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“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 and I nodded, smiling as we remembered that “Chutki mein chipkaye?” Fevikwik ad. We were not quite sure why our broker friend was referring to that, though.
“Our PM and government seems to have pulled off a Fevikwik!!” laughed Jigneshbhai.
“For the all the things that were broken in our Indian economy, finances and markets over the last so many months, he has applied 4 drops of sentiment booster adhesive.”
“Everything that everyone had given up on – the diesel price hike, FDI in retail, FDI in aviation and PSU divestment – seems to have happened. The allies and opposition, like the serious man in that ad, are livid. Less due to the actual issue, and more, perhaps, because they were caught unawares and are thinking ‘how dare you con us like that?’ But like the local fisherman, the government must be laughing, waiting for the fish to come.” Jigneshbhai explained.
Swami and I were listening. We were slowly realising what our broker friend was saying, and why he was particularly in a cheerful mood. It looked like these steps were, indeed, a big boost for the economy and the markets. And all in one go.
But some questions still lingered. As expected, Swami popped the question, “So are you saying all our problems are solved now?”
“Well – one can never be sure of that” said Jigneshbhai, in his typical non-committal tone.
Not quite getting it, Swami asked, “So is this the start of a new bull run?”
Jigneshbhai always gets irritated by such questions.
Questions that pretend to predict the future, questions that suggest that anyone has an answer to them. Questions that, in his opinion, are futile to even try to answer.
But Swami always had loads of such questions. So Jigneshbhai tried to answer, as always.
“We all liked the fevicol ads, they made us feel good. But we knew that they were all hyperbole, unreal, exaggerations, isn’t it?” asked Jigneshbhai. “It is a bit like that.”
The question mark and confusion on Swami’s face was still there.
As he was getting ready to leave after finishing his last sip of coffee, my broker friend said “I wish there was a real life ‘chutki mein chipkaye’ for everything. The government’s ‘Fevikwik’ will likely attract new fish. But for the fish to stay, pray that it does really stick.”