Blog@GraceJunction

In my recent trips to down south, Kerala, I had the several opportunities for trysts with the laidback lifestyle of the Keralites. Except when they are on a strike or on a protest with loud ‘zindabaads’, the Keralites are noticeably very laid back.

I have my reasons for the same. For example, the workers in the fields; supposed to report at 8.00am; nearly idle their way to their work spots well past 8.15am and then you can suddenly see them resting again after ‘kanji’ at around 10.00am and then, though none of them carries a watch (at least they don’t show they have it!), invariably you can find them “all”, suddenly leaving their posts at 12.28pm. Such an impeccable and awesome sense of time! Though post-lunch period starts at 2.00pm, you can see them coming slowly to re-occupy their posts by 2.15pm. If you are at the spot, supervising them, you won’t even realize how and where they vanish suddenly at around 4.00pm for the ‘chaaya’! Around 4.50 pm you can see most of them lining up to wash themselves up before their procession back home! Perhaps they sigh and tell themselves, “At last, the end of another arduous day”! Yeah, arduous for sure, but arduous because of watching them! Oh what a life! (more…)

I had just returned from a long trip and was visiting the Soul Café after a long time. There were some visible changes to the place but most of it was only rearrangements. However, they were giving away Cold Coco at an almost ‘throw away’ price. I was surely going to try a couple of cups. I took the corner seat, ordered the Coco and took a relaxing position to make a review of the place. So many long discussions had ensued in that place! (more…)

The author of the famous book “Purpose Driven Life”, Rick Warren was asked by President Elect Barack Obama to deliver the invocation at his inauguration ceremony. This apparently harmless choice got boiled over into a political debate and controversy. Some were opposing it because of Warren’s Evangelical allegiance but most decrying it because of Warren’s stand against Homosexuals and Gay Marriages. The topic occupied so much print space that the interest in the invocation threatened to supercede the interest in the inauguration itself!

It’s amazing how the society has transformed in the last few years. From hush-hush discussions to become a voice of reckoning on national and international issues, homosexuality has come a long way. The fight of the homosexuals doesn’t end with the subject of their right to marriage. They are fighting for parenting rights too! It’s such a big debate that the proponents of the Gay movement say, “The last decade has seen a sharp rise among gay people planning and forming families through adoption, foster care, donor insemination, and other reproductive technologies so much so that the current period might be remembered in history as a lesbian and gay ‘baby boom.’” (more…)

This is how the 63rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations began this year. The Secretary General, as usual, addressed the gathering.

“Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: Welcome to the opening of the general debate of the 63rd session of the General Assembly. It is customary for the Secretary-General, on this occasion, to assess the state of the world and to present our vision for the coming year. We all recognize the perils of our current passage. We face a global financial crisis. A global energy crisis. A global food crisis. Trade talks have collapsed, yet again. We have seen new outbreaks of war and violence, new rhetoric of confrontation. Climate change ever more clearly threatens our planet. We often say that global problems demand global solutions. And yet … Today, we also face a crisis of a different sort. Like these others, it knows no borders. It affects all nations. It complicates all other problems. I refer, here, to a challenge of global leadership.”

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“Money is everything in life”, said a really bullish young man, who had made some good money in his careful investments spread across diverse investment options. He was willing to diversify it further into more riskier options to increase the chances of multiplying the returns. He was confident because, at a 9%, the GDP growth looked robust and increasingly improved ratings coming over from various global rating agencies only proved as an icing on the cake. Also pouring in were the news of increasing interest of more and more global players in India. IT, BT, BPOs, pharma, retail, telecom, infrastructure all looked big! He was glad that he was living in such a significant time in history and at the right place. His cousins in the west were thinking hard about coming back, while he was glad that he had a lead over thousands of such young and talented people in other nations of the globe! He had money and loads were going to come his way in the coming days! (more…)

The young India is already behaving in a very different way than their parents. They are earning younger, and working in myriad “new age” professions e.g. dance and fitness instructors, radio and TV jockeys, adventure tourism, cooking, grooming, gaming, modeling, acting, counseling besides, of course, retail and IT and other emerging sectors. They are making good money too.

More and more of them are becoming millionaires and the age they reach there is coming down too. The IT sector especially is offering almost double the salary than any other stream and the growth too is about 20% per annum, which is again higher than any other stream. Every mother is now looking for a software professional for her daughter! These class, who were considered to be geeks and nerds and not exactly – the marriage material, are now the most sought after lot. Money, and big money at that, is causing major social and cultural shifts. (more…)

The news coming from the west is not very encouraging. With the sub-prime fallout, US economy is troubled, in fact reeling. The US Fed has cut interest rate once again by another 25bp to 2%. However, market in US is not responding to these attempts by the Fed and markets worldwide are worried by this trend. Prices of food and gas are rising. Crude is at an all time high with no sign of cessation. The situation can no longer be called just a case of recession, but probably the beginning of a depression. Industries across the board have seen negative growth and loss of profitability, with banks, brokerages and mortgage companies being the biggest losers with the realty market also going down hill.

But I was surprised to see a particular industrial segment showing unusual growth even in this slump. In contrast to the general negative economic trend, this industry registered a 63% growth in soft-wares and 46% in equipments! I am talking about the video-games industry (if at all I may call it that). I was curious and wanted to learn something about this segment though within a short while I understood that I was delving into something that I would hardly understand even fairly well. I mean, I was sure I would not perhaps completely understand the underlying psyche of a gamer because this population was perhaps living oblivious to the market realities.

It was then that I came across this young guy who looked like someone heavily into gaming. We met up at a common friend’s place.

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