The more things change ...

There's one thing that connects us, hip-hop artists and silkworms - we all really enjoy the comfort and luxury of our cocoons. They're cozy, warm and snug for sure.

But I guess it is the ability of a silkworm to get out of it, that strengthens it and prepares it for a future. It is remarkable how almost every silkworm does it, and how few humans even attempt it.

Change is always destabilising. Thats its basic nature. But it is fun to deal with it. The whole process is really interesting. New-situations-lead-to-new-reactions-lead-to-new-actions-lead-to-new-situations. Once you spin the wheel, it's really difficult to stop it, then. The only possible way out is acceptance.

And once you accept it, then the 'change' factor dissapears and essentially you create a new cocoon. The only way out is to think of (and get into!) newer situations and spin the wheel again. I guess acceptance is the part which keeps people from committing themselves to change. The colours on the wheel would be different every time, but like I said earlier - Isn't that the fun part?

So, I moved to Chennai, in a decision that took me ages to compile. To leave behind comforts of a beautiful cocoon isn't easy and knowing that the non-cocoon world would be harsher than the cocoon doesn't help the cause either. What I had, is, possibly what I will never have again. But its a new spinning wheel this time, and you can't relate it to your older wheels because the stakes are different, the colours and the hands spinning them are different.

I share a bond with the spinning. I liked the dizzy feeling you'd get when you were young and you would just go round and round with your arms spread. Its surprising, how more things change, the more they remain the same.

Actions speak louder than words

Hell that's untrue. I have no idea who came up with this 'brilliant' adage but I'm sure he must be one hopeful bloke wallowing in the shallow pool of self-pity.

Let body language experts disagree - but I insist that the easiest mode of understanding human behaviour is, and always has been -words. Nothing can communicate more than a handwritten letter, a one line message or a simple hello.

It is only when these words go missing is that room for 'actions' broadens and you end up spending more energy in defining and emoting your actions, than you actually should. Speaking up reduces the need and the urge to act by a huge percent. The absence of it, on the contrary, is bound to result in a gazillion misinterpretations.

People are funny. They end up judging your actions even though you don't want them to be judged. The only rationale behind this could be a shortage of words between 'em and you. In the process, you end up complicating your actions to send a 'message' across and that message, more often than not, gets lost and all that remains is a carcass of sour energy, thanks to the 'actions'. Actions have never defined words, only supported them.

So when in doubt or a question, talk it out. Nothing has settled more disputes and wars than talking. We're all lucky that each one of us is a mere phone call away from each other. But its strange how so many of us refuse to take advantage of this.

C'mon. You don't need a Coldplay number or a telecom advertisement to tell you this. Talk.

Green Nation

The last week has been great. Apart from the usual euphoria of travelling to UK, settling down again, catching up with old pals,etc etc .... an important event occured which I'm totally smiling at !

I am green again after a span of a month. Yes baby !! Back in profits, free from debt (I didn't have any, but I can share the feeling) and a proud being.

If you did notice, the sensex turned to 'sweet 16' ( the street has a lot of these obnoxiously lousy words!). And in a way, I respect !

The last month has been very trying. I almost went bankrupt, staggered to stand, fell back again, and then tried to stand up again, without any suppport. The two black fridays at the Sensex have been really painful and they hurt where it hurts the most - your thoughts. I can assure you that you do start to lose confidence in your capabilities when these things happen. Losing money is fairly OK, but losing the confidence to win back your money -- thats the one more dangerous.

Everybody worth their bit of money advised me not to get 'too involved' in the markets. Told me how it could be addictive, how you could get carried with your life in this, blah blah blah! But guys, cut me some slack ! I'm 24, have the hunger and most importantly - I'm single. So tell me a good reason to not do this, and then I'll probably pay some attention.

It's been a few months since I've entered the market (again, but more actively this time!). And what an experience these months have been. Going up the stairs, and coming down the escalator (and playing roller-coaster in between). I've seen a quantity of blood which could be matched only by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. Crazy bloodbath, but I can understand now what those knights must've felt like, crossing seas of blood, but proud that they could walk through it with their heads held high !!

I was reduced to around 20% of my baggage(down 80% from my initial investment) on Friday, 24 August. I couldn't dare to inform this to Mum. She would've probably freaked out (But hey, she does that for most of the things I do anyways [:)]... I am glad I still had some strands of hope, riding on which I could make it to +10% on Friday, September 21st. Nearly a 90% turn in a month, not bad I say !!

So was it just a bad unlucky patch of time? I would say more than that. You learn out of every experience and in that area this one has been a gemstone. I've learned so much from this. I've seen so much that I know when-to-do-what better now. Patience is one of the basic attributes you need to trade, and I've accumulated so much of that in this.

As Jignesh-bhai says, the more you see the downs, the more chances of you not being down again.

Probably a mumbai adaptation of the Shakespearean - What kills you not, makes you stronger.

Hats off guys to you. To the BSE. To PETRONET LNG

Cheers !!

Halfway up the stars !

If you live in Mumbai-Pune (like I do) and if you've never done this ever, then I do feel that you're missing an essential part of life - moving on! (pun intended).

Probably a bad metaphor, but I must reiterate that nothing is more gratifying (I have limited frames of references!) than a morning drive on NH4 from Pune to Mumbai. I was blessed again to do this, last Wednesday. I rode the Avenger to Mumbai on a journey that only destiny could imbibe !

I wanted to start from Pune at around 2 AM, but Ma won't let me. I promised that I would leave only by morning (silly conditions only a mother can put you into!). Found a loophole and left at 5 AM. It was still pitch dark, though by all Indian standards, it was pretty much - morning.

The road from Pune house to NH4 entry, is actually a beautiful sight at pre-dawn. Dim lights, empty winding roads and eerie insect sounds. Surprising how absence of things can be so wonderful ! You need not worry about other people on the roads anymore, or about the cyclist who's blocking the road, or the uncle who's driving at the speed of a retarded turtle on an empty road, or about the cabbie-fella who's trying to impress his female boarders with his driving skills !
All that is buzzing around ##, is your machine which you adore and ride, at the same time.
You can gather all your thoughts. The reflective ones, the reasoning ones, the where-am-I-going-in-life ones. Every pin drop of your thoughts is as aloud as a whistling train in your head!

All this was till I reached the foothill of Lonavala. The drive had a different fever after that point. Dawn was about to crack in;and the air was full of dew (I'm not sure if that was dew or clouds!) and I had to drop my speed to 25-30 coz the visibility had dropped to less than 5 feet. Probably a Ramanand Sagar definition of Swarg, but this was a different experience indeed. The dew was actually settling on my body and the bike. Dew on a moving object!, they didn't teach that in School.

By the time I had reached Lonavala, I was drenched and it hadn't even rained. These are the points of time where you must acknowledge and respect nature for all its glory. You can drive the costliest of bikes through that route but you cannot beat the dew settling on your skin.

The curve around Tiger valley has been a life-changing experience for me, since the first time I drove around it in 2005. Before hitting this curve, you just keep going on & on, pondering about your thoughts; swishing past the clouds; listening to the remote waterfalls. Till this turn, the bike is climbing a one way hill without any spectacular landscapes on either sides. You keep driving till this curve, which is the tipping point.

The very moment you complete the circle, you are faced with a deep deep valley on a side, with the clouds and waterfalls suddenly at your feet. You're driving on a road which has flowing clouds on either sides, and you can't help but think if thiss is how the 'stairway to heaven' would look like. All your thoughts dissapear and there's a gleeful smile; probably irrational but completely satisfying.

There are three bridges, post this curve and all of them were at my command. Drove a bit carelessly around them, just to prove that I could rule this road. I'm a bit glad that no one actually saw me doing that; it would've been quite embarassing ! I crossed Khopoli, which is a small town situated in between Khandala, Lonavala and other divine Sahyadri hills.

I reached Panvel by late 7.30s, in a drive, that takes you halfway up the stars, makes you rule there and gives you an immense sense of gratification, that very few things in life can provide.

Shady's back, tell a friend !

Yes. One more blog. Probably less obscure and more focussed one, this time. I've deleted all earlier posts, and starting again on a new slate.