A long time ago when I was a kid...On one sunny day that I still have fond memories of, my father came home in the evening with a toy pig. I turned it around and discovered that it had a hole in its back. My dad announced that it was my 'Piggy Bank'. He fished out a 10 paise coin from his pocket and instructed me to put it through the hole in the pig's back. I did it eagerly, expecting the pig to start walking. Walk it didn't but my father patted me on my back and said,"Son, this is your first saving. I will give you 10 paise everyday and when we have collected Rs50 we will go to the bank and get you a savings account."Savings! suddenly a new activity had begun in my life that I understood nothing about.My Dad noticed the puzzled look on my face. He scratched his head and suddenly a meaningful look came in his eyes. I think he remembered the ant menace that my mom had been complaining of for the past few days. He showed me the ants that were carrying grains in a line to their hiding place. "The ants are carrying grains and saving it for a rainy day, he said. He took out my World Book Encyclopedia and showed me various other animals that save food for a time when they may need it."You know that I go to office to earn money for all of us. But when I turn 58 years, I will have to retire and stop going to office. We will need money to buy food and clothing even after I retire from my job and stop earning. I need to save now, so that I can pay for our food and clothing later," he explained. "Similarly, you can save the money I give you now to buy a good book or a paint box later," he impressed upon me.
That was my first lesson in 'saving'.
A few years later I learnt in my class that all of us have two choices. We can consume now or can consume later. Hence, savings is just postponing consumption.Does it then mean that only what we consciously keep aside for a rainy days is called "saving"?"No, what ever you do not manage to consume and stays as a surplus is also 'saving'. But that is a lucky state to be in," my teacher responded. And that set me thinking..."If I can 'save' to consume at a later date, I can also spend more now if I know that I can earn enough surplus to pay for it later..." Just then my teacher's booming voice interrupted my train of thoughts...
"Borrowing is the opposite of saving," she announced.
Now that was easy to visualize. I had a classmate who was fairly irregular to class, spent a lot of time in the school canteen and supposedly even bunked classes to watch the 'matinee'. How did he manage to pay for all his nefarious activities?Well, he used to borrow money from a few friends of mine who saved their pocket money.During the break, I manage to accost one of those friends who had lent money to my classmate."I can understand why Ramesh (by the way, that was my classmate's name) borrows from you. But why do you lend him money? Can he pay back?""Look, I don't really intend to spend all my pocket money. I am saving up for a new cycle. Money always burns a hole in my pocket. Hence, I lend it to him," he answered."Ramesh has a rich father, who is a family friend," he explained. "I know that I can get my money back. Ramesh also knows that when he turns 18 he will look after his family business and earn well. And then he will have no time to have the fun he is having now. Hence, he borrows to spend," he added.Learning for me again'Saving' is not consuming everything today and leaving something for tomorrow whereas 'Borrowing' is consuming more than what one has today, expecting to save more later to pay up for the excess consumption now.While 'saving' is being conservative and wise, 'borrowing' is being risky and foolish unless for a basic need. Hence, it makes sense to borrow only when one is sure that in the future he will be able to save enough not only to pay up for his borrowings but also to see him through the days when he cannot earn.
What is 'investing' then?
This question bothered me till I had my first mug of beer from some bottles that we had smuggled in from my friend's place (it belonged to his father who owned a liquor shop).Oh boy! I loved it so much, the beer I mean. But soon an idea suggested itself to me. If everybody starts liking it, the demand for beer is definitely going to rise. The growing population will ensure that the demand sustains. Wouldn't then it make a lot of sense to set up a company to manufacture beer? If demand drops then my friends and I can very well step in!I had grown up finally from the days of aspring to be a bus conductor to wanting to own a beer factory now!The next day, I started discussing my ambition with my friend's father. During the course of our conversation I learnt of the money needed to buy the fermenting equipment that can produce beer for years to come. By selling all the beer that can be manufactured, I can recover the initial money spent on the business by the end of three years. Beyond that, the money that I'll make will be surplus. That would be an awful lot of money.Of course, I remembered that as 'Investment' from my economics textbook.In other words, 'Investing' means building up to meet future consumption demand with the intention of making surpluses or profits, as they are popularly known.
Investments are risky
True, what if tomorrow everybody decides that 'beer' is yuck. Maybe the government will ban beer consumption. Or your plant might develop a big problem for all you know. Hence, there has to be a reasonable profit expectation to motivate an investment.Also, when you or I 'invest', we forego our present consumption or do it out of our surplus. In other words, 'savings' again supports 'investment'.Interesting isn't it?We started with three things that looked as different as chalk, brick and wood, but discovered that the three ('saving', 'borrowing' and 'investing') are related.But then, I have a few questions in my mind already. I am sure you would have some too.What if I save Rs1000 over 10 months to buy a cycle and the price of the cycle shoots up by 20% by then? I am losing the 'purchasing power' of my Rs1000. Is there some way I can make up for the risk of losing my purchasing power? Getting a little complicated for now. Let us unravel it later. Meanwhile, you might want to get yourself a mug of beer. J
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The People
The People
Before I Start,
Disclaimer
All characters in this story are fictitious; any resemblance to any person dead or alive is mere coincidence.
The People is all about 'the interesting and altogether different people' I came across during various stages of my life. All these people have created the special places in my life due to their featured personality traits. I really owe a lot to these people, especially those, without their presence I could not have reached the position where I am today.
I should start the story with the Sumeet and Somesh. We shared the class for 12 years and academic streams till graduation. Whenever I see new movie my eyes, my mind always try and analyze the performance of actors, just to search better actor than our Sumeet and believe me my search is not yet over. The split personality is the most important trait of Sumeet. I really have to recall thousands of meetings when he behaved in the way he actually is. I don’t know the validity of the previous sentences as in spite of the best friend, I am still confused whether I really know Sumeet, but I am really confident about the few qualities of him. He is academic genius and achieved whatever he has decided for himself with flying colours. The other quality is he is the killer, in the sense that he can make any girl around him crazy for himself with his acting and psychological expertise. For me Sumeet was always an inspiration as he was much more superior than me in academic and social aspects.
Exactly opposite to the Sumeet, Somesh is quite simple and straight forward. He is the Best in the interpersonal skills. He is sheer genius when it comes to convince the traffic police who caught us riding triple sit or on the way to home in midnight after having vodka shots. He also saved lot of our friends when Bhailog in the city might have beaten them due to their over aggression. I and Sumeet always approach him with our problems accompanied with the confidence that somesh will give us the solution and he never let our confidence down. We three having totally different mindsets, are very close to each other, which make me think that the magnet might have taken inspiration from us to attract the opposite pole.
Moving ahead, I have to write about my childhood nighbour. Her name is Shweta. She was also in my class for 12 years and we were in same group when we were in the school. I really blame my flirty nature when I see bitterness about me in her mind. Good friendship of the childhood became a torture for us when we grow up as a teenager. Bitterness increased to such an extent that I have avoided several group parties. All this apart, I really admire her simplicity and Sincerity. Now she is a professional and putting her best to serve the organization in which she is working.
When it comes to my professional studies I never forget initial 8 months of my professional studies when I was accompanied with the angel in my life. Angel in the sense, I feel Rucha is the one who had the magic stick which had relieved my parents from all their worries about the career of their culprit son. It was really impossible that a person like me who was worrying about the passing in the higher secondary, have completed the professional course without her company in initial stages. Rucha is from the different stream and obliviously found the core subjects tough. We used to solve the home assignments together in the library. Those are the days when I came know that the there can be study for the day when it’s not the previous day to the exam. She almost used to force me to solve the home assignments on time. I found one of the subjects (maths) tough. She guided me in such nice manner that I cleared maths with the flying colours. Apart from her sincerity, I always used to admire and sometime getting angry about her senti nature. I can recall her eyes full of tears when she missed her lectures or could not complete her homework by any unavoidable reasons. In those days I really came to know about the importance of the regularity and commitment in the life, which is very important for a good life. Unfortunately she didn’t accompanied me in the subsequent stages of the course but I always used to miss her when thought of not completing homework or bunking the lecture used to pop up in my mind. I almost bunked 1/10th of the lectures which I otherwise would have bunked in all. I also missed her company when I passed through the painful moments of sitting more than 12 hours a day with books to finish studies in final stages, just because 16 hours a day was very much comfortable for her in such situations.
Last but not the least I have to write about the Priyanka, We met very recently but I can’t recall the person who got as close as Priyanka in a short time. We freak around a lot in Mumbai after our office hours. Neither I nor she has any sort of feelings for each other, for me she is a good friend. I came to know that she broken up recently with her boyfriend, but they are still together. According to her they are only good friends. Any time I speak with her about this ‘question comes to mind is ‘do they share same sort of relationship which was between them earlier’? When it comes to ‘them’, I can’t comment, but when it comes to her I can say she is the ‘boyfriend-vrata’. She is still involved with her boyfriend emotionally. I read a theory in psychology, which explains the relationships for different sexes of the human being. It says Women concentrate on other aspects of relationship for love, whereas men love for more or less, physical aspects of the relationship. Being theory in the social science it is not the perfect as the theories in the natural science but for Priyanka, somehow it’s applicable perfectly without any Exceptions. I always think how can one be so much sensitive about the somebody? The sentiments which make one forget himself/herself and his/ her passions. The thought process which is the god’s gift to human being can be so dangerous sometime? My thinking comes to an end without any conclusion, still sometimes; these thoughts strike to my mind. Controlling the emotions is tough job for some people.
Lot many people came to my life and have occupied special places in my life. However, when I am alone and thinking, those are the people who strike to my mind first. In some cases I really don’t know what sort of feeling these people have for me, but for me these are amongst the most precious people in my Life.
Before I Start,
Disclaimer
All characters in this story are fictitious; any resemblance to any person dead or alive is mere coincidence.
The People is all about 'the interesting and altogether different people' I came across during various stages of my life. All these people have created the special places in my life due to their featured personality traits. I really owe a lot to these people, especially those, without their presence I could not have reached the position where I am today.
I should start the story with the Sumeet and Somesh. We shared the class for 12 years and academic streams till graduation. Whenever I see new movie my eyes, my mind always try and analyze the performance of actors, just to search better actor than our Sumeet and believe me my search is not yet over. The split personality is the most important trait of Sumeet. I really have to recall thousands of meetings when he behaved in the way he actually is. I don’t know the validity of the previous sentences as in spite of the best friend, I am still confused whether I really know Sumeet, but I am really confident about the few qualities of him. He is academic genius and achieved whatever he has decided for himself with flying colours. The other quality is he is the killer, in the sense that he can make any girl around him crazy for himself with his acting and psychological expertise. For me Sumeet was always an inspiration as he was much more superior than me in academic and social aspects.
Exactly opposite to the Sumeet, Somesh is quite simple and straight forward. He is the Best in the interpersonal skills. He is sheer genius when it comes to convince the traffic police who caught us riding triple sit or on the way to home in midnight after having vodka shots. He also saved lot of our friends when Bhailog in the city might have beaten them due to their over aggression. I and Sumeet always approach him with our problems accompanied with the confidence that somesh will give us the solution and he never let our confidence down. We three having totally different mindsets, are very close to each other, which make me think that the magnet might have taken inspiration from us to attract the opposite pole.
Moving ahead, I have to write about my childhood nighbour. Her name is Shweta. She was also in my class for 12 years and we were in same group when we were in the school. I really blame my flirty nature when I see bitterness about me in her mind. Good friendship of the childhood became a torture for us when we grow up as a teenager. Bitterness increased to such an extent that I have avoided several group parties. All this apart, I really admire her simplicity and Sincerity. Now she is a professional and putting her best to serve the organization in which she is working.
When it comes to my professional studies I never forget initial 8 months of my professional studies when I was accompanied with the angel in my life. Angel in the sense, I feel Rucha is the one who had the magic stick which had relieved my parents from all their worries about the career of their culprit son. It was really impossible that a person like me who was worrying about the passing in the higher secondary, have completed the professional course without her company in initial stages. Rucha is from the different stream and obliviously found the core subjects tough. We used to solve the home assignments together in the library. Those are the days when I came know that the there can be study for the day when it’s not the previous day to the exam. She almost used to force me to solve the home assignments on time. I found one of the subjects (maths) tough. She guided me in such nice manner that I cleared maths with the flying colours. Apart from her sincerity, I always used to admire and sometime getting angry about her senti nature. I can recall her eyes full of tears when she missed her lectures or could not complete her homework by any unavoidable reasons. In those days I really came to know about the importance of the regularity and commitment in the life, which is very important for a good life. Unfortunately she didn’t accompanied me in the subsequent stages of the course but I always used to miss her when thought of not completing homework or bunking the lecture used to pop up in my mind. I almost bunked 1/10th of the lectures which I otherwise would have bunked in all. I also missed her company when I passed through the painful moments of sitting more than 12 hours a day with books to finish studies in final stages, just because 16 hours a day was very much comfortable for her in such situations.
Last but not the least I have to write about the Priyanka, We met very recently but I can’t recall the person who got as close as Priyanka in a short time. We freak around a lot in Mumbai after our office hours. Neither I nor she has any sort of feelings for each other, for me she is a good friend. I came to know that she broken up recently with her boyfriend, but they are still together. According to her they are only good friends. Any time I speak with her about this ‘question comes to mind is ‘do they share same sort of relationship which was between them earlier’? When it comes to ‘them’, I can’t comment, but when it comes to her I can say she is the ‘boyfriend-vrata’. She is still involved with her boyfriend emotionally. I read a theory in psychology, which explains the relationships for different sexes of the human being. It says Women concentrate on other aspects of relationship for love, whereas men love for more or less, physical aspects of the relationship. Being theory in the social science it is not the perfect as the theories in the natural science but for Priyanka, somehow it’s applicable perfectly without any Exceptions. I always think how can one be so much sensitive about the somebody? The sentiments which make one forget himself/herself and his/ her passions. The thought process which is the god’s gift to human being can be so dangerous sometime? My thinking comes to an end without any conclusion, still sometimes; these thoughts strike to my mind. Controlling the emotions is tough job for some people.
Lot many people came to my life and have occupied special places in my life. However, when I am alone and thinking, those are the people who strike to my mind first. In some cases I really don’t know what sort of feeling these people have for me, but for me these are amongst the most precious people in my Life.
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