tears were not made up). They could not believe that such a thing has happened and they said that their loss was irreparable.

I was pretty close to him and it is definitely a great loss to me. But at the same time, I firmly believe that he has not gone anywhere, for such people's blessings are always present. I have always believed that whatever little I have managed to do in life, it is because of the life my grandparents have lived.

Before the British came ...

Source: Friend's blog

Seize the opportunity

Just as one has to look for opportunities in various fields, so is the case with donations and social work. It is very easy to give money / things to the next person / organization / effort. But to find a "better" alternative is more difficult.

First, lets look at the opportunity part. This is a case when - you think and find a good way of giving. For example, in our area, there is a planned water cut which started yesterday. Usually, we get enough water in our homes and so there is not much need of storage. As it became clear that water might not be available for the next 2 days, everyone had all containers water-filled in their homes (to the smallest of utensils) yesterday morning. Still, today morning, some homes felt the need to get more water.

I saw a water tanker in our colony in the morning. Many of the people from the colony came with their buckets to get their supplies replenished. I thought that they would be buying water on a per bucket basis or something like that. It turned out that one family had bought the tanker for all and everyone was being encouraged to fill as much as they can / want. I asked, why this generosity? I was told that today is 'Nirjala Ekadashi'. It is believed that donating water today is considered very good. And that family seized the interesting combination of events.

Next, lets look at the cases when we identify things we should give away / donate. Generally, the tendency is that, once such things get identified, they become a sore in one's eye. They might have been with you for years together, without being used. Till they are hidden, it is alright, but not now. So, the result is that the next time the maid comes (if no other worthy candidate comes before that - such as driver, plumber etc.), everything is given to her.

I believe that the distribution of these things among people belonging to the category of helpers is very disproportionate. So, the maid would take away everything (even if it is useless to her), since we see her as the immediate person we can give the stuff to. What about the other helpers?

A couple of months back, as I completed my graduation, all people from my year started emptying their hostel rooms to leave for their homes. People had been living in their rooms for 2 years and in such situations, a lot of things get accumulated. Things that are not worth carrying the weight around start getting distributed. And the obvious choices are the sweepers who come daily to the rooms.

What about the security guards who man the hostels and institute gates? What about the delivery boys of the campus canteen? What about the people who help in the academic departments (for e.g. the guys who take care of the audio visual aids of classrooms - they have to be there whenever there is a class)? and so on. According to me, a more proportionate distribution is required.

Attending marriages

I have reached an age at which, every now and then, you hear of a friend getting married. Most of these are 1-2 years older than me, but this indicates that most of my friends would be married (say) in the next 2 years or so. As such, there would be a lot of weddings and hopefully many invitations.

The mode of communication for invitations (in general) have changed to mostly being online (atleast for the events directly related to people around my age). Though this is a faster mode of communication and cheaper, I believe it takes out the personal touch. You can add hundreds of people to your 'Cc' or 'Bcc' list in one email, write a generic mail inviting them and attach the invitation card. And that is about it.

Previously, for invitational purposes, the invitation card had to be sent to each address. And when phones became more common, the cards had to be followed by phone calls. The trend became that people who you seriously wanted to invite were given a card + 1-2 phone calls. And others had to take the hint if they just received a card and no phone call. If the latter people came then, they were most welcome and would be treated well.

I think the hard copy of the invitation card has been replaced by the soft copy mentioned above. Whenever I get such a mail, I look at the 'To' field. If my email id is there, it means it has been sent to me only. Generally, that is not the case. So, I look at the 'Cc' field. Generally, that field is empty. So, it must be the case that people would have been Bcced. And even if there had been a few names in the Bcc list, it gives the impression that there would be at at least few tens if not a hundred. The mail usually says that consider this as a personal invitation, but I am not sure how many people on the list do think that way. I would say, it would have been better if the people were Cced, so that the recipients at least knew who all have they been associated with.

Unless there is a personal phone call or some kind of personal invitation (even if it is specially talking on some IM and inviting), it does not become an event that you have to go to. I might go, especially if it is within the city I am in. But traveling to some other place especially for it might not happen.

I understand that there could be time pressures as an event like marriage comes near and everything has to be arranged. I am alright with being in the Cc or Bcc list and knowing the kind of invitation I am getting. But expecting it to be considered a personal invitation might be a little too stretched. I have to remember this when there is an event in my family, for the easier way out could then seem to be relying on these Ccs and Bccs.

All the time in the world

A lot of time that can be put to good use gets wasted. This has always been the case, but lately I have experienced more of this.

I am in the middle of an atleast 3 month break between end of studies and joining a company. In these 3 months, there is mostly no agenda at hand. There are some important personal things that have to be done, but those cannot start before the professional job begins. So, I have to constantly search for things to do. I am not saying that there should have been no break at all, but for me personally, 1 month break is more than enough for everything. The preparations for starting at the job can be done in that time and the relaxation as well as all other things.

I tried finding an internship, but nothing came across that seemed suitable. I am sure there would have been opportunities for such an internship that would have been mutually agreeable. I also think that there might be atleast a few people like myself who have 2-3 month gaps due to various reasons. And that they would want to put it to some productive use. But I failed to find a forum where mapping of such opportunities and seekers is done. This leads to a lot of time being whiled away when both work is available and people are willing.

Another instance is the story of one of my friends. He was my batchmate at my undergrad. Now, he is working in a job that is far under-utilizing him. He spends only 7 hours or so in the office, 5 days a week and that includes the 1 hour daily use of office gym, in addition to having lunch, snacks etc. He has been working here for a few years and things have gotten from bad to worse, with the time he spends in office decreasing every time I ask him about it.

Here, I guess, there is a combination of lacking on both sides - the company not trying to find the true potential and give work accordingly, and my friend not actively pursuing newer opportunities / assignments and remaining happy with the lifestyle. In my opinion, again a huge waste of precious time.

Logic vs. Religion

I have liked the English sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S for a long time now. I had watched a few episodes of other English sitcoms here and there (on advice of friends), but I never really liked any of them. Then came, HIMYM and the first couple of seasons were really good. But now that has started getting boring. My latest liking is The Big Bang Theory(BBT) which is into its second season currently.

There is this lead character in BBT named Sheldon, who is the ultimate geek. He thinks about all situations logically and is generally devoid of any emotions.

Currently, I am reading Sadhak Sanjivani, a religious text which explains the meaning of the various verses in Gitaji and is written by Swami Ramsukhdasji Maharaj. The clarity and thoroughness of the explanations are fascinating and inspiring.

The two things I have mentioned above seem a world apart. But interestingly, I found that at places they are basically saying the same thing.

In of the episodes, Sheldon asks another character of the sitcom, "Is your body mass somehow tied to your self worth?". This is after he has given a not-so-positive statement about the body mass of the other person which made the latter sad. Sheldon is one fact based person and somehow he feels that things like body mass should not affect the perceived self worth of a person.

Gitaji says that if a wealthy person thinks highly about himself / herself just due to the money, it is the money which is bigger than the person and there should be no such feeling. Similarly, if a beautiful person (based on appearance) thinks highly about himself / herself just because of appearances, it is the visual aspect which is bigger than the person and there should be no such feeling. I see a connect in what Sheldon is trying to imply and what Gitaji says.

Sometimes, it feels that the most logical should be synonymous with the most religious (at least in some areas), though it is always portrayed as opposites (almost in all areas).

Personal Learning Paper

Wrote this as part of a course in the second term during my grad school

-----------------

I was just awed by the relevance of the case we did ‘Ashok Rajguru’ to my life. As soon as I read that case, the first thing I did was to express this at my blog (http://myselfspeaking.blogspot.com/2007/10/as-relevant-as-you-can-get.html). While reading, it was hard to distinguish whether I was going through what was written or whether those were my thoughts. The only major difference on a conceptual level which I found was that the protagonist does not want to share and I prefer sharing, given that I find someone to share with.

I always aim at being that person to whom everyone wants to share their sorrows with. The discussion in the class about the case led to sharing of some feelings by one of my dorm mates which I had absolutely no idea of. I realized how far I was from my objective that even someone from my dorm itself does not share with me. From that point onwards, I am trying to develop more of a personal relationship with as many as I can. I have started this by making it a point to say ‘Hi’ to any acquaintance (like section mates) who I meet in campus say, while going to the mess in the evenings.

One of the most important things that I felt about the session on Pygmalion in Management was the concept that it was important to have the best managers handling people when they join. At first, I was not able to swallow this idea. But I soon realized that this is how it should be. I have worked for a year and because my boss/manager was as good as him, I actually liked the work which I did at my company. Now that I think of it, I was skeptical about the work towards the beginning and was actually thinking of applying to other companies. But within a couple of months, with the kind of freedom and responsibility I was entrusted with, I did not pursue delving into seeking out other opportunities.

Though I have not been in many situations where I am the boss, I had worked with an intern for two weeks during my job. I involved him in a project and once the base was established, I started giving him some work. But I have this habit of giving details and so everything which he was supposed to deliver was pinpointed by me. Now I think, he may or may not have disliked that (for this was his first job and the duration was small). But, I realize that I have to be careful of this habit of mine. If I like freedom and responsibility, as I described above, I need to realize that the other person would also value that.

Before the scoring was done for the ‘Personality test’, I had categorized myself as an ‘Adapted Child’ (AC) and the result came out to be the same. It kind of enforced my point of view of myself. It also enforced the point of view of others about me (as I see it). Generally, I am on the defensive side of things and try to see why a particular thing which is happening is right. My study group calls me a ‘pro-establishment’ guy for I keep supporting things which are happening at IIMA, be it related to course work, lifestyle etc. I now feel that this comes more from the fact that I have always been told about why the things which happen are for the good. There are rituals being followed by my family and there is always a reason behind each one of them. These reasons try to emphasize the validity of the rituals and I have learnt to accept it on face value. In future, I need to be more towards the ‘Little Professor’ ego state (which by the way is lowest in my case). I believe that innovation aspect is a little deficient in my personality. I need to question things a lot more than I do it now, be it at study or organization.

Here at IIMA, there are a lot of things I need to do in my study group. The group consists of 5 people and so it becomes important to take everyone along. There have been times when a group member is going through some issue in his personal life. At that time he/she have shown some kind of indifference towards the group work. I tend to become annoyed if someone does not contribute, only to repent later when I get to know what the real issue was.