Read to Reap!

My attempt at making this a "reading mall"!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Aditi song in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

I love it! Every time I listen to this song, my heart dances. Its a scintillating song. I mean, there have been innumerable songs in Bollywood over the last few decades, where the hero of the movie is in the mode of "Sorry, babe. I will make it up to you", or, in the mode of, "Oops! What happened? What can I do to cheer you up?", etc. These songs have usually been immensely lively, shot in very natural environs such as beaches, gardens, and other public places (yet another option for heroes and heroines to run around trees!). But, this Aditi song is incredibly different.

And I love it! Its got energy; purpose; sense of occasion;fantastic sense of humour;easy on the heart;and it makes me feel so nice at the end of it all. Especially that one line, "Aditi, hans de, hans de.....tu zara" - that is so typical of a guy trying to cheer up his girl, in every discernible way that he can think of. It is also possibly the expression that would account for the fact that a guy will do anything to see his babe happy & even a frown on her face propels him deep into depression!

Infact, I love this song so much, that my tired legs begin to automatically move whenever I listen to this song, irrespective of where I am (which is usually in a car or a shuttle from/to office, when I hear this song). Every time I listen to this song, it energises me and makes my heart dance. I don't know why, but maybe, because it gives me so much happiness that, in this world of materialism, there are some old world charms still alive & kicking. Ones uch divine charm, is to see your babe happy. Or, even any dear friend of the opposite sex who you get along with famously, happy.

Kabhi Aditi....terrific song! I plan to download this into my iPod, rather than wait for only FM radio to play it!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Buy American. I Am. - Warren Buffet

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/opinion/17buffett.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

THE financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.

So ... I’ve been buying American stocks. This is my personal account I’m talking about, in which I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds. (This description leaves aside my Berkshire Hathaway holdings, which are all committed to philanthropy.) If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities.

Why?

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Let me be clear on one point: I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven’t the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month — or a year — from now. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.

A little history here: During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom in April 1942, well before Allied fortunes turned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank. In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.

Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

You might think it would have been impossible for an investor to lose money during a century marked by such an extraordinary gain. But some investors did. The hapless ones bought stocks only when they felt comfort in doing so and then proceeded to sell when the headlines made them queasy.

Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value. Indeed, the policies that government will follow in its efforts to alleviate the current crisis will probably prove inflationary and therefore accelerate declines in the real value of cash accounts.

Equities will almost certainly outperform cash over the next decade, probably by a substantial degree. Those investors who cling now to cash are betting they can efficiently time their move away from it later. In waiting for the comfort of good news, they are ignoring Wayne Gretzky’s advice: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.”

I don’t like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasize that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I’ll follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: “Put your mouth where your money was.” Today my money and my mouth both say equities.

Warren E. Buffett is the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, a diversified holding company.