You miss I hit !!!

27th july2009, 5:30pm: Brain is dead due to complications of overwhelming knowledge poured in a small space of time. And in its final hours it dealt with the pain staking logics of pricing strategy. Three constant lectures of 1.5 hours each has drained all juices from the mind, lecture seems to be big blank hard to fill. I am all ready to be free to pour down on my favorite place on earth, my bed. But there seems to be no respite the professor is sitting on my desk and is in no mood to stop, these guys are blessed with a natural wit to suck all glucose from your body and still smile at you as if you are being gifted with a world full of wealth.

In sudden change of events, he stops not to take attendance but to give a stare glare as my mobile is ringing. Oh! Bloody shit I forgot to put it in silent mode. I am desperately fumbling to take it out and cut the call. Anyways it stops its sound track; it was a missed call, and finally everybody has regained their smiles back including the monster on my desk. He takes the mobile from my hand asks me how to switch it off and gives a cute little smile, real intentions are hardly known.
His left hand goes up and so does my cell “I have a product, how much can you all quote for its possession”, now only I am smiling and everyone else are shouting, a missed call has brought the class to its feet. I am amazed to how strategically MBAs value an Rs3000, three years old cell to close to Rs 2000. Company funds will be going into safe hands. A final quote of Rs400 is accepted by the professor and the product goes into his pocket. A good exercise to demonstrate differences in value perception customers posses.

Wait !!, kahani abhi baki hai mere dost, so I make an approach to the professor after everybody has happily attained their freedom and ask for my cell. “Pay 400 and take your product” he says, I cannot stop smiling. No seriously, can I have my cell back “pay the price fixed and take it” he says again. What the f—k you got to kidding. Now I am suppose to pay Rs400 for my own cell just because some esoteric idiots came to life when the class was suppose to end. Well I kept pleading and he kept repeating the same phrase with a smile and then he went for the bus and left the college. Wow, what a stubborn piece of shit and now I am with no cell and my laptop is in service center for new speakers. I am virtually pushed 20 years back in time forced to live with no point of contact.

The professor did not visit college for the next two days and I started to feel like a villager searching for telephone booths. Pissed by the whole episode with ego level higher than suicide point, the decision was made; to hell with the cell, phone or no phone, nobody snatches 400 from me for a missed call.

After two days I gave him 400 to get my cell back!! As experts say in depth overs of cricket “you miss I hit”.

Rainy days...

The neurotic effect rain brings, everyone wants it due to colossal range of requirements. I wanted it because Nagpurian heat was becoming unbearable day by day others would have their own reasons. But then if it does while I move to classes or at the time to visit mess the feeling of bliss turns into a pique.

People go through various phases of rain enjoyment and detest in life. As kids we used to play football or even long jumps in school during session break. And in those meager 15 mins of eat time, which was utilized only for non eating activities as lunch never survived more than 1 session, we were able to turn all colors to brown on the field, the bravest ones would even color their hair. And a lady teacher would always stare at you from top to bottom, the harder the glare the higher the pride.

Then people would grow to college and getting dirty would be totally out of question, well its a matter of impression. Rains would become bliss only if your umbrella or raincoat got a temporary share from the opposite sex. And that would be followed by a glare from dear friends, and the harder the glare the higher the pride.

One then eventually moves on to office and even a slight drizzle while on way to work with those effortly ironed formals would pour out a series of curses. Rains now are only welcomed while inside any fully AC building. And if you happen to be in places like Mumbai or Chennai, mechanisms should be in place to shift heavy rains to country side.

Retirement then sinks in and if you are not in an old age home sobbing about the good old days, you are at home with a hot cup of tea and some snacks. Rain now has again turned bliss!!

Calculating Budget

FM has gone the rural road to bring the economy on track. Very promising moves on the paper but will allocating more money on every turf achieve anything. Nothing was said on the primary education. Our kissan will have more options for product selection but no education.

If for the rural it was the heart but for the urban it was the mind. Tax benefits dominated but look closely the most talked about, FBT is now an additional burden on every tax payer; the govt. will anyway get what it was getting earlier. The slabs have been a minor adjustment.

Funding of the rapidly increasing deficit is going to be half from borrowings and money printing. Bringing 3.4% of GDP in the market will rocket the already high CPI of which the budget did not speak it only brought WPI in its key features. And the fact remains that the common is more concerned with CPI and not WPI.

FM and his delegates have made some very firm assumptions while writing our kharcha pani. Global oil prices will not rise, why I don’t understand. 3G auction will raise a huge amount well this is fairly a good one. Disinvestment will be a money raiser and he still covers a meager 1200cr and given the way every disinvestment gets halted it should not be a major pillar to back on.

There was one very funny tax exemption for petrol trucks, how many trucks did he see running on petrol in the country. Clearly an act only to benefit maruti’s, omni cargo. Also, tax exemption done for gas(don’t remem exactly) but looked more for RIL.

Anyways students like me have only one way of calculating budget, whom to repay more this month. And for MBAs passing out next year there are clear signs of “amdani aathani kharcha rupayiaa”.