Transformers
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Talk about transformations and you don't have to look any further than the Asian subcontinent; and one of the major contributors - India. Couple of years here and there and you would miss so much that you would feel nothing but embarrassed in front of "The Common Man". Yes I'm talking about the common man as portrayed by R.K Laxman; and the common man knows a lot ... lot more than one can possibly think of.
Trip back to India now a days (business/pleasure) comes as a surprise for many. The very outlook of cities change in a matter of days, forget months or years. The rate, for example, at which the shopping malls are propping up in cities is ridiculous and one starts to get a feeling that - are we in line with something like happened in the west? The way one used to spend $$ in relation to the $$ earned has changed drastically. More and more money flowing in to the market has only caused prices of commodities, real estate to skyrocket and make the common man's wallet thinner and thinner.
Sticking to 'shopping malls' read somewhere the other day that the country would see ~600 of them in the coming 2 years span. Thats an amazing rate of ~1 per day in a country that is yet to accept the rate of change that it has been seeing in the past 7 years !! Now, I'm stressing on these outlets 'cause they are nothing but hangout places for college kids and the young generation, I've seen the older generation getting lost out there and trying to accept these changes as a norm of the 21st century.
On a recent trip, learned a lot as in the way things are and the way one can expect things to unfold. Money is being poured into the stock market and every Tom, Dick and Harry now owns few thousand Rs. worth of a stock or the other. Was amazed by the interest and the knowledge that the 'common man' shows now-a-days, quite literally I was embarrassed. Cell phone revolution, SMS, Explosion of TV channels, $ being poured by investors, BPOs are all changing the face of the nation.
Slow and steady, cities are getting destroyed though. One can actually see the effect with an increase in vehicles on the roads, infrastructure development not catching up with the development, daily commuting hours rising higher and higher and what not. I also had been to God's own land for a few days and realized that in a few years it may not live up to its name!! This is something strange and something that I had not seen in the past. Things like these used to take some time to trickle down to Kerala but not anymore.
Oh well, that's probably the new face of India, changing India, Incredible India. Hope we all are prepared to accept the new face :)
Signed: Rajesh
Trip back to India now a days (business/pleasure) comes as a surprise for many. The very outlook of cities change in a matter of days, forget months or years. The rate, for example, at which the shopping malls are propping up in cities is ridiculous and one starts to get a feeling that - are we in line with something like happened in the west? The way one used to spend $$ in relation to the $$ earned has changed drastically. More and more money flowing in to the market has only caused prices of commodities, real estate to skyrocket and make the common man's wallet thinner and thinner.
Sticking to 'shopping malls' read somewhere the other day that the country would see ~600 of them in the coming 2 years span. Thats an amazing rate of ~1 per day in a country that is yet to accept the rate of change that it has been seeing in the past 7 years !! Now, I'm stressing on these outlets 'cause they are nothing but hangout places for college kids and the young generation, I've seen the older generation getting lost out there and trying to accept these changes as a norm of the 21st century.
On a recent trip, learned a lot as in the way things are and the way one can expect things to unfold. Money is being poured into the stock market and every Tom, Dick and Harry now owns few thousand Rs. worth of a stock or the other. Was amazed by the interest and the knowledge that the 'common man' shows now-a-days, quite literally I was embarrassed. Cell phone revolution, SMS, Explosion of TV channels, $ being poured by investors, BPOs are all changing the face of the nation.
Slow and steady, cities are getting destroyed though. One can actually see the effect with an increase in vehicles on the roads, infrastructure development not catching up with the development, daily commuting hours rising higher and higher and what not. I also had been to God's own land for a few days and realized that in a few years it may not live up to its name!! This is something strange and something that I had not seen in the past. Things like these used to take some time to trickle down to Kerala but not anymore.
Oh well, that's probably the new face of India, changing India, Incredible India. Hope we all are prepared to accept the new face :)
Signed: Rajesh
Labels: 2007, India, Kerala, Stock
Posted by Rajesh @ 6:33 PM; PERMALINK,
,
Links
Its hot and everyone's sweating
Saturday, August 11, 2007
I
ts hot in NYC, its hot in Europe, hot in Japan and other parts of Asia. The Cause - not summer's not the cause, its because of sub-prime mortgage fears and a panic. In today's economy, a global economy, things that happen out here in US is not just restricted to the US. Fear has spread to Europe n to Asia.
With the market swinging up and down staying putt seems to be the sane thing to do. But maybe not - its a hot oven out there on Wall Street now gripped with Fear and Speculation. Although Feds have intervened pouring some liquidity into the market, some are not happy. The real estate market that took a beating looks real bad and some were hoping for rate cuts. Chairman Ben Bernanke decided to play the waiting game and some folks like Cramer are not quite sure why ...
I totally love his show - Mad Money but don't think I totally agree with him. As people are losing money left and right, losing money invested in Financial companies, Real estate - it has started to affect the Tech stocks which are slipping down amidst all this fear, investments like 401k have also suffered a setback as people wait and watch. Its a waiting game as we go into the next week as the market tries to recover from a huge slide which some say is really bad ;the real estate slump is the worst since the Depression.
The weakening $$ doesn't help either, if at all anyone's gaining from all this its the firms in Asia. Just as an example the $ -Indian Rupee conversion now stands at 1 USD ~ 40 Rs, while it was close to 50 about 5 years back. Companies like Wipro (NYSE:WIT) are buying out US software firms and forging ahead in the IT sector.
What's happening in Boston - It was hot and humid 4 days this week and then a sudden slump to 70s. The car sits there in the parking lot baking in the sun and giving company to a GMC truck. It would have hoped of driving through the narrow streets this WE - but not today. Maybe tomorrow ..... if I'm able to get myself off of the Mac, which (as it would have learned by now) is a big IF :P
The weakening $$ doesn't help either, if at all anyone's gaining from all this its the firms in Asia. Just as an example the $ -Indian Rupee conversion now stands at 1 USD ~ 40 Rs, while it was close to 50 about 5 years back. Companies like Wipro (NYSE:WIT) are buying out US software firms and forging ahead in the IT sector.
What's happening in Boston - It was hot and humid 4 days this week and then a sudden slump to 70s. The car sits there in the parking lot baking in the sun and giving company to a GMC truck. It would have hoped of driving through the narrow streets this WE - but not today. Maybe tomorrow ..... if I'm able to get myself off of the Mac, which (as it would have learned by now) is a big IF :P
Labels: Boston, Dollar, Market, NASDAQ, NYSE, Rupee, Stock, Wipro
Posted by Rajesh @ 9:20 PM; PERMALINK,
,
Links
