An all new face of Terrorism

Its 45 hours into the standoff that still continues in Mumbai, India after terror first struck prime locations in commercial capital of India. 

The sheer manner and extent of havoc what just a few armed and well trained terrorists have  caused is shocking to say the least.

When it all started, it appeared to be a case of indiscriminate firing but what has now emerged is that it was a planned terrorist attack executed with military precision.

No words can describe the grief over loss of innocent lives especially of the top brass of Indian police force, including the head of Anti Terrorist Squad. 

The way the Indian elite commandos have handled the rescue operation in the massive hotels and other densely populated areas deserves commendation. They had no intelligence feedback, no blueprints of the buildings and to what level of hostility they will face from militants holding hostages.

The unfolding events over the past 45 hours have proved one thing that this is a new face of global terrorism.

Quantum of Solace

Citibank has been rescued. Citibank is (was) perhaps the symbol of economic prosperity and pride of the wealthiest. 

This could mean a complete and utter collapse of the financial markets, even if there was something left standing there. The last nails in the coffin, or is there more to come?

This also means that no financial institution today can claim to be in the secure territory.  Obviously one can’t continue to blame the system. People played certain games, took certain risks or, let’s call it ‘bets’, and have landed up in a total mess. 

The ripples just don’t seem to be stopping here.

Analysts have been fast changing their ‘forecasts’.

Investment Gurus/Pundits have no set ‘predictions’ to make.

Banks like Barclays host their super rich clients at exclusive locations at Lake Como, advising them how to protect their wealth in these troubled times of financial crisis. 

What next ? A “little bit of comfort” perhaps – this is how James Bond’s latest title has been defined  …

No “Quantum of Solace” yet as things seem to be getting from bad to worse.

Quote of the Day

A friend just sent in this:

“The financial situation at the moment is so bad that women are now marrying for love”

“Hand of God”

48 year old Maradona is back at centre stage of football as coach of Argentinean team, an appointment that surprised many. That too when the team has been struggling to regain lost glory.

This super star footballer  has perhaps been embroiled in more controversies than any other celebrity. Recovering from doping punishment in 1991 and his drug addiction Maradona fought  his sicknesses , a heart attack and obesity and even had a stomach stapling operation couple of years ago.  There were times when you would feel sorry to see him on TV unable to walk or talk properly, for especially those who watched him score those goals in 1986.

Maradona fought it all and then hosted a TV talk show in 2007.

Whether it was the now (in)famous “Hand of God” or what Maradona says in his autobigraphy “Hand of Diego”, Argentina was the 1986 FIFA world football champion.  And Maradona has again proved that only the fittest can survive the test of times. It has been a good sight to see him run around and train his team past few days. 

Lessons to learn !

Citigroup axes 50k jobs

• Fresh round of cuts takes total job losses to 73,000

These headlines spread this Monday like the California forest fires, possibly causing similar devastating effect across the world.

Whether we blame this also on the ‘System’ or the clever use of certain unwritten laws, the fact remains that the people suffering most are either the working class or mid tier businesses. 

Banks and large corporations across the globe are being bailed out.

Of extreme relevance here is a recent statement from HSBC hitting out at the government’s bail-out plan for the bank’s rivals, saying competitors had taken risks and been punished by the markets – only to be rescued by the government… 

Chief executive Michael Geoghegan also raised concerns about the $4,500bn (£2,850bn) state-backed rescue of western banks. “There is no question that guarantees have been given to failed managements,” he said. “I hope these guarantees don’t last too long because they may create the wrong type of behaviour by managements in those banks.”

Who will bail out the thousands who have lost their jobs in the past 6-8 months for no fault of theirs? Who will bail out mid size and small businesses across the world which are taking the heat and may not survive the crisis? Who will bail out millions of stock market investors who invested their hard earned savings ?

For these banks who probably made trillions of dollars in boom times, losing some billions may not be a big deal. Same could apply to the billionaire club. These classes are probably immune to the crisis in financial markets. But for millions of homes that have gone jobless it is a question of life and death.

Is it also the time to talk about self regulation in Financial sector ? 

System Failure ?

“Noting that we are in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s … the salient feature of the current financial crisis is that it was not caused by some external shock… The crisis was generated by the financial system itself.”

This is George Soros in his recent testimony ( see video )at the US House of Representatives where top hedge fund managers were questioned as to who was to blame for America’s financial crisis. 

Soros is no stranger to financial market controversies. Who can forget the 1992 Sterling crisis when he made over US $1billion by short selling the Sterling.

Its probably human psychology to blame the ‘system’ for every thing gone wrong.

I don’t have the credentials to write about the sub prime crises , credit crunch etc… and so much has been written about the current recession and events and reasons leading to this situation that we have probably stopped thinking what caused it and are engaged in our own way to fight out of this crisis. 

Its easy to blame the system for everything that goes wrong.

But, the essence is, its all about Greed.

Why can’t we ever say NO ??

When I was child, I once read an article written by my academician father on the captioned subject in Hindi language.  During my graduation, I translated that in English for our student magazine. That was just for fun.

But it has been only past few years that I have actually begun to understand and somewhat learnt the relevance and real meaning of this subject.

Its definitely not easy to say NO.

Whatever the circumstances, even in everyday life, for example if someone wants to borrow your beloved camera or even seek a small loan or in profession where people may ask you to deliver what may not be viable in the first place or you may not be capable of delivering that at all or it may be in the hands of a third person outside your control.

Being generous you may say yes to all requests, favours, help, tasks and then also engage the help of others who are needed for the person to execute the task. But slowly you will land yourself in sticky situations where people know you recommend because of your generosity and not because of the person’s merit and hence they will stop taking you seriously.

It needs lot of courage and will to be able to accept that you will not be able to deliver something being sought from you. So its better to say NO, now, than regret it later on when you don’t fulfil a commitment. Believe me, its rare and cherished quality to be able to say NO.

In a way, its being honest with yourself.  As they say you shouldn’t fool yourself.

So should we all be ones who can say NO – “Yes we can”

Creative Minds at Work

Advertisement quality in India has always  been top class. Very creative and innovative. No wonder they win so many awards at Cannes Lions and several other international ad competitions. 

I am not starting to write this to talk about how and what all goes into creating a beautiful and high impact advertisement.

In the recent past, I have come across two interesting advertisements in Europe.

One is airing on BBC world news. Its an HSBC advertisement which has used a popular song from a very old Indian Movie. There is no way any viewer would not be attracted to the ad soon at it starts. And I can bet you will see through the whole advert which has been filmed in India. 

Second is an advertisement on Channel 2– Popular 24 hour free to air Hollywood channel in the Middle East & Western Europe. Again, suddenly in break times, you hear a popular modern Indian film song. This is a Close-up tooth paste advert.  

Few years ago there was a Nestle advert also that was aired in Europe which had a Indian film song as the main theme and became very popular. Our non-Indian friends often referred to that when we  met.

So what does it mean ? 

Perhaps here is the answer:

I was recently with a very famous and highly respected Indian filmmaker. I asked him if  Indian producers take their ‘product’ to market watchers (like they do in Hollywood), to show the script to distributors to get their feedback about its marketability before it goes on the floor. I was told that a film is not a product. To Quote “it takes life out of you”. I immediately agreed and apologised. 

Changing Times

Since 4th of November 2008, every one is talking about CHANGE.

CHANGE seems to be the magic word these days. Whatever the context, whatever the geographical location.

What is CHANGE ? It would be nice to have a definitive answer.

One thing puzzles me though. Although a dictionary would tell you that CHANGE is “a difference in circumstances”, why do we always think of it as a positive thing? 9/11 was also a CHANGE.   Wasn’t it?

CHANGE denotes HOPE and that’s why when we think of change we think for the better.

One very dear friend gifted me a book sometime back “Speeches that changed the world” – A compilation of over 100 of the most influential speeches ever made.  And for starters – Barrack Obama’s now famous speeches are not included as it’s a 2005 publication. However, George Bush’s “Axis of Evil” and Tony Blair’s “Reasons For Invading Iraq” are in there.

In these fast ‘changing’ times, as we are seeing for few years now; terrorism, war on terror, subprime crisis, credit crunch, depression, recession – common man has very little choice. What then he expects is to look forward to a changed scenario and what he wants is a political messiah who could bring those changes.

I quote here some lines from this book. These are by Oliver Cromwell on 20th April 1653 (note the year) when he told the members to leave. “It is not fit that you should sit here any longer! You have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing lately. You shall now give place to better men ! … You call yourselves a Parliament. You are no parliament … “.

Some governments could do with that change.

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