Happiness - I

Despite the lack of passion with studying finance theory from the books during my MBA, I've loved to follow the general goings on in the financial world. Especially, the crazy world of the equity markets. Its fun following it on TV, the likes of CNBC et al going "today has been a landmark day with the Sensex crossing the 20,000 mark..." etc etc.

Although what happens there doesn't directly affect me (I've no investments), the whole packaging and the passion involved in their reporting really captivates me. It also helps lift or in some cases even dim my spirits sometime! When there's a bull run, example, with all the smiling presenters going ga-ga over how great the economy is, it kinda rubs off on me too and I find myself smiling too. They say, smile and the world smiles with you... clear case of that I guess.

Off late, the gloom in the markets has the presenters coming in with gloomy faces and muffled voices. I feel the drop in their energy levels and its difficult not let it affect me as well.. Its like watching a sad movie praying there's a happy ending. I can't even begin to imagine what it is like for people whose investments have been hit. The same thing that made them happy a few months back is now stealing that happiness away from them. And... also those who've lost their jobs.

Because of some smart-ass derivatives structurers, people have had to part with their life earnings or the source of it. UNFAIR.

Sitting here, in a small town away from the mayhem, it makes me feel small and powerless. It would be easy to drown myself in the melancholy along with the rest of em... But I open my eyes and I also see happy locals all around as it is raining! The landscape is lush green (pics from my new phone soon :P )and the weather is near-perfect. (Apparently, since the rains were really bad this year, some major puja was done a coupla weeks back at Tirumala, specially to appease the Rain Gods - and now the whole most of South India is under threat from floods :-P )

Anyways, people around are happy and rejoicing, with Diwali also round the corner.... Happiness is most certainly about managing expectations... People here have only few (compared to what a city-dweller would for example).

Its probably a reason why we see so many happy faces in the villages and little towns... Something for us city-bred folk to think and reflect on perhaps...

Here's a link to Subbu's post, which along with a chat with him about this, got me thinking on this subject... More thoughts over the weekend perhaps...

xx

Desperate Measures

One month almost since my last post and my blog's started complaining that I ain't giving it enough time. A combination of a string of parties and of laziness rearing it ugly head again has forced me to take these desperate measures to get a post going. The thing with laziness is, it fires your creativity to give excuses to not do something with your time as well... like saying that I was too busy to write a post! Or worse still, I was suffering from a lack of motivation... writer's block... mental pneumonia or that my mind felt like it was being squeezed from all sides by a boa.

Anyways, as I sat to write this, I had to start fishing for what I'd write about. Hmm.. lets see..

*F1*- season's gotten boring, Schumy's long gone, and altho Vettel's looking exciting he's in the wrong car this season at least...

*Football*- Clubs are all off for the moment and nothing much apart from some uninteresting qualifiers going on...

*The economy* - So much said and so much read... from Iceland becoming worth a loaf of bread to a multi trillion $ bailout across European countries... The gift of foresight for coming into FMCG :-P

*Travels* - I've only been to campus, Bombay & Hyderabad. Bombay & Hyd there's not much to write about.. and if I start writing how awesome a time I had on campus, I'll prolly need a week's vacation to complete the post :-D

*Arbit fiction* - Two unfinished posts already and no way forward, sure to hit a roadblock, not something to take up when 'the flow' 's a bit iffy.

So after the round of presentations that each category made to the unimpressed blog post control center in my head, the decision still remained as open as before the presentations started.

And then, arrived the unknown presenter who wowed the singular audience with aplomb. 'Movies' made a spectacular surprise appearance with WALL-E... the super-cute love story about a robot and his visitor from space...

Now I must admit I'm a total sucker for cartoons and would probably find even an ok-ok cartoon movie pretty good. But this one was simply fantastic...

Hard-working as any robot should be, but with a touch of human romance about him, Wall-E is an instantly loveable character. The movie takes its time to describe Wall-E's motivations and the little nuances that make him what he is. His trusted mate, a little cockroach (yuck! I know! But still one can't help but like him!), is also portrayed wonderfully, which just adds to the feel-good factor at the start. (Scientific reason - even if all life has ended in the world, the likliest creature to survive would be the cockroach!) Anyways, the ride only just begins when Eve, the 'sexy'-robot-from-outer-space-looking-for-life, touches down and completely blows Wall-E away with her moves. After this its just an absolute roller-coaster as Wall-E follows her to a space station and while attempting to profess his love for her, ends up saving mankind as well...

The plot is simple, the execution is brilliant (Pixar! Need I say more!?) and its difficult not to fall in love with it all.

If you've seen this movie, lemme know how you liked it!? If you haven't seen this movie, get a copy and watch it and then lemme know. :-)

xx

Twenty-five already seen by me,
Many more I shall roam free!

Also a toast,
To many more a post.

xx