Thank you

Dozing one evening on my way back from work, I was suddenly woken up by a hard knock on the window. I open my eyes to be greeted by the bluest, saddest pair of expectant eyes I've ever seen. Before I could react, the signal turned green and we were off.

I belong to the school of thought who feels that giving money to beggars only encourages them to beg some more. Labourers toiling hard day after day in most cases earn less than beggars do. So what do we do ? Sit in our air conditioned cars and curse our luck that India is such a poor country. Look at beggars with contempt because they are spoiling an otherwise beautiful landscape. Wonder what "foreigners" will think of "our" country when they see so many beggars on the street.

Isn't "our" country also the country of those same beggars ? I am sure that when God was doling of life choices at birth, they did not voluntarily choose the life they eventually got. So what exactly did they, or we, do to deserve our lives ?

The look in those eyes haunts me even today. And they got me thinking ? What did I do differently to deserve the life I got ? Is it karma ? Is it a blessing for a good deed that I did in a previous life ? I have never believed in these things, but something tells me that its more than just plain good luck.

And that good luck is what I call Mom & Dad.

So if I have never thanked my Parents for gifting me my life and giving me opportunities which They may not have had themselves, then I am thanking Them now. I will thank Them tomorrow and I will thank Them for the rest of my life.

And I am thanking God for giving me the Parents that he has.

And I think that we should all be thanking our Parents. Irrespective of all the disagreements that we may have had (or will have) with Them. For if you are sitting in front of a computer, reading this post, then you are where you are today because They opened a lot of doors. Because They treaded paths which They may not have wanted to Themselves but did for us.

Stimulating the stimuli

What have the various stimulus packages announced by the government actually accomplished? February was worse than January and we all fear that things will still go downhill for a while.

Cutting excise duty by 2% or service tax by 1.8% will not stimulate anybody in buying more cars or making more calls. If I can afford to run up a Rs.1000 phone bill, the prospect of saving Rs. 18 per month won't excite me into making more calls. Neither will a price reduction of Rs. 5000 spur me on to buy a new car.

Instead of losing revenue by Rs. 30000 crore, the government could have very well have left tax rates unchanged and used that same amount to kick start the economy. State Transport Corporations can order 1000s of buses. Dozens of power plants couls have been sanctioned. Roads, bridges, airports could have been built.

What would this have achieved? Certainly not a saving of Rs. 18 per month for someone spending Rs. 1000 on his phone bill or Rs. 5000 for someone paying Rs.7,00,000 for a new cars. What it would do however is help bus manufacturers resume production. Help BHEL, NTPC, Coal India, NHAI, AAI grow in these tough times. This would have a domino effect of other sectors. Capital goods, transport, manufacturing would have all gotten back on track. Fewer job losses... More money in the hands of the consumer... More buying... More selling.

Is this too simplistic a view of the economy? I think not. But then why couldn't our honourable ministers think of this? Are all these stimulus packages simply poll gimmicks? What will happen once the elections are over?

More questions. Few answers. And unfortunately no light at the end of the tunnel.

Whats in a name?

A lot I guess.

Atlease going by what happened to me a few days ago.

A friend recommended a candidate for a vacancy in my company. I try to make my interviews as informal and comfortable as possible. I find that potential employees tend to share more than they actually want to.

Anyways, i found out that my friend had also interviewed this particular guy. I asked him how he thought he had done there and he was confident that he impressed my friend.

Super. When I asked him if we were both to select him, who would he choose to work for. He said the other company. Why? Because they were a "LIMITED" company where as I was only a "Private Limited" one. Never mind that in actual business terms I am bigger. This guys choice of employer was based solely on the name!

So I guess there is more to a name than we actually imagine.

And, yeah, I did get to speak to my friend about the interview and needless to say neither of us chose this guy.