Month: November 2008

Terrorist Strike Mumbai Again

~ Akshay ~ 1 Comment

Update Almost 31 hours and the crisis are still not over. This is just frustrating.

I am very sad and angered after following the events on the TV for more than last 12 hours. Ever since the first sms I saw at 6:30am, until the time of writing this post.. the favorite part of my city has become a virtual war zone. The Taj hotel, The Trident, Leopold Cafe, CST are some of the places which are very close to me since I spent most of my college life in these areas. Just a couple of weeks back, I was sitting bang opposite Hilton towers and discussing life with a friend of mine.

I am really angered by the apathy shown by the government. Just a few months ago, when blasts were going off in every city, the government should have done something. Mumbai is a sitting duck for any dick, tom and harry to attack. Once again we will have the politicians come and go, give speeches, etc. But after a couple of days/ weeks nothing will have changed. People will be back to their normal lives and “Mumbai” spirit will be saluted. A friend had her away status “Mumbai is living a nightmare”, I would say “Mumbai is a living nightmare”.

My condolences to families who lost their loved ones today, My prayers are with the people who are still holed up as hostages.I hope you are rescued soon.

Economy and Markets

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

The last few weeks have been very tumultuous for everyone. The global market melt down has affected almost everyone in same way or the other. The collapse of major financial institutions has caused a worry in the market as to who is safe? It seems like all industries have been effected by this. Two days ago, Europe officially admitted that st it is under recession and so did Japan. US, we already know is under recession but they wont accept it. The global oil prices, have also fallen down. In India, we see the sensex has crashed, the rupee is struggling, construction industry is bust, and credit is not easily available in the market.

I think for long term investors this is the perfect time to invest. For people who have savings, this is the best time since there is a lot of panic and fear in the market. Also the prices for the housing market will come back to earth in the next few months and it will be a very good time to get a house. The basic principle of the market economy is supply and demand. Currently there is abundant supply and the demand is very few and this is going to bring down the prices, since the inventory has to be cleared. If this does not happen, there wont be new products launched.

I dont know what I am trying to say here and why I am dishing out all this “gyaan”. I guess in someways I am myself affected by this market crash. Some of my investments have lost 40% of their value and I am not sure if I will ever regain the lost value. Only time will tell. But I truly wish I had some money on hand because now is the best time to invest and reap profits for the future.

Phone: Lost and Found

~ Akshay ~ 6 Comments

Yeah. I know I know. I am posting after quite a long time (15 days since last post). To be honest, too many things have happened in my life since I last posted. I will write about them soon. I promise.

A couple of days ago, I was waiting at the Mumbai Central station waiting to catch the train back home. A Virar train had just entered into the station and after the mad scramble to get in the train got over, the train started moving. As the ladies compartment neared, a girl standing on the footboard lost her grip on her cell phone and it dropped on the station, sliding and landing right near my feet. A few onlookers were looking as I picked up the phone and I didn’t know what I should do with it. The phone was Samsung and must have cost around 5-7K. A couple of fellow passengers suggested I give the phone to local police men who are nowadays found on every platform. I decided to hand it over to the cops.

While walking with the phone one part of me really didnt want to return the phone, since I had lost a couple of phones and they had never been returned. I was like it is payback time. While thinking about this, I also realized how sad I had felt when I lost my phones and how this person might be feeling. What she must be going through, the nervousness, the fear and the hope that someone might return the phone back to her. I decided to do the right thing and decided to hand over the phone to her. I called a couple of people from her contact list and gave them my details, so they could get in touch with her and she could retrieve her phone.

After waiting for her to call on her cell for about 15 mins, I decided to board the train and head home. So when I had just boarded, her brother called and in a very accusatory tone asked me “This phone is with you”. At that very moment I felt like throwing the phone from the window. Bugger, here I am trying to return your sisters lost phone and you are accusing me of stealing the phone. I asked him to collect the phone from Borivali since I have already boarded the train and have no intentions to get down and make my journey more uncomfortable. After speaking with her brother, the owner of the cell phone called and said she was at Bandra and would appreciate it if I can get down and hand it over to her there. I agreed after much deliberation.

I got down at Bandra and located her and gave her the phone. It turns out she was working for Lufthansa Airlines ground crew. The relief and joy on her face was quite watchable. She thanked me and I moved on. The funny part was even after losing her phone once, she decided to travel on the footboard of the train, the way she lost it initially. I just looked up.. sighed and boarded a very crowded train to home.

Moral of the story: Nice guys always get crushed.

The Politicization of Rahul Raj Singh

~ Akshay ~ 3 Comments

I am just amazed to see the reaction of the people and politicians in the newspaper articles, news channels and other forums where most of them are saying the boy was innocent. How can they say this, even after he shot a passenger in his thigh and tried to strangulate the conductor of the bus. The worst part is most of them are saying that the encounter is fake or cops should have somehow overpowered him. I dont know how this would have been possible. Here is a person with a live weapon and firing randomly, what is the police supposed to do? Approach him and be like pls lay down your weapon, wait for him to shoot/ kill a cop or wait for him to shoot more people. I believe the Mumbai police did the right thing. Instead of criticizing the police, they should be thankful to them that no innocent lives were lost. I dont consider the dead boy an innocent person since he had already committed a crime by shooting one person, trying to strangulate another one and hijacking the bus. The politicians from Bihar, North India should stop politicizing such issues and rub salt to the wounds of the family members of Rahul Raj.