Some intriguing questions for a lazy Sunday morning..

Posted: April 5, 2009 in Uncategorized
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Newspaper headlines and some small print that I managed to catch, generate a few questions in my mind. Would love to have answers to these?

1. Are politicians such super beings? That while they have been busy members of the parliament for five years, they have also managed to be either fantastic investors or awesome business persons on the side, to have been able to increase their personal worth several notches! Even as accomplished full time investors and business persons have seen their worths going down, thanks to the stock market collapse, real estate pull down and the general recession. Rahul Gandhi’s worth went up from a couple of laksh in 2004 (wow.. was that a joke or what??!) to more than 2 crores in 2009. Would you not like that kind of growth in your capital?? He is said to have acquired a couple of shops in Delhi, worth about 1.3 crores. Would income tax investigate the matter to ask for the resources used to acquire this property?? Or that is only meant for common people like you and me?
Mind you, Rahul Gandhi is not an isolated case, most politicians’ worth has gone up. HOW do they do it? Maybe they can run some courses for us..

2. Priya Dutt, daughter of Sunil Dutt, fights on a Congress ticket. Her brother, with whom she has shared many a platform, and sworn lifelong love and shared the Dutt tradition and all that, now tries to take a SP ticket to fight the elections from Lucknow. The same brother who is an accused for very heinous crimes, during the Mumbai riots, and has been out on bail.

Cut..

To the candidate who is to oppose Priya in the elections. Mahesh Jethmalani, eminent lawyer, on a BJP ticket. BJP, the party with the Hindutva agenda. Who want to take stern action against Pakistan, should they come to power. Now Mahesh’s father, Ram Jethmalani, was quoted by Pakistani TV, making some very embarrassing (to India) statements, in the immediate aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai attack. In fact, both Mahesh and Ram have often defended hard core criminals, including the ‘enemies of the country’ kind, in courts.

With all this baggage, Priya and Mahesh get tickets from India’s two national parties! So the question is, “HOW?”. Do the parties not get candidates with real clean slates? Without any kind of baggage?? Or are these issues not considered as baggage anymore in Indian society?

3. Priyanka Gandhi’s father-in-law is found dead. “Found” dead. The most famous political family, a celebrity family like none other in India, and a scandal of this size. And yet the story appears almost in fine print in the dailies. And the hounding investigative media, who can run day long bulletins, after issues like why Katrina is chosen as India’a Barbie and not Aishwarya, choose to go quiet on this big scandal.

What do you make of this? Is this the ultimate “Godfather family” of the country (Italian connection is incidental.. or maybe not..?) who no one can dare speak a word against? What was the real reason behind the death? How was he just “found dead”?

4. The Telgi scam. Huge headlines. Thousands of crores of money (well,s tamp papers) simply printed. Huge participation of government sources. Dirt flies on minister Chhagan Bhujbal, DCP Pradeep Sawant and many other big names. Most have to lose their jobs, because evidence is clear enough.

Cut.

Few years pass. Other scams and other events capture public’s imagination. 26/11 happens. Huge political damage takes the toll of Maharashtra CM and Dy CM. Replacements have to be found.

Quietly Bhujbal is back. No one even notices. Because 26/11 is far bigger and everyone is focused on that. No one questions how Bhujbal is forgiven and brought back to power.

Few months go by.

And as if on cue, DCP Pradeep Sawant, accused in the same scam, also returns. Is reinstated. Again no questions asked. All is forgiven and forgotten.

Interesting eh?
The question is, “Is public memory so short after all? Will politicians and scamsters continue to thrive in these circumstances? Will we suffer crooks always??”

5. Under the circumstances, we go to vote in a few weeks now. And they tell us to go and vote, to be conscious of whom we are voting for, to be sure that we vote for ‘no criminals’. So the last question that I ponder over, on this lazy Sunday is “Is there anything like ‘no criminals’? Is there really an alternate option with a hope to actually pull in the votes and make us feel proud of our politicians??”

If you have answers, let me know.

Meanwhile, as in case of most other citizens, for me too, this phase will get over. I will return to my Sunday beer, my cricket match, my family, my Facebook, and pretend that these problems do not exist!

Google to acquire Twitter? Might be good, in fact..

Posted: April 3, 2009 in Business, google, twitter
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I caught this news early on Thursday morning, on a tweet from Guy Kawasaki. That Techcrunch was reporting about late stage talks of Google acquiring Twitter. I checked to ensure that it was not an April 1 story, and that these were indeed “truemors”!

If this were to happen, I believe it would be a good move for all parties concerned.

Let’s understand first, who are the parties directly  involved:

1. Google

2. Twitter

3. We, the users of both!

Well, there is also Facebook which went after Twitter, failed to acquire it, then started aping Twitter. And then there is Microsoft, an investor in Twitter, still trying to catch up in the social space. And other such.

But really, the main three constituents of the deal are the ones enumerated above.

So why would it be good for all of them.

Google has been struggling to find the next wave of growth. Ad revenues have been down, many of the new projects it invested in, have not delivered. There is constant pressure, at least from media and analysts, that its losing its way. And that Twitter is a big threat on account of its ability to offer real time search results.

So it would be a good boost for Google at this time, to get Twitter.

Twitter on the other hand, has been under pressure to get revenue flow started. Its clean interface without clutter of ads, is appealing, but it haunts them now, as they cannot suddenly be seen to fill it up with ads. They did raise more funds recently, but I am sure the investors were also looking for some revenue side action from Twitter. A feeble attempt to put a small ad on home pages and talk of a pro-version coming out soon, were starts  on to the revenue path. But when you start from zero, its always a LONG way to go!!

So being acquired by Google would not be bad for them either.

What does Google bring to the table then?

A working advertising model, with advertiser and publisher relationships like no other, in Adsense / Adwords.

A model of revenue sharing which is well established and which can be put in place on Twitter in some or the other way, in no time.

A huge understanding of contextual advertising model, and some ability to filter our spam from the same.

All this can be unleased on to Twitter, to generate revenues for Twitter, very quickly.

While we all like it clean and free, we also know that there is nothing like a free lunch. So rather than wait for Twitter to run out of money or get desperate, or have its service quality suffer, this may be just the right antidote.

And where does that leave the last constituent of the puzzle? We, the users of Google and of Twitter?

I think it benefits us as well.

For one, we can be sure that our favorite microblogging service is here to stay.

And our favorite search engine is more empowered now.

And that for our search, we can go to a single place, and pick up real time as well as historical data.

And can get amazing trending information, for now, and for the past.

Yes, it would be good.

I would say, its a real WIN-WIN-WIN for the three parties involved.

Where does that put Facebook? I don’t know. Maybe there would be one more interface revision of Facebook, with a Google like search (maybe powered by MS Live) to go with the Twitter like updates that they have already incorporated??!

Keeping your customers: a lesson learned

Posted: March 17, 2009 in Uncategorized
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Sitting in India, we have the luxury of having someone to drive our car, having someone else to wash our car (manually) daily, etc. I have been enjoying these privileges too.
I have had a separate person who cleans the car and another one who drives me around. Recently, we got a new driver, who after having spent a few weeks with us, suggested on his own, that he can also wash the car, and can he do that please? Thinking to be one of the very trivial decisions, I agreed. And got a message sent out to current car washer, that he should stop washing the car from 1st of March.
He earns what I consider, a very small sum of money, for washing my car daily. And I did not even think about this, when I decided to make the change, to have the car washed by the driver.
However, come the first Sunday of March, and the car washer sought the opportunity of my presence at home, and came up to see me. I thought he may be wanting to settle his account. But I was surprised.
He made a fervent plea to me, to allow him to continue to wash the car. He asked me if I had any complaints of his washing. And if not, why do I want to deprive him, of his earnings of me? Also that based on a certain regular flow of income, he has his expenditure planned out, and losing one, will affect him. In short, he appealed to me, at all levels.
And ultimately, I saw reason in his argument, and decided to let him continue the service.
I could have insisted to change, and he would have not been able to insist further, but he made a strong case, and wanted to get his point across. He spent a good 15-20 minutes, making his case, and ensuring that the opportunity of having an audience with me, was well utilized. And he retained me.
I thought about this, as a lesson in customer retention. In present tough times, when our clients are changing vendors to save costs, or for other reasons, are we trying half as hard, to keep their business? Because for the car washer, it impacted his life directly, he was more concerned. In a corporate environment, the loss of a single client does not necessarily translate immediately, or at least apparently, to a personal loss. Does that make us a little complacent about letting the business go without putting up an adequate fight??
Think about it..

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The AIG bonus issue: a viewpoint

Posted: March 17, 2009 in Uncategorized
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There is a lot of noise and disapproval about AIG giving ample bonuses, to its executives, after having been a recipient of a huge bailout package from the US government. The general sentiment is that why should the bailout money go to enrich few individuals, that too, so amply?

The sentiment is right in it’s place, and from the point of view of public perception, it makes all sense.

But here is another viewpoint to the same issue.

And I must admit at this point that I do not know a lot about AIG and it’s matters, in particular, and that my argument is about the concept, and not so much, about the specific case.

Say, a company (in this case, AIG) is in big trouble. And the only way that it can be rescued is, by getting some external aid (like the bailout, in case of AIG).

Now, if the company is in big trouble, besides the money, it will also need exceptional management skills to bring it out of trouble. Maybe the current management is no good, and which has caused the company to be in its present state of trouble, in the first place. Fair enough. Then, there is new management that needs to come in, and fix the mess.

So how does a troubled company get in new and capable management? Why would a smart team come in, and work for a company, which at best, can be rescued back to life, and quite likely, it may continue to flounder, or even sink? Why would a capable team leave their current assignments and come in, to do this rescue act? Or if there are a few good team members, in the company, why would they stick on, and not leave to take care of their own careers??

Not everyone is a Lee Iacoca. Not everyone is doing out of personal motivation – for the brand, for the company, for the country. All those things are fine, but people have their own lives and their careers to worry about.

So if an individual or a team decides to take up this huge challenge of bringing out the company from it’s deep hole, they need to be rewarded fair and well. Perhaps more than fair and well. Because they are taking a risk that they do not need to take.

Of course, the structuring of the package can be done well, and can have a huge incentive on success, but even without success, a basically decent package is required to get the person/s in, in the first place.

So even as it appears wrong, as per public perception, I believe that decent packages, perhaps inclusive of good bonuses, are a need, at such times. Otherwise, you pay peanuts, get monkeys, and lose the bailout money without rescuing the company after all!!

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Indian Elections – sick of the politics already!

Posted: March 10, 2009 in Uncategorized
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The election season has started. And I am not at all happy with the goings-on. In fact, I am sick of it. Already. And I know, it’s early days. And it can only get worse. I am sick of the quality of candidates getting into the fray. Sanjay Dutt – accused in Mumbai riots, Azharuddin – accused in match fixing, political progeny with no other track records, arbitrary freeloaders… ! Damn it!

In the early days, I saw some good folks (intelligent, educated, clean…) taking up the cause of BJP and working on it actively. But with the disastrous alliances or lack of them, that BJP is landing itself into, its not looking good at all. The leadership is looking weak, and allowing the Congress, the Third Force and its old allies, to take them for a ride. How can this party prevail when it shows such a weakness?

All the alliances talks are openly appearing to be opportunistic horse-trading. Already. Even before election results are out. Like there is no philosophy. Only opportunities. Damn it!

What kind of a system we are stuck in? Those who were part of a mainstream national level alliance, also want to become regional, and open up their opportunities to swing any way that they can.. as there is more value in doing so!

Yes, there are the thinking people’s candidates and parties emerging. But I am not sure if they can make any serious impact this time around. So in the meantime, with all the citizen movements, and the voting awareness that has been brought in, I am afraid that we are going to have a system that stinks. Regional parties who may assert themselves and hold the country to ransom. And potentially, smaller parties or leftist parties having a disproportional say in government formation, perhaps including the choice of a PM.

Damn it!

Rang Rasiya – a must-watch Ketan Mehta film

Posted: March 1, 2009 in Uncategorized
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Saw a preview of the film, Rang Rasiya last night. It is yet to be released, and this was a private screening. I enjoyed the film thoroughly.

Before viewing the film, the story of a painter’s life did not seem fascinating to me. But I am glad that I went in spite of such reservations. For the story of the painter, Raja Ravi Verma makes for very fascinating viewing. That he is a real life character and this story is from our history boggles the mind even more. What a character Raja Ravi Verma was!

Indeed, what hit me most about the movie was to discover the character of Raja Ravi Verma. And understand some more about the character of mavericks. Geniuses of our world who live by their own rules, and where passion rules above all.

Ravi Verma was an amazing artist. But he always needed the right inspiration. Which at most times, was found amongst the women who came into his life. Beautiful women, whom he then visualized as Goddesses, or as other mythological characters. And painted them for preserving their beauty for posterity. As a dialogue of the film states that “you are beautiful, but you will not remain beautiful for ever; my paintings will..”. Passion enables Ravi Verma to create scores of paintings one better than the next. He enjoys the adulation of women. And loves to enjoy life as well.

But beyond paintings and beyond inspirations for paintings, Ravi Verma was a special man! A class above. He, who gets a once in a lifetime opportunity of an audience with the Maharaja of Baroda, only to refuse what the King wants him to paint, and suggest something else. And he gets his way. His confidence convinces the King to give him his way. Ravi Verma, in his quest to capture the looks of India, travels far and wide across the country. Absorbs the scenes of India, and again rediscovers his inspiration to come back and create more fascinating work.

He was different. Because he wants the art exhibits to be thrown open to public viewing. To get a sense of how his work is appreciated by common people. And when that happens, he discovers how much of an impact his work can have. Seeing a painting of a Goddess that he has created, common men bow down like they would, at a temple!

Still later, Ravi Verma is shown to have that dash. Where fascinated by the concept of a printing press, he is willing to put the last shirt on his back, to stake, and get the printing press, so that his works can be mutiplied, and the impact is felt across a much larger cross section of society. He is successful in this endeavor too. Or later when he encounters motion picture for the first time, and is again, ahead of his times in appreciating the impact that it would create. So much so, as to sell off his press, to create some money to give to a young Dadasaheb Phalke, to go an bring the magic of cinema home! Indeed, in that respect, he was the true entrepreneur and also the true VC, way before those terms were invented!! His argument in the court, when his opponents have dragged him there, is reminiscent of Abhishek in Guru.

I have become an admirer of Raja Ravi Verma, after seeing the film. Perhaps such streaks of brilliance is what separates the many good professionals from those who stand tall, as First Among Equals!

Ketan Mehta is the pefect director to handle projects of this kind. He has a feel for India’s culture and history, and he does a great job here too. Randeep Hooda is quite a revelation, at least to me. I thought of him as an average actor, till this movie. Here in Rang Rasiya, Randeep scales new heights and shows amazing acting range.

The film is an Adults Only certification film. It is expected to release in a few weeks now. I am sure it will please a discerning audience and makes for a great multiplex product!

RIL-RPL proposed merger: Open letter to Mukesh Ambani

Posted: February 28, 2009 in Uncategorized
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My friend, Mehul makes some very valid points, in his open letter to Mukesh Ambani, with regards to the proposed merger of RIL and RPL. I hope that the sentiment reaches the decision makers in the Reliance group. With Mehul’s permission, I am reproducing his letter, verbatim, as under:

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Shri Mukesh Ambani,
This refers to your announcement of proposed merger of RIL and RPL.
While i am sure the economies of scale created will be of enormous value to shareholders in the long run,
am voicing few concerns on the same for shareholders of RPL.
1)Most of your “loyal” shareholders purchased shares of RPL on the day of listing (11-May-2006) around average price of Rs.87
2)They have been holding onto these shares for almost three years without any dividend or other return
3)Their cost including three years interest (@15%) works out to around Rs.133.
(against present market price of Rs.75 approx.)
4)At present swap ratio of shares based on market value they would receive approx 1 share of RIL for every 17 shares held.
5)Would request you to consider a swap ratio favourable to RPL shareholders (say 1 : 13)
6)This would benefit you in several ways as below
(i) earn the respect of RPL shareholders (who feel cheated that you sold 5% RPL stake in the market at above Rs.220)
(ii) ensure at least some return to RPL shareholders who held on waiting for the refinery to begin
(iii) send a message to the investor public that you care about your shareholders
(they presently believe the merger is just a ruse to reduce the equity of RPL from 4500 crores to about 250 crores wherein
again if you extinguish your 70% holding and buy back Chevrons 5% you would have to service an equity of only Rs.70 crores)
What would this cost you – ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
Lets say that all RPL capital gets converted into RIL capital at a swap ratio of 1 : 13
The additional equity created would be approx. Rs. 350 crores.
Of this you already own 70% in RIL which can be extinguished.
Net additional equity created would be only Rs. 105 crores (vis a vis 80 crores in a swap ratio of 1:17)
By creating an additional 25 crores of equity you will earn the respect of a number of loyal shareholders of the Reliance family.
Your brother was kind enough to do similarly during allotment of bonus shares in Reliance Power wherein he did not claim his entitlement of bonus shares.
While you may feel that this was just a paper gimmick the market thinks otherwise.
Hope you are able to understand your shareholders pysche as your father did and move in the right direction.
warm regards,
Mehul Zatakia

p.s. if your board members need convincing will be happy to meet them personally to explain the rationale of above
Mehul Zatakia
9892013019
Financial Advisor
Sykes and Ray Equities (I) Ltd.
Daulatram Mansion, 2nd floor,
Kitridge Road, Colaba,
Mumbai – 400 005
tel (o) 22874615, 22797371
(res) 23674416, 22934547

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Disclosure: I hold shares in both, Reliance Petroleum Ltd as well as Relaince Inds. Ltd.

Rahman’s Oscars reminded me of India’s 1983 World Cup win

Posted: February 23, 2009 in Uncategorized
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That A R Rahman’s small acceptance speech after winning an Oscar should contain the oft repeated dialogue from Deewar, “Mere paas Maa hai” was indicative of his true roots. In Indian cinema.

That he went along and spoke his standard Tamil line too, acknowledging the role of destiny, was again an indication of his Indian-ness.

As an ardent admirer of A R Rahman, it was a special morning for me. Hearing his name being called out for the first time, seeing him gulp down his throat, as he jerked and rushed to the stage to bag his Oscar. Then, coming on stage to render voice on his compositions of two of his Oscar nominated songs from Slumdog Millionaire. Holding his own in front of that august audience. And then ever so humbly, accepting the second of his two Oscars.

What a feeling.

I felt goosebumps. The closest I have ever felt to an event of this kind (where I have not been directly involved) was when India won the World Cup in 1983. It was the same kind of feeling when Rahman picked up his two Oscars today. What a dream come true.

In fact, few days back, the Bombay Times had carried a story about him negotiating a deal with Krishna Shah, who is on the jury at the Academy, to get him to an Oscars show, in return to hearing a script of Krishna Shah’s. Like any other excellent performer of the arts, he did dream about the Oscars. And it was a most fitting climax today, for him to bag not one, but TWO Oscars.

That from yesterday, I have been humming tunes from his latest release, Delhi 6, is a coincidence. I am sure he will delight us for many more years, and I will not be surprised to see him on stage at the Oscars few more time, in his lifetime!

Oscars and Olympics: India is coming of age! Jai ho..

Posted: February 23, 2009 in Uncategorized
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It has been a special year for India. At competitive international events, where all these years, India was nowhere in the race.

First it was the Olympics. Where, we have forgotten how to win a hockey medal for years. And where other than hockey, India was not even in the consideration for any medals.

And where in 2008, out of nowhere, India picked up not one, not two, but THREE medals! It was quite unbelievable. For sports like shooting or boxing or wrestling were never considered to be India’s forte. It is one thing to be in consideration once ina while, at the Asian Games or at the Commonwealth Games. But at the Olympics, we were not even in consideration. And then, to come from nowhere, and pick up three medals was quite awesome.

Likewise now, at the Oscars (whatever Amitabh Bacchan might think of these, the Oscars are truly a global recognition in the world of cinema, and they reign supreme in stature), our best hope used to be that one Oscar for the best foreign film. And the country would be going gaga over a Lagaan making it to the final round.

And then, from nowhere, we had this international film with an India theme, Slumdog Millionaire. And in which many Indian artists had a role to play. And no less than 3 of them were annointed as winners at the Oscars earlier today. A R Rahman, Gulzar and Resul. With Rahman getting TWO Oscards in fact.

And if that was not enough, in the documentary film section, there was another Indian winner for the film, Smile Pinki.

So it was a great day for India.

India has come of age and there will be many more winners to follow these few now. Cheers! Jai Ho…

Delhi 6: My rating * * * *

Posted: February 22, 2009 in Uncategorized
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I have been warned by a friend not to reveal too much about the film in the review, so I will keep it brief. But at the outset, I must refer to my prediction in the form of a pre-release preview about Billu and Delhi 6. On February 8th, I had predicted that Billu will be kind of average and Delhi 6 will be a good film. Well, I had stuck my neck out and talked about 2.5/5.0 for Billu and 4.5/5.0 for Delhi 6.

From what I can see from official and unofficial reviews, I am not too much off the mark. And in my own book at least, I am quite on the dot with Delhi 6. Based on what I read about Billu, I have not felt it worth to go and see it!

I have already covered my tribute to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and talked about the actual performances in Delhi 6 in earlier posts. So what else can I say without saying too much, about the film?

There is an amazing capture of old Delhi. The place, the people, the life there. The energy of the place. You can clearly feel the pulse of the place.

The song with the New York – Delhi mashup is a brilliant piece. That is the kind of genius stroke which for example, we saw in the ‘Woh Ladki Hain Kahan’ song in Dil Chahta Hain.

There are small shades of Swades, but not much. Although there is the NRI factor, its not been overused just to sell the film in the overseas markets.

Like Rang De Basanti, smart work has been done by mixing up history / mythology as mirrors / pathfinders for today, and especially as conscience calls for the characters in the film.

The climax is always the biggest challenge for any filmmaker. What is that fantastic ending that he must depict that audiences leave the theatre awestruck?! And many a filmmaker has fallen short at that pedestal. If the film has to be faulted, it is in this space, for Delhi 6 too. At the end, the climax is a bit hackneyed, and undos a lot of the good work done earlier.

Rest its money and time well spent, and I recommend it!

There, I have summarized it, without telling too much. Hope my friend approves 🙂

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