Pricing In A High Demand, Low Supply Market

Yesterday I attended a meeting where an issue discussed related to a scarce thing that had a huge demand and the question was how to handle the high demand and here we had a case of supply being necessarily very limited.

Someone suggested that we make the customers pay Rs 500 ($10) per month for the 1st usage, maybe Rs 750 ($15) for the 2nd usage and so on with the price increasing for more usage.

Now the issue here is: for the kind of customers that we were talking sums like Rs 500, Rs 750 are quite small and are not deterrent enough to reduce consumption.

So we had the age old issue of pricing in a market where demand is much higher than the supply. 

Even after all this hype and furore over the 2G scam we still seem to not have learnt how to maximize revenue and/or restrict demand in such a market.

A suggestion to auction brought ripples of laughter in the audience. They thought it was a rather impractical idea. The surprising thing about the audience was that most of them were educated people in their 60's.

I wonder whether the idea of auction was silly in that context.

My Voice And Chevvai Dosham (Curse Of The Mars)

Many people have often commented on my voice. That it's very sweet like Lata's or Vani Jayaram's. But I have always wanted a deep heavy male voice like Vidya Balan's or Bipasha's or Rani Mukherjee's. I have spent many a moment wishing I had a deep gruff manly voice like they do.

I am reminded of a friend of mine who, at the time she was engaged to be married, attended a telephone call from her fiance's place. She started speaking to her fiance. After a few minutes she realized (from what was said at the other end) that she was speaking not to her fiance but with his mom. Such is the voice of certain women I have (had the misfortune to) come across.

But its not just the mother in law of this friend. Just about every woman in her family has a voice and a demeanor that would make a man s*** in his pants. The women in her family remind me of the adage "Men are from Venus and women are from Mars". Not one woman in her family is capable of being sweet. A sweet docile nature is shared by all the men (and only men) in her family.

I did ask her once a rather delicate question. I whispered to her: When her children were born, was it she or her husband who was pregnant. She didn't answer me. But to this day, I have my own doubts.

Another friend of mine has a mother whose voice could demolish a thousand buildings. If you hadn't seen her but only heard her voice, you could be pardoned for thinking that the person was Amitabh Bachchan or Sylvester Stallone. But my friend herself has one of the sweetest voices I have ever come across. Her child is precociously intelligent. She explained this to me. In her family "maternity" was always in doubt, no child ever resembled the mother.

Coming back to voice, it's my belief after going through many horoscopes that women with a strong Mars in their horoscope have a gruff voice. When in South India we say that a girl has "Chevvai Dosham" or that a girl is Manglik in North India we mean that the woman has a strong Mars in her horoscope and it's double torture for a man to listen to her speak.

Advertisements, Promises

Today a lady from one of the telecom operators called me and asked me whether I would be interested in a new wireless fixed line connection. I shook my head. She then asked me if I wanted broadband. I said No again. She changed tracks and asked me if I wanted a datacard.

I wanted to know more about her product, so I asked her. She said it gave speeds upto 3.1MBPS. Oh, I said. And asked her if this speed is what customers would get or would they get a lower speed on actual usage. The lady conceded that actual speed would be about 600-700KBPS (remember? She started with a figure of 3.1MBPS). I said 600-700KBPS does not enthuse me and I asked her where she got the figure of 3MBPS from. She responded that this what they got once.

My jaw dropped. This is what they got once? And they are advertising speeds of upto 3.1MBPS based on what they got once? You mean I can say that I am drop dead handsome because I was kinda cute when I was 3 months old? Wow.

I asked her whether her company would pay me a penalty of Rs10,000 (about $200) per month if the actual speed on usage was not 3.1 MBPS but only 600KBPS. She was quick to say NOOOO.

I am reminded of a soap advt that comes on TV very frequently these days. The message is something like this.. "Oh no, my child will not get rashes/skin problems because in my house we use 'x' soap."

Oh yeah? So if I use your brand of soap and still get rashes, will you be liable for it? Do you have any correlation between usage of your soap brand and reduced incidence of skin problems? Or are you talking about a soap that gives 3.1MPBS speed?

I started thinking. What is it that makes us fool people like this? Claim something that may not be remotely true?

I remember a time when my mom slipped and fell in the toilet and was in severe pain for many months. I had tried various doctors, medicines. Nothing worked. Someone recommended that physiotherapy could work wonders. I called a physiotherapist. He said yes, he could come and do the massage. Mom would be ok in a week. And it would cost so much. He seemed very positive. So we had him come for a week. There was no change. Mom was still in pain.

I asked the man, is the therapy working? He was positive. He said sometimes it did take a little longer. One more week, he said. So we continued for a week more. And then for a 3rd week. Still, no change in pain. It was still excruciating.

The physiotherapist suggested that we continue the massage. I asked him if he would work without pay henceforth. If the problem was solved then we would pay him the arrears.

He was aghast. He accused me of being unethical. How COULD I ask such a question? How could anyone give a guarantee? The human body is so complex. My mom is so old. Of course she could not be cured so easily. Was I out of my mind to ask for a guarantee? And so on.

Hmm. Ask for a guarantee/penalty clause then the truth emerges. Till that time you should have seen his face. Very cheerful, positive. And all the time claiming that it would be ONLY be a week before his treatment succeeded.

Is this was what communication, advertisement all about? To ensure that you convey a message in such a way that you make a sucker out of the recipient? Wow.

Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ)

DDLJ is one of my favorite movies. It's a movie which got almost everything right. A plot that wasn't bad, songs and locations that were nice. Dialogs were nice. And it was one of the biggest hits among Indian movies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilwale_Dulhania_Le_Jayenge).

While I loved the movie and have seen it a few times, there are couple of dialogs which I object to (and another dialog that I especially love).

When I say I object to the dialog what I mean is that I object to the philosophy behind it.

Let's start with the one that I love. In response to her suggestion that he elope with her daughter, SRK (the hero) tells the mother of his would be bride. That his (SRK's) mother used to tell him when he was a child "[Meri ma humesha kaha karti thi] Many a times in life you have two paths in front of you. One is easier, probably gives you early successes but if its a wrong path, you will sooner or later repent it. You will fail in life. But, the other path which is the right path may be very difficult in the beginning, it will make you sweat and cry and you may fail initially, but you will succeed in the end". 

I used to think of this dialog. And reflect on how true it was. And it was so neatly brought into the script. Very aptly done. [But the original (or at least a similar and older) version of this is in the movie Scent of a woman when Al Pacino, towards the end of the movie, talks on behalf of Charlie - that he, the colonel, always knew which path to take when at a crossroad but that he always chose the wrong path. His speech at the school is one of the most moving scenes I have watched. On par with the last scene in the Puthiya Paravai or in Parineeta or A Few Good Men.]

Now let's come to the dialogs that I dislike.

Kajol would pray in a church. SRK would ask her what she prayed for. She won't reply directly but she would tell SRK that if you pray sincerely, God would give you what you asked for.

I wonder. So you need to pray sincerely to get married to Ingrid Bergman, to become a Bill Gates? To climb Mt Everest? To win a World Cup? What utter rot!!

The next one was more diabolical. Farida Jalal (Kajol's mom in the movie) would burst out in anger. 

"We women always end up sacrificing. When I was a little girl, I had to sacrifice my studies so that my brother could be educated. When a woman grows up she has to sacrifice her needs so that her husband's could be satisfied. And later she continues to sacrifice so that her children's needs are met. A woman's life is all about sacrifices. Sometimes for her brother, later for her husband and then for her children. Being born a woman was a curse. When you (referring to Kajol) were a baby and when I held you in my hands, I promised myself that I will never let such a thing happen to my daughter. You will not be restricted from getting what you want and deserve. I will see to that."

(I may have taken some liberty in the translation of the dialogs in bold above from Hindi to English but I think the gist is retained).

Here is my question. Women in India were brought up to be good home makers. At least those that were of the mother's generation. Was the mother (Farida Jalal) planning to become a nuclear scientist or a bank president? What did she lose by not continuing her education? Did she not have a good life (as depicted in the movie DDLJ)? And sacrificing for children? For husband? What sacrifice did she make that probably deserves an entry in Guinness Book of Records? Why does she make such a big fuss? She lived the life of a well to do housewife who looked after the family and stayed home (didn't go to work) which is what most India women did (and many still do) and mind you - there were no in laws within a few thousand miles. 

The point is: till the earlier generation, women were considered to be prized possessions and to be taken care of. And hence they were protected but not given the freedom to do what they pleased. 

And today's generation of women does not like that. They want the freedom to choose. To be what they want or can. And that freedom (like any freedom) comes with a price. You don't carry (family) insurance, protection. You are on your own.

Each way has pros and cons for women (in India). But is there a best of both worlds possible? Where your father/brother/husband is sworn to take care of you always? And you also have the freedom to do what you want?

Ain't that nice?

What Is Your Typical Way Of Dealing With Conflict

Recently a friend of mine asked me a question.

"What is your typical way of dealing with conflict?"

I pondered over this question. What is conflict? It is a situation where two or more parties feel differently about an issue. For example,

• I feel I am contributing more, you feel that you are.
• I as a buyer feel this is too high a price, you as a seller feel this is too low a price
• I feel you should be more careful about money, you feel "No. If one has enough money, one should spend it".
• I feel it's my right to be loved no matter how bad I am, you feel "No. A positive emotion has to be deserved and not a birthright".
• I want to go to Alps in Europe for vacation, you want to go the beach in Pattaya.

and so on.

In each example, each party is an aggrieved party and desperately tries to convince the other party to reconsider its opinion. And neither party is willing to give in.

It's easier to solve a conflict when one party is in a position of power. And uses the power to force a resolution. Examples are:

If you don't do what I say, I will

• Not sleep with you and god help if you sleep around
• Not provide uranium to you and ensure that no one else sells you uranium for your nuclear program
• Not allow any mode of payment to your country for your exports (as USA has been doing to Iran)

and so on. The other party then has something to think about. "Oh my, can I manage that deprivation/embargo?". And may cave in.

Now, what if you don't wield such a power over the other person? How do you solve a conflict? To answer that question, let's go to the last time we solved a conflict.

• Did explaining both the positions (yours as well as the other party's) help?
• Did negotiation help (You give in here, I will compromise there) help?
• Did an emotional blackmail (If you don't do this, I will die) help?
• Did a gentle persuasion (you are a good boy, aren't you) help?

Think about it.

Most times when we are in conflict our adult state of mind (the state where we think logically) perhaps takes a back seat. We are controlled by our emotions (how DARE she say this?, How COULD he do that?).

And perhaps appealing to the other person's emotions is a better way of handling conflict. (If you don't do it, can you imagine what will happen to my family / to our country / to me / to all the effort I put in).

I think an emotional appeal works better than an analytical appeal. At the very least even if we appeal logically to the other person, a nice emotional packaging is essential. We all hate the idea of being heartless more than the idea of being illogical.

What happened in Tunisia last week (the president fled the country), in Egypt yesterday (junior Mubarek fled the country, both caused by unrest by people) and by Gandhi's fast(s) unto death 70 years back (India got its freedom from Britain)... What kind of appeals were these?

Now go back to the earlier question. When a conflict was resolved, what caused it? A strong emotional appeal? Or a strong logical reasoning?

I do understand that this was not how Ayn Rand saw a conflict being handled as she explained in Atlas Shrugged. But in our day to day interactions, how many of us meet with John Galts who understand a logical appeal?

The point is different people tune in to different kind of appeals. An emotional appeal won't work with a John Galt. We need to understand the audience and tailor the appeal for maximizing results.
Notwithstanding all this, if I were to rate myself on my ability to handle conflicts in a scale of 1-5 (1 being hopeless, 5 being wow) I would rate myself about 2.

Updated: 9-Apr-2012
Additional reading: http://vbala99.blogspot.in/2012/04/recipe-for-who-we-cannot-gel-with.html

A way to handle conflicts is to avoid getting into conflict prone situations. The link above might help. Each of us can get along with certain kinds of people and fail with others. Knowing what kind we are and what kind someone else is and making the right choice (to minimize interactions with the wrong kind of person) may decrease conflicts.

India Today - Wombs For Rent

I was reading the Times of India today. 

There is a new bill (a rule) in India which would regulate wombs being let out for rent

(http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH/2011/01/27&PageLabel=1&EntityId=Ar00105&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T). This used to be a hot topic in the US 20 years back. A debate used to rage then: is it right / wrong? Pros and cons. What will this lead to? Etc.

The driving forces of this market were infertility and the fact that women didn't have time to have babies, go through the depression (before, during and after pregnancy) and the stretch marks etc. 

And discussion about the legal cases between the two sets of mothers (the one who brings up the child and the one who gave birth). And the emotional trauma of having to give up the child that you gave birth to.

The outsourcing of the pregnancy industry had preceded the outsourcing of the IT/BPO in the USA by about 5 years. 

At that point in time when I read these articles, I used to think poorly of American women. You don't have time to bear your OWN child? Ye gods..

And now the phenomenon has hit India. Of course Indian women would NEVER SAY that they don't have time to give birth or dislike having stretch marks. They would package it nicely. Their family needs money and hence they have to go to work and can't take maternity leave. They are just following the advice of their astrologer or their family guru, which is not something you can avoid, can you?. Give Indian women 100 points for marketing prowess.

Wonder where this will end. 

P/E Ratio For Stock Market Index And Inconsistency Issues

The other day a friend forwarded me a message about P/E ratio and what NIFTY index might be at the end of FY 2011-12. The message said that assuming that the market comes down by 10% and assuming earnings show a 5% growth, the P/E should be about 14 with Nifty at 5200 (and Sensex at 17000). 

I am recapping this from memory, so I may not be quoting the message 100% right.

I was thinking about this data. The current P/E is about 22.4 and NIFTY is about 5700 (http://indiabulls.com/securities/).

If you factor a 10% fall in index from current levels, then NIFTY will be 5200 (as mentioned in the message) and P/E will fall by 10% from 22.4 to about 20. And apply a 5% growth in earnings, the P/E will FALL from 20 to about 19. So with these assumptions, P/E will be 19 with NIFTY at 5200 (Sensex about 17000).

My question is: Where does the figure of P/E = 14 as mentioned in the message come from? Or did one factor the earning of FY 2020-21 to get the P/E for NIFTY in the short term?

Why can't a simple number be quoted correctly and used consistently everywhere? Or, did I misinterpret the message?

Updated on May 1, 2017:
There is an article in the newspaper today: http://www.thehindu.com/business/are-the-stock-markets-too-hot-to-handle/article18344227.ece Sensex is at 29918 and as per BSE P/E is 22.87 (see snapshot below)

Now with the BSE data above as the reference let's look at the article in Hindu. In the first para it says "As per BSE data, the Sensex currently trades at a price-earnings (PE) multiple of 22.5". I read this article in the hard copy edition this morning. I have presented a snapshot of the article on internet below. See the date on top right of the article.

We are talking about Apr 28th 2017 Friday. What was the Sensex PE? 22.87 or 22.5? Which data is correct? Is the BSE site data wrong? BSE site shows data as per Apr 28 2017 - which was the close on Friday before the weekend. Today is Monday, May 1, 2017.

Continuing on to the article in Hindu today.

A PE of 22.5 means that if the earning of BSE is Rs 1, the price of BSE is Rs 22.5. Let's take another excerpt from the Hindu article.

As stock prices are all about expectations, they point out, the forward PE multiple (the price per rupee of next year’s earnings) is the must-watch indicator, rather than the historical one. So, assuming that Sensex firms expand their profits at 16-17 % for FY18, the Sensex forward PE is 17.8 times. That’s in line with the 20-year average of 18 times.

Now if earning increased 17% then earnings for 2017-18 will become 1.17 (we assumed Rs 1 earlier). The price continues to be Rs 22.5. What is the PE ratio now? It is 22.5/1.17 = 19.23. Where does the author get 17.8 (see quote above). 

Am I making a mistake here?

We have PE values of NIFTY and Sensex differing by 10%  and some articles mention a PE value without referring to the index name. Then we have some authors take a wrong value of PE, rather a different value from that in the index site. Then we have a calculation error. Life is a bit**. I don't get it. 

In addition, some people use trailing values while some use forward figures - there again forward figures are sometimes for next 12 months,  sometimes for next 24 months. 

Additional reading:

• http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2014/10/markets-potato-tomato-sensex-and-nifty.html
• http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/01/today-i-read-this-excellent-article.html
• http://www.business-standard.com/article/pf/here-s-how-to-make-your-investment-portfolio-more-resilient-117060500804_1.html - this article (Jun 5 2017) uses the right Sensex P/E.

Maths Puzzle 7 - Go Figure

A friend of mine said to me today.

"

NOW go figure this out....

Take the last 2 digits of the year you were born, then add the age you will be this year and it WILL EQUAL 111.

"

So I explained to her.

Let the year of birth be: 19xy (example: 1976 means x=7, y=6)

Age now = 2011-"19xy"= (1900+111)-(1900 +(10x +y))

= 111-10x-y

Last 2 digits = 10x+y

Age+last 2 digits = 111-10x-y + (10x+y) =111

(Incidentally, in the year 2012 the sum will always equal 112 no matter when you were born, meaning any year in the 1900's)

She was very irritated. She asked me "Why cant you look at a straight thing (without looking at the mathematics)?".

So I replied, "ok waist size (in inches) of a married woman + her IQ" =111.

I don't know why didn't speak to me after that. I guess she hates any discussion on figure.

Age Difference Between Man And Woman At Marriage

A friend of mine showed me a video of a prom that her cousin attended. The video was nice. All boys and girls were about 19 years old and formally dressed. 

A thought struck me and I voiced it to her. Girls at that age are more mature than boys and hence how do girls tolerate being with a boy of the same age. 

She replied that this was utter nonsense. She continued that most girls are quite comfortable with boys of the same age. Maybe what I said could be true in India. It certainly didn't apply in Europe. 

Obviously I couldn't let myself be contradicted. So I searched on the net and found some interesting data on age at the time of 1st marriage. The rest of what I say below is based on that data (and I have talked only about Europe).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_at_first_marriage

The age at which people get married has been rising across the world. This increase is attributed to higher education, wanting to be independent before getting married. But the fact remains that no matter when people get married (early 20s to mid 30s), the age of the man is higher than the woman's by about 2 to 4 years.

I would have assumed that countries that were geographically adjacent to each other would have data similar / close to each other. And this is generally the case. But there are exceptions: People in Spain got married later (M:34/F:33) than Portuguese (M:28/F:26). Incidentally, the difference in age between men and women at the time of marriage seems to be lowest for Spain among all European countries.

I found a similar difference between Moldova (M:25/F:22) and Romania (M:31/F:27), between Germany (M:33/F:30) and Poland (M:28/F:25) and between Finland (M:31/F:28) and Estonia (M:28/F:25). An average German man married at the age of 33 and a man from neighboring Poland at the age of 28. Surprising to see so much of a difference (about 3-6 years) between neighboring countries in the age at which people marry.

The pattern seems to be that people in countries in Eastern Europe (having a border with Russia) marry earlier than those in the west. Finland is an exception.

Birds Of Opposite Feathers Repel Together

I used to discuss with a friend of mine about man's tendency - does he relate better with people who are like him or with people who are unlike him. I thought it was the former, she thought it was the latter. Each of us had compelling arguments and sufficient examples from real life to support our respective theories.

She is a vivacious and a very social person with an ability to make friends very easily. She relates to people across various age groups. She pointed out that she and I have been friends for quite some time and hence this itself was sufficient proof that opposites DO attract. That day I lost two of my teeth as I gnashed my teeth in anger.

Today I came across this article

(http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH/2011/01/19&PageLabel=13&EntityId=Ar01301&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T) which addresses the conflict that my friend and I have.

There are times when opposites do attract (an "open" person does like to engage with a "closed" person) while alcoholics of the same feather do "flock" together.

The question now is: Can we abstract the findings and determine if there is a rule that will determine when "Opposites attract" and when "Birds of the same feather flock together"?

Date Rape

I came across this news item today http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Foreign-student-alleges-rape-by-boyfriend/articleshow/7294046.cms.

A girl in the city of Pune was apparently raped by her boyfriend. She tried to convince him to get married, he refused so she filed a complained with the police.

Now what is a rape? It is a forced sexual act committed by a person(s) on another without the other party's consent. Do we agree on this definition?

Then how is it that this woman tried to convince the "offender" to marry her? Was she crazy to want to marry someone who raped her? If this was not a case of consensual sex, why did the girl not scream bloody murder before or during the act? Why should she get really upset AFTER the act?

No. I think this was a case of consensual sex with some strings attached or a promise of some kind (perhaps money and / or marriage) made by the guy. And maybe the guy, after having sex, refused to pay / do what he said he would. So the girl got really upset and lodged a complaint of rape.

Now, if this is what that happened: Does this remotely qualify as rape? Or is it more a civil offense? If you paid someone $100 or $100,000 to someone with the understanding that he will pay you back and then he didn't, would you file a case of RAPE?


Another such incident:
http://www.itimes.com/public/groups/Famous-Sex-Scandals/album/Famous-Sex-Scandals_34015/photo/Director-Madhur-Bhandarkar-Aspiring-actress-Priti-Jain. Assuming this incident really happened, this was an issue of trading favors again, not rape.

Maths Puzzle - 6. Calculation Of Investment Returns

Very often we invest money and we are told of some returns (either assured or likely returns). The simplest scenario is one where we invest an amount in the beginning and we get a return after say 5 or 10 years.

What is the percentage return from this interest? We should use compounded interest and not simple interest. We all know that

A=P(1+ r)ⁿ

A is the amount we receive at the end. 

P is the amount we invested at the beginning

r is interest rate (as a fraction. For example 8% = 0.08) per period

n is the number of periods. Usually period is a year

r = ( (A/P)^(1/n) ) - 1

If we have multiple investments, we calculate the rate of return r for each and compare.

Now, if a project (that has some investments and some returns) has more different amounts of investment and / or returns in different years, how do we calculate the effective rate of return?

Let's take an insurance policy as an example. It may have an investment in year 1, 2, 3 and returns in the years 4, 5, 6.

Year   Investment (Returns)

  1          100

  2          100

  3          100

  4         (120)

  5         (120)

  6         (120)

Values in bracket indicate returns. An investment of 100 is made in each of the first three years and the project returns 120 in each of the last three years. Using compound interest formula given above, how do you determine the effective rate of return? 

Capitalism At Its Best

While the world believes America to be the bastion of capitalism and that India is a new practitioner of capitalism, reality is quite different.

I thought I will take the time to explain how India has excelled in its practice of capitalism.

In India everything is available for a price. You can, of course, buy vegetables, phones, cars, planes.

A friend of mine, who is an engineer, once asked me, very seriously, if I knew of any Indian university where he could purchase an MBA degree for a few thousand dollars. He explained that he didn't have the time to attend the course since he had a full time job. And I am fairly sure there would be some colleges where you could purchase a degree.

Admission to medical, engineering courses can obviously be purchased. Government jobs can be purchased.

If you are arrested by police, you can buy your out of jail. If you want someone else arrested, you can buy the other person's way into jail. You can buy police commissioners, judges. 

You can buy a driver's license for a price. You can buy a permit to construct a 30 storied building where generally fewer floors are allowed by government ordinance.

You can even buy government policies for a price. You can get more details of a practitioner from the book mentioned in an earlier blog http://calmisc.blogspot.com/2010/12/the-polyester-prince-rise-of-dhirubhai.html. 

You can purchase telecom license worth about $5 billion cheaply for a billion dollars by paying a few hundred million to the right person. People like Radia (http://calmisc.blogspot.com/2017/07/it-poaches-from-it.html) act as a real life EBAY by getting the customers and buyers together. They create a market place which is essential in any capitalist society.

I am not able to think of anything which is not available to buy in India. Only thing is that the products and services are not advertised by the supplier. You need to know how to go about. People like Radia can guide you, for a price.

India is an advanced practitioner of capitalism. This is quite different from the bRand kind of capitalism espoused by Ayn.

A small glimpse into our marketplace: http://in.news.yahoo.com/2010--the-year-of-treasure-hunters-.html

Journalism

For a long time I have been been interested in Journalism and news especially as it applies to India. If someone were to to give me a copy of a newspaper dated anytime in the last 20 years (with its date of publication hidden) and if I were to to read it end to end, I don't think I would be able to guess the date with any level of accuracy. 

To explain this, I have to quote the last dialog (actually a voice over by Amitabh Bachchan) from the 2005 Hindi movie Parineeta: "Haan raat tho Shekhar ki shaadi ki hai, bas ek aadh paatra badal gaye hain" ("Yes, Shekhar's Wedding will still take place tonight. Just that couple of characters/roles have changed").

It IS kinda unethical to write sensational news and then be forced to go about creating it (this was the theme in Irwing Wallace's interesting novel "The Almighty"). What we writers do instead most of the time is to dish out the same new wine in a different bottle. 

B(K/T)olloywood actress Deep*** Pa****ne / Fr**da **nto / Pri***ka Chop** has now ditched Mallya/Singh/Chintu/Pintu/....

Sal*** Kha* has now hooked up with Kat*** Calf/Sang***** Bij****. His favorite song is now Pet Shop Boys' "It's A sin" .

C**ina/Y*na/Mona/Sona/Pooja (any of the 8,300 starlets/heroines) had a wardrobe malfunction today. Last 5 of her 6 movies had bombed at the box office.

Tamil Nadu political party head Thiru ***/Selvi *** has said he/she wont stand corruption. And he accused the previous government of leaving the government coffers empty. 

Thaiya Thai Tha Banerjee was dancing outside Writer's Building in Kolkata. She wanted the West Bengal government to reduce inflation/create more jobs/make city more beautiful etc.

Congress Party Chief said in Delhi today that incidents such as Bofors / 2G / CWG / DG / YG... are a bane and she has asked the external affairs minister to look into these and prepare a report. (Well most of India's activities seem to be decided outside.)

Vidya B**an/Rakhee S**ant has announced that she will/will not wear a backless dress in the Le Cannes film festival. 

Army personnel from Pakistan fired a few shells and infiltrated Indian territory. Actor Kuchel Singh (Ranbir Singh's grandson and a 7th generation actor of the Kapoor family) says it's a shame that such things could be allowed to happen.

China claims that the Indian state of Kerala is an extension of Tibet.

********* Berlusconi, who is the greatgrandson of Raji Gandhi and greatgreatgrandson of Indira Gandhi, has been unanimously elected as the new head of the All India Congress Party. He says he will uphold all the virtues of Jawaharlal Gandhi and follow the footsteps of Mahatma Nehru.

Pakistan/Sri Lanka arrested Indian fisherman because ... Speaking about this incident to the pressmen, Mr Thakre (no not that one, this is the nephew of the grandson of another one) said Orissa should be only for Assamese.

2450 people died in Nagpur because of Tsunami/Accident/Food Poisoning. Sachn hits a record 102nd century. First time in history that father and grandson play together.

Fashion Diwa Sabyasachi Motwani who did her schooling at the Institute in New York and who works for Eeeek St Laurent said that people should be more conscious of what they wear. She added "What people wear sends a message as to who they are. It is imperative that we change our wardrobe frequently, else the world will think that we are stagnating". Mr Ambani's granddaughter Ms Choksi concurred with this sentiment completely.

Israel, quoting the Dead Sea Scrolls, claims that Ayodhya actually belonged to the Jews.


Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Mr Ramakrishnan, says that the bidding (aah voting) process will be made completely transparent. CEC has tied up with EBay. All persons standing for election can bid transparently for votes of each constituency. He avers that this will avoid rigging of votes, save millions in taxpayer's money and that the whole process of voting and counting will be quicker and cheaper. The government has announced that it will deduct 10.2353% service tax and 5.3892% education cess on the winning amount and the balance will be paid to the constituency.


The dollar has fallen 15% against oil because of unrest in the Middle East. Last month it rose 20% against oil because of unrest in the Middle East. Our economics correspondent says that the OPEC nations have decided to use oil as a currency because it is more liquid than the dollar.

Kind of repetitive, I would say. And as Amitabh says in Parineeta, Bas Ek Aadh Paatra Badal Dete Hain.