A Shabby Shrub in a Deserted Desert

There in the far deserted desert

Was lying a shabbily grown shrub

Withered and burnt in the heat

It wasn't elegant or marvellous

Neither was it beautiful nor was it neat

It was just a shabbily grown shrub

Only born to bear the brunt of the heat

Passers looked but no one noticed

All were in a hurry to cover the distance

And cared least for a shrub in a wasteland!

Lying all alone in the desolated desert

It only hoped it will rain in the end

And by its side it will have a forest

Instead of miles of just barren sand

Clouds did come but least they cared

As quickly they also wanted to reach

To the mountain range where few dared

Why waste labours on an untidy shrub

When a lush green forest could be gazed

So it rained in an already quenched forest

While the thirsty shrub helplessly stared

So Long....Thanks For All The Fish

After a loooooong wait, finally the moment came for which I had always been waiting since past 9 months. Don't think too much ;) I am only talking about the moment to bid adieu to Hazira ! I probably have created a history by spending the least time here among all the people who came for similar assignments. As I move on and recollect past few months, there would be really few moments that I will remember forever and yesterday's farewell, given to me by all my friends here, is one of them. I could not believe that I got sentimental, that too while leaving Hazira! I always thought that this will be the day I wiould just jump around in sheer ecstasy. As I always believe"Misery forges the real friendships" and this is an example where I created a number of irreplaceable friends. While I really look forward to my next assignment, the sad part is that I am going to leave these people behind and not sure how many of them will ever meet me again but I think how lucky I am to have known so many of them, that too in such a small duration, who were so hard to say goodbye to.

Thank you guys for being there.

Adios....

An Ode to Geniuses

I thought that I should compile a list of my passions and then try to think of some personalities from each of those fields that come to my mind instantaneously and I would cancel any appointment to have a lunch with them. These are not necessarily the personalities which I think are the best in their fields but these are the ones that come to my mind first whenever I think of their area of excellence. Ofcourse I am considering only alive personalities as I am not brave enough to have lunch with the dead ones. When I think about the things I am most passionate about, Music, Sports, Business and Literature would figure on the top of the list.

Music:

Jimmy Page : Sheer genius, just see him playing the guitar and you would understand what I mean. He started many bands but not to mention that Led Zeplin is the reason I adore him. Led Zeplin, one of the very few bands which did not split because of ego clashes. They split because members decided that they could not play without their late drummer. He could play Battle of Evermore on Mandolin without having touched the instrument before speaks of his talent. If I could play at even 10% of his skill level, I would be more than happy.

Eric Clapton: This guy can write, sing and play amazing guitar. All the rock stars started wearing different (absurd) looks just to support the counter culture revolution. Later these (different) looks itself became part of a culture. Then there was Eric wearing formal blazers in concerts when all others were too busy donning the "traditional" rock star looks!!! Last but not the least, this guy could beat George Harrison of legendary Beatles to take away his girl. A lot can be learned from this all rounder genius over a lunch. :P

A R Rahman: I think assimilating the fame is more difficult then getting it (though I have experienced neither :D) and this guy has done a remarkable job while being so level headed in a country where we just idolize any personality. A music prodigy who shot to fame at the age of 19 and still continues to produce probably the best music in India. The best thing I like about his music is his innovative fusion where he doesn't shy from mixing Mridhang with Electric Guitar.
Sports:

Roger Federer: Highest number of grandslams, highest number of single titles, soon to be highest number of weeks as world's best Tennis player but still see this guy. Not getting distracted and giving his best all the time. Flawless technique and rhythm makes his game a sheer pleasure to watch. Whenever he plays his backhand shot seems like he is doing a ballad in his own style on court. The remarkable demeanour and calmness makes him a real sportsmen.

Sachin: Sachin to Cricket is what Roger is to Tennis. As it is rightly said, if Cricket is a religion, Sachin is the God. The straight backfoot punch, cover drive or dancing down the track for a lofted six, his shots are executed to perfection. Despite of highest number of runs, centuries and thousands of other records (in both tests and ODIs), like Roger, Sachin epitomizes modesty.

Business:

Steve Jobs : This guy has built business empires, resurrected ailing industries and has dictated us what we want as consumers. There is something about this guy which makes him a business genius. In what is termed as the most successful second inning in the history of business, this guy made a come back to a company which he once founded and later was expelled. I think he is the only guy to have created such a massive impact on so many industries (Computers/software, Music, Movies and Electronics).
Literature

Surprisingly I have read a lot of contemporary and modern literature but when I speak the word Literature, only names of the dead ones pop up in my mind and as I mentioned earlier, I don't have lunches with dead ones. Call it my ignorance or lack of great authors in modern era, I cannot think of a single author who has had a major impact on me the way Camus, Beckett or Rand had. So I leave this space free for the time being.

खोया सवेरा

अँधेरे की काल कोठरी को चीर
आसमान की तख़्ती को पोतने को
रोज तडके निकलता वो लाल गुबारा
सवेरे सुप्रभातम बजाता मंदिर का भोम्पु
और मिटी की सौंधी खुशबु में सराबोर
पीपनि से चूल्हा धुकाती घर की विधाता
बाड़े के खूंटे से बँधी जुगाली करती गाय
और रात भर की भूख से व्याकुल
उछल उछल घंटी हिलाता वो नटखट बछड़ा
रोज की भागमभाग मे जाने कहा खो गया सब
जागे है रात भर की दिन की लालिमा नज़र आती नहीं
टाइलो मे खो गयी है मिट्टी की महक कहीं
गाय की जगह दूध की थैली ने ले ली है
अँग्रेज़ी गानो की धुन मे मशगूल है सब
सुप्रभातम किसी को भाता नहीं है

हक़ीक़त

वोह देखो चबूतरे पर खड़ी शर्मसार हक़ीक़त
नाकामी की चोट खा सिसकती हकीक़त
थक हार बोह्झिल हो खुद मे सिमटती हकीक़त
हो कर बेजार इस अपने नसीब की बेवफाई से
हक़ीक़ती मुकाम के लिए तरसती बेबस हकीक़त

अरमानो की बंद कोठरी मे पड़ी बदहवास हक़ीक़त
किस्मत के वहशी पिंजरे मे क़ैद हक़िक़त
रोजमरा की हाथापाई से लहुलुहान होती हक़िक़त
छुड़ा खुद को इस कुदरत के दरिंदे पंजे से
हक़िक़त बनने को मचलती हक़िक़त

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

Of Recession, GDP growth, Inflation and Black Swans

Of late, I have been reading and hearing too much about the recession, the negative growth rate and increasing unemployment. All these developments in the global economy has left all the economists rattled and confused. Some are predicting a double dip recession while others are talking about the recovery by Q1, 2010. All this economic mayhem and the debate following it has left me with many mind boggling questions, which I am sure are going to sound so trivial and unintelligible that nobody would even attempt to answer them. I would be really grateful if someone could help me find answer to these.

Q1) Is the negative growth really bad?

From the past 2 years, journalists across the globe are turning their throat hoarse while bringing out the stories about the negative economic growth rate, fall in GDP and so on. I do see their point but one thing which keeps bothering me is that is it really practicable to have a positive GDP growth rate forever. GDP of a country is is nothing but the total market value of services and goods produced within that country. Consider the scenario that if the GDP of whole world were to always have a positive growth rate. To achieve this, the net consumption of raw materials like iron, cement, minerals and petroleum products would also grow at a similar rate. So I always wonder is really feasible of our tiny planet earth to forever supply the required raw materials at an ever increasing rate.

Q2) Is only the moderate positive inflation desirable?

Sometime back people were real scared first to see double digit inflation rates in most of the economies and then a negative inflation rate. According them a moderate inflation is what is needed for a healthy economy. I am again confused. Consider a basic question related to demand and supply. According to my knowledge the rate of increase production (call it supply) of things has definitely outstripped the rate of increase of market size (demand) i.e. increase in the rate of production is definitely more than the rate of increase of customers (because of increase in population and change in economic conditions).

So according to me if the things are left for free markets (i.e. in absence of central banks and government's intervention) to decide, the natural direction for inflation has to be negative.

Q3) Is a country's higher GDP per capita better for its residents?

I think possessing a BMW or a Merc will not necessarily make a person happy or unhappy. To me it all depends on the reference frame of the person. If a person doesn't possess a BMW or a Merc, he will not be unhappy till the repeated commercials of TV/magazines/newspapers and society brainwash him to believe that being happy and successful means being able to buy a BMW or a Ferrari. My great grandfather never wanted to posses a Porsche because he didn't know about its existence. Probably he was happier with his bicycle.

If my analysis is correct, why ruin the earth due to all this rat race to produce more. Just ban all the damn media houses and their commercials.

Q4) Black Swan or White Swan. About whom we should care more?

After reading Taleb's Black Swan, I am even more convinced that we cannot predict highly improbable events, termed as "Black Swans" by Taleb, though they have a very high consequence. I completely agree with him in all his analysis but again the question is that do we really care of such rare event. May be Tsunami killed over 3,00,000 people in a single assault but if we were to make one choice, should we prepare our self better for terrorist attacks, which happen every now and then or prepare our self for the Tsunami which may NOT come for next 100 years. So I strongly think that the prediction business is very much needed in finance particularly but only thing is that we should not always try to justify our wrong predictions. So indeed we should care more about White Swans and make our economic system robust for them. To me even the current recession is a White Swan only as it was foreseen by many in 2001 itself when Fed reduced the interest rates to zero (Q2 becomes relevant again).

PS: Please see that I am not a socialist or communist. I am a staunch capitalist but I believe in real free markets i.e. markets devoid any external interferences of central banks and governments. Call it Utopia, if you may!!!

Quotes from Douglas Adams

It has been quite sometime since I promised myself to give tribute to a man who epitomizes literary humour. Yes, I am talking about Douglas Adams, the man who gave us the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything . He is one of the few writers whose writing style I adore the most. Others would be Tolkien, R K Narayanan, Samule Backett, Bill Waterson, Scott Adams (joined my favorite list in the past couple of years only) but one blog is too less to write about all of them. In this blog, I am writing only on Douglas Adams and as a tribute to this legen....(wait for it)...dary writer, I am putting few of his famous quotes here:

• Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in, fits me rather neatly, doesn't it?
  
  
• If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a non-working cat.
  
  
• The trouble with most forms of transport, he thought, is basically that not one of them is worth all the bother. On Earth – when there had been an Earth, before it was demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass – the problem had been with cars. The disadvantages involved in pulling lots of black sticky slime from out of the ground where it had been safely hidden out of harm's way, turning it into tar to cover the land with, smoke to fill the air with and pouring the rest into the sea, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of being able to get more quickly from one place to another – particularly when the place you arrived at had probably become, as a result of this, very similar to the place you had left, i.e. covered with tar, full of smoke and short of fish.
  
  
• I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
  
  
• Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.
  
  
• Anything that happens, happens. Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen causes something else to happen. Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen happens again. All of this, however, doesn't necessarily happen in chronological order.
  
  
• "Life! Don't talk to me about life." (Marvin)
  
  
• "What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer."
  
  
• It's funny how just when you think life just can't possibly get any worse it suddenly does. (Marvin)
  
  
• Life, loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it. (Marvin)
  
  
• There is a theory which states that if anybody ever discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
  
  
• I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
  
  
• In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
  
  
• In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.
  
  
• The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.
  
  
• You live and learn. At any rate, you live.
  
  
• Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
  
  
• He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
  
  
• Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.
  
  
• The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.
  
  
• Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
  
  
• The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he, by peddling second-rate technology, who led them into it in the first place.
  
  
• Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash form point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there, and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all decide where the hell they wanted to be.

मेरी गाड़ी छुटी जा रही थी

दूर से देख रहा था उसे
पर वो और भी दूर जा रही थी
मानो सीटी बजा बजा कर मुझे चिड़ा रही थी
कोशिश तो की बहुत मैंने उस तक पहुँचने की
पर फिर भी मेरी ट्रेन छुटी जा रही थी|

नहीं मिलेगी वो किसी अगले प्लेटफोर्म पर
यह तो मुसाफिर के दिल ने भी जाना है
पर एक मजबूर मुसाफिर को तो बस चलते जाना है
चाहे गाड़ी छुटने की टीस रह जायेगी हमेशा के लिए
पर अगली ट्रेन पकड़ अपनी मंजिल तक पहुँच जाना है|

गाड़ी को कहा होती है परवाह अधर में अटके मुसाफिर की
उसे भी तो बस बिन रुके चलते जाना होता है
मुसाफिर के लिए छूटती गाड़ी की बैचैनी को भुलाना नहीं आसान होता है
पर गाड़ी को कहा चिंता है उस मुसाफिर की बेचैनी क़ी
उसे तो बस अपने चुनिंदा मुसाफिरो के साथ चलते जाना होता है|

किसी रोज एक दिन जब एक ऐसा स्टेशन आएगा
सब मुसाफिर छोड़ गाड़ी को बढ़ जाएगे अपनी मंज़िल की और
और जब गाड़ी लौटेगी अकेले अपने गंतव्य की और
शायद सोचेगी वो भी उस बिछड़े मुसाफिर के बारे मे
जो शायद चलता उसके साथ अंतिम पड़ाव की और|

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

साथ के मुसाफिर

चले तो थे साथ बहुत दूर तक
पर अब और दूर जा ना सकेगे
शायद इतना ही होना था सफर साथ में
जो मंजिल की झलक भी पा ना सकेगे|

ओ साथ के मुसाफिर यु ही भूल ना जाना
इन गलियों को जिन पर तू चला था
माना तीन दिन में भूलना तेरी आदत है
पर अपने निशाँ इन रहो पर जरूर छोड़ जाना|

बेखबरी और आवारगी के आलम में
जब भी फ़िर गुजरूँगा उनही गलियों से
देख वक्त के साथ शीण होते उन निशानों को
शायद याद कर लूँगा साथ कटे उस सफर को|

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

Into the Wild Again : Trek to Brahmagiri

Having done small treks quite a number of times in past few days, I was looking for some "real" trek from quite some time. Last "real" trek I did was "Kudremukh", with the memory of all the horrible leeches and slippery terrain and what not. So when Arun asked me if I wanted to join for a trek to Chembra peak, I immediately agreed but was skeptical that it could be a bit too easy (another one day trek). After some discussions we arrived on a consensus for Brahmagiri (located near Coorg). Brahmagiri had been on our radar for quite sometime but somehow it didn't materialize so far. As always happens for any of our trek, some people joined in at last moment and some ditched, effectively leaving a group of six people just like last time. Out of these six three of us (Arun, Nidhan and I) were also part of the group that went to Kudremukh while three new persons (Shruti, Tejal and Ravindra) joined us. As expected Nidhan's fascination for the name Ravi made him really happy when Ravindra joined.

After all the preparation was done (which was not so difficult this time given our prior experience), we started from KSRTC Mysore Satellite Bus stand for Gonikoppal. We reached there at 4:30 am in the morning and had to wait for half an hour to take the bus for Virajpet, where we had booked the guest house. We relaxed there for couple of hours and had some heavy breakfast. At around 9:00 am Arun, Nidhan, Ravi and I (Gajendra) left for forest officer's office to seek permission for trekking whereas Shruti and Tejal stayed at Guest house. We were ready with the permissions and a guide by 10:30 am. So we started our journey for Irupu falls (the first stop for us). We stayed there only for 15-20 mins and then started our exciting journey for the peak.

The initial plan was to reach the mid point by 1:00 pm, have lunch and then reach the guest house near Nirmala peak by evening 4:00 pm and then visit Nirmala peak. We planned to go to Brahmagiri peak next day morning. The reason for this relaxed planning was that Arun told us that climbing Brahmagiri peak is very difficult (with elevation of 75 deg in last half km) and only 5 out 25 people from STI could make it to the peak, when they visited couple of months back. But this wasn't to be the case.

Thanks to the excellent group we had become, the time just flew by. We reached the mid point much before we had planned, ate some stuff and started for the forest ranger's guest house. We reached there at 2:30 p

m much before our own expectations. We relaxed there for sometime and by 3:30 pm we thought we had enough time to go to Brahmagiri peak and return. So instead of going to Nirmala peak, we directly started for Brahmagiri. Since till this point only there is deep forest and abovethis there are grasslands, we were worried a little about sun. I wished that if there were few drops of rain, just enough to cool the weather but yet not make it slippery, it would be great and there it was. It seemed like god had all of a sudden decided to consider very few good deeds we had ever done and reward us for it then and there itself. The moment we started, those wonderful drops full of life and energy were waiting for us.

The weather was so good and atmosphere was so full of pure oxygen making our oxygen deficient lungs so elated that not remembering our trekking anthem "Run Maadi Run" was impossible. So Nidhan and I decided to run a bit and soon left other four far behind. By the time we realized, we had already taken a wrong trail, which led us at the peak of another hill (Brahmagiri was still visible far away) with the descend that was so steep that the moment we looked at it we were sure that we were on the wrong trail. The reason being that if this were the correct path, its unlikely that even 5 out of 25 could make it to the top. Somehow we managed to descend and then ascend again to reach on the right trail leading to the summit of our ultimate destination, the Brahmagiri peak.

We looked at the watch and it was 4:23 pm. Run Maadi feeling was still so prevalent in our minds that Nidhan set a target of 4:45 pm to reach the peak whereas I set the modest target of 5:00pm. Surprisingly, what was thought to be so difficult, we could do in 12 mins and we were on the peak by 4:35 pm itself. After about half an hour, we saw the signs of our guide and other four companions, who also climbed the peak without too much difficulty. Reaching the peak was a feeling which completely overwhelmed us and we just rejuvenated at the thought having achieved what we set out for.

Though we wanted to stay longer, we had to start our return journey at 5:30 pm as it was getting dark. While descending, I was thinking that this trek was pretty easy when compared to Kumara Parvata or Kudremukh. In KP, it was the camping in the night which gave us the thrill whereas it were leeches which made our trek to Kudremukh so memorable but there was no such thing till now in this trek. It was more or less a simple beautiful trek for 12 km upwards which we easily finished running, singing and eating. Here also it seems god was just in mood to grant even smallest of my wishes. As it got a bit dark, our guide pointed out a group of four wild elephant about two hundred metres away. Knowing that elephant has a very strong sense of smell and hearing, we started walking as quietly as possibly. We had passed only a hundred more metres, we saw one more elephant again couple of hundred metres away. It was still okay till I noticed it moving and every one was dumbstruck. Every could feel the adrenaline rushing through there body. Luckily the elephant turned and went away from us. So we were all relieved and I thought that all is well that ends well but that was not all.

We had barely walked another half a km and reached near a stream, when our guide stopped us and told us that he had just now seen a tiger crossing our trail. Probably the cat might have come out to drink water from that stream. He showed us a very fresh tiger pug mark and we could still smell a typical smell (zoo kind) probably meaning that the big cat was still around. The thought of this itself passed shimmers through our spines. All of us seized talking, singing and even would have seized breathing also if it were in our hands. Thankfully our preparation was thorough and we had good enough number of torches and our guide was very experienced, which helped us find our way back to the guest house through the jungle. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we entered the concrete walls of the guest house, safe from any wild animal.

We recovered from our thrills and then decided to cooksomething. We prepared noodlesand scrambled eggs with bread, which tasted excellent after the days hard work. Finally, we decided to have bonfire despite of the fear of wild cat still reigning in our minds. We sang, shared jokes and had some excellent time around the fire. As expected, Nidhan didn't miss any chance to pull Ravi's leg. After an hour or so we all slept only to wake up next day.

In the morning, we made some excellent tea and scrambled egg as breakfast. In the morning also Arun spotted a wild elephant just 10m away from him. We wanted to go to Pakshipatalam to do some bird watching but later decided against it. So we started our journey to base in Virajpet, where we reached by 12:00 pm. Since we still had sometime, we decided to go to Rajiv Gandhi National Park at Nagarhole where we saw some deer, elephants, bison etc. We started our return journey from Gonikoppal. Just like my past experiences, again I was amazed by the hospitality of rural Karnataka. While sitting in the bus, those two days were still flashing before my eyes again and I was feeling a bit sad that this remarkable journey was coming to an end. On my way back, my feelings could probably be best summarized by Lord Byron's following lines:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more...

शायद इस रात कि सुबह नहीं।

दूर तक फैला है अँधेरा
रौशनी क्यों नजर आती नहीं
क्या मीलो लंबी है यह सुरंग
जो तारों कि भी झिलमिल नजर आती नहीं
कहते है रात के बाद दिन आता है
पर शायद इस रात कि सुबह नहीं।

व्यर्थ ही चला जा रह हूँ मैं
कहा है जाना पता नहीं
थका हारा हूँ मैं कब से
कोई आश्रय क्यों नजर आता नहीं
कहते है रात के बाद दिन आता है
पर शायद इस रात कि सुबह नहीं।

थकी है जगी है आंखें बहुत देर से
पर नींद फिर क्यों आती नहीं
गुजर गया है तूफ़ान
पर करार दिल को क्यों आता नहीं
कहते है रात के बाद दिन आता है
पर शायद इस रात कि सुबह नहीं।

कहते है जिन्दगी में सब कुछ है
पर बात इसमे क्यों नजर आती नहीं
ऐसा लगता है जीवन बेवफा है
तो मौत फिर क्यों गले लगाती नहीं
कहते है रात के बाद दिन आता है
पर शायद इस रात कि सुबह नहीं।

ख्वाब जो ख्वाब में भी ना आया

किसी रोज़ खवाब में एक हसीं महफ़िल सजाई थी
आयेगे वोह एक दिन इस महफ़िल में ज़रुर
बस ये ही सोच कर ना जाने कब तक पलकें राह में बिछाई थी

चांदनी को भी बुलाया था सामियाने और रजाई भी मंगवाई थी
खूब बंधेगा समा जब आयेगे वोह
बस यही सोच कर जाम की प्यालिया भी भरवाई थी

किया इंतेज़ार बहुत पर उन्होंने ना आने की कसम खाई थी
बहुतो आए और जाम के प्याले खाली करचले गये
पर राह त्कते हुमने एक बूद ना होट्टो पर लगाई थी

इंतेज़ार करते करते पता ना चला कब रात ख़तम होने आई थी
व्यर्थ था ये इंतेज़ार यही सोच कर चल दिया घर की और
घर पहुँचता उससे पहले ख्वाब मेरा टूटा क्योंकि भोर होने को आई थी

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

From Economic Gloom to Economic Doom

Its been so long since I wrote anything on my blog apart from poetry. So I thought I will take a break from my poetry (which is anyways not so great that anyone is ever going to miss it if I did not write more) and write something about the job cuts (over 80,000) which has happened over the last two weeks. This particular news has disturbed me much more than any other news of past few days. Not that I didn't abhor the attacks on women in Mangalore pubs or that I didn't hate the grim response of Pakistan to the proofs provided by India, its just that this particular news forced me to question the wisdom of the very people whom I always considered as the smartest people around.

Let us do some analysis of the issue. Open any business newspaper and the first thing you will notice is that company XYZ announced 10,000 job cuts owning to bleak consumer spending forecast for next year or company ABC announced 15,000 job cuts to cut down the operational cost and boost up the profits. A close look at the solution used for a bleak consumer spending will simply reveal that by firing people companies are themselves making the future even bleaker. Say, company XYZ fires 10,000 people because it thinks that demand will go down next year but by firing 10,000 people isn't it aggravating the problem by reducing the purchasing power of 10,000 families (or roughly 40,000 people assuming avg. family size to be 4)? So over that past 1 year, the corporate America has simply pushed out 2.3 mn families (roughly 1 crore people) out of the consumer segment. Just to make the things worse, it will further create a panic among the people who have a job but will try not to spend on anything non-essential so that they can survive the bad times in case they also lose their jobs.

Now let us look at the problem from companies point of view. They claim that they are reducing the headcount to reduce their operational expenditure. I still wonder if it is really going to solve any purpose. Open ANY companies' financial statement, you will notice that employee costs are hardly a fraction of overall expenditure. So even a 20% reduction in headcount won't do any good to the company. Yesterday only in Economics Times I found the financial results of following companies and I am putting the expenditure numbers and employee costs numbers to just prove my point typically how insignificant the employee cost contribution is to the total expenditure. Though the table below shows only Indian companies and were profitable in 2008 but I am assuming that same pattern will also hold true for US companies and the cost split will remain more or less similar even for a loss making company. The companies I have mentioned below belongs to diverse sectors like Infrastructure, FMCG and Electronics etc, which means that my hypothesis that normally contribution of Employee costs to total expenditure of a company is valid across the sectors:

Company name	Total Expenditure 2008 (in Lakh INR)	Employee Costs 2008 (in Lakh INR)	Other expenditure (general/administrative expenditure) 2008 (in Lakh INR)	Ratio of Employee Cost to Total Expenditure 2008 (in Lakh INR)
GMR INFRA	67,136	7,476	7,672	0.111356053
Refex Refrigerents	1,718	56	322.62	0.032433062
Bartronics India Ltd.	10,915.02	646	1005.85	0.059181751
Daawat LT foods ltd.	23,916.87	583	3631.4	0.024370246
Selectron EMS India Ltd.	3,800.67	173	596.03	0.045489348

So looking at the table above, it is clear that even if these companies were to fire say 40% of their staff to save costs, they can hardly save say 4.5% of the total expenditure which, according to my opinion, can easily be saved by reducing the next column i.e. general and administrative expenses.

Now going a step further, a keen observation at the staff fired will reveal that these jobcuts are mainly for the people at lower section of company's hierarchal pyramid who are anyways not paid much. So for example, Bank of America announcing a job cut of 35,000 people over the next three years is a outright foolishness which they might regret once the markets pick up again. To prove my point, I will use some real statistics and few assumptions. My assumption is that people being fired mainly belong middle level management to employees who work at the lower level positions. I will assume that the average expenditure Bank of America incurs on these 35,000 employees is 100,000 USD per year, which is indeed a very liberal assumption cosidering that average salary of people passing out from HBS is roughly 100,000 USD per year. So the total cost savings by firing 35,000 employees over three years will be roughly 3.5 bn USD over three years. So yearly savings are roughly 1bn per year. Now how does that compare with the total salary offered to the top people of the company, I putting the following table from Bank of America's 2007 annual report:

Name	Base Salary ($)	Cash Incentive ($)	Restricted Stock ($)	Total Cash Incentive & Restricted Stock ($)	Stocks Options (#) shares	Value of stock options (as of end 2007)
Kenneth D. Lewis (CEO)	1,500,000	6,750,000	11,750,000	18,500,000	333,333	13333320
Joe L. Price	800,000	3,245,000	3,955,000	7,200,000	166,667	6666680
Amy Woods Brinkley	800,000	3,245,000	3,955,000	7,200,000	166,667	6666680
Barbara J. Desoer	800,000	3,245,000	3,955,000	7,200,000	166,667	6666680
Liam E. McGee	800,000	3,700,000	5,000,000	8,700,000	208,333	8333320
Brian T. Moynihan	700,000	3,310,000	3,990,000	7,300,000	166,667	6666680
R. Eugene Taylor	800,000	3,700,000	5,000,000	8,700,000	208,333	8333320
Total	6,200,000	27,195,000	37,605,000	64,800,000	1,416,667	56,666,680

The table above shows that only top 7 persons of BoA were given total benefits of about 112 USD at a time when the turbulent environments were approaching. It wouldn't surprise me if top 1000 people in the organization were given total benefits of say around 1 bn USD (though I must admit these emoluments are very less when compared with some of the other CEO of companies of equal size). The table on the left shows the highest paid CEOs of 2007.

That shows how irrational it is to cut jobs to reduce the costs specially the people whose costs hardly have any impact on the company's balance sheet. I am sure these kind of actions will push not only the company but also the whole economy from gloom to doom.

And he left me.....

I don't even know for long he was right here
Sitting with me or within me
For long he stayed in my eyes and ears
waiting for me to wake up and wipe his tears.

He knew he could never become real in daylight
So he made all his attempts to disappear
Now and then he woke me up in a restless night
As if he was having pity at his and my plight.

I was too adamant not to let him disappear in disguise
Since I didn't have the heart to see him leave
Without waking up I pressed the snooze probably twice
So that I could hold him a bit longer in my sleepy eyes.

I relentlessly persuaded and tried to stop him
I shuddered and sweated from the efforts
But he, my dream, was a creation of my own whim
And at dawn he left me alone when the light was still dim.

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

माँ कह दो उन्हें की और धमाके ना करे

माँ कह दो उन्हें की और धमाके ना करे,
मैं अभी और जीना चाहता हूँ,
थोडी सी ही जी है ज़िन्दगी मैंने,
जीवन मधु को मैं अभी और पीना चाहता हूँ|

कल जयपुर में हुए थे और आज मुंबई में,
इन धमाको की आवाज भुलाना चाहता हूँ ,
इनके बाद इतना सन्नाटा जो छा जाता है,
की मैं अपनी ही आहट से घबरा जाता हूँ|

कल पड़ोस वाली मुनिया को देखा था मैंने,
गुलाबी फ्रोक्क खरीद कर लायी थी,
ना जाने कल क्या हुआ था चौराहे पर,
आज टीवी पर खून सनी वोही फ्रोक्क दिखायी थी|

माँ कह दो उनसे की और धमाके ना करे,
मैं और यह मंजर नहीं देखना चाहता हूँ,
उनकी भी तो एक बच्ची होगी मुनिया जैसी,
मैं उसे किसी ऐसे ही धमाके में नहीं खोना चाहता हूँ |

माँ वोह सब दिखते तो अपने जैसे ही है,
फ़िर ये सब क्यों बस मैं यह जानना चाहता हूँ,
आख़िर वोह भी तो अपने जैसे ही इंसान है,
बस ये ही याद उनको दिलाना चाहता हूँ |

चारो तरफ़ भय का मंजर फैला है,
लोग बिना डर जिये बस यही चाहता हूँ,
दहशतगर्दी से इंसानियत का उत्थान नहीं होगा,
इतना सा उनको समझाना चाहता हूँ|

माँ कह दो उन्हें की और धमाके ना करे,
मैं अभी और जीना चाहता हूँ,
थोडी सी ही जी है ज़िन्दगी मैंने,
जीवन मधु को मैं अभी और पीना चाहता हूँ|


- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना-

जो भी यादें है समेट लूँ उनको....

घूमती सिमटती उन तंग गलियों में
झांकते उन बेबस दरीचो से
बेफिक्र यु जाते देखा था तुमको
आवाज तो दी थी रोकने के लिए
ताकि जी भर देख सकूं तुमको|

साँस फूली थी तुम्हारी आँखे थी थकी
पर तुम्हे तो दुनिया की हर चीज़ को पाना था
और बिना रुके बहुत दूर जाना था
लंबे डग भर चलते गए तुम
अनसुनी करके मेरी आवाज बढ़ते गए तुम|

निशब्द हैरान खडा मैं उस दरीचे पर
उस तंग गली के अन्तिम छोर को निहारता रहा
और टूटे दिल से नाम तुम्हारा पुकारता रहा
चाह बस इतनी थी की चंद लम्हे भर और देख लूँ तुमको
और जो भी बची है यादें समेट लूँ उनको|

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

बिखरे मोतीयो से माला बनती नहीं....

टूटे शीशे कभी जुड़ते नहीं,
मुरझाये फूल कभी खिलते नहीं,
दूर से दीखते तो जरूर है
पर जमीन और आसमा कभी मिलते नहीं

बिखरे मोती से माला बनती नहीं,
खली प्यालों से मधुशाला चलती नहीं,
आंखों मैं तो सभी के रहते है
पर सिर्फ़ खवाबों से ज़िन्दगी चलती नहीं

पतझड़ में फूल खिलते नहीं,
बिन हवा पत्ते हिलते नहीं,
साथ में चलते तो है बहुत मुशाफिर
पर हमसफ़र क्यूँ राहो में मिलते नहीं|

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

Untold story of a wave hitting the shore

Broken and exhausted he left the shore
Because he knew he couldn't take it any more
When he came he was full of energy and joy
And happily he touched the shore as if it was his toy
There was something in the shore which pulled him
But he knew chances of shore being bothered were slim
He just thought about it nights and days
And tried all he could to mend his ways

Humiliated while he waited till the lights got dim
Shore was enjoying with so many others like him
Shore was always happy and indifferent to his pain
But he accepted all this misery as his gain
He was sure that one day shore will see his devotion
And will move a little bit to accommodate his motion

For long he waited but shore was too stubborn
Exasperated he shivered and took back a turn
He had already lost most of its energy and vigor
So he realized it was not wise to test further the rigor
Realizing there was no point in waiting any more
He drifted back into the sea hoping to find another shore.

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

बिन कहे तू समझे हाल-ऐ-दिल तो क्या बात हो

डूबते तिनके को बस एक सहारा मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो,
भटकती इस लहर को किनारा मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो,
यू तो कमी नहीं है लोगों की यहाँ,
पर अनजानी भीड़ मे कोई हमारा मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो|

छितिज पर आसमा को समुद्र का छोर मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो,
और डूबते तनहा सूरज को कोई और मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो,
यु तो कमी नहीं है सितारों की यहाँ,
पर इस चकोर को अपना एक चंदा मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो|

अंधियारी ज़िन्दगी मे एक चिराग मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो,
नीरस बाग़ में एक गुल खिल जाए तो क्या बात हो,
यु तो कमी नहीं है दोस्तों की यहाँ,
पर एक आँचल का साया भी मिल जाए तो क्या बात हो|

जब तू पढ़े इसे और सुमझे मेरे दिल को तो क्या बात हो,
तेरा दिल भी धडके मेरे लिए तो क्या बात हो,
कहना तो बहुत कुछ चाहता हूँ तुझसे,
पर बिन कहे तू समझे हाल-ऐ-दिल तो क्या बात हो|

- गजेंद्र "स्थिरप्रग्य" सिडाना

Six Men on a Trek (To speak nothing of the Dog) - Trek to Kudremukh

Finally after a long break of more than one year since we had our
last trek to Kumara Parvata, we decided to go for one more trek. This time we didn’t have three of the members from our group of last time but luckily we got three new people who willingly joined us. So finally we had Arun, Ashok, Nidhan, Rahul, Ravi and myself all set for the trek, though Tajamul also joined us initially but backed out for the reasons I will elaborate later. After so much deliberation on where to go, we pinned down to Kudremukh, a place located in Chickmanglur district. So the preparations started for the trek like arrangement of tents, sleeping bags, travel tickets, medicines, food and other miscellaneous items. As a part of preparation, we also thought of seeking some local’s advice on the challenges we faced, considering it was a rainy season and there was a forecast of moderate to heavy rain with 90 percent certainty on the weekend we were to travel. So the main challenges, as told to us, were leeches, slippery surface, land slides and last but not the least Naxals. So here we were with all the tickets booked (including one for Tajamul) and we were bombarded with all kind of threats facing us but we like stubborn kids decided not to step back, though our friend Tajamul found these threats to be too big to ignore and hence decided to walk out of the plan. So we six people with seven tickets started for Kalasa, our base camp, on Friday night 10:15 pm, only to reach our destination at 8:00 am in the morning. We had a quick breakfast, did all the daily routines as fast as we could just to make sure that we could get the permission from forest officials in Kudremukh early enough but as it always happens with govt. offices, we ended up wasting 2 hrs just waiting for the concerned person to come to office and sign on the required documents. It was already 1:00 pm when we started for badgal, the place from where we were to start our trek. We had our lunch there, an amazing meal including chapattis, curry, rice, sambhar and pickle just for Rs 20 per person. The thing, which touched us most, was the hospitality that you can only find in those small places.


Our journey to our first stop, our guide Satish’s house, could have been done on a Jeep but we decided not to go for it. So we walked up 8 km on the jeep track. By the time we reached, Satish’s house it was already evening 4 o’clock and since we were not allowed to stay inside the national park, so there was no point continuing the journey that day. So we decided to stay there only and continue next day. Just in the vicinity there was a beautiful waterfall, where we took bath despite of the chilling water. Here also what appealed to me most was the hospitality offered by Satish at his house. We were offered fresh white honey they got recently and then some much-needed glass of tea. Evening was a nice experience without electricity, mobile phone and any unwanted noise of motor vehicles etc. We spent most of the time trying to lit a bonfire out of water soaked woods but we failed even after using 200 mL petrol. So we decided not to waste time any further and just enjoyed the dawn in the lap of nature. Anyways Ravi was always there for our entertainment and Paa ji (Nidhan) left no stone unturned to get maximum pleasure out Ravi’s misery of being stuck with people like us. There was a perfect climax of the day with a nice dinner, which included home grown rice and traditional Karnataka sambhar with all the vegetables also grown at home only. Post dinner we shared some jokes, planned for next day and crashed. Most remarkable thing about whole ordeal was that we never missed our cell phones or electricity.


Next day we had quick breakfast and started for the peak around 8:00 am. It was raining heavily but not enough to dampen our spirits. Here Satish and his wonderful dog Raju went with us as our guide. Raju was our surprise companion throughout the journey. A very intelligent highly trained dog who guided us to the peak and way back even when Satish was far ahead of us. As we walked a bit further, it was all there, thick forest, waterfall and trees laden with fruits like guava and sweet lime. By the time we reached at Lobos’ house, we realized how potent was the threat regarding leaches. We were heavily using salt and Iodex but still it was not much of rescue as with rain the salt was getting washed off and leeches never missed such an opportunity. After traveling for 4 hrs and overcoming the hurdles of slippery surface and leeches we reached at the peak. It was too cold and windy that we decided to walk back after a short break but this journey till peak had already taught us one thing; if you want to avoid leech don’t stop at any place, especially near the waterfalls and area densely covered with woods. I came down from the peak without even taking a single pause and without being bothered by a single leech. I reached at Satish’s house at 3:00 pm and took a bath followed by a cup of tea. We started for the base location i.e. Kalasa and since our return bus was from Horanadu, we also got an opportunity to visit Annapoorneshwari temple, a pilgrimage popular among Karnataka people. When reached Bangalore next day we were too tired to go to office and hence decided to take a day off. Ashok had the after effect of leech bites even 15-20 days after the trek. The best part of whole thing was that we didn't find any Naxalites on our way.