Yun to mizaaj aaj bhi aashiqaana hai apna,
Intezaar hai to yeh ki koi hum-mizaaj aaye :)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Thank you dear wind
I wrote these lines quite a long time back, but decided to post them here today, primarily to keep myself motivated to write more frequently. The lines are in Urdu, so I am also posting a pic, just to make them a little easier to understand :)
Aye mauj-e-hawa tera shukriya,
Uski ek jhalak dekhne ka mauka jo diya!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Why is trading a disrespected profession?
This has been going on in my mind for quite some time now. Finally, I thought of giving words to my thought and put them on a public portal, hoping this might relax me a bit. As most of you know, I have recently joined my job as a derivatives trader. But there are occasions when I need to tell someone what I do, and it is generally not taken as something very good. I usually get comments like “After 5 years of studying Computer Science, you have ended up doing trading. What’s the use of your degree?” or some expressions which would be clear to be non-appreciative to anyone in the world, as if I am doing the most unethical thing on Earth.
I am not saying that this makes much of a difference to me. I am living with people who are in the same job, and therefore have a similar take on the nature of job, so the question of my getting affected by such comments doesn’t come into the picture. I just want that people who want to take up trading as a profession should not be demotivated by the general public around.
Ok, first let us discuss about my joining this job. Those who know me closely know that I was never interested in programming, or so to say, in Computer Science. Why would I go for a job in which all I have to do is programming, and be pissed off everyday, cursing myself and the company; Doesn’t make any sense, does it?
During our orientation programme, the owner of the company told that this profession is highly respected in the west, but not much in India. Now, why is trading not respected here in India? Some people are too much worried of losing money that they say a stock market is the worst thing. Yeah, I know it is not a suitable option for those who are emotionally weak, those who easily get affected by profits or losses (I remember Shakespeare here .. superfluity lies in the mean :D ). Some think that it is too unethical to trade. I don’t understand this. The people who are out to trade have at least as much risk capacity as they are investing, and if not, they are fools and would be out of this business any day! So, why are other traders responsible for their being sad? And in most businesses, it so happens that one side benefits at the expense of the other side. Every big name can be associated with some kind of unethical act. It is just that what they do is make money indirectly, and by trading it is direct. Both require brains, and let me tell you, trading requires really high levels of concentration :)
We were told that a good trader has some 22 different personality traits. I don’t know if I have managed to improve in even 5 of them till date, but I know I am enjoying my life as a trader, and, irrespective of the reaction I get from people, would like to see how I fare in this business at least till I enrich myself to 15 of those qualities (cant be specific in terms of time here :) ), provided the company doesn’t kick my butt!
I am not saying that this makes much of a difference to me. I am living with people who are in the same job, and therefore have a similar take on the nature of job, so the question of my getting affected by such comments doesn’t come into the picture. I just want that people who want to take up trading as a profession should not be demotivated by the general public around.
Ok, first let us discuss about my joining this job. Those who know me closely know that I was never interested in programming, or so to say, in Computer Science. Why would I go for a job in which all I have to do is programming, and be pissed off everyday, cursing myself and the company; Doesn’t make any sense, does it?
During our orientation programme, the owner of the company told that this profession is highly respected in the west, but not much in India. Now, why is trading not respected here in India? Some people are too much worried of losing money that they say a stock market is the worst thing. Yeah, I know it is not a suitable option for those who are emotionally weak, those who easily get affected by profits or losses (I remember Shakespeare here .. superfluity lies in the mean :D ). Some think that it is too unethical to trade. I don’t understand this. The people who are out to trade have at least as much risk capacity as they are investing, and if not, they are fools and would be out of this business any day! So, why are other traders responsible for their being sad? And in most businesses, it so happens that one side benefits at the expense of the other side. Every big name can be associated with some kind of unethical act. It is just that what they do is make money indirectly, and by trading it is direct. Both require brains, and let me tell you, trading requires really high levels of concentration :)
We were told that a good trader has some 22 different personality traits. I don’t know if I have managed to improve in even 5 of them till date, but I know I am enjoying my life as a trader, and, irrespective of the reaction I get from people, would like to see how I fare in this business at least till I enrich myself to 15 of those qualities (cant be specific in terms of time here :) ), provided the company doesn’t kick my butt!
Monday, April 6, 2009
When the attacker goes defensive!
Before you go through this post, I would like you to know that I am not against anyone just for the sake of doing so like many others (such readers are requested to refrain from scrolling down as you would go against me towards the end :P ). If I’m against something or someone, it is because I truly believe so.
The attacker that I am talking about is none other than the present Indian Cricket team captain. Though I have never been a big fan of Dhoni, I developed a certain amount of respect for him looking at the way he led the side in the last few tournaments, and made some excellent decisions. He doesn’t have a technique many people would love to watch, but yeah, he is more productive than most of the men in blue.
What I could not understand was his decision to not declare early in the ongoing Test against New Zealand at Wellington. What was he waiting for? Was it some individual big score that he wanted some of his teammate to achieve? Was he enjoying batting himself too much that he could risk winning an easy match? I heard it on TV during the lunch break on the third day that it was forecasted that the last day would be cloudy, and there would be chances of rain on the fourth day too. Now, what answer would he have if it rains on the last day! Moreover, the target that should be set in such circumstances should be such that the other side should consider it to be chaseable, and try to achieve it, and in the process lose wickets. Would the New Zealanders consider a chance of winning chasing 617? If Dhoni let his team continue to bat thinking that India will win the series even if the match ends up in a draw, I am totally against such strategies. He is well-known for his attacking cricket, and should abide by his technique in such cases too. A target of 450 would have been very safe and sensible.
I have always loved to see India win matches. In fact, there have been days when I used to feel bad for hours after India lost a cricket match. But this is one such occasion where I would like the match to go away from India’s hands; in such cases, I would rate a draw as equivalent to a defeat! The captain should learn to make better decisions. I sincerely hope that it rains the whole day in Wellington tomorrow. A side which is doing so well should not lag behind in any department, not at least in decision making.
The attacker that I am talking about is none other than the present Indian Cricket team captain. Though I have never been a big fan of Dhoni, I developed a certain amount of respect for him looking at the way he led the side in the last few tournaments, and made some excellent decisions. He doesn’t have a technique many people would love to watch, but yeah, he is more productive than most of the men in blue.
What I could not understand was his decision to not declare early in the ongoing Test against New Zealand at Wellington. What was he waiting for? Was it some individual big score that he wanted some of his teammate to achieve? Was he enjoying batting himself too much that he could risk winning an easy match? I heard it on TV during the lunch break on the third day that it was forecasted that the last day would be cloudy, and there would be chances of rain on the fourth day too. Now, what answer would he have if it rains on the last day! Moreover, the target that should be set in such circumstances should be such that the other side should consider it to be chaseable, and try to achieve it, and in the process lose wickets. Would the New Zealanders consider a chance of winning chasing 617? If Dhoni let his team continue to bat thinking that India will win the series even if the match ends up in a draw, I am totally against such strategies. He is well-known for his attacking cricket, and should abide by his technique in such cases too. A target of 450 would have been very safe and sensible.
I have always loved to see India win matches. In fact, there have been days when I used to feel bad for hours after India lost a cricket match. But this is one such occasion where I would like the match to go away from India’s hands; in such cases, I would rate a draw as equivalent to a defeat! The captain should learn to make better decisions. I sincerely hope that it rains the whole day in Wellington tomorrow. A side which is doing so well should not lag behind in any department, not at least in decision making.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Ek gaana tha – The Reincarnation
I am sure Himesh Reshamiya would some day read this post, and by what follows, I will ensure that he curses me for this post more than I curse him for his atrocities on Hindi Film music.
Almost everyone in the country has heard the song Ek Haseena Thi from the movie Karz that came up in 1980. The song started off with Rishi Kapoor’s speech about lovers, followed by the singing of the incomparable Kishore Kumar, and Asha Bhonsle. The song served the purpose of narrating the whole story of Ravi (played by Raj Kiran), who was murdered by his lady love, Kamini (Simi Grewal). Then the man is reborn and becomes a successful singer Monty (Rishi Kapoor), who finally takes revenge from Kamini.
But when the movie came up, it could not be said that a day will come when the movie will be reborn and the song will reincarnate too, in a very very different form, and be sung by none other than the nasal champ Himesh Reshamiya.
The story of the movie was recently copied by Om Shanti Om, but they did at least some things right. They had their own songs, some of which were quite good too. But yesterday, when I heard the new version of Ek Haseena Thi by our very own Mr. Reshamiya from the about to be released Karzzz, I realized how badly things can be copied and despite that, no justice is done to them. He did the same mistake as was done by Ram Gopal Verma in his Aag around a year ago, who copied a blockbuster like Sholay with such carelessness -- casting ‘Jai’ as ‘Gabbar’ is just an example -- that anyone in the world could guess its fate.
The song has been such brutally raped by Himesh that even Shreya Ghoshal couldn’t save it. The changes have been done at places where Kishore Kumar was just brilliant. I really appreciated the fact that he admits he is nasal, but this is really unacceptable that he thinks he can do better than Kishore Kumar by changing the timings where to increase or decrease the pitch. I am serious I would have done a better job than this cold patient at least.
It was enjoyable to listen to one part of the song though, not as appreciation of the quality of singing, but realizing how bad it can get -- “….apne mehboob se aisa dhokha kiya, aisa dhokha kiya, aisa dhokha kiya, zeher usko diya, zeher usko diya, zeher usko diya”. I’d suggest everyone to go through this piece, it’s hilarious. Not just the singing but also the music is commendable. The drum player seems to be suffering from some stomach disorder. His effort is worthy of an applause too.
The song gets even interesting in the last stanza, when the lyrics are world class. The lyrics of the old song were like “Uspe yeh karz tha, uska yeh farz tha, farz ko karz apna chukaana tha”. The new lyrics of the new song go like (Please take note of positions of the words Farz and Karz) “Uspe yeh karz tha, uska yeh karz (again) tha, karz to farz (just the reverse) apna chukaana tha”. Even kids know it is “farz nibhaana” and “karz chukaana”, but our Mr. Reshamiya is unaware of such small things too.
You are all requested to listen to the song once at least. It would give you immense pleasure perhaps, or you might join me in getting Himesh out of business!
Almost everyone in the country has heard the song Ek Haseena Thi from the movie Karz that came up in 1980. The song started off with Rishi Kapoor’s speech about lovers, followed by the singing of the incomparable Kishore Kumar, and Asha Bhonsle. The song served the purpose of narrating the whole story of Ravi (played by Raj Kiran), who was murdered by his lady love, Kamini (Simi Grewal). Then the man is reborn and becomes a successful singer Monty (Rishi Kapoor), who finally takes revenge from Kamini.
But when the movie came up, it could not be said that a day will come when the movie will be reborn and the song will reincarnate too, in a very very different form, and be sung by none other than the nasal champ Himesh Reshamiya.
The story of the movie was recently copied by Om Shanti Om, but they did at least some things right. They had their own songs, some of which were quite good too. But yesterday, when I heard the new version of Ek Haseena Thi by our very own Mr. Reshamiya from the about to be released Karzzz, I realized how badly things can be copied and despite that, no justice is done to them. He did the same mistake as was done by Ram Gopal Verma in his Aag around a year ago, who copied a blockbuster like Sholay with such carelessness -- casting ‘Jai’ as ‘Gabbar’ is just an example -- that anyone in the world could guess its fate.
The song has been such brutally raped by Himesh that even Shreya Ghoshal couldn’t save it. The changes have been done at places where Kishore Kumar was just brilliant. I really appreciated the fact that he admits he is nasal, but this is really unacceptable that he thinks he can do better than Kishore Kumar by changing the timings where to increase or decrease the pitch. I am serious I would have done a better job than this cold patient at least.
It was enjoyable to listen to one part of the song though, not as appreciation of the quality of singing, but realizing how bad it can get -- “….apne mehboob se aisa dhokha kiya, aisa dhokha kiya, aisa dhokha kiya, zeher usko diya, zeher usko diya, zeher usko diya”. I’d suggest everyone to go through this piece, it’s hilarious. Not just the singing but also the music is commendable. The drum player seems to be suffering from some stomach disorder. His effort is worthy of an applause too.
The song gets even interesting in the last stanza, when the lyrics are world class. The lyrics of the old song were like “Uspe yeh karz tha, uska yeh farz tha, farz ko karz apna chukaana tha”. The new lyrics of the new song go like (Please take note of positions of the words Farz and Karz) “Uspe yeh karz tha, uska yeh karz (again) tha, karz to farz (just the reverse) apna chukaana tha”. Even kids know it is “farz nibhaana” and “karz chukaana”, but our Mr. Reshamiya is unaware of such small things too.
You are all requested to listen to the song once at least. It would give you immense pleasure perhaps, or you might join me in getting Himesh out of business!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Chun chun ke maaroonga
The title to this blog must have reminded you of the movie Sholay and the immortal Gabbar Singh (Dharam paaji can be forgotten for some time though), but this post is not going to be a review of Sholay or even anything related to that.
Why I have chosen this title is because of the choice we all from Ganga Bhawan (IITR) make while deciding on the trips we take. Four days back, we all went on a rafting and camping trip to Rishikesh. It was decided just a week ago that these were the only possible dates in which all of us could go together somewhere.
Day 1 : A gang of 16 highly enthusiastic people, we all went to Rishikesh. Our camp contractor took us to Shivpuri and made us do rafting back to Rishikesh.
Although it was an experience which cannot be explained in words, I’ll still dare to make an attempt at it, though I am sure words will fail me. Divided into two groups of 8 each, we jumped onto our rafts with our kits on, ready to face the biggest rapids of the Ganges. On the rapid called Golf Course, Kanu, who was sitting to my right on the raft, lost control due to the sudden gush of water and fell on me. I don’t remember exactly what I did to save myself. All I can remember is that I had held the rope called the lifeline tightly with one hand and the pedal’s tail with the other. Rasiya, sitting behind me, later said he thought that I would be falling into the river for sure, and also went on to say in his unique style “Main to tujhe bachaane ke liye ek dum jump hi maar deta” (he doesn’t know how to swim!!!)
Other interesting events on the way were the jumping out into still water and jumping into the river from a rock at a height of around 25 feet.
We reached Rishikesh at around 5 in the evening. Seven of us stayed at the beach there for some time and enjoyed photo sessions posing like Sanyaasis. The camp coordinator then took us to the camping site, Kaudiyala, around 40 kms from Rishikesh. On reaching Kaudiyala, we were told to go walk down to the camp. It was completely dark, we had no guide with us, and none of us knew the exact way to the camp. To top it all, we faced wild cows and heard dogs bark (for those who don’t know, even the feeling that a dog is nearby can make my heart sink). All we had were two torches to help us find it. But finally, we were there.
The arrangement there was awesome. There were plenty of tents for two each. Everyone chose his tent partner and went on to change and get set for the campfire party. Playing dumb charades is fun anywhere, and what can be better if you get to do it near the campfire on a somewhat cold night. After having enjoyed there for quite some time and taking dinner, most of the people decided to go to sleep, but some of us preferred to play cards for some time.
Day 2 : In the morning, while some guys went for trekking and others were enjoying rugby at the beach, I was in my bed, thanks to my birthright cough and cold :( But it was good that I was better in some time and didn’t have to miss the rafting which was longer and more adventurous than that on day 1.
The rapids called Daniel Dip and Three Blind Mice were too exciting to go through. These guides there follow a rule that commercial rafting is not done on rapids more than level 4, and we were therefore denied to go through “The Wall” which is a level 6 rapid. But it was fun to see the team of guides come through it successfully. The guide on our raft later commented that we were pedaling beautifully and they should not have made us avoid it. After shouting and pedaling almost continuously for around 4 hours, everyone was too tired to do anything and decided to return to college.
This was the trip that was always in my mind, something that I had decided I would surely be doing during my stay here in Roorkee. Thanks to the B. Tech. guys, who sponsored the trip for the dual degree guys as a placement treat, to Soni who put this idea forward, and to all the group members who made it unforgettable :)
Why I have chosen this title is because of the choice we all from Ganga Bhawan (IITR) make while deciding on the trips we take. Four days back, we all went on a rafting and camping trip to Rishikesh. It was decided just a week ago that these were the only possible dates in which all of us could go together somewhere.
Day 1 : A gang of 16 highly enthusiastic people, we all went to Rishikesh. Our camp contractor took us to Shivpuri and made us do rafting back to Rishikesh.
Although it was an experience which cannot be explained in words, I’ll still dare to make an attempt at it, though I am sure words will fail me. Divided into two groups of 8 each, we jumped onto our rafts with our kits on, ready to face the biggest rapids of the Ganges. On the rapid called Golf Course, Kanu, who was sitting to my right on the raft, lost control due to the sudden gush of water and fell on me. I don’t remember exactly what I did to save myself. All I can remember is that I had held the rope called the lifeline tightly with one hand and the pedal’s tail with the other. Rasiya, sitting behind me, later said he thought that I would be falling into the river for sure, and also went on to say in his unique style “Main to tujhe bachaane ke liye ek dum jump hi maar deta” (he doesn’t know how to swim!!!)
Other interesting events on the way were the jumping out into still water and jumping into the river from a rock at a height of around 25 feet.
We reached Rishikesh at around 5 in the evening. Seven of us stayed at the beach there for some time and enjoyed photo sessions posing like Sanyaasis. The camp coordinator then took us to the camping site, Kaudiyala, around 40 kms from Rishikesh. On reaching Kaudiyala, we were told to go walk down to the camp. It was completely dark, we had no guide with us, and none of us knew the exact way to the camp. To top it all, we faced wild cows and heard dogs bark (for those who don’t know, even the feeling that a dog is nearby can make my heart sink). All we had were two torches to help us find it. But finally, we were there.
The arrangement there was awesome. There were plenty of tents for two each. Everyone chose his tent partner and went on to change and get set for the campfire party. Playing dumb charades is fun anywhere, and what can be better if you get to do it near the campfire on a somewhat cold night. After having enjoyed there for quite some time and taking dinner, most of the people decided to go to sleep, but some of us preferred to play cards for some time.
Day 2 : In the morning, while some guys went for trekking and others were enjoying rugby at the beach, I was in my bed, thanks to my birthright cough and cold :( But it was good that I was better in some time and didn’t have to miss the rafting which was longer and more adventurous than that on day 1.
The rapids called Daniel Dip and Three Blind Mice were too exciting to go through. These guides there follow a rule that commercial rafting is not done on rapids more than level 4, and we were therefore denied to go through “The Wall” which is a level 6 rapid. But it was fun to see the team of guides come through it successfully. The guide on our raft later commented that we were pedaling beautifully and they should not have made us avoid it. After shouting and pedaling almost continuously for around 4 hours, everyone was too tired to do anything and decided to return to college.
This was the trip that was always in my mind, something that I had decided I would surely be doing during my stay here in Roorkee. Thanks to the B. Tech. guys, who sponsored the trip for the dual degree guys as a placement treat, to Soni who put this idea forward, and to all the group members who made it unforgettable :)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Something from my childhood
People tend to recall things from their experiences, and this practice is very frequent with me. I have this habit of going into deep thinking about incidents that happened in my past and chuckle at the funny moments that went by. There was one such incident that I would write about in this post.
Those who know me say that things haven’t changed much, but what I feel is that I was much naughtier when I was younger. And add to that the God-gifted fooling power I had then.
When I was around 10, I used to go to play cricket in the playground nearby with friends from the neighbourhood. On one such day in the summers, all of us saw that a tree there was full of mangoes. So, everyone started trying to get one down the tree. When I saw people were enjoying so much doing that crazy thing, I too got interested in the act. Since I had never done it earlier, I picked up a big stone, so big that I could barely lift it, and took my aim. A fellow neighbour also took an aim at the same time. My stone reached around half the height and came down. But instead of falling on the ground, it fell on the other fellow’s head. He began to bleed and obviously started crying too.
I was really horrified as to what would happen to me. Who would save me from him, his parents and then my parents? Suddenly, an idea struck. I behaved as if it was his stone itself that had missed the aim and come down and hit him. And I gave the description in such a confident way that everyone there, including the guy himself, began to believe that it was he who had hit himself by mistake.
It was just my brother and me who knew that it was me who did it. Thank God the boy was alright in another couple of days!
Those who know me say that things haven’t changed much, but what I feel is that I was much naughtier when I was younger. And add to that the God-gifted fooling power I had then.
When I was around 10, I used to go to play cricket in the playground nearby with friends from the neighbourhood. On one such day in the summers, all of us saw that a tree there was full of mangoes. So, everyone started trying to get one down the tree. When I saw people were enjoying so much doing that crazy thing, I too got interested in the act. Since I had never done it earlier, I picked up a big stone, so big that I could barely lift it, and took my aim. A fellow neighbour also took an aim at the same time. My stone reached around half the height and came down. But instead of falling on the ground, it fell on the other fellow’s head. He began to bleed and obviously started crying too.
I was really horrified as to what would happen to me. Who would save me from him, his parents and then my parents? Suddenly, an idea struck. I behaved as if it was his stone itself that had missed the aim and come down and hit him. And I gave the description in such a confident way that everyone there, including the guy himself, began to believe that it was he who had hit himself by mistake.
It was just my brother and me who knew that it was me who did it. Thank God the boy was alright in another couple of days!
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