ponderings & pennings

“Should banking be made boring?” made an interesting reading. This was in response to Paul Krugman’s analysis that boring banking ensures higher economic progress while exciting banking leads to economic crisis.

The above article based on a speech of D. Subbarao (Governor, RBI) refutes Krugman’s analysis in Indian context. Subbaro’s reasons are difficult to challenge. However, even in the global context, I think, banking should not be made boring.

An exciting banking ensures there are never ending avenues of raising money. Banks have the magical ability to create money by its rotation and credit facilitation. In fact it was further innovation in banking that made sure that other businesses grew, expanded and globalised. If banking were to remain a boring 3-6-3 job, capitalism and globalization would not have been known to the world.

I have doubts on the conclusion that exciting banking caused economic crisis. The economic crisis is more because the businesses tried to take undue advantage of the banking and the banker’s enthusiasm on financial innovation. I have experienced where corporate officials are more eager to have exotic derivative positions in their balance sheet just to show that they are better CFOs. Would you call a banker who just provides the CFO with the position (s)he wants and charges fees as wrong? I absolutely do not subscribe to the case (esp in India) where corporate officials have impugned bankers for not making them aware of all the risks involved. CFOs and their deputies used to feign knowledge and appetite to show off to their Boards as a justification of fat salaries, a balance sheet with contingent liabilities full of exotic nomenclatures.

Besides all this, making banking boring will be a tough task and to achieve it, we would first have to make money boring!

Forbes is out with its list of richest people across the world. I don’t follow the list and remain indifferent to the names appearing in the list every year.

However, this year my indifference ended when I read a few analyses in newspapers and websites giving the below fact:

100 richest Indians are worth $276 billion, while their Chinese counterparts have a networth of $170 billion. Three richest Indians are worth $79.5 billion while it takes 24 Chinese billionaires to make the $80 billion figure.
-         Source: Business Line, Nov 20, 2009

The questions that I have are:
1.       Is the growth in India, which we all are proud of, as inclusive as Chinese?
2.      Have we really empowered the common man or this reflects the new avatar of license raj?
3.      Are growth prospects of new businesses higher in China?
4.      We know that starting a business in India remains a tough terrain but is it 8 times more tough than it is in China?!

(This is probably my first post here on personal matter)

I have neither forgotten my primary maths nor I am out of my senses – well, perhaps I am!

For me, this new chapter has opened up late in life but then it has only proved the age old adage – Sabr ka fal meetha hota hai. And at the same time the unfolding of this chapter has led to a complete change of my impression about my fortunes and I am now sure that I do have a pretty good luck as I am sure very few men get so good a wife.

But at the same time I am feeling terribly sorry that my fiancé is making so many adjustments (even before the nuptial knot is formally tied). Besides relocation, there is a certain amount of uncertainty about her career in terms of choice of role and department. However, what will hurt me the most is if this uncertainty spills over to her job as such i.e. change in company and/or her promotion which is deservingly due. I will hate to live the rest of my life under this regret on such an auspicious beginning of a new and ever lasting relationship. I pray that her career should only grow steeply after this relationship.

A small part of my above concern stems from the fact that she has already proven lucky for me. I had been longing to relocate back to Delhi which materialized in a few days when I first started talking to her. With her saying yes to me, a lot of good things have already started happening in my family (though I still am skeptical on how long these good things will last). I wish her charm erases the spell of bad omen in my family. As for me, I got captivated by one of her charms - the charm of her eyes which had me captive when I first met her. The place where we first met has a name which ryhms with fury but looking at her eyes was so soothing that I’m sure it were her eyes that made me stand the fury, if there was any!

I really don’t know the reasons for her saying yes to me with many other options available to her. But it is heartening for me to know that actually I have won her over a couple of competitors one of which was a very close win. But there is one very strong competitor whom I don’t think I can ever defeat as I just can’t do anything about that competitor except feel jealous of Salman Khan!

Request you to pray for us both and bless us for a long life of togetherness full of contentment and happiness.