I started the year cheering ‘may the best of our past be the worst of our future’, fully
convinced that it could not get worse than 2008. It seems that everybody I spoke to had
experienced some sort of personal tragedy in 2008. As if that were not enough, the world itself
seemed to have gone through quite a tumultuous year – worst recession since the
great depression, oil at unprecedented levels, a food crisis and finally the
Mumbai tragedy – as if to say, this is as bad as it’s going to get. So, with renewed vigour and hope, I looked
out at the 2009 expanse from the rapidly closing 2008 window, and imagined how
wonderful my life would be – The new year would bring with it new opportunities,
new people, new dreams and perhaps the simple passing of time would simply
erase all my troubles. But 3 weeks into
the new year and I realize that life is not that simple. New problems have come
up.
Raju ban gaya gentleman
Suddenly, corporate India’s biggest scamster seems to
have found a conscience. By grudgingly admitting
to a multi-year multi-billion dollar fraud he seems to think that he has done
the country a favor. I personally think
that he has single-handedly eroded all the business credibility that this
nation had built over the last 20 years.
The only industry in India where ‘quality’ was not a concern and which, through its ripple effects, lifted
the country and its people to a higher plateu, is now being looked upon
suspiciously. A shame really.
Whose land is it anyway?
When I used to hear the word strip (no, I didn’t take my
clothes off) I used to think of Las Vegas - the playground
for adults. These days Gaza comes to mind. Rather unfortunate that 2009 started with renewed
warfare and an end to the cease fire. As
long as I can remember, the Hamas and Israelis have been at each other’s
throats. Somewhere along the way most
people, perhaps even them, have lost track of what they are fighting for. While 2008 offered some hope, 2009 has
brought an abrupt end to any resolution.
Oil’s not well
Up or down, oil seems to be at the core of this world’s
problems. At $140 per barrel it was
driving non-oil producing nations into bankruptcy. At $40 per barrel, it is affecting the huge
sovereign wealth funds of oil producing nations which, many expected, would
finance the world out of a global recession.
In India,
if oil subsidies don’t bankrupt us strikes by unions at the oil companies
will.
Let’s see what Feb and March have in store.
