Will

The Will to do what is right,
The Will to take on insolent might,
The Will to stand down in a fight,
The Will to hold arms tight,
The Will to hold all equal in sight,
The Will to stay on the path of light,
The Will to get through the night,
The Will to take to flight

Spring

as the winter's frost fades away,
the temple bells herald a new day
waking nature up from its hibernation
nudging it to life with silent invocation

here approaches the king of seasons,
a time for the heart to sing without reasons,
here approaches the pleasant spring
and all shall hail the return of the king

clear blue skies adorn the new dawn
and nightingale's sing on spring's first morn
the forest is brought to stand on its feet
watching the peacock dancing to the beat

the sun shines bright with rays ever so warm
lighting up the day with its magical charm
a cool breeze blows on a moonlit night
bringing eternal joy and wondrous delight

Chinamer

I was thinking about the recent mergers and acquisitions between various financial institutions on Wall Street. One can make a similar argument in the case of China and America. Lets see. China is good at savings, investment and production. America is good at spending, consumption and innovation. Why not merge these two countries?

That way, the bad assets on the balance sheet of America i.e the US Federal Reserve can be absorbed by the Chinese and the goods produced (i.e. the measure of level of unemployment) by the Chinese can be absorbed by America. Neat solution to avoid the problem of currency, deficit, reserves, free trade, WTO etc etc. The North American region will become the state/ province of Western Chinamer while the Asian China region will become the state/ province of Eastern Chinamer. The political systems in each of the provinces will remain the same as it is now. The financial systems will remain the same as well. The citizens will get dual citizenship but they will not be allowed to immigrate geographically. McDonalds and Starbucks will continue to goto China. Noodles, textiles and toys will come to America. There wont be any recession for a long time.

By the time the next recession comes, India will be ready to merge with Chinamer. That way recessions will be perpetually tackled on Earth. Then we can think of space colonies! Ah damn my imagination. Huh. On second thoughts, 'Chimera' seems to be a better name.

The Indian Economy is different

The Indian economic engine is distinctly different from economies of the past and the present. This is not so by design. It is largely circumstantial. Despite laboring under the heavily clad vest of bureaucracy, the pace of growth continues to be robust. Yes. It is not racing like the Chinese hare or floundering like an African snail. The tortoise goes at its own pace. It draws itself into a shell and shields itself at times of danger. When the danger passes, its head and legs emerge out of the shell, to restart the journey. A tardy pace of economic progress is the price the tortoise has to pay for carrying the weight of the shell.

The fall of consumerism

I get spammed incessantly on the phone with offers for free credit card, free sim card, free insurance, free this, free that. Bah! Then there is the SMS spam. Download this ringtone, listen to our astrologers, play these games, blah blah. I hate this kind of marketing. Promotional campaigns about products which I dont need.

I see this type of consumerism as a societal malaise. Consumerism is the consumption of beautifully wrapped and lavishly marketed useless products. It has become the bane of modern economy. Profligate spending on meaningless items backed by a thrift system seeking to make a quick buck. How can this be a sustainable approach to human progress and welfare development? All one does here is create catchy phrases, colorful wrappers, and loads of marketing BS. Is this business innovation? Is this a business model? Does the product serve a requirement. Nothing. A wasted creativity on a wasted product on a wasted purpose.

The present crisis has brought to the fore, the issue of consumerism. As discretionary spending is replaced by necessity spending in the recession and slowdown economies, the markets will temper consumerism with a measure of sensibility. Brands will most likely be replaced by their cheaper generics and product substitution (particularly in the case of electronic goods) will decrease.