Why do I blog v/s Why should I blog

Interesting... I smiled as I typed the title to the post. But then what would you feel when someone tells you passionately - you must blog more often - and you wonder why are you not doing that.

A recently became colleague of mine made that comment - "You should blog" and I said I used to. He was unmoved - so why don't you aymore?

My first reaction was - "because its not my profession."  and I was honest. I took this up as a hobby and then may be for a year I got too involved and then a question from one my favourite profs at the IIM echoed - "what business are you in?".

On a calmer note I would respond - "Well I do (blog) - but its not like you can be my follower and expect a post every other day".

But on a more thoughtful note (which I think I am in now) :) - I wish to respond with some observations. There are types of everything in this world and so it is with bloggers (dare I say authors/writers/columnists) here is my list
1. Ranting Bloggers : Use the channel to release accumulated energy of any and all kinds - frustrations, joy, victory, sex, wierdism, egotism, self obsession, boredom, lonliness, curiosity, adventure, what have you.......
2. Sharing Bloggers : They come across so much and they come across all that because they have this insatiable urge to share everything that they come across. Their blogs are full of small little posts with links and a para thrown in here or there
3. Professional Bloggers : Not necessarily those who are making money from their blogs but those who manage to attract a fan following on their blog and then are busy catering to their ever increasing fan following post after post. It becomes a debt trap. you owe it to your fans that you provide them with fodder in exchange for their regular visits and comments that makes you feel wanted, persued and hence an important part of the universe. The insecurity that they will once again be a "noone" keeps them going.
4. Authors : For them blogging is an excellent thinking tool that allows them to interact with their readers while they think aloud (for want of a better word). It also helps them adjust their thinking to their market (for meaning of this word - read type three).
5. Users : There are people who blog using the blog as  a tool in pursuit of something that they are into. Eg. I tried using it as  a tool as a part of a course that I offered at my B-school for interacting with my students. There are sites where it is used as help tool. etc
6. Diary Writers : Probably the most used type is this. Blogs replacing the good old diaries that one used to write to arrange and collect memoirs, experiences personal notes and so on... Now you can peek into so many hearts and minds.
7. Analysts/Experts : Self proclaimed, nominated or professional authorities on a field/subject expressing their opinions and analysis for the lesser mortals (no pun intended).
8. Commenters : People who use blogs to comment on what they think they have an opinion on for what they are worth - or what difference they think their posts can make to this world.
Now you are wondering (if you actually reached this part of this post) why am I writing all these stuff. Recall the title of this post. When my adorable colleague (what else would you call someone who comes to you and says you are good, why don't you share it with the world out there? I guess I even blushed.) passionately argues his case - You seem to know so much - you are reaching to few people. Your reach should be allowed to multiply. Then he recounts his own experiences of how people connect to your thoughts, how he received perspectives on his opinions which he might have not even considered. How blogging helped him turn into an author and it also played a role in him writing a book.......uff thats heavy stuff man.

I smiled to myself. Its amusing to see someone resembling the you, a few years ago. I used to ask everyone worth his salt to blog their ideas on the net and then in a few years time - the blog like 90% of innovations on the net became stale. Netizens seemed to have moved on - twitter, facebook, orkut et al.....

So I should blog because out there in the world might be many who might feel endowed, enlightened. or there might be people who looking at my shallow ignorance might have some comments to enlighten me. Looks too much to me. Then I thought - why at all do I blog?

I read the caption of my blog that I wrote years ago when I created my blog - and I reproduce it here

This is my way of contributing to some issues that I think about and carry opinions on. I wish to keep this blog for the sincere lot who wants to discuss. I am not a jounalist (not even a free lancer)- I just wish to express. Ofcourse, I would love to know what others feel about the issues I wrote about

Like a true MBA from the IIMs I said to myself - focus - thats the essence. So focus on your mission. The mission of this blog is "what you think and have an opinion on." Not what others, however much adorable and flattering, think you should do with this blog. If enlightenment happens mine or for the reader - thats only incidental not the core. So sorry buddy, I might only write when something moves me or something motivates me. You however did move me.

However, more then anything I blog to construct my thoughts into a more pulpable and clearly expressed form to which I can return to, tell myself that this is what I think/thought (or used to think). So what type do you think I am?

India actually did better than we imagine.....

Was listening to a Prannoy Roy Interview of none other than Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Montek as always precise, to the point and analytical. I quote a detail from him -

India is now lending to the IMF. We have lent to the tune of $10 billions to the IMF. We do not generally borrow from the IMF. Even when we did (during the worst ecomomic crisis faced by India - early reform years of 90s) the peak borrowing from IMF was to the tune of $5billion. That goes to show the strength Indian Economy has achieved over the duration.

It is amazing to know the extent to which Indian economy has travelled the distance that one used to study about in his B-School days. It all happened in front ofour own eyes - despite the cynical views we kept hearing & discussing. We are very much arriving.

In Montek's words - the very creation of G-20 and its acquiring a position of something akin to the security counsil of economic matters is significant for India. How much stregth/ influence Indian can exercise will depend on the size of the economy. Cool & pragmatic. Now hold your breath he says
In the next twenty years - India would be fourth by way of GDP size. China, The USA and Japan being only other higher than us. The catch - we will be fourth largest by GDP - but wouldn't be as rich. Some food for thought there.

A sad can of worms

28th August 2006 - almost three years back I had written this post on my blog. Today on 14th July 2009 newspapaers report that all those charged with the henious crime were exonerated because of lack of evidence. The judge mentions in his judgement that the prosecution "failed misrably to prove its case". (watch/read more details here)

First a recap - I refer to the death of a simple and respected professor at a college in Ujjain. He and his colleagues were humiliated (the least that can be said of the treatment that they received) by ABVP functionaries in connection to the student body elections taking place on the college campus. Please read my earlier post for more details.

Some facts of the case - at least 100+ staff and students were witnes to the incident. A lot of policemen were present on the spot - as there was a student body election going on. At least two people had spoken clearly in the media after the incident clearly identifying people involved in the crime. Also police officers on the duty had identified the ABVP functionaries as responsible for the incident and the resulting death (source : media reports). The incident has been recorded as video and to the best of my knowledge was available to police and prosecutors to present there case.

Some additional facts - The trial of the case was transferred out of Ujjain to on the plea that the administration and the local elements of ABVP might not allow a free trial to happen in Ujjain. Just a couple of days after the incident - the Chief Minister of MP (no less) issues a statement that the incident was an accident (no enquiry or reports needed - he knew it). 69 (no less) witnessess turned hostile and back tracked their statements issued earlier. Those who back tracked on their statements included Police officers who were present on the scene.

All these leads to a very sad conclusion - everybody knows that a person was killed, all of us know that the petrators had political and financial clout, so despite it being an openly known truth - the perpetrators of the henious crime will not just go unpunished (no thats not that horrid) but they would go vindicated on their belief that they can get away with anything (even murder).

This development has far reaching implications. In my earlier post I wrote that MP could go the UP/Bihar way. Today's development strengthens my worst fears. We are living an India which is increasingly tilting towards becoming a loosely joined states which are under some or the other form of dictatorship. If you are on the side of politicians (ruling or opposition) you are safe. The only exploited, exposed, victimised and insecure section is the law abiding, decent, quiet, often decieved and regularly cheated "aam Aadmi". If this case has travelled this far thats because of an incessant conviction of Prof. Sabharwal's son who still swears to carry on this fight to higher courts of the country. In his words "I refuse to be treated like an insect in this country".

This development takes the societal insensitivity to new levels where not a single soul in the entire crowd could carry the courage and conviction to be on the side f truth. This cowardice of us - the Indian citizen - is a big hurdle in our growth as a nation. Prof. Sabharwal's case was carried this far on tha fact his son is in media and so he could manage to get some footage/airtime/newprint - otherwise there must be scores of cases where the Politician-Goondas cartek are able to swiftly push the dirt below the carpet.

I end this piece with a really heavy heart and lot less hope for a just, clean and livable India. We Indians need to bring more hope. The last beacon for our democracy - The judiciary - seems to be reaching the stage of being incapcitated by the sheer insensitivity, incompetence and corruption of the society at large and administration in particular.

What does Arthur hailey have to do with the current Financial Meltdown?

In the midst of the Global Financial Meltdown - when everyone including me, is busy giving seminars on why the world is going through this terrible crisis, comparable only to the great depression of 1930s - one finds some time free (if that is some solace). Yeah !! I actually could sit down to blog means I am relatively free.


And no this post is not yet another harangue on the global meltdown. Enough has been written said and commented on it. This post is on something more interesting. It is about the uncanny clarity with which Arthur Hailey wrote about this current meltdown almost three decades ago. Amazing? Let me explain.



I have been a fan of Arthur Hailey novels since I started reading novels. Like most readers, I have found his novels so deeply reserached one of the industries that one is able to understand the intricacies of the indstry as he takes you through the fictional plots of his story.



So during a recent train journey, when I happened to see a title which I had not read till now - I instantly picked it up. "The Money Changers" was published way back in 1975 (so tells me its first few pages) and as I read through its engrossing 430+ pages - I was amazed to find that the novels seems to be talking about the same fundamentals - economic and financial - that I have been proudly presenting to my audience as the analysis of the current global financial meltdown. One wonders - was hailey foresighted or that old cliched saying is the ultimate wisdom - "History actually & eventually repeats itself".


The novel ofcourse does NOT talk about the subprime mortgage crisis - it wasn't invented then. But the fundamental logic in the novel has flattering resemblence to the current times.

Sorry !! I wanted to bring some excerpts from the novel - but that seems to have hanged my post ad infinitum - so simply pick a copy and read it - you will find it worth the effort.

"Satyam Questions" - Where are our Politicians

Never really the ones to leave an opportunity to catch attention - where are our politicians on the issue of Satyam?

Why is the entire Indian political class so quiet on the Satyam saga. Beyond "The law will take its own course" - noone is seeking political mileage from the issue. Why?
Is it because of this?
Well one thing is clear - Raju could not have carried on a scam of this scale without involving everybody - his team, regulators, watchdogs and of course not without the active support of politicians. This scam is sure to be a heap of shit in which politicians would most probably be the completely submeged.
So don't be surprised that most of the system will work towards helping you forget the issue and move on. Raju is going to be safe, because the politicians of this country are going to protect him. Remember what happened to Telgi?? - Telgi who...........?
Already atleast three of the trusted team members of the Raju team have flown off to foreign countries without the police even sniffing anything. Myanmpati and his entire family it turns out are American citizens.
In the last nine months the manamgement team and just before the revealation quite a few institutional investors sold huge quanties of satyam shares. So there is an insider trading angle as well.
And yes for those who want to believe still that Raju might have been a robin hood - he had 50 bank accounts about half a decade back - for what - obviously cross trading on insider info making money on a reputation which was fake.

The Value of 500 Rs.

Amazingly simple and amazingly effective message.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=M0XTPSYdP08

Ram Naam - Satyam Satyam

What a day to get back to one's year old hobby - for long dormant - jolted out by none other than - B. Ramalingam Raju - our own iconic, winner of the Best Corporate Governance (I mean his Company) now ex-EVERYTHING of Satyam Computers.

And what a way to be jolted out of slumber:Stock markets lose a delirious 750+ points in a single session all because our Mr. raju decides to trigger panic in already twice bitten and thrice burnt investors. Apparently our Gentleman finally heard the voice of his inner conscience by writing to the board in no uncertain manner - that he has been virtually creating wealth out of nowhere. Oops sorry - he was actually NOT creating wealth after all. He was only overstating Revenues, Profits, Cash, Margins, Debtors and was understating liabilities - virtually everything that will llok like "enhancing share holder value".
For reading a copy of his "confessional letter" click here.

So where does this leave us - some ruminations
1. Is Raju stating the truth and nothing but the truth in his letter. My take - that's quite unlikely. He is now at a stage where an investigation into his deeds would have anyway revealed everything - so he might be trying to take the "moral high ground". More importantly - he might be trying to save the skin of his family and his confidantes by absolving them all from the deed. Is it possible that a brazen fraud of such mammoth proportion can be done by just him without the knowledge of people that he named in his letter? Again unlikely. What seems to be a more plausible explanation is that he will need this people in the long legal battle thats ahead of him. So obviously his letter is "too little too late".
2. In fact the claims made by Raju in the letter look so - charmingly heroic- that one feels like dispensing with them immediately. He claims "The gap in the balance sheet has arisen purely out of inflated profits over a period of last several years"........... Now why would someone inflate profits - because one is eyeing higher valuations. Isn't the motive then personal profits (whichever be the route) as the poor shareholder would only be left with valueless paper at the end of the ordeal.

He further claims -
"Neither I nor the Managing Director (including spouses) sold any shares in the last eight years..."
and then in the same breath (I mean the letter) he says
"In the last two years a total of Rs. 1230 crores was arranged to Satyam (not reflected in the books of satyam) by pledging all the promoter's shares...."
and later in the same letter he artfully writes
"... the last straw was the selling of most of the pledged shares by lenders ....".
In nutshell what he is saying is that he did not sell the shares - he only pledged it to lenders - who sold them and yes !! he did not use the money - he arranged it to Satyam but of course he did not reflect them on books. And whose word do we have to believe it - Yours truly - Raju. At least I am not in the mood to be that naive.

He has the temerity to write in the letter that "Neither me nor the managing director took even one rupee/dollar from the company and have not benefited in financial terms on accounted of the inflated results". Wow !! Someone can claim that is a surprise. Again whose words do we have to believe this as well? Only his - Right !! Frankly it is too much to digest this - oh !! I put my reputation, morals and myself at stake for the growth of the company - when what he did was plainly a fraud.

3. Assume for a second that what he writes in his letter is true. Well then, we are faced with intensely introspective situation. The current times and its competitive pressures to consistently outdo one's own performance and that of the competition year after year can lead a person into a vicious circle of presenting lies and then perpetrating them ad-infinitum till the burden becomes self destructing. The glory of basking in the flash lights of media cameras and of becoming a hero who keeps meeting the expectations of people without fail could be so compelling - is a chilling idea. No, I would still like to believe that he is a glib liar.
4. One big question that faces the entire System, Regulators, Government, in fact the entire country is what the heck were we doing when Raju was cooking this mystery. No one - his colleagues, internal-external auditors, various tax departments, regulating agencies, watchdog bodies, board of directors, independent directors - simply no one could blow the whistle on the fraud. It is just too much of an impossibility that simply no-one knew of the fraud (at least that part of the his letter has to be a lie) and hence there is only one implication - that everyone from top to bottom are part of the rot. It is frightening but most probably the truth.
5. Entire financial fraternity from the investment bankers to the fund managers and the bankers who deal with corporate companies day to day have to learn many lessons from this saga and the most important of them is that they have responsibility far bigger then returning a certain percentages on the funds they have attracted. It is to a large extent their duty to ensure that unscrupulous business people are prevented from eroding share holder value in such tragic manner.
6. Above all - the Indian public, media, investors et al. need to be more aware, watchful, demanding and sceptical. The ease with which we trust is misplaced in today's world. We live cosily in the make believe world created by media czars who seem sold out to their sponsors, advertisers and event managers. What else can explain the immense respect that people like Raju achieve by savvy management of communication in the media.

7. What is the next step? If the apparently rotten system has to maintain some of its credence - what is required is swift action. Quick, thorough and transparent investigation followed by booking the guilty and punishing them in the most stringent possible terms is the only way to ensure that future Rajus of the corporate world will feel a bit deterred when resorting to such brazenly unscrupulous acts.
As a concluding thought a word from a respected journalist on her blog - looks as confused as I am.