“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
“Aisa to Aadmi Life mein Doich time bhaagta hai. Olympic ka race ho, yaa Police ka case ho. Tum kisliye bhaagta hai bhai?” asked Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’. I felt like asking this to a friend of mine who I met a few days back. Despite the fact that he worked in the … 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
“Wimbledon is a bit like Disneyland – it is a world of make-believe.” Jigneshbhai said when we met last. The three of us were just back from London having gone through the surreal experience of watching a couple of matches including one featuring Federer in Wimbledon. Jigneshbhai was right indeed. Everything about Wimbledon is far … Read more
Greek mythology is full of kings and heroes who get condemned by the Gods to punishments that are cruel and terrible. Some of these are fallen heroes like the defeated titan, Atlas, who was condemned to hold the burden of the world on his shoulders. Or his brother, Prometheus, who stole fire for human use, … Read more
Three years back, SEBI decided to ban entry loads on equity mutual funds to stop their gross mis-selling. What this move also ended up doing was it stopped its selling. While it is true that no one has any monetary incentive to sell mutual funds anymore, the widespread perception that the problems in the mutual … Read more
“Yesterday a friend of mine said that he used to have a Professor who taught them Market Research and Quality Management, and who repeatedly made a statement that none of his students will perhaps ever forget.” Jigneshbhai started today’s coffee conversation with an almost unexpected academic background. Swami and I waited for him to complete … Read more
“I remember watching Didi’s comedy show on Doordarshan when we were kids on Saturday afternoons” said my broker friend Jigneshbhai as we were having our coffee yesterday. Swami got excited as he remembered it. “Yes, it was such a hit show. I used to wait for it – that guy made all kinds of faces … Read more