THE STORY OF A BANGALORE TECHIE

He was enticed the young techie,

Straight out of college in a bus; 

Recruited by this big MNC,

For a big fat salary! 

From Day One Techie was pampered,

All the things in office were free; 

The vending machine spewed round the clock,

Whatever techie wanted to eat! 

But the timings he kept were late, 

Anyway no one was at home; 

Techie also had a girl friend, 

Techie never thought of going home! 

The only outing was for beer,

To loud music, fat laden foods; 

The food in office was much worse,

For nothing in it was natural! 

Slowly the techie forgot,

What is real food and how it's made; 

Both he and his girl friend made out,

And ate the free food, morning and night! 

Techie never went into sunlight,

Never got wet in the rain; 

There was no need to even walk,

For transportation was arranged! 

Fifteen years passed very quickly,

Lots of gains in money and weight; 

Techie, the girlfriend, now the wife,

Were millionaires, with two fat kids! 

Evolution for them moved apace,

They had forgotten how to walk; 

Their food had settled in their waists,

All heavy, and fifteen years' worth! 

Techie has added to his diet,

Has a bunch of pills that Doctor gave; 

It's all paid for and it is free,

So techie and wife have two of each! 

He competes with all his colleagues,

On who has longer list of ailments; 

He boasts of his cars and other toys,

Vacations in plush destinations! 

His kids go to international school,

Where the kids are as dumb as any; 

But since they pay very high fees,

They get genius level grading! 

Now tachie and his wife are fifty, 

Their kids are fatter, more obese; 

There's not an ailment they don't have, 

Which for them is a matter of pride! 

They're the envy of all they meet,

Role models for nephews and niece; 

Look at techie and his lovely wife, 

And learn in life, how to succeed!

Dinesh Gopalan,

12 August, 2024

ON REITS

Real estate in India is opaque. 

There is no genuine price discovery. 

Builders are, without exception, crooks. 

Politicians and underworld, that's a tautology,  are involved in every facet of Big Real Estate. 

There is large component of black money. 

It is basically a cesspool out there. 

Add to that the inherent inefficiencies of "layering". Corporate structures, moron managers ( we have all been managers, so we can personally attest to the moronity, and yes, they need to paid well) , a structure like REIT, maybe listing. All this adds several layers and it gives highly educated people like us a false sense of security. Very highly educated people are always suckers for pigs with lipsticks. 

Add to that the fact that large REIT models are exposed to macro variables. 

What all this ensures is that you will never make a larger than average profit. 

I am not against real estate. But specifically in the Indian context, I would rather invest directly. At least that way,  if I hit a jackpot the gains will accrue to me. 

The unscrupulous people running the REITS, the nature of the market and the layering, will ensure that any lottery or jackpot will never be passed on to you. 

In short, in India, if you want to invest in real estate, invest directly or not at all

About immunity and how to build it

An excellent article in today's TOI about how our immune systems break down. 

What is stated here is Immunology 101, basically common sense. 

Summary: ( with my comments in brackets) 

Your illnesses are getting longer and more debilitating because your immune systems are getting weaker. 

Reasons: poor diet, lack of exercise, high stress and insufficient sleep. 

( In order of importance, first comes proper sleep, followed by diet, followed by exercise) 

Also: misuse of antibiotics. Even if  used  properly antibiotics destroy good gut bacteria. ( Ayurveda recognises the gut as the seat of health. Add: all allopathic medicines are harmful, period. ) 

And now comes the big point: viruses, especially those causing cold and flu, mutate rapidly.  ( And hence, and hence, vaccines cannot protect you from covid, or any other cold and flu virus. Pure common sense and I am not saying this based on hindsight, I said this before the covid vaccine was released. And if all allopathic medicines are harmful, if antibiotics are even more harmful, vaccines are even more deadly. Vaccines are a cocktail of poisons. The vaccine cannot protect you against viruses that mutate rapidly, it needs an, a hilarious term follows, "update" every few months. And here is the fun fact: every vaccine that you take weakens the immune system further. And every vaccine that you don't take strengthens the immune system further. Hahaha the joke is on all of us Muppets! ) 

And finally the last para. Children have weaker immune systems, their immunity strengthens as they get "exposed". ( Hahahahaha. Which is exactly why social distancing should not be practised. Again, Immunology 101). 

( Let me add one final point that the article does not talk about. Deep breathing is absolutely vital to good health. Most of us do not know how to breathe properly. To learn, contact a yoga teacher. Masks make you breathe shallow and hence are extremely harmful to your health. This is basic 101, yogis have known it for centuries. Your allopathic medical system knows nothing about it. But then, your allopathic medical system does not know anything about health. The surest way to destroy your health is to follow your doctor's advice) 

( Posted to my blog: http://www.dineshgopalan.com )

Defining the New Luxury

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/H8d9eN8Sm7TUVLHJ/?mibextid=hBBs4f

Check out the above link about a lady offering a boutique dining experience at her home. 

Small format businesses, personalised experiences, non scalability, will define the new luxury. 

As will spending on experiences. Spending on things is passe. 

Gourmet, boutique, exclusive ... When there is abundance of everything what do you crave for? 

Having money is no longer something to boast of. Having time is. Do you have enough time to do what you want, when you want? Can you step out for a half day drive with an hour's notice? Being able to do that defines luxury.

Fitness my foot!

Interview with Rohan Bopanna on his retirement from playing for India, see below 

He is right. 

Indians are a bunch of lazy slobs. 

The height of aspiration is to be seen as  part of the "khate Peete log". There is no fitness consciousness either. Watch any person above the age of forty, male or female - most people have weak muscle tone and sagging muscles. 

As to encouraging sports in their kids, forget it. The aspiration is the exact opposite, Narayani or Chaitanya college, target IIT, fourteen hours study daily, every minute of time spent in the open considered a waste. 

But we Indians do not lack for success in sports or any field for that matter. The moment Bopanna wins a match, all Coorgis will think they have won, sorry played and won. The moment Rohit Sharma hits a fast paced hundred in a One Day Match, every Indian couch potato's adrenaline reading will go through the roof, since he thinks he has done it. 

Vicarious pleasures, vicarious living, vicarious joys - we Indians specialise in that. 

No wonder we are the outsourcing capital of the world.

( Interview extract from news item) 

New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS) Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna, who recently announced his retirement in playing for the national team following a first-round exit in the men's doubles event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has revealed about the times he's went to many companies for sponsorship, but was declined.

"India is not a sporting country to be honest, we go to watch the celebrity of the sport. I have gone to numerous companies asking for sponsorships and they have declined because tennis is not shown in the country."

"Last year, at the US Open, my team was calling the media broadcasters to say please show my match and they say no it is only one Indian and we cannot show," revealed Bopanna on "Be A Man, Yaar!" season 2 show, by Yuvaa.

Bopanna, who has been honoured with Padma Shri, will continue to play at the ATP Circuit. At the start of this year, Bopanna became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the open era of tennis following the Australian Open men's doubles triumph with his partner Matthew Ebden. That title also propelled Bopanna to become the oldest top-ranked man in ATP rankings for men's doubles too.

He also addressed the issue of online criticism and trolling that often sportspersons face following defeats. "We get abuses every day, social media is great but you get those abuses also. It's constant. Everybody feels they are also a part of it, so it's hard you know every day you need to wake up and say be strong."

Bopanna, a recipient of Arjuna Award and Padma Shri, signed off by crediting his psychologist wife Supriya Annaiah Bopanna for being an unwavering support figure while he's traveling to play tennis. "My wife never advised me on my sport but always listened and improved my communication with my Tennis partners."

THE WOKE CANCER

Any kind of madness,

When not nipped in the bud,

Will become a menace,

Grow too big to combat! 

Basic curbs are needed, 

Nature has set down laws; 

And over millennia,

Society has evolved! 

Females with penises,

Males who boast of vaginas,

Gay is being celebrated,

And queerness is the norm! 

Blacks can do no wrong,

Brahmins are never right; 

Facts and evidence be damned,

Wokeness demands you be blind! 

Maths is ambiguous,

Two and two can be five,

Merit is Oppression,

And victimhood is rife! 

Any kind of cancer, 

Eats you from the inside, 

It destroys your vitals,

And it hollows you out! 

Sane people, unite,

Sanity is under threat, 

Loonies are taking over,

Making the world a circus! 

We need to push back now, 

Reject all that is woke; 

Too late? I am branded, 

As madman and a threat! 

What made things come to this pass? 

You and I are to blame; 

We are afraid, inert,

We fear to take a stand! 

Dinesh Gopalan,

1 August,, 2024

Feedback!

All you do is go and buy one small item from any store. They feed your number into their computer and the bombardment starts. 

Clothes are not like alu pyaaz, you don't need to buy them every day. But look at these messages, they think my clothes are all single use, use and throw! I mean who needs to buy  shirts or jeans every day? 

And then the next level,   there are those car dealers, they are worse. They put their call centre people on the job. "Sir, your car is due for service". Arre baba, my car, I will come and give it for service when it starts rattling or something, what is your problem? 

I still get reminder calls for service for my Swift, which I sold six months back. None of those call centres who calls you has a facility to update the records. It is completely futile telling them the car is sold, update your records, etc etc. They are paid to call you and bug you, not to update records. 

And then there is a nexter level where the computer IVR calls you. "This is from FedEx, Your parcel for delivery has been rejected". Obviously the infamous FedEx scam, but I get that call every alternate day! The computer calling you is especially bugging, since the computer has oodles of time, and it is eating  into yours. 

Technology is let loose on you every day. It is like being chased by a bunch of dogs, always nipping at your heels. Even if you want to ignore them it involves some effort. 

Every Uber ride you take, you have to give feedback. Every flight you take, every visit to the bank, feedback. Every service visit for the car, feedback. If you give anything less than 10 on 10, there are follow up questions. So you learn to give 10, or ignore it, there are only two practical options. Ignoring Uber feedback I am not inclined to do, because the computer may just tag me as a habitual non-feedbacker, which in turn may reduce my rating, and next time I want a cab, I may not get one! 

You can't ignore it, and you can't live with it either. 

Technology rules!