To Lizard With Love

Today I saw a lizard in my kitchen sink. It had fallen into the sink and was unable to climb out. It kept trying to climb up but couldn't get traction and fell back into the sink.

I felt bad for the fellow. So I put a broom in the sink and hoped the lizard would climb on it and out. Well the lizard did climb on it and was then halfway across the broom. I was egging him on to cross over the sink on to safety beyond. Reflected

If you ask me why I think it was a male, the answer is simple. He was trying to solve his problem and not expecting the world to solve her problem.

Inexplicably, the lizard stood in the middle over the sink, but not across it completely, and then fell back inside the sink. 

I reflected. How many times have I seen others on trouble and when I have tried to help them they, as the lizard, unable to get across their problem but fall back into their "sink". How many times have I fallen into my sink when friends tried to help me.

It's so easy to feel sympathy for a lizard and think how stupid it is that it's not able to use our help. How often to we see ourselves as the same lizard?

Incidentally after a few minutes, he did successfully use the broom and get over to safety.

Moral of the story:

Not everyone with a broom is a witch.

Repaying Debt But Putting Up

I found recently that putting up with someone is another way of repaying them or expressing gratitude.

So if you help me and point that out to me and if I hence feel bad and if I don't have a choice but to put up with you because I need those things you do for me then i am simultaneously paying you back by putting up with you. 

For some people, paying back is by being grateful or by putting up.

Additional reading:

https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2019/12/i-am-grateful-to-you.html

Anna And Airtel

Today I received this message from Airtel, an internet and telephony service provider.

Hi, due to a technical issue at our end, your mobile services may temporarily get affected in Adyar. This is not the experience we want you to have. Rest assured, we are on the job to rectify the issue at the earliest - Team Airtel.

I was surprised. And somehow taken back few years down the memory lane when I used to teach fifth graders. There used to be a girl in the class whose milk teeth had fallen and the new ones hadn't yet come back, though she was in the 5th grade. Of course, the curiosity in me got the better of me and I used to ask the girl (in front of the whole class) when she plans to get her teeth back. One day she responded to me thus:

My father said it might take a looong time for my teeth to grow back and that you (meaning I) should just be patient and not inquire about my teeth frequently.

 

It sounded eerily like the message I got today.

Hi, due to a technical issue at our end, your teeth may not grow temporarily. Rest assured, we are on the job to rectify the issue at the earliest - Team Toothfairy.

Both Airtel and Anna found a way to shut me up by just acknowledging their problem but without a specific date commitment.

We Don't Recognise Jio

The pandemic hit us in March 2020. Since then our professional life has become all virtual and from home. Even for young students, it's all online classes.

This post is about such students. India has about 23 crore students studying in class 1 to 12 (from https://www.mvorganizing.org/how-many-students-are-there-in-india-2020/).

Assuming 40% of them belong to the lower income group (LIG), the number of such students from LIG would be about 9 crore students. 

Imagine if the pandemic had hit the world 5 years back in 2016. India didn't have Jio then. 

Jio disturbed the internet scene in India. It's because of Jio that India has a tariff of about Rs200 (USD 3) for a month of unlimited calls to anywhere in India and about 1.5GB data per day. And it's because of Jio that other ISP's telecoms had to follow suit with similar pricing and in the end most got such a financial battering that they had to exit the business. 

For some prospective on data cost see: (though figures don't seem to be accurate)

https://www.ibtimes.co.in/india-ranks-lowest-global-mobile-data-cost-thats-great-news-heres-how-839072

The figures for India and Pakistan are given below. 

Rs 6 /GB in India

Rs 17/GB in Pakistan (from a friend)

Rs mentioned in this post refer to INR only. 

(https://www.phoneyear.com/pakistan-has-the-second-most-expensive-mobile-data-rates-south-asia/)

As I mentioned earlier, there is an estimated 9 crore young students whose parents would be in the lower income group. These are possibly children of auto drivers, milkmen, housemaids and such.

Imagine online classes for them - meaning getting used to internet, getting a smart phone, using internet data for online classes. All these has been possible for at least some fraction of those 9 crore students

Because of Jio, a good percentage (I don't know exactly how much) has been able to continue their studies online. Of course a lot depended on whether their family had or lost their source of income. But if the family could afford their school fees and books, Jio made attending online courses very possible.

Had the pandemic hit us 5 years earlier where would those students have been?

Take Pakistan in comparison where internet costs are comparatively higher. Imagine what their LIG students are going through. Those students are likely much worse off than their Indian counterparts.

Thanks, Jio. 

Disclaimer:

The author has nothing to do with Reliance and they were not paid anything by the company.

Additional reading:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/02/coronavirus-india-school-closures/

Truth Or Emotions

https://lifestyle.livemint.com/health/fitness/why-women-are-increasingly-opting-for-ladies-only-gyms-111628240763510.html: Quote by the author: "For me, Viji's Slim Centre helped start something that continues to this day: understanding that regular exercise is less about what your body looks like and more about how it makes you feel."

This focus on emotions, if and when it happens overriding truth, is the recipe for hallucination.

I am often around a person who hallucinates and hence this subject is particularly of interest to me.

Hallucination, untruth, emotions are all part of a spectrum. When Donald Trump says he won the elections, it's a wish, a desire and not a fact. Hallucination is a small distance away from where he stands. If he were genuinely hallucinating he wouldn't spend efforts to make his desire come true because he would be thinking his desire has come true. 

When I see a hallucinating person accuse another person it's stunning. Because of 2 things: the accuser, in normal circumstances would never have said such a thing. And you know the person accused did no such thing that they are accused of because I was right there.

"We see things not as they are but as how we are" is an example of how emotions, or hallucinations in an extreme case, distort what we see.

When we hear that eye witness accounts are very unreliable we understand why that might be so.

Emotions provide an alternate reality. And perhaps this kind of reality is essential to survival. And hence emotional people live longer (women outlive men by about 5 years).

One data that I am seeking is whether emotional men live longer than unemotional men.

And whether the emotional part of the brain is responsible for hallucination.

Do Unto Others

I was listening to Vividh Bharati today. The theme today was about lying (falsehood). The RJ said we should not lie to others if we can't tolerate being lied to.

That's what got me thinking. What kind of person follows this "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Some of us believe in rules. They may follow it. Some of us believe in survival (at any cost), such as Ambani or Trump. Do you expect them to follow this rule? 

It's strange that some of us follow rules while others follow their heart. The interplay between the two sets is interesting. If you observe their actions live and remember that one follows rules while other follows their heart - while observing their actions - it's quite an experience.

Puzzles - Lock

A friend sent me this. 

Truth, Nothing But The Truth

Some people think of truth as binary. Either what a person x said did happen or didn't happen. Meaning of the event were recorded, the event would either prove x right. Or not.

But then there is another interpretation of truth. What I call the feminine or emotional interpretation.

If my emotions tell me something and if I say it aloud then I have been truthful from my point of view of EVEN IF A RECORDING OF THE EVENT MAY CONTRADICT WHAT I SAID.

That is amazing. An emotional person describes truth as something being in sync with their emotions. 

And what emotions tell us may not be corroborated by a recording. 

We are aware of a game children play. A child whispers to something to another child, who in turn whispers what he heard from the first child to another child and so on. Finally, what we hear from the last child is quite different from what the first child said. Why is this so? Is it not the same reason? That the emotions in children tamper with the truth. And the child interprets what he heard based on what his emotions tell him. 

Both kind of truths, the ones that are verifiable and those that aren't go under the same umbrella of "truth". 

Just like the word love means two entirely different things.

(https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2017/02/understanding-love.html)

So when someone promises to tell the truth and they genuinely believe they are telling the truth, what they say may not be true - to the extent that their emotions have played with the reality.

The more emotional one is, the more adulterated the truth is, more grey their statements are.

If you ask a person "did you do it?":

• A less emotional person will reply Yes or No.
• A more emotional person will start with an explanation leading ultimately to whether they did it or not. The explanation is a reflection of their emotional state.

Pop Quiz:

Is Donald Trump largely emotional or not?

Rich, no?

Can I Call You Tomorrow At 4PM

I thought such a request, as in the subject line, meant that the person has committed to call at 4. 

It turns out that the "can I call you?" for many people (P type, as in MBTI) is in fact about getting a right to call and not an obligation to call.

I always assumed that the question created an obligation.

It took me so many years to realise it's just a right.

A related anecdote:

A friend of mine wanted her brother to come to her place to get something done. She kept reminding him and then he asked her whether she would be home at 3PM. She confirmed. She was waiting from 2:45PM till 4PM for her brother. But he didn't turn up. When she called her brother and asked him what happened, he explained that HE had asked her whether SHE will be home at 3PM. He pointed out that he never told her he will come to her house at 3PM.

Another case of a right (to come) but no obligation (to come). My friend had interpreted her brother's question incorrectly.

So it makes sense to confirm whether someone is assuming an obligation or just a right when they say (or ask) something.

Additional reading 

https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2021/07/proposing-to-multiple-women.html

Selling And Repurchasing

Effect of selling in a falling market and buying at a lower price:

Let's assume we have 500 units of an equity mutual fund (MF) scheme at a current NAV of Rs100 per unit that were purchased at an NAV of Rs70. Total purchase cost = Rs70*500 = Rs35,000

Now let's assume the market is falling and I am very tense. The NAV has fallen to Rs 90. I decide to sell all the units. Assume my holding is for less than a year, so short term capital gains (STCG) will be levied (@ 15%).

Exit load will be 1%. 

What I get is 

500 units* 90*99% = Rs44,550. 

My gains will be (44550-35000)

= Rs 9550

My STCG will be 9550*15%= Rs1433

Nett of taxes and exit load what I have is 44550-1433 = Rs 43117

Now let's assume the NAV falls to Rs 80 and I invest all my proceeds into the same scheme at that NAV.

I get 43117 / 80 = 539 units.

Note that earlier I had 500 units.

Now let's assume that the NAV rises later to Rs115 and I again sell all the units at this NAV.

My redemption will now give me 539*115*0.99 = Rs 61365

My short term gains are now 

61365 - 43117 = Rs 18248

My tax will be 15% * 18248 = Rs 2737

What I will have nett of tax is 

61365 - 2737 = Rs 58628

If on the other hand I had never redeemed inbetween and I had held on the 500 units of the equity scheme and sold it at NAV of Rs 115 (and assume this happened after a year so it's long term capital gains).

My proceeds will be 500*115 = 

Rs 57500. Note that there is no exit load because I sold after a year.

My gains = 57500 - 50000 = Rs7500

My tax will be max 10%= Rs 750

If my total long term capital gain across all instruments is less than Rs 1lac, I don't pay any tax. Else I pay 10% of the gains exceeding 1Lac.

So my tax in this case will be between zero and Rs750. 

My nett will be between Rs 56750 and Rs 57500. And this is still less than Rs 58628 which I would have had if I had sold the scheme and repurchased and incurred TWO exit loads and TWO STCG @15%.

It may make sense to sell and repurchase at a much lower NAV. Note a lot depends on the difference between the NAV that I first redeemed and the NAV I repurchased at. If this spread was much less than Rs 10 (=90-80), this tactic wouldn't make sense.

What we have with this tactic is just a peace of mind that we have got out of a falling market. And if in fact we re-enter the market at a sufficiently lower NAV we stand to make a little extra money in the bargain. This is counter to the strategy of holding on for the long term.

Note also that the two STCG will result in tax cash outflow earlier. 

Now let's make it a little more abstract.

Assuming that the first redemption was at NAV of x (=90)

And let's repeat the same calculations.

Proceeds from 1st sale

495x - (495x-35000)*.15

=420.75x+5250

New number of units

(420.75x+5250)/80

2nd redemption value

(420.75x+5250)/80*.99*115

=(420.75+5250)*1.423

=598.78x+7471

2nd STCG

(598.78x+7471)-(420.75x+5250)

=178.03x+2221

2nd STCG tax

=(178.03x+2221)*.15

=26.7x+333

Nett after 2nd redemption

=(598.78x+7471)-(26.7x+333)

= 572x+7138

Nett after LT redemption

= 500*115=57500

At what NAV are the two nett equal?

572x+7138=57500

X=88

So long as x> 88, double redemption gives more.

The question that remains is how is this value of x dependent on the other three NAV (70, 80 and 115).

Let's assume a, b, c are the three NAV, respectively.

Proceeds from 1st sale

495x - (495x-500*a)*.15

=420.75x+5250

=420.75x+75a

New number of units

(420.75x+5250)/b

=420.75x/b+75a/b

2nd redemption value before tax

(420.75x+5250)/80*.99*115

=(420.75+5250)*1.423

=598.78x+7471

=(420.75x/b+75a/b)*0.99*c

=416.5cx/b+74.25ac/b

2nd STCG

(598.78x+7471)-(420.75x+5250)

=178.03x+2221

=(416.5cx/b+74.25ac/b) -

(420.75x+75a)

=(416.5c/b-420.75)x+(74.25c/b-75)a

2nd STCG tax

=(178.03x+2221)*.15

=26.7x+333

=((416.5c/b-420.75)x+(74.25c/b-75)a)*.15

=(62.5c/b-63)x+(11.14c/b-11.25)a

Nett after 2nd redemption

=(598.78x+7471)-(26.7x+333)

= 572x+7138

416.5cx/b+74.25ac/b - ((62.5c/b-63)x+(11.14c/b-11.25)a)

=(354c/b+63)x+(63.11c/b+11.25)a

Nett after LT redemption

= 500*c=57500

At what NAV are the two nett equal?

572x+7138=57500

X=88

So long as x> 88, double redemption gives more.

(354c/b+63)x+(63.11c/b+11.25)a > 500c

X> (500c - (63.11c/b+11.25)a) / (354c/b+63)

(57500-7138) /571.9

=50362/571.9

=88

In the above equation, x is higher (desirable) as c/b becomes lower and as a is lower.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oIC6BHc1h7CJZ4qmKIPJ0uvBr2DyFe85ZXQMg257skk/edit?usp=drivesdk