Buzzing around Hong Kong - Day 2

I made a promise to enjoy what HK has to offer and forget about SG for the next 4 days, which I rigourously broke first thing today morning. I was surprised when the light shone brightly at 7am and woke me up. My best laid plans for the day were torn to pieces when I wanted to enjoy the foggy morning by lazing around a bit more..

I didnt know where to go for breakfast, so I hopped into McDonalds (Max), before setting out to Ocean Park. A nice theme park with thrill rides, fun activities and even the scenic views when zipping around in roller coasters beats everything else. The queue at the bus stop was a good indication that long waiting times are going to be the order of the day. It was more like 45 mins waiting times broken by short bursts of adrenalin. Space Wheel was a good appetizer. After cooling down with Raging River, it was a cranky mine shaft. Flying Swing was fun, and the giant wheel was a breath of fresh cool air. Somehow, the dragon seems to scare most people, including my wife, and incidentally had the shortest queue. When the stomach grumbled, the only thing veggie was at Max. A slight drizzle and the mist kept things cool the whole day.





Love at first sight does happen sometimes. One look at the Pacific Ocean and I did feel it. I looked at it from different heights, different angles and even in different apparatus, but I just cudnt take my eyes off its serene beauty, punctuated by lush curvy mountains, veiled in a thick mist. Everything was just so perfect about it that even the ships seemed to understand by travelling in a straight line at regular intervals into the harbour. The display of seals and sea lions couldnt get the Pacific off my mind. People seem to be wary of typhoons at one end and hurricanes at the other end, but on a day like this, it seems sinful to even think of this sleeping beauty stirring!



The heavy heart became heavier as we had to give the cable car a miss due to an extra long queue halfway downhill! It looked good from below though. I dont know what the fuss is about the giant panda. Just the name seems to drive people wild here! Needless to say, the jingle bells were ringing the loudest in the panda souvenir shop.



I didnt wanna make Max our life support system here, so we decided to try Chinese veg. The Three virtues veg restraurant in a shopping complex at the junction of Nathan Road and Jordan Road was recommended by the hotel staff and it turned out to be a good pick. But we spent 30 mins trying to locate the place, roaming all around the place. There were other veg restaurants but one look at the menu and people eating inside seemed to scare my wife off. We were staring so intently at one place that a genial waiter became a bouncer. Not knowing where to go, we were stuck at the signal when my ever-so-observant wife spotted the virtues perched on the 4th floor. The ambience was excellent and the food was very good from an Indian-who-has-eaten-Chinese-veg-for-10yrs perspective. My wife desperately needed some chillies to down the white rice, and then desperately needed a lot of water, tissue and ice cream in that order. The mile nausea was a direct result of her deviating from the only chinese dish she has ever had - fried rice - and does not dilute the quality of food there. Must Try!

We rounded off the evening roaming around Nathan Road's trendy malls. I learnt a thing or two about women's shopping trends. Their likes and shopping skills are deeply rooted in their brains which we, mere men, cannot fathom. Blind following and humming your favorite tunes inside, aided by no lip movement and slight nodding of the head helps, provided your credit card is secure in your wallet. Women definitely dont trust men with their shopping, so it helps pushing your wife to buy a costly cloth or show she likes. She wont! Women trust other women, so crumpled clothes lying around are the most deceptive targets. Looking around, I could sense another strange girly phenomenon. When it comes to fashion, looks doesnt matter to them as much as fit! Girls might admire a shoe, but if it doesnt fit EXACTLY, they wont bother a second more. I was perplexed why they never ask the assistant for a size that fits them! Fashion stores is tough business.



Before I chill out, two observations from today.
Me: There is a much more Asian culture visible in HK compared to SG, be it more talking, smiling and grouping or less smoking, kissing and sprinting.
Better Half: The girls here are much more trendy and fashionable. They are 10yrs ahead of SG. I have got to buy these stuff here!

Girls will be, will forever be, girls.

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Buzzing around Hong Kong - Day 1

Hong Kong - Try squeezing the words into a 30cm x 2 cm rectangle, then compress it by 1 cm widthwise. Thats HK! Geographically, HK is half the size of SG, yet packs twice the population. Buildings progressed in the only dimension it possibly could; upwards! Worse still, half of HK has beautiful hills. Instead of getting daunted by the sheer pressure of the population, the builders of HK were brave enough to shear it. Steep slopes? Terrible typhoons? Massive earthquakes? Seeping erosions? Landing aircraft? The souls who dared to answer these questions deserve a pat. The fact that HK exists today is high credit to them.



Hong Kong is definitely a city of contrasts, and it is immediately apparant. 12 visitor counters with snake like queues leading to only 3 of them, new megastructures among old how-come-it-doesnt-break structures, hilly terrain and beaches, 5 star hotels slightly bigger than matchboxes with fridges in bathrooms in alleys of buildings crying for a coat of paint for 20 yrs, nice streets with antique traffic lights and stinking drains, tourist agency brouchers in English while tourist guides speak mostly in Cantonese, and it goes on and on...



It is tough being a first time visitor to HK from SG. I came in with an expectation this time. The fables of HK made it look very similar to SG. It indeed is, albeit a half cooked predecessor. Thats credit to SG and not a discredit to HK which pioneered most of the stuff adorning SG. Taxis, MRT..er..MTR, train network charts, double decker buses, EZ-linking-octopus, information plaques are very similar. But there is an eerie feeling of getting lost in HK. You can NEVER get lost in SG. Well, thats what makes a travel out of the secure hail-a-taxi-catch-a-MRT SG that much more exciting.

But the expectation haunted me today. I dared not to venture more than 10ft before poring into the map to reliably take me to the desired location. And I quietly grinned having noticed so many people do the same. Having no toilets in MTR stations hurt. HK is colder than SG, definitely so in Dec, making things worse. Hooke's law was proven when SG flyer was static for over 6 hrs, and people "broke down". I dont wanna repeat in HK!

Having got off the hotel at 3.30pm with hands on belly, it was time to head south to a Nathan Road Chung King Mansion, an Indian bazaar modelled on the romantic alleys of Burma Bazaar. A red postcard with a half naked babe and a wink from the marketing manager got me scared for a second but we ended up in an extremely small place serving north indian cuisine for the past 6yrs, which was worth the price. Pity then that only the two of us and the chef were eating those!

Taking a stroll and getting a taste of the MTR crowds, we landed up in Mong Kok ladies' market. It was akin to stepping out of T Nagar railway station and stepping onto the world famous Ranganathan Street. After dragging down the price from $200 to $80 with my famed bargaining prowess, I bragged all the way to another stall where I got a similar smaller painting for $100. Hold on a second! But the $100 was on the wrong pair of hands at that second :( Pouring oil on fire, the girl offered me a second piece at $60 as I was walking out. I was gutted even as my ever-so-caring wife concealed her laughter to console me. Needless to say, that was the last barlosing of the day.



A not-so-great Symphony of Light ensued amongst the most amazing skyline I have ever seen. The skyline never ended and seemed all 360 degree around. Taking my sister's advice, I sought dinner at a famed Tsim Sha Shui (TST) restaurant which recently moved base. I was astounded to see a long queue outside until I was ever more astonished to see 2 menus with the same items with different prices. A third color printout sat on the table with yet another (higher) price. How convenient! As I sat there gaping after 30 mins of waiting, a complement from the owner that I was lucky to get a seat having come just (1.5hrs) before closing time. I soon found out why, as the order was taken by a sole waiter after 15 mins and the delicious south indian idli vada and dosa plate arrived 1 hr later. In my humble 10K days of survival devouring atleast 25K idlis and 25K dosas, these definitely ranked amongst the top few - from the bottom. This was a north indian restaurant masquarading with a south indian name where 6 chappathis costed less than 1 idli. Based on my expertise, I could spot that those came straight from the oven, and I didnt wanna hazard a guess when it came out of the cooker. By this time, my neighbour who was within a foot of grabbing this thing was visibly drooling over it. Having brought to your attention the congestion in HK and the lightening fast service at this restaurant, I couldnt let my neighbour gobble up my precious Rs 270 idli! To hell with it!



As I walked through the streets back to my hotel, I felt pity for my poor sis with her two small kids who would have blown a fortune dining in this restaurant for one whole week! One final thought as I freeze for the day, too many cities have come to be known as cities that doesnt sleep. HK is one colorful city that doesnt get dark! Although I cant fathom what colors those are...

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My 2 cents on all things Finance - Part 3

I always believe its easier to understand through examples. Too many financial terms out there, but here are the basics:

Risk Averse - When you get all excited about bonds and shares and commodities, and you want to jump in and invest, but you dont.
Counterparty - Almost everyone whom you need to deal with.
Credit Risk - Risk that your friend will never return the Rs 100 that he owes you.
Market Risk - Risk that tomato will go upto Rs 30 a kilo suddenly due to some bad news on TV.
Counterparty Default - When your husband cheats on you.
Asset - Your house/ bike/ car
Depreciation - When your house looks "dull" compared to the new flat down the road.
Liability - The rent/ installments that you pay for your house/ bike/ car
Mortgage - When you proudly say its MY house, when the legal title is with the bank.
Capital - Your salary
Reserve - Fixed Deposit with your bank
Reserve Liquidity - Savings Deposit with your bank
IOU - Recurring Deposit with your bank
Accrued Interest - Interest from FD/ RD/ SB
Position - Current value of your house.
Unrealised profit - When your land cost shoots up and you are happy to have bought a house earlier.
Unrealised loss - When the laptop price slumps and you curse yourself for having bought a laptop last week.
Mark-to-Market - When you walk past a TV shop and see how much your TV costs currently.
Notional - Amount of bank loan that you always worry about, but never get to pay.
Know Your Client (KYC) - When you research all possible relatives and friends to see if the potential bridegroom is a "good boy" for your girl.
Guarantee - When you certify that the next door boy is "very good" when a potential father-in-law comes to check on him.
Collateral - The gold that a bride wears, that could go into a pawn shop when times go sour

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My 2 cents on all things Finance - Part 2

The tough get tougher when the trough gets deeper.

Passing out of school brought about a whole new change for me, new country, new friends, new passions, new distractions, new way of life. It was all too overwhelming, and it took me a good two years to realise its just as challenging as my beloved Chennai. Money started disappearing faster than it has, all my life. Expenses became the norm of life. I spent everyday, my "own" money. Its enormous risk spending money that you did not earn. And one fine day, it all disappeared. I had to borrow, for the first time in my life. It pains, worse than the worst sin you had ever committed. Debt came into my dictionary. Debt was bad, debt pains, debt is horrible. Stay away from debt. And so I fought for the next 4 years to repay my debts.

It was almost a natural progression that my gentle curious interest in money and piggy bank savings should lead me to work in a Financial Services firm. I did learn a lot on how to work; and learnt a bit on how they make money work for them. Margin became more than a pencil line on a white sheet of paper. I was surprised how much people risked, and for a few shares which they dont even get to see! Financial statements of companies made a lot more sense, although still meant little.

A switch to an insurance firm gave me an all too simple view of insurance. People paid for something which could never happen. People paid for a perceived risk, and some smart companies calling themselves insurance gave assurance that in case something bad happened, they would cover their families. And millions believed in this concept. And the fun part of it was that I did learn that insurance companies themselves insured!

Moving on to an investment bank, it felt weird. Is the world really this simple and foolish? People think banks are the safest places to put their money in, but banks invariably take the most risks! They give loans to people, they invest in companies, they trade like crazy. They borrow money from government/banks/people at a lower rate, lend to banks/corporates/people at a higher rate and pay people with the margin.

After a good five years in the financial services sector, I realised the entire financial system relies on one main thing. TRUST. If you lend money or borrow money, there should be trust between the parties. Worse still if you deposit the money in your favorite bank, which uses this money to buy shares, and sells shares that it does not own, and enters into repurchase agreements to fill the missing shares, securitises these shares with another bank to get more cash, and uses this cash to buy some government bonds, and gives this bonds to another bank to borrow more money and uses this money to give loans to a start up company hoping for a return on capital and to you as a house loan hoping you will pay the monthly interest, mitigates the risk of not getting back the money by getting another bank to act as a guarantee, gets whatever shares the company currently owns, sells those shares in the secondary market at a higher rate. And this example is just the tip of the iceberg. So, where is YOUR money? Its extremely complex in today's world, and nobody really knows where is your money. And my gut feel is that your simple deposit with your bank will lead that money to tie virtually every bank out there in some kind of transaction! So, if you want your money back, you are giving virtually every bank a run for their money :)

But, you say, the government is there to regulate. The bank does continuously calculate its balance sheet and tries to maintain a balance between its future cashflows, and keeps a percentage of the money it owes people as reserves, to please the regulators. But again, nothing is 100%. For you, the money you keep in the bank is safe. For the bank, the money it keeps is a loss! So, they went to a resort in Switzerland and came up with Basel 1 and Basel 2 to convince the government to let them trade as much money as possible, leaving their coffers as dry as possible.

Now, what if the key word goes missing. If TRUST is not there, between the bank and customer, or bank and bank, the whole financial system goes topsy turvy. Nobody wants to cheat, and no cheat can exist in the system for long. But then, what if you cant pay your house loan of Rs 10000 per month? Nothing happens. What if a million such people cannot repay. One housing loan company might go bust. What is one housing loan company goes bust? Nothing much maybe. What if 10 such companies go bust? The bank that fund these companies is screwed. As in the example above, that means almost every bank!

The survival of the fittest kicks in. Since risk is like a time bomb being passed across from one institution to another, the one that has the highest risk when the alarm bells ring bursts. The rest are tested for their survival. If someone does not have cash at that point of time, its time to say goodbye. ML and Lehmann found this out recently. The cash rich companies and banks see this as an opportunity to buy whatever they can. Consolidation results. The big and bounty survive. The small and fragile break. Its just the nature of the financial system.

Rumours test the keyword TRUST. A 4-pager "The boy who broke the bank" by Ruskin Bond is a highly recommended read for starters. Anything and everything in the fragile environment is a bank-breaker. A current example is of ICICI, second largest lender in India, whose shares dropped 14% in a day based on rumours that it does not have enough cash.

So, what can you do about it?
1. Have trust with people and institutions that you deal with financially.
2. Dont put all eggs in the same basket. Diversify your portfolios.
3. Bank is just another person. There is nothing which is 100% safe.
4. Dont go with the flow. Dont buy a house because every other colleague buys one.
5. Watch out for market signs. You should be very careful if you see every housewife buying and selling shares without knowing what it is!
6. Dont think you are too smart. A billion others out there are not idiots.
7. Start small, grow in chunks. You can dream big, but dont risk big.
8. Knowledge is power. Dont do anything without knowing what you are doing.
9. Patience is a virtue. For an individual, investment is good; trading is not.
10. It all boils down to fundamentals. Dont go by perceived value when the times are bad.

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My 2 cents on all things Finance - Part 1

Finance is THE hot topic now, with the banks going down the drain. Most people would have a rough idea of whats happening, but in layman's terms, its a sea of icebergs out there. In Lehmann's terms, it was just a poor Titanic!

Having worked in a Financial Services company, Insurance company and a Bank, I have a pretty good round up of the sector. Well, they say people who know more talk less, so before I get to know more, let me ramble on :P

I clearly remember the first bank account that I opened when I was entering into 2nd standard. My mom gave me Rs 10, the biggest amount I had seen till then in my own hands, and asked me to save. The next 11 yrs, I did just that; saved, saved and saved. My father was my first depositor, and my sister the first customer. Only that my customer returned neither principal nor interest. I learnt valuable lessons along the way. Seeing my piggy bank bulge and break, rise and ebb, I learnt what is love, sustenance, support, suspicion, sacrifice, despair, hope. Every month, I used to seggregate my 1p, 2p, 3p, 5p, 10p into seperate boxes and keep accounts. Over the years, I saw my beloved 1p and 2p disappear. Why shud those lovely chiselled aluminum coins be given back to the bank? New strange coins of Rs 2 and Rs 5 denomination came into being. My first taste of inflation. I did keep a few 1p, 2p and 3p though. It lost value, but did it?

Once in 6 months, my mom used to "buy" all my coins and give me a few equivalent notes, usually a bit more than the value of the coins. I didnt think much about the interest received, but I did cultivate interest. She used the coins for the daily bus journeys. I used to go to the bank and deposit the notes, way easier than depositing coins. I learnt how to deposit money. Occasionally withdrew money for emergencies, and got to know all the friendly neighbourhood bank employees. The bank used to have its own peculiar smell, just like a hotel.. It smelt of money and burning coils in the fans. I used to wonder why they worked only from 9-11am, until I realised my neighbour aunty working in the same bank came home only in the evening. As time passed by, I realised the bank shut itself inside, and people scribbling hard after people left. "Keeping accounts" I pondered, and mused how many 1p they had inside.

I opened my second bank account. This time my mom gave me Rs 100. WOW! And time went by and money went into the bank account. I ensured that hardly anything left the bank. I would be so delighted when they put the interest entry, as if I had won a lottery! When I ran from home near the closing time, and saw the shutters close agonisingly close, I used to pray to God to extend the banking hours. Its only when my passbook showed Rs 500 did my prayers get answered. And things started to get worse.

Did I open the pandorra box? The question would never go away. Growing up, I learnt it was not my prayers, but the world that was fast changing, but inside I always wish I hadnt wished 9-11 to change. The friendly neighbourhood aunties were now learning to type into the huge boxes obstructing my view of their bespectacled sincere work. I had grown enough to use a computer at school. I knew I could teach them to type faster. But the computers that I was so fond of at school transformed into frustration in their eyes. They were still scribbling in their ruled notebooks and into my passbook.

My balance grew into mammoth figures. I could hardly believe my eyes when I passed my 10th. I had a whopping Rs 1200. I screamed in silence. I wanted to tell all my friends, but I didnt. It was my WEALTH. Then my sister got engaged. My parents had to raise capital urgently for her marriage, and realised how tough it was to raise capital. Maybe people were as possessive about their wealth as I was with mine. I didnt think twice to open all my beloved boxes filled to the brim by then. 5p onwards flowed out.. totalling another Rs 250. They said they needed Rs 2.5 lacs. Thats when I realised how insignificant it all was. I wanted desperately to help my sis I had grown to love in hate. But I couldnt. I had saved all my life, and it came to nothing. I learnt the time value of money. In hindsight, I can see why its the first lesson in almost every financial book.


Quote of the week: Two investment banks were taken off the equation in a day.
Quote of the day: The Fed can take a dead dog as a collateral for lending money.

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Be a Leader!

It takes a leader to talk the walk
And a manager to walk the talk.

Carriages are good cos they carry the coal, but its the rail engine that drives them to their destination.

Well.. I was in a project leadership course today :P

The guy started off with a quote by Omar Bradshaw, "Its easy being a leader, its getting people to follow you thats tough!" and chipped in with Eisenhower's "Plans are useless, but Planning is good"

And then the participants did their bit...
"Rome wasnt built in a day.. It took time to convince those Romans!"

Maslow and Herzberg came out from their graves in my masters coursebook today; X, Y and Z stopped their association with algebra to become theories in themselves; blah blah blah.

After spending a day in classroom, I learnt a thing or two about leadership; or so I think.. And definitely learnt a thing or two about gujjus! I had the honour of meeting yet another specimen (used to be the favorite word for one of my school teachers) today.

The icing on the cake was the last exercise for the day. Doing the exercise, we made as many leadership errors that we were taught to avoid the whole day.

Perspectives changed; Practicality didnt!

And then I realised why the 40-80 year old theories are still taught, again and again and again, in vain. And I looked back at the thousands of years' worth of "sayings" with respect.

Its so easy to say things!

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Puls My Dear

Join me in wishing Mr. Puls a very very happy birthday. I dont remember which year he was born though. Anywayz, hes always young thanks to God's grace. I love him from the bottom of my heart. So does a million others, but he would always be special to me. My friend, philosopher, guide and God. He has an amazing personality, and his charisma can draw people towards him. I am proud to be associated with him in an endearing way for about 18 yrs now. Love ya puls. Love ya so damn much. Just next to my parents though. Knowing him, he wouldnt mind settling for second best in my heart :)

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