Seth Klarman is the founder and president of The Baupost Group, a Boston-based private investment partnership. He wrote a book named ‘Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor’ which is an investment classic, but has been out of print since 1991. For the individual investor, this is perhaps the best book … Read more
My readers have been wondering where I have been for the past so many days, and why there have been no posts for a long time. My profuse apologies, but I must admit that I was busy in something more important. Well, not more important as such, but something that kept me busy. I was … Read more
“Ben Johnson would seem a like a small-time cheat compared to Lance Armstrong.” Jigneshbhai tells Swami and I to not lose our heads, and stay composed in all circumstances, but he seemed truly angry today. Sarcasm coming from him generally meant that he was not at all impressed with what was happening, to say the … Read more
I read a book titled “Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking” over the weekend. It is about the unconscious, intuitive power of our mind in making decisions in a flash. Something that can work both ways – good and bad – depending on the situation; and how to harness its power, as well as … Read more
Where does misuse of power and position end and where does corruption begin? Consider the following examples from the private sector: – The boss likes office parties and asks his favourite ‘compliant’ subordinate to pay the party bill and claim reimbursement, as the boss is the only approving authority. – The boss ‘negotiates’ with the … Read more
“I sometimes feel that the West Indies is every non-West Indian cricket fan’s favourite team after their own country.” Jigneshbhai made that remark as we were having our coffee. Swami was enthused with this cricketing remark. “Actually you might be right” he said. “If one were to ask cricket fans from different age groups and … Read more
“Remember many years back when you lived in Mumbai, there was an advertisement by ‘Baba Bengali’ stuck in the local train compartments?” Jigneshbhai asked Swami yesterday when we had our coffee. Swami broke into a smile, evidently remembering it clearly. “Yeah – it used to have claims like ‘solve all your problems in 11 days’ … Read more
“Do you remember that fishing rod ad where a serious looking businessman, who has almost given up on finding any fish, is sitting holding his rod patiently, and then a local fisherman comes, applies 4 drops of Fevikwik and runs away with the fish?” asked Jigneshbhai, as we were sipping our weekend coffee. Both Swami … Read more
“India can learn a lot from its first superstar” said Jigneshbhai while sipping his coffee. “It has been over a month since Rajesh Khanna died, but I am still not able to get over it.” I was not a big Rajesh Khanna fan, more of a Bachchan fan so to speak. But my broker friend … Read more