Tuesday, April 19, 2011

the pina colada song..

What a song!! and Pina colada is good to drink definitely!!

I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long.
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.
And in the personals column, there was this letter I read:

"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
I'm the lady you've looked for, write to me, and escape."

I didn't think about my lady, I know that sounds kind of mean.
But me and my old lady, had fallen into the same old dull routine.
So I wrote to the paper, took out a personal ad.
And though I'm nobody's poet, I thought it wasn't half-bad.

"Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne.
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon, and cut through all this red tape.
At a bar called O'Malley's, where we'll plan our escape."

So I waited with high hopes, then she walked in the place.
I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face.
It was my own lovely lady, and she said, "Oh, it's you."
And we laughed for a moment, and I said, "I never knew"..

"That you liked Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
You're the love that I've looked for, come with me, and escape."

"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
You're the love that I've looked for, come with me, and escape!!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Confessions of a workaholic

Did you ever find yourself wanting to do more work but there is nothing on your plate? You are the kind of person who likes to be occupied at work but there is nothing substantial that requires your time and energy. I wonder how such people manage to spend minimum working hours in their offices. If the readers have any innovative ideas to fill up the idle office time, they are requested to post the same in their comments, because here is a person who is damn bored just because there is not enough work to keep him busy in his office hours. Seriously, it sucks big time when you just have to sit through the office hours without any work!! Or when you are so efficient that you always have plenty of free time very much during your office hours.. i think later is the case with me.. Anyways, are there any alternate money making opportunities that can be picked up leveraging the free time that you get in office? As i write this post, the clock has stuck 5.15PM and i decide to leave for the day..yes, probably two hours before my old colleagues here do...but i finished all the work allotted to me and i ran out of all options to pass free time in the office...

Sunday, March 13, 2011

the thinker and the achiever

thinker :

always meditating,
serious,
now or later? will happen or not happen? right or wrong?
ambiguous,

have to do it, but, how to do it ? can i do it?
time flies by
ohh, common!! cut this bullshit!!
another year passes by

hairline recedes and tummy bulges out
promotion is waiting,
no, no way now i can get out,
but this is not just happening

this is not me, but who am I?
always aiming for the sky,
i keep on thinking on the chair so high,
but time is so mean, it just flies by!!!


achiever :

i want it,
hell with the world and what it thinks,
i will get it,
by hook or crook, will connect all the links

am glad i found out what i love,
let me give a try,
who knows what's in the store,
someday, i may just fly high

parents say that they told you so,
peers are glad that they left u alone,
now you start thinking what should i do,
i started it, i will turn every stone

may be this is how i should have done,
atleast i didn't stop just at thinking,
pushed myself out of my comfort zone,
now it is not too late before fruits start growing






Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Hyderabad meri jaan v2.0 ..the fall of a rising star!!

The city's growth has been hitting new highs even until death of Mr.Rajasekhar Reddy. Mr. Reddy's leadership is unquestionable and there was no one who could turn his/her back against him. With an iron fist, he has confined the rebels and separatists to their righteous turfs and ensured that the normal day to day life activities of the people of the state remain unperturbed. But the unfortunate turn of events lead to one failure after the other and now both the city and the state fail to pose a strong leader. Now my beloved city's image is being battered to death due to lack of vision and the political turmoil the region of Telangana is going through.

Road blockades, protests, violence, disruption have been rampant in the name of Telangana agitation severely denting the image of Hyderabad in the eyes of corporate and foreign investors.
State government officials are involved in complete pen down, new projects are being indefinitely postponed, work in progress became nothing in progress and the existing infrastructure is in desperate need of repair and maintenance.

Both the fixed and floating populations of the city are facing the ill consequences of the recklessness and insincerity on part of the elected representatives. People are frustrated and are seeking change..a change that can take this city out of the shambles that it is in to its past glory, a change that will portray Hyderabad once again as the most lovable city, a change that will make each and every resident of it say proudly that he/she is a Hyderabadi..

Hoping for such change to happen and happen as soon as it can!!!!

Godspeed...

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Hyderabad meri jaan!! v1.0

The best part about being in Hyderabad is the warmth of this city. People here are very nice and helpful. In their own Hurdu slang, they amuse you with their easy going attitude towards life. It definitely has a mix of old and new traditions and has a place for everyone.

Whether it is the cantonment area with jawans and officers from all over the country, or the marwadis in the abids and kachegudas of the city, or the guzzus in begum bazaaar markets or the tamils in the padmaraonagar n secunderabad areas, it has people representing every corner of this country in good proportions. They have found a place in the city, embraced its culture, evolved with it and now proudly call themselves Hyderabadis. Hyderabad aka Bhagyanagaram has attained this cosmopolitan image much before than everyone outside thought it has. It has been a multicultural city right from late 80s with scores of National level research institutes, DRDO and its labs and ofcourse defence establishments.

However, it was only during Mr.Naidus regime, this city has attained its long due share of limelight. Ofcourse, it needed a totally different identity this time, the 'IT Hub' with govt. encouraging billion dollar IT investments. The growth has been steep in the late 90s and early part of the last decade with the boundaries of the city growing much faster than expected. There were around 500 odd IT companies setup creating around 1lakh jobs inviting the techies from various parts of the country.

Madhapur, Kondapur, Banjara and Jubilee hills and the KPHBs have now become the hip and happening areas. Younger crouds with healthy disposal incomes and ubercool attitudes have started a new episode in the history of this city. Pubs and discs have mushroomed with people thronging them on weekends partying till the whee hours of the night, the night life has finally set in!!

Those long drives to the new airport, street races around the KBR park, mid nite biryani, late night haleem and irani chai and early morning Kheema Dosas have made indelible entries to the organizers of city's gen X and gen Y. Parents also started to accept their kids new found way of living in the Bob Dylan's 'Times are Changing' style..They found new avenues to have fun with the shopping malls, multiplexes, fitness centres and ofcourse the not to be forgotten neighbourhood parks. Yoga and workouts have become their daily routine and fitness has become a new mantra!!

It just took a decade and the city has changed completely, and for better we hope!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

What it takes to be a (good) trader!! - part 2

If you thought 'trading' is just 'buy and sell' in any order as long as it is profitable, you have hit the bulls eye. Yes, it is simply that. But to identify when to buy and when to sell is what that puts an amateur's mind in the fix.

Talking about trading, it is first of all not a zero sum game, it is a negative sum game because you end up paying commissions to the exchange no matter whether you make money or loose money. It is an entirely competitive space where thousands of competent people are vying for the fixed amount of capital that exchanges hands. What makes it complex is the psychology. Yes, if thousands of people without any individual information advantage and almost similar levels of knowledge about the products are the players, it is the psychology that matters!!!

Trading is a totally different ball game. If constant buying can take the price of the product higher, the resultant profit booking can bring the price of the very product lower. A good trader is not happy unless he buys his contract at the least possible price and sells the same at the best possible price in a limited period of time. It is this competition among such good traders that nudges the rookies and forces them to leave..

So it is very important to differentiate 'profit-booking' from 'selling', 'buying' from 'profit-booking(short-selling)'. This is more crucial in intra-day trading because the prices fluctuate so many times within a range that it becomes very tough to figure out when the range is going to break out!!

Put simply,
1. You need patience to wait till your target price is achieved
2. You need to be greedy and again not so greedy to book your profit at the right time and exit
from the market.
3. Be adept at establishing the probability of a particular move to decide the capital you are
going to use in capturing the move (remember, if you know that a 10% increase is 100%
likely, you make 100 rupees by investing 1000 and 10000 rupees by investing 10000)
4. When to enter the market and when not to enter the market.
5. How much of the profit to re-invest and how much to add to your reserves.

Whatever said and done, everything is said easier than done!!! The above list will reach 50 in number when you actually make your hands dirty...

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

What it takes to be a trader!!

Last nine months as an employee of a UK based trading firm, sitting in South India and trading on the Wall Street and European commodity exchanges have been life changing for me. For the very first time in my life, i was spending full time, professionally, trying to learn an 'art' that promises more money and adrenaline rush than any other employed position in the world. Trading is not a child's play but is an 'art' that can only be conquered by becoming a master of it.

For the very first time, I was thrown out of my comfort zone which always revolved around reasoning, analysis, computation and communication. Here was a world which enthralled me with the sheer amounts of money that was being juggled in and out. The volumes that are traded and the values they mount up to are astonishing.

If IQ is what is required to comprehend the movement and to predict the next move, it is tonnes of EQ that is required to make money even out of those successful predictions. Intra day trading is beyond doubt more of an Art than science. If playing with numbers is your forte, your attitude is risk loving, money motivates you and if you are not too much of a social person then trading is the right place for you.

to be continued...