The Coffee Date

 

1998, when the search giant Google was getting born, Aarav was waiting for the birth of his love life. 25-year-old, smart, intelligent without a single gray hair, Aarav could have been the choice for many. Graduated from an All-boys school post then IIT, girls shied his life. 25 long years, he had many crushes but none to rose flashes, couldn't even dare to speak to any of them.

 

This June, he got a placement offer from Unilever. Settled professionally, he needed the same for his personal life. He went to many pundits, in unison, they said – no love line! pooja is the only way to get your love line.

 

Unable to speak face to face, he chose the Yahoo way. Met a girl on Yahoo chat from the same city, named Sameera. His imagination was at the best- black eyes, dusky color, sharp jawline, and whatnot. He was convinced that Ash got the Miss World title because Sameera didn't participate.

Daily 4 to 5 PM, Aarav was glued to Raj cyber café's black stool cum chair to chat with Sameera. That one hour was not more than a minute for him. He never realized when Metallica turned Kumar Sanu on his Walkman. After 3 months of Chat, Sameera finally gave her landline no., he was like mad that day .. Sameera, Sameera the only thing in his mind.

 

He called the no. and said hello, from the other side he heard some elderly man's hello. He disconnected in jiffy, frightened to the core. He wanted to wait, the heart was pumping blood heavily. After a couple of minutes, he collected himself and called from a PCO. There was a little heavy but soft sound "hello". He gathered himself and asked is it, Sam.. sa… sameeeera ??.. yes, the sound came from another side.

 

After a lot of convincing on multiple telecalls, Sameera finally agreed to a Coffee date. It was Barista, the day has come. Black shirt, Blue Jeans, and rich friend's perfume, Aarav was all geared. Excited enough, he reached the café one hour, prior. He sat on the agreed table post convincing/begging the already sitting guests. He was on cloud nine, imagining to the best of his abilities. The clock was at 4PM, they decided to meet at 3.45 PM, to his dismay no one was there.

Suddenly, a boy in his 20s was coming to his table with that cruel smile. His heart was broken, the pundits were right he should have done that pooja. He was cursing the god, better than ever. The boy sat at his table and said – "Bro Sameera is getting late, she asked me to give you this message. She will be here around 4.15 PM."

 

Now, more so he was prepared for the surprise. He was coming from the washroom. He couldn't believe who was sitting at his table. There was a bouquet of rose flowers and a beautiful girl at the table. He cleaned his eyes but it was still the same. "Sameera?" said Aarav. "Yes, and Sorry for being late", said Sameera. She asked, what will you have? He replied- Coffee.

 

India has one of the poorest sex ratios, only 943 female to 1000 male. If we don't act now, all you could have coffee is with Karan (Pun intended).

Cheers,

That Night!

Life is ridiculous, those were the words, Sameer gaffed while boarding the Ola. After been denied by 3 drivers, he was finally boarding a cab. The anxiety level was high, he had only 30 minutes to catch the train. The chance of catching the train was fading with every minute passed. This was the only option tonight, otherwise, this will be another Sunday without family. He is a busy traveler as often the business priorities tangle him. These 30 minutes were like an entire life.

Finally, it was 5 minutes for the train to leave the station and luckily, he was on the train at the right coach. It was 10:55 pm, he was traveling in an AC coach. The lights were off, most of the co-passengers were already drowned, the snoring of few could loudly be heard.

The chase made him complete sweat. He parked his luggage beneath his berth and came out to wash his face. The tap water was hot, salt on the wounds. He chose his mineral water bottle, slightly cooler than the option he had. The train started slowly, he smirked. Finally, he was leaving, leaving for home, sweet home.

Suddenly, he saw a mid-aged couple running on the platform, alongside his coach. The guy was holding a little baby girl. They appeared as money left them at abeyance. The train got faster, so does their run. Most likely, the couple was to miss the train. Sameer's feebleness made him sorry, he wanted them to board for their destination. He wished if God could have been kinder.
Sameer sensed some weight on his hand. The guy literally threw the baby from at least 5 feet, perhaps for their ease to board next. Sameer wasn't good at cricket. Howsoever, he caught the baby girl, quite safely. The train was getting faster, it left the platform behind, the poor couple was still short to catch it.

Sameer was shocked, there was an unknown baby in his hands. He couldn't throw the baby back as the couple can't be seen. He was stone freeze; there were mixed emotions of anger and sadness. How could somebody even throw their baby this way? The baby was crying, Sameer was still out of his mind. He was still gulping what just happened. His mind was clueless, couldn't for a moment this emergency chain option caught his attention.

He sat at the door with this crying baby. He wanted to cry along with her. His mind was looking for options to regroup the baby's family. The train caught its full speed; the horn was anguishing him. He wanted to get down at the next station but still clueless about how he would reach back to this station at midnight. He was a stranger to this area. The linguistic challenge made it more difficult. How will he catch his flight if he will miss this train?

The night was hard, his sadness replaced the fatigue. The winds were fazing his sweat, but the rolling tears were orphans.

India's public transport availability is abysmal to its population. Our metro cities offer only 100-200 public transport buses per million population. Around 55,339 railway coaches carry over 25 million passengers every day. Most of us blame the population for poor infrastructure, however despite being the most populous country, Beijing alone, offers 1,710 buses per million population.

The Current State of Indian Economy: An Opportunity or Threat

A lot has been talked about the Indian economy. The sliding growth rate has concerned many, so deep that, even a 6^th standard boy is discussing this. Every week, a new data point is sabotaged to prove the theory of India declining. Economists on either side are jumping on the conclusion with their wits and formulas.

As they say, it's the sentiment that prevails over fundamentals.

This article will shy the fundamentals for the sentiments of a common man. Let's decode the market sentiment or a larger Indian sentiment –

Price Delusion

Price is a seller's assumption of value in the buyer's mind. The general sentiment is for a price correction in real estate. Last few years witnessed a little appreciation in real estate prices. The sentiments for price cut was looming from quite a long, which led to fewer transactions and larger inventory. Price correction didn't happen and inventory halted the further circulation of money.

This decade our inflation rate swung from around 12% to 2%. Many of the economists may attribute this to poor income growth. However, with regards to common sentiments, the following theory prevails –

-          The buyer doesn't see that much value in the price offered by the seller.

-          This generalized, buyer seeing the rooftop level of prices and not much returns on further resale.

-          Inventories are piling up, for example, during this decade, our food production growth rate was almost double than our population growth rate.

Sliding Growth rate

India's GDP has grown by 5% in the last quarter. This headline was shared as if the doomsday is near, unnoticing the few facts –

-          World GDP growth rate is 3-3.3% while ours is 5%. So, our growth rate is 34% more than the world average.

-          At a constant price in 2011, we added $87 Bn to our GDP while in 2018 we added $186 Bn.

*The GDP growth rate of advanced economies put together is 1.8%.

Looking for safe investments

India's bank deposits have reached an all-time high in June 2019 it touched $1822.708 Bn, while in Dec 1998 it was only $153.672 Bn. Indians are finding bank interest rates as a safe investment at the current stage. Should there be a better opportunity, these savings may turn in a huge capital base.

Demonetization and GST

Demonetization and GST might not have yielded to their genesis. But post that, we saw a sharp increase in the number of taxpayers. It slowed the transactions and income generation from the shadow economy.  As a result, the march of price rise has halted a bit.

Let's ponder a few questions on the current state of the Indian economy-

Is it a price correction? The Indian economy is inching more towards a developed economy? Will we remain to be market for the world or can we be the creators? Falling income levels, perhaps no? Are we finding new ways of consumption, perhaps yes? On what fundamentals, we are losing the growth rate?

Given the strong savings base, Indian economy will always have an edge. As they say- Buy when everyone is selling and sell when everyone is buying. This principle can be handy at the current state. The price correction is defiantly there. Find opportunities and stay ahead of the rest.

Disclaimer: Most of us are drowned with the opinion of our favorite media house. My objective is not to deter your opinionated world hence am not concluding on the fate of the Indian economy. You are the better judge to call it as an opportunity or a threat 😊.

Yours,

a

PS: I will keep blaming mobile revolution for my grammatical errors, kindly excuse them 😊.

For further digging on data sources, kindly refer the below web links :

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?end=2018&locations=IN&start=2010

https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD/IND

https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/india/total-deposits

The 50 Sec call

An unknown number on the cellphone screen rung the sweet ringtone. I picked the call emphatically. There was a hello, seemed sugar to ears. I wanted to respond similarly, but my masculine voice could only manage to sound like a bitter guard.

Even a bullet train was feeling embarrassed at her vocal speed. I was quick enough to find that hello was the only audible word rest all were urging a pardon. Post a round of pardons, all I could hear, Hello and Bank, start and end of her long introduction.

A sweet lady from the bank, am I dreaming, is it true! Long queuing sessions at state banks, lots of vouchers are foregone, now a lady asking my permission to speak. Finally, I could command a bank and top of that a lady. Modi Ji has seriously brought the good days.

Suddenly a convivial voice broke my thought – Sir, do you have a loan requirement? 

I emphatically said – Yes.

Her voice became sweeter. I could feel she is punching her fist in the air. It was like her winning moment of 100m sprint.

I spoke enthusiastically– Yes, I have a loan requirement.

She was on cloud nine, took time to calm herself and said – yes sir..

Before she could finish her victory speech via sharing the procedural requirement and amount to be dealt, I interrupted – Yes, I want to give the loan. What would be the Interest rate?

She was dumbfounded, there was no ground beneath. To believe what she just heard, she asked – Sir, do you have a loan requirement? This time the sweetness turned interrogatory.

I doubled the excitement, I thought she is interested in taking a loan, I replied – Yes, I want to give loan.

Next 5 seconds of absolute silence forced me to check the call connectivity. To my surprise call was on but the vocal train was off. I still wanted to check if she is there on the call. I was about to say Hello but all I could get is somebody hanging upon me.

Poor me, couldn't find a loan customer. Still wondering, what wrong I did.

In 2018, Truecaller users around the world made 21.7 billion calls, double the number last year, and sent 3.4 billion texts. Unfortunately, it also identified and blocked around 17.7 billion spam calls of the 74.1 billion they scanned. That's a little over 81 percent of all calls made with the dialler in a year. These spam calls could be anything from simple telemarketers to heinous scammers, communicating with you on average once every four calls. And usually, India leads the pack with regards to the number of spams calls in a year, but last year we stood second with average 22.3 spam calls every month.

Isn't its utter waste of resources? Without doing proper research, they just randomly call somebody and not only diminish their image but the image of that brand as well. TRAI fell short on DND, calls are now made from individual numbers, rarely traceable. The talk of penalties remains up in the air.

Love,

Ankit

(all ears to hear your spam call story 😉 )

Its Time to Recognize Farming as a Business

Often tangled in cahoots of cheaper food supplies and better farm price realization, governments have kept Farming as a Business at abeyance. As a result, farming lost its lucrativeness as a profitable business. The need of the hour is that the government start liberalizing agriculture industry. Let me jot some points to ponder -

Supply concerns, anymore??

India’s population growth rate (not the population) have declined and its currently around 1%. During the 1970s on an average, a woman used to give birth to almost 6 children but now it is 2.1. Over the last 3-4 decades, our average food production growth rate is around 3%. We swapped the deficient tag with food surplus tag. The worry of enough food isn't a challenge now

 

Growth requires liberalization/Deregularization??

India's GDP growth surpassed many, especially those who considered globalization as a threat. Post-1990s when we liberalized Indian economy the results are overwhelming. From an under-developing economy, we are now a leading economic superpower.

In the agriculture-related industry itself, fisheries grew by over 7% in the last 5 years and escaped the demons of regularizations.

Let the business be a business??

Procuring directly from farmers is a tough choice for food processors, given the laws often restrict fair dealing. The food processing in India has grown only by less than 1% CAGR for the last 5 years. With an expected exponential rise in per capita food availability, we need to make it storable or exportable to support the farm prices. MSP alone can't be a solution as it will only aggravate the government debts and taxes.

Farm income a paradox for Tax evasion??

A newspaper report from 2016-

“opposition lawmaker Sharad Yadav told parliament in March. Citizens declared about $29 trillion worth of agricultural income in the year through March 2011. That’s almost 15 times the value of India’s economy. The figure was the result of a Right to Information request by a former tax officer Vijay Sharma, who says the number is probably a computation error and should be closer to 1 percent of GDP or $20 billion. Several requests for clarification from the government have gone unheeded, which pushed him to approach the courts. In the nine years through March 2016, Indians declared $21 billion as agricultural income, according to provisional data from the Revenue Department.”

Not to anybody's surprise, farm income in India has often been a route for money launderers as it doesn't fall in business category at least in taxation.

Farming is a 9000 BC old industry. It was the foundation for the economy and civilization. Over the period, it lost the sheen due to populist attention. Its time for the government to return farming its old glory. They should start thinking of liberalizing agriculture and recognizing Farming as a Business.

Ankit

The Love Story

It was autumn of 2005, shaded brown leaves concealed the black color of the road. The bus stopped at the college gate, where Anuj was getting his admission. It was a beautiful campus with flowers all over. He studied well to get this prestigious college. Meritorious Anuj was also a handsome hunk often a topic in girls talk.

He saw Riya on the second day of admission, she came with her father. That sight so vivid even with closed eyes. Her blue jeans and white shirt with a shade of black eyelashes surrounding the most beautiful eyes took Anuj from himself. It was love at first sight. The talkative Anuj was speechless in front of Riya.

The day has come, he had to speak, and he did. He whispered to Riya, can I assign Rahna Hai Tere Dil Me aka RHTDM ringtone to your no.? She said Yes. The mobile revolution was mushrooming and Ambani’s free call came to rescue for most of the love birds.

Guess what! he not only got his mobile number but also heart he ever dreamt for. They were often found at canteen eating Maggi from one plate not just because of love but also to save the long bills of the canteen. Their story was an inspiration for all the budding love birds. Whenever, wherever the RHTDM played Anuj was most quick to check his phone.

At the graduation day, when many of the college love stories become distant, this one became stronger. Their families happily accepted both respectively. They married happily. A marriage which became the testimony of this love story.

These memories were scrolling like a movie in Anuj’s head, while he was sitting at the waiting area of a hospital. Suddenly, the nurse shouted, congratulations you are blessed with a princess.

His eyes were wide open, tears of joy were flowing through. He hugged his mom and rushed to see his princess. His mobile phone rang, no this time it wasn’t the RHTDM ringtone. He picked the phone and his expressions changed. He saw his daughter and wife Riya. He left the hospital even before he could take his daughter in his arms.

In no time he was up and ready, ready with his uniform. Captain Anuj had a call from his unit for an emergency posting at the border. It was a war like situation at the border. All the men in uniform were called to report at respective units.

A flight of two hours and Anuj never lost sight of his just-born daughter even for a single second. She looked awesome. He was still contemplating if she looked more like him. At least this time he can tell Riya, he was the dominating one.
Anuj was soon transferred to the war zone. An area where the enemy was shelling bombs across the border. Just after, four hours when he witnessed how human can create the world, he was at a place where mankind was showing the most brutal side.

Anuj was leading his battalion, they were fierce and in love with every inch of their motherland. Enemy tanks were at the continuous fire and his battalion was at the crest to kill every enemy. There were no cries only shouts and sounds of the boom.

The bullets were everywhere, many of his battalion members were making supreme sacrifice. Sacrifice for their motherland. Every sacrifice soul was adding the spirit to the fighting battalion. Soon the enemy found they are about to lose the war. But they were reluctant to accept the same. With limited troops, the opposition was on missile mode and Anuj with his team was dominating. There was a bullet fired from an enemy soldier, it struck the left shoulder of Anuj. The bullet could not make even a dent to Anuj’s Josh. He took missile launcher in the right hand and started firing more fiercely at bull’s eye aim. Anuj see from the left, there was a shout from a soldier.

The ceasefire was announced. The war ended, but the cries didn’t. Sound of the fire was heard from a large area. Civilians, animal, crops, houses were burned, burned alive. War made footprints, footprints which will exist for generations.

Today, Riya is joining the arm forces as Captain Riya. Captain Riya wife of Param Vir Chakra Captain Anuj. Capt. Anuj was hit by a grenade from the left. He martyred to his motherland on the day of his fatherhood.

Around 8 crore people lost their lives in the second world war alone. Every day, there are hundreds like Capt. Anuj lost their lives in war. The world needs to make a love story, the love story of a mankind, love story of peace.

Love,
Ankit

The Fortune Teller

He was playing in number 7 for his team. No. 7 jersey which is proudly worn by Cristiano Ronaldo and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He was nothing less than those legends for his team. On a day, when he gets going, bowler could only plead for mercy. He is a record holder in the domestic league, run machine, power hitter with exemplary technique.

Last 3 matches, he was not at his timing, his shots are marred by edges. His final scoreline read 21,14,7 respectively. Selectors would be on the ground to scout for new batsman for their franchise. He was one on the list, maybe the top. The next two matches are crucial for his dream to play in IPL.
He was captivated in the thought of not losing this opportunity. He wanted to make the max of it, but his poor form was a stroke of bad luck for him. He wanted to bring good luck. He heard Baba Chagan Lal, a great fortune teller. Baba was followed by masses for his fortune reading. He wanted Baba's help for his future of playing in IPL.

He went to Baba’s shrine. Baba was meditating and telling people about their fortune. After two hours of wait, his turn came. He was escorted by Baba's deputy, who gave him instruction of not being loud, be nice and do not disturb the Baba.

Baba’s room was dark and the smell of hundreds of incense stick was making it a perfect religious place. As he walked in, Baba told to welcome the new king. He was shocked by how Baba knew, he would rule the game. How Baba was better than any Artificial intelligence and Machine learning. How Baba could see what his dad couldn't see in Mathematics mark sheet. Suddenly Baba spoke, my king the Sun isn't in your favor so does the Kingdom. You should wear yellow clothe and put Sunny Leone as your mobile wallpaper to please the sun. Baba's impeccable knowledge and easy solution for heat and brightness stunned him.

But there was a problem, the team kit was blue. He can't wear a yellow vest as the sides would often sneak from jersey. He searched the entire market and got a perfect yellow inner-piece. Good thing that it would be closest to the body. The match started, they were to bat first. He demoted himself to play more of spin bowling. The scoreline was 4 over 16/1. It was his turn to bat, he was confident that Sun will turn his fortune. He faced the second ball, it was spin on the attack. He made a lofted shot, the ball hit the middle of the bat and was flying to the boundary. He was in his crease watching it sailing over the ropes. There was a shout in his ears, Run. Excellent piece of fielding saved the six. The other batsman was in his crease, he had no option but run to the other end. The throw was sharp, and he was late, so late that he had to join the dugout on a duck.

He narrated this to Baba. Baba told, perhaps the sun was too close that mother earth couldn't bless him. To balance both, he should put green clothe next and keep Sunny Leone on mobile. He was awestruck, how baba knew that mobile had wireless powers while clothe can give him the earth blessings.
The green inner-piece was nowhere in the market, he decided to tailor it for him. He went to a tailor and was unbuckling his belt. Tailor said, no need of measurement and made an old-fashioned green color inner-piece.

The match started, they chose to bowl first. On a shot, he was stretching himself in the field to save run, he heard a sound. Sound that one of his clothes tore. He was checking his pants and in the process, he lost the laces of track-pants. Pants were fine, then what, the inner-piece! In hurry tailor stitched weakly, the inner-piece was torn, from the place where it shouldn't have been. Lost laces of pants increased the chances of dropping it on a fast run. He somehow managed the opponent innings. His team was supposed to chase 322 in 50 overs. This time, he was at his position, the opener, the Sehwag for his team. He was taking crease for the first ball. Opponent bowler was fierce, capable of clocking 150 KM/Hour. Bowler was on the run-up, the shorter one. The torn inner-piece and loose pants were on his mind. He can’t take a quick single as he will drop his pants and assets would be visible especially to the selectors. He can't play lofted shot as he is still to adapt for pitch and the bowler. By the time, he decided to play a grounded shot the ball passed him and hit straight to middle stump. He couldn't even move his bat.

He was head-down, running from the field. He wanted to make the Baba’s head as his practice ball. But all he could manage to hold the waist of loose pants.

Baba industry is big but no real estimation, guess its because there is no taxation. Industry size in India could be around USD 45 Bn, given an average person is spending 0.5% of his income on Baba's services. One should have faith and optimism, but nothing moves in this world unless you move it.

Love,
Ankit