Its been a while, eight days to be exact, since I did this last. I seem to do this in fits and starts. When I get going the momentum carries me for a couple of days and then it peters out. The next time around, I have to grit my teeth and start all over again. to me, its a bit like running. I used to jog a while back. It used to follow this same pattern. I think the key word is discipline. Both blogging and running seem to require substantial amounts of it.
I have been away for a while, not that that is an excuse to stay away form the blog, considering the reach of the Internet.I was offshore, which make sense to any one in the Oil and gas E&P business. To the uninitiated, it means a stint at one of the production platforms out at sea. Ours is about half an hour by helicopter from Doha to the North of the coast. It is not that there is no access to the Internet at this location. In fact, it is a very comfortable and connected location, the only down sides being the monotony of the daily routine and the absence of the family. To me it's a bit like going back home , as for about ten years of my life I alternated between an offshore location and home on a regular basis. I am sure L would not like me saying this, but,to me, the occasional trip offshore is a healthy break from familial responsibilities.
The trip was just for three nights and I got back in time for a long weekend as I took a day off, Thursday , on account of time owed in lieu of time spent offshore. Sitting in the helicopter waiting room at the platform on my way back, I ran into this enthusiastic , effusive , young English language teacher on his first trip offshore. He was really excited about what he had seen the last couple of days and was telling me how his first trip on a helicopter was much more exciting than he had expected it to be and how he had never dreamed of being able to travel in a "Chopper" as part of his work as a language teacher. Travelling back and approaching the coast of Doha from the North East at around 500 feet, I shared his excitement. The "Pearl Qatar" is laid out like a jigsaw puzzle being put together. The "U" of Doha bay is laid out beautifully and the new Doha International Airport is seen in all it's skeletal glory.
It took me back to my first trip on a Helicopter in an Indian Air Force MI-17 in 1995. During my days of honest labour as an engineering officer of the IAF, I had the misfortune to be labelled an "Expert" in one of the systems deployed. Before I knew it, I had to attend to maintenance calls in parts of India not necessarily found on a map. Initially the TD (Temporary duty) as they are called, was a break from the usual. As they started recurring it became disruptive. Leaving L and K (Who was just a little more than a year)in Delhi while I went tramping around became less and less appealing. As my trips had to do with equipment breakdown the onward trip was invariably in style. I used to be hustled on to the first available courier out of Palam and then picked up at the receiving end for another trip by helicopter. That was all very well, but once the job was done all the excitement in getting me there would have evaporated and I would be handed a Railway warrant for my return to Delhi.
Trains, my favourite mode of transport.... Which brings me to...............
Train of Life
Some folks ride the train of life
Looking out the rear,
Watching miles of life roll by,
And marking every year.
They sit in sad remembrance,
Of wasted days gone by,
And curse their life for what it was,
And hang their head and cry.
But I don't concern myself with that,
I took a different vent,
I look forward to what life holds,
And not what has been spent.
So strap me to the engine,
As securely as I can be,
I want to be out on the front,
To see what I can see.
I want to feel the winds of change,
Blowing in my face,
I want to see what life unfolds,
As I move from place to place.
I want to see what's coming up,
Not looking at the past,
Life's too short for yesterdays,
It moves along too fast.
So if the ride gets bumpy,
While you are looking back,
Go up front, and you may find,
Your life has jumped the track.
It's all right to remember,
That's part of history,
But up front's where it's happening,
There's so much mystery.
The enjoyment of living,
Is not where we have been,
It's looking ever forward,
To another year and ten.
It's searching all the byways,
Never should you refrain,
For if you want to live your life,
You gotta drive the train!
~author unknown~
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Satyam story and me
I am not very happy as I write this. In fact, I am downright SAD. It could be said that I got away by the proverbial skin of my teeth, but somehow, that does not give me any satisfaction... I am , as usual, getting a little ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning
A couple of weeks back when the Satyam computers story broke and the stock plunged 30 % in one day I went fishing in troubled waters. I am, by nature, a careful investor not prone to taking needless risks or getting carried away by greed. Having said that, you may well ask what I was doing buying Satyam stock when all this was blowing up. Let me just say that I considered the fall excessive and indulged, little aware of the rot beneath. In any case, I saw my money vaporise by a further 30% over the next week, but stayed on in the hope that it would recover. True to my belief, the stock climbed again and last Friday it was up 10% from my cost. I tried getting in touch with my broker and gave up after his phone came up busy on two of my attempts. Monday morning I watched as the stock slid again and went back to my cost. Tuesday it climbed 5%. I told myself that if it went up another 5% I would get out . But the board meeting for 10 Jan that had been declared was on the back of my mind.
This morning I watched as it gained about 7%. It had now gained close to 15 % from my cost. I asked myself whether it would be worth my while to wait till the 10Th and capitalise on any positive news that may emerge from the meeting. Then I fell back on my normal investing habit of booking a reasonable profit and called my broker. I Told him to sell all I had. A few minutes later all hell broke loose and , of course, the rest is history. As I write now at the closing of the day the stock has fallen 80% from my sale price. Fishing in troubled waters almost had me end up in the belly of the shark !!
I doubt very many people who had invested in Satyam stock as of this morning got away as I did. I was just very fortunate that I did not let greed carry me away. We are used to hearing horror stories of corporate avarice and downright fraud emerge from the US markets and it is perhaps the first time in Indian corporate history that something of this nature has emerged involving a promoter who built up a billion dollar company over 20 years. The Indian way of thinking, with simplicity, integrity and hard work as the foundation, seems to have gone the same way as Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky. Wonder how many more Satyam computers are lurking in the BSE 100. So who do we trust with our money these days?
A lot of people I know have lost , at the very least, a couple of year's worth of savings over the last six months. So much for the assumption that the longer you work, the better off you are..... I rest my case !!
A couple of weeks back when the Satyam computers story broke and the stock plunged 30 % in one day I went fishing in troubled waters. I am, by nature, a careful investor not prone to taking needless risks or getting carried away by greed. Having said that, you may well ask what I was doing buying Satyam stock when all this was blowing up. Let me just say that I considered the fall excessive and indulged, little aware of the rot beneath. In any case, I saw my money vaporise by a further 30% over the next week, but stayed on in the hope that it would recover. True to my belief, the stock climbed again and last Friday it was up 10% from my cost. I tried getting in touch with my broker and gave up after his phone came up busy on two of my attempts. Monday morning I watched as the stock slid again and went back to my cost. Tuesday it climbed 5%. I told myself that if it went up another 5% I would get out . But the board meeting for 10 Jan that had been declared was on the back of my mind.
This morning I watched as it gained about 7%. It had now gained close to 15 % from my cost. I asked myself whether it would be worth my while to wait till the 10Th and capitalise on any positive news that may emerge from the meeting. Then I fell back on my normal investing habit of booking a reasonable profit and called my broker. I Told him to sell all I had. A few minutes later all hell broke loose and , of course, the rest is history. As I write now at the closing of the day the stock has fallen 80% from my sale price. Fishing in troubled waters almost had me end up in the belly of the shark !!
I doubt very many people who had invested in Satyam stock as of this morning got away as I did. I was just very fortunate that I did not let greed carry me away. We are used to hearing horror stories of corporate avarice and downright fraud emerge from the US markets and it is perhaps the first time in Indian corporate history that something of this nature has emerged involving a promoter who built up a billion dollar company over 20 years. The Indian way of thinking, with simplicity, integrity and hard work as the foundation, seems to have gone the same way as Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky. Wonder how many more Satyam computers are lurking in the BSE 100. So who do we trust with our money these days?
A lot of people I know have lost , at the very least, a couple of year's worth of savings over the last six months. So much for the assumption that the longer you work, the better off you are..... I rest my case !!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Time well spent
The two week break I took from work was meant to have been spent travelling within the UAE. We had planned to travel by road. It is around 600 Kms to Dubai from Doha but since Qatar and the UAE do not share a common border a part of the distance is through Saudi Arabia. Arranging a transit Visa through SA comes with it's own hassles, not to mention the general discomfort associated with travel with women and children within the kingdom. So this plan got shelved for the time being.
A few days prior to Christmas a friend of mine handed me about a hundred and fifty movies he had collected over the last year and that set us off on an orgy of film watching that carried on well into the New Year. The odd time when I got off the couch we did have a little (Or a lot, being the holiday season) to drink and eat and a few trips to the mall and the Corniche, once to the Doha Zoo (Shall talk about that separately)and the mandatory trips to the Loo. I can, with a clear conscience, say that this holiday was one of my memorable ones.
The popular and highly rated movies like "The Dark Knight" and "No country for old men" were good fun. I shall refrain from talking about those as enough has been said about them. There were some real gems we watched which demand mention. Some of them are truly underrated and certainly deserve a larger audience. One of them was The Visitor A well crafted film that starts innocuously and keeps you engrossed till the sad end. A few others are Grace is Gone, Into the Wild and Waitress
The movie "Into the wild" is all the more touching as it is the remarkable true life story of an idealistic young college graduate who sees the world for what it is and tries to find meaning to his life.I am adding a link Article in "Outsider"- Into The Wild to the essay on his life that started the book and the movie that followed.
There were some serious lemons as well among those we watched. Through all of these we suffered for the greater common good. Just so that you don't spend any money going through the grief that I did avoid "Bangkok dangerous" and "Wanted" unless you are seriously masochistic.
I shall keep adding as I wade (gleefully, no doubt) through the collection.
Went back to the Honda Motorcycle showroom last night. This time with L and children. K and A joyously jumped out of the car and hit the showroom running. L refused to budge. She still is trying to come to grips with my Mid life crisis. The red "Shadow" I had my eyes on was still there. The last time I was there the guy told me that someone had booked it and was trying to arrange the finance. Looks like the economic woes are a lot closer that I had assumed it to be. The salesman said the guy was still trying. In any case that didn't stop me from sitting on the bike and starting it up. It's low muted rumble is more in keeping with my style than the "Screamin Eagle" pipes of the Harley. The kids loved it and kept asking me when we were going to take it home as though they just had a baby brother. The 35000 Riyal tag still looks a little stiff considering that it retails for around 6000 $ in the US. I am now seriously thinking of getting a used one shipped over from the US. With how things are there, I wouldn't be surprised if I am able to get my hands on a 1100 CC Shadow in place of this 750CC that 35000 Riyals fetch you here.
A few days prior to Christmas a friend of mine handed me about a hundred and fifty movies he had collected over the last year and that set us off on an orgy of film watching that carried on well into the New Year. The odd time when I got off the couch we did have a little (Or a lot, being the holiday season) to drink and eat and a few trips to the mall and the Corniche, once to the Doha Zoo (Shall talk about that separately)and the mandatory trips to the Loo. I can, with a clear conscience, say that this holiday was one of my memorable ones.
The popular and highly rated movies like "The Dark Knight" and "No country for old men" were good fun. I shall refrain from talking about those as enough has been said about them. There were some real gems we watched which demand mention. Some of them are truly underrated and certainly deserve a larger audience. One of them was The Visitor A well crafted film that starts innocuously and keeps you engrossed till the sad end. A few others are Grace is Gone, Into the Wild and Waitress
The movie "Into the wild" is all the more touching as it is the remarkable true life story of an idealistic young college graduate who sees the world for what it is and tries to find meaning to his life.I am adding a link Article in "Outsider"- Into The Wild to the essay on his life that started the book and the movie that followed.
There were some serious lemons as well among those we watched. Through all of these we suffered for the greater common good. Just so that you don't spend any money going through the grief that I did avoid "Bangkok dangerous" and "Wanted" unless you are seriously masochistic.
I shall keep adding as I wade (gleefully, no doubt) through the collection.
Went back to the Honda Motorcycle showroom last night. This time with L and children. K and A joyously jumped out of the car and hit the showroom running. L refused to budge. She still is trying to come to grips with my Mid life crisis. The red "Shadow" I had my eyes on was still there. The last time I was there the guy told me that someone had booked it and was trying to arrange the finance. Looks like the economic woes are a lot closer that I had assumed it to be. The salesman said the guy was still trying. In any case that didn't stop me from sitting on the bike and starting it up. It's low muted rumble is more in keeping with my style than the "Screamin Eagle" pipes of the Harley. The kids loved it and kept asking me when we were going to take it home as though they just had a baby brother. The 35000 Riyal tag still looks a little stiff considering that it retails for around 6000 $ in the US. I am now seriously thinking of getting a used one shipped over from the US. With how things are there, I wouldn't be surprised if I am able to get my hands on a 1100 CC Shadow in place of this 750CC that 35000 Riyals fetch you here.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Simplify or perish
Just got back to work after a long, eleven day ,break. As the days go on, I am getting more and more reluctant to drag myself to work every morning. It is not that the work is meaningless. In fact, it is quite interesting and easy going. Its just that the time keeping and stuff that goes along with it that makes it unbearable. I have to catch the company transport at 05:55 from home to get to work at 07:30 and the reverse at 3:30. The afternoon trip takes almost two hours depending on the traffic in Doha.
So what are the options???????
SIMPLIFY.....and at the very earliest. In a way I think I am already on that path. The other day somebody commented on my mobile phone. Not in a flattering sense but a little like "What on earth is that"? It didn't help that it happens to be the cheapest phone available in Carrefour. All of 89 Riyals. But that thing works like a dream. Never drops a call, battery lasts forever and the alarm has three types of alerts. What more could anybody who needs a phone ask for? Beats me......
The earlier phone I had broke down (It was a fancy one with a full size keyboard and black berry and all the other bells and whistles. Never mind that I bought it at a sale before the company, Siemens, fired all its employees and rolled the shutters down on the business !)and I resisted the urge to run out and buy the Iphone. Instead I started with the spare phone we kept at home and found that it was perfectly good for what I had in mind for it.
A friend of mine was looking like his world had come to an end the other day. He said he had planned on retirement soon, he is 59, but is reviewing his decision in the light of what is happening around the world today. It appears that his house in the UK had a fresh mortgage taken out a few years back to extend the building. He had parked the money with one of those fancy investment houses that promise to invest the capital for you and pay your mortgage instalments every month. Since July the investment house has lost a chunk of S's capital and now S has to chip in very month to make up the difference on the instalment. So much for his retirement plans. He looks good for another 3 or 4 years of hard labour... A plain vanilla mortgage would have been the best way to go rather than complicate the issue in a bid to milk it for more than what it is worth.
So how far can we take this? If the basic food , shelter and clothes are in place is it not a good enough time to declare your freedom and burn the office bag and the striped tie? Children..... They are probably what holds you from singing that lovely song "Take this job and ...... it". But how far will you take the responsibility of looking after them? I remember T from my time in Abu Dhabi who had built a house for each of his married daughters and was then fretting about the education of his grandchildren while he continued offshore (And offshore oil work is no walk in the park....)at 62. University level education is probably something to be provided. The rest is best left to them to figure out.
I don't worry too much about L when I think on these lines as we have been through it all. Little or nothing to 5 star hotels and holidays abroad. When you have been to one 5 star hotel you have seen them all and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.She , I am sure will stick by me and enjoy what comes along regardless of whats around us. But lately when I talk about going back to the family farm and spending time there even my long term ally rebels .
I think my simplifying plans are slowly crystallising. The move to Qatar has, in a way, started precipitating that. I give myself another four years and I am done . By Jan or latest by March 2013 we should head for home.
So what are the options???????
SIMPLIFY.....and at the very earliest. In a way I think I am already on that path. The other day somebody commented on my mobile phone. Not in a flattering sense but a little like "What on earth is that"? It didn't help that it happens to be the cheapest phone available in Carrefour. All of 89 Riyals. But that thing works like a dream. Never drops a call, battery lasts forever and the alarm has three types of alerts. What more could anybody who needs a phone ask for? Beats me......
The earlier phone I had broke down (It was a fancy one with a full size keyboard and black berry and all the other bells and whistles. Never mind that I bought it at a sale before the company, Siemens, fired all its employees and rolled the shutters down on the business !)and I resisted the urge to run out and buy the Iphone. Instead I started with the spare phone we kept at home and found that it was perfectly good for what I had in mind for it.
A friend of mine was looking like his world had come to an end the other day. He said he had planned on retirement soon, he is 59, but is reviewing his decision in the light of what is happening around the world today. It appears that his house in the UK had a fresh mortgage taken out a few years back to extend the building. He had parked the money with one of those fancy investment houses that promise to invest the capital for you and pay your mortgage instalments every month. Since July the investment house has lost a chunk of S's capital and now S has to chip in very month to make up the difference on the instalment. So much for his retirement plans. He looks good for another 3 or 4 years of hard labour... A plain vanilla mortgage would have been the best way to go rather than complicate the issue in a bid to milk it for more than what it is worth.
So how far can we take this? If the basic food , shelter and clothes are in place is it not a good enough time to declare your freedom and burn the office bag and the striped tie? Children..... They are probably what holds you from singing that lovely song "Take this job and ...... it". But how far will you take the responsibility of looking after them? I remember T from my time in Abu Dhabi who had built a house for each of his married daughters and was then fretting about the education of his grandchildren while he continued offshore (And offshore oil work is no walk in the park....)at 62. University level education is probably something to be provided. The rest is best left to them to figure out.
I don't worry too much about L when I think on these lines as we have been through it all. Little or nothing to 5 star hotels and holidays abroad. When you have been to one 5 star hotel you have seen them all and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.She , I am sure will stick by me and enjoy what comes along regardless of whats around us. But lately when I talk about going back to the family farm and spending time there even my long term ally rebels .
I think my simplifying plans are slowly crystallising. The move to Qatar has, in a way, started precipitating that. I give myself another four years and I am done . By Jan or latest by March 2013 we should head for home.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The space to vent your feelings
Its a holiday in Qatar on account of it being a Friday and here I am sober in the afternoon,for a change. Just had a good meal and feel on top of things. Amazing thing, the internet and blogging and youtube and all that. Ordinarily, the moment I start ranting about this and that L pokes me in the ribs to remind me that I am getting ahead of myself and and losing my audience. The best thing about this blog thing is that I can get on to my soap box and carry on regardless of everything and not live in fear of being called loud or worse, a BORE. The problem with being highly opinionated is that you get the urge to force the self same opinion down everyone's throat and want to be appreciated and called clever while doing it.Here I am , at peace, able to rant about anything and everything... Will wonders never cease?????
Sold some stocks yesterday. looks like the whole market is going to hell in a handcart. All other investments and assets along with it.To think that a few months back we thought that diversified investments were the secret. Looks like a few years savings have been wiped out. Good for the poor. At least at these times they dont have to worry about losing anything when they had nothing to lose to begin with. A few people I know have ended up with negative equity, which is worse than poor because the poor idiots have to pay all that before they can call themselves poor or zero wealth.
So my two rupee worth of investment advise is simple. When you feel the urge to go out shopping lie down till the urge passes. At this point the best option is to batten the hatches and circle the wagons till the whole thing passes. I reckon its going to be a good two years before anything looks up. And if anyone out there thought that we have seen the worst they had better gird their loins for whats conming next. It's going to get a lot worse....
Sold some stocks yesterday. looks like the whole market is going to hell in a handcart. All other investments and assets along with it.To think that a few months back we thought that diversified investments were the secret. Looks like a few years savings have been wiped out. Good for the poor. At least at these times they dont have to worry about losing anything when they had nothing to lose to begin with. A few people I know have ended up with negative equity, which is worse than poor because the poor idiots have to pay all that before they can call themselves poor or zero wealth.
So my two rupee worth of investment advise is simple. When you feel the urge to go out shopping lie down till the urge passes. At this point the best option is to batten the hatches and circle the wagons till the whole thing passes. I reckon its going to be a good two years before anything looks up. And if anyone out there thought that we have seen the worst they had better gird their loins for whats conming next. It's going to get a lot worse....
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Graceful ageing.......
The long holiday weekend ended worse than expected. There's this terrible Virus floating around. Sore throats and running noses, reminds me of this guy we had in college. He had a perpetual runny nose and a friend of mine used to call him Chief Running Nose, The Indian warrior!!!
I am digressing...The weather here in Doha is wonderful. Chilly, in the low 20s during the day and quite sunny. This is an unexpected bonus after our move from Abu Dhabi. The weather in AbuDhabi is not quite so cool in winter. It really is a lousy time to fall ill. Anyway, to get back to my virus,went to work on Thursday and came back early with a fistful of medicines. The evening was pleasant though. Slouching around in front of the TV with L and the kids.
Never used to get these cold /flu infections . Something like once in a couple of years. wonder whether the immunity is running down. Recent pictures taken in unguarded moments reveal an ageing that seems to have come on quite unexpectedly. Looks like it's downhill all the way from here!!
L parted her hair the other day and showed me streaks of grey. Seems she was quite surprised when she noticed it. Was in Dubai for a week early this month and the "Nathur" at my elder brother's apartment block mistook me for his elder brother. wasted a ten Dirham "Baksheesh" on the idiot...I guess I could go on and on!!
I am digressing...The weather here in Doha is wonderful. Chilly, in the low 20s during the day and quite sunny. This is an unexpected bonus after our move from Abu Dhabi. The weather in AbuDhabi is not quite so cool in winter. It really is a lousy time to fall ill. Anyway, to get back to my virus,went to work on Thursday and came back early with a fistful of medicines. The evening was pleasant though. Slouching around in front of the TV with L and the kids.
Never used to get these cold /flu infections . Something like once in a couple of years. wonder whether the immunity is running down. Recent pictures taken in unguarded moments reveal an ageing that seems to have come on quite unexpectedly. Looks like it's downhill all the way from here!!
L parted her hair the other day and showed me streaks of grey. Seems she was quite surprised when she noticed it. Was in Dubai for a week early this month and the "Nathur" at my elder brother's apartment block mistook me for his elder brother. wasted a ten Dirham "Baksheesh" on the idiot...I guess I could go on and on!!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Creating something
This whole effort looks doomed from the start. My blogging ambitions started in a drunken moment this afternoon. What really wound things up was the fact that everybody appears to be blogging and I do not want to be left out. Perhaps it also helps that I have ambitions of being a writer. In any case the decision was precipitated on a Wednesday afternoon at the fag end of a long holiday weekend in Doha with a bit too much of vodka.
To start at the begining. My younger brought the PC to the dining table and the power cord snagged against my glass spilling Vodka all over the table. I should have realised that I was fighting a losing battle. On top of it Google was a little reluctant in letting me open a blog account considering that I had started one earlier that was stillborn. It kept directing me to that page and would'nt let go. The first effort from Google was in arabic which led me to believe that those guys in California are a lot cleverer that I had given them credit for. I had a torrrid time trying to get the English option going.
The assumption now is that it will be smooth sailing now that I have a live blog going
God bless me!!
To start at the begining. My younger brought the PC to the dining table and the power cord snagged against my glass spilling Vodka all over the table. I should have realised that I was fighting a losing battle. On top of it Google was a little reluctant in letting me open a blog account considering that I had started one earlier that was stillborn. It kept directing me to that page and would'nt let go. The first effort from Google was in arabic which led me to believe that those guys in California are a lot cleverer that I had given them credit for. I had a torrrid time trying to get the English option going.
The assumption now is that it will be smooth sailing now that I have a live blog going
God bless me!!
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