Expectations

Expectation, one's life is just reduced to satisfying expectations. Be it school, college or a job, one is always satisying expectations of one's parents, friends or colleagues. Why can't i do what I want? Why am I afraid?

And these expectations are just like a company's forecasts. Once you surpass it once, the expectations just rise a notch higher. One cannot satisfy or meet them all one's life but still one is forced (I say forced as it is somehow implied) to meet everyone's expectations. Its a vicious cycle, a term I learnt with Ogden's Nash's poem about a visit to a dentist.

I hate my job, I rather wan't to do something that makes me happy. But I cannot do so. I am expected to  earn and that too handsomely and live a happy life. but that is not what I want? that is not what will keep me happy? I am sad. I want to do something I love. Although after leading a life of meeting or trying to meet the expectations I have forgotten what I truly love. I really don't know what I love nor what I want. 

CB blog 3 - Sach Ka Swyamvar

The two latest reality shows to hit the Indian audiences - Rakhi Sawant's Sywamvar on Imagine and Sach Ka Saamna on Star. And so India's tryst with reality TV continues.

But what bothers me is the shows that are branded under the concept of Reality TV. A very thin line separates the reality shows from the usual dramas of the Ekta Kapoor serials. The major difference is that these usually feature the ordinary people like you and me who are given a chance to be successful and chase their dreams and that is what makes some of them exciting.

It all started with KBC (but still that was not called reality TV), and from then on channels have been on the lookout for shows that brings out the personal life of the contestants. All this helps to garner more TRP's and thereby ad revenues but at times one's talent and committment is overshadowed by emotions (We Indians just love emotions). Several shows have come up since then with the notable ones being Indian Idol and its copy talent hunt shows, MTV Roadies, various game shows, Fear Factor, Big Boss etc.

Now jumping over to these two shows. Rakhi Sawant the goddess of Indian media (doubt if someone else receives more coverage than her), in her quest for marriage, or just another publicity gimmick started her own Swyamvar, deciding to marry a prospective groom from among the choices. On one hand was hailed as a never before thing on Indian television with talks of sex parity and women being given the say in choosing their grooms, it was slammed on the other end for scandalizing the sane institution of marriage. And from what all was seen on-screen I believe that the latter is true. These men were not showing of their skills to prove themselves as a worthy suitor but were rather acting as puppets in the hands of Rakhi to garner their 10 secs of fame. And the latest announcement of the change in decision of marriage to an engagement further intensifies the claim of it just being a publicity gimmick. Nevertheless the show managed to garner high TRP's putting 'Imagine' into the limelight.

The second show - Sach Ka Saamna is still a relatively new show. Based on 'Moment of Truth' the show quizzes contestants on a variety of personal question while they are attached to a polygraph (the lie-detector). And contestants are rewarded with money for confessing the truth to questions that are most of the times embarrassing and if not for the money, one would dare not confess it to close friends as compared to national TV. And the audiences are lapping up to view people( including some celebrities) revealing their dark secrets. The show is being labelled as testing one's greed for money over one's relationships. The show being discussed in the Parliament with a call for banning further enhanced the viewer's curiosity and gave it huge publicity. Let's see how many people in the audience are ready to lap up these truths and also the big question remains whether there could be someone truthful enough (or rather shameful enough) to win 1 crore .

CB blog 2 - Summer vacations

With time the kids grow. But not too much. By the age of 9-10 ie class 4-5 onwards the summer vacations turn into an ordeal for parents. Schools to showcase and promote themselves hold exhibitions and the work falls not on the students but rather on their parents.

How can you otherwise expect these 9-10 year olds working using cursive writing on charts, cutting and pasting thermocol (something I find extremely difficult even now), making model of things they do not even have a clue of ???? When i was young i used to look forward for my aunt to visit us so that i could get my homework done. And nowdays my aunts look forward to come and visit so that my sister and I can help with our cousin's homework.

This demand for models/charts has resulted in quite a few shops propping up that specialize in the craft arts. So the homework which should have rather been a way of parent children bonding has been reduced to a buy-sell deal. And school teachers instead of recognizing the mediocre but original work also show preference for the professional work.
Parents too believe that by buying models they are actually easing their kid's life but they are losing out on the time of interaction. This is one of the most crucial time they can spend and help their kids with.

Well the summer vacations are not just about homework, these are seen as the best time to engage in some extra curricular activities. These were the times when kids could engage in some art/craft, learn their favourite sports etc. But now this too has been turned into a means to beat the rat race. There has been a spurt in summer camps, classes for kids to learn varied stuff. All this would have been good had the child's interest been of prime concern. But what workshop the kids join is usually dictated either by peer pressure ( among the parents that is) or parents trying to impose their own unfulfilled desires on the kids.

CB blog 1- Primary education

The primary needs of food, clothing and shelter have also created the need for education. Anyone who wants to succeed in today's life needs to education as a stepping stone (baring a few exceptions - in which case too these people had more of practical learning than committing themselves to higher studies).
So all this has created demands for schools, colleges and institutes for higher learning. But these are not enough. The demand for good institutes far outstrips the supply and so all this demand has created a further demand for stepping stones into these institutes.

Lets start the discussion with primary education. In most of the schools today the age for admission into nursery is 3 years. But the dearth of good schools and facilities ( including both the teaching skills, the quality of student interaction, the extracurricular activities ) has led to mushrooming of pre-schools. In my younger days all the education that i got was from my family. My grandparents, my uncle and my aunts, besides my parents were the ones who taught me the basics. And that was all the training I required for my interviews for admission to school.
But now with the huge competition ( heck for three year olds) what we have are scores of preschools which act as a precursor to your primary education). The nuclear families cite their lack of time availability as a major reason for admitting their kids to such play-schools. And these play-schools not only provide facilities for grooming your child but also have grooming sessions for the parents too ( to polish of their interview skills. Teach them how to respond to commonly asked questions..
But can these actually teach you parenting???)
Now an arguments arises - Is it fair to push your kid into the rat race so early? Aren't you spoiling his wonderful innocent years by pushing him into the rat race?.... But the counter-argument says that if you don't do so then are you prepared for the consequences? If you want your child to be successful are you ready to leave your child's interviews to chance?
Now both the arguments hold true given the admission structure and the huge demand-supply gap. So the government decided to scrap these interviews and use a point system for admission or even use lotteries. Although this leaves everything to chance and circumstances but is it fair? Given the supply-demand gap this may be the best alternative but tell this to the hundreds of parents for whom the admission time is a harrowing experience. After spending so much on play-schools and still not getting admitted one does feel a let down for the child's future is at stake...

Can't really say which is a better system for we are now so accustomed to the competition around and the huge cries of meritocracy going around there is a huge support for the earlier system too.

Beauty

Had another interesting Consumer Beahviour class today. The topic of discussion was motivation. What exactly leads a consumer to buy a product? What does he actually look in a product and how marketers exploit this?

And what better topic of discussion than the fixation with fair skin.. The advertisements of fair and lovely and that of the recently introduced fair and handsome. These ads have received a lot of flak for depicting dark skin as low in confidence and a thing to be ashamed of. To try and emulate the fair models and have a better life. These thrive on the fixation with fair skin that has been imbibed in our minds. The counter argument says that these ads depict the reality of the society..

Some say these ads show negativity and then the use of the fairness product leads to positive results. Well isn't this same as showing an add for healthcare products?- You are shown bad conditions that happen when you do not use the product.. These are forms of Negative Reinforcement..

But the difference lies in the fact that these ads thrive on social stigma, and instead of allevating them they elevate it..

And this aspect is common to nearly all the beauty products. The fixation with artificial beauty has led to severe effects on young girls who are exposed to the world's fixation with the artificial beauty (anorexia, fair skin) and causing mental trauma. Spoiling their childhood.

Well to counter this trend there are some ads like Dove's campaign for self esteem which talks about rising up and educating the kids about true beauty. To make children aware that their role models as in Barbie doll figure are unsustainbale (A real life Barbie would not even be able to stand let alone walk)

But it is a irony given the fact that the company Unilever which is the owner of the Dove brand also owns Fair and Lovely, Axe.

So this brings to the big question..

What is real beauty?

I am no philosopher to ponder on such a subject so i'll leave it at that.

Didn't know it still existed

Well just a few days ago my mid terms ended. So to celebrate the occasion and to take a break from all the rigour a few of us decided to have a blast at Wayanad.

Off we went with three cars making merry of the way and the awesome weather..We found a nice homestay in a calm and serene location with bread and breakfast. It was away from the busy cities with most of the people living their own life with little interest in the outside world. It is here we witnessed an act which i do not expect to see in any of the big cities where everyone is money minded and tries to look at ways to make easy money.

We faced a few car issues for which we had the help of a few workers there. As a reward we gave the Rs 200 and started checking out. But the management there told us that the money we gave was way too much and it is their duty to help us and so will not accept the money. At first we were taken aback. Where in India would we see such a thing??

Although that day did not go too well in terms of transportation issues but this small act just reaffirmed my faith in humanity

Derivatives - The sophisticated satta market

Had my first class of financial derivatives (FD for short) today. The prof went gaga over how they are instruments for hedging risks as well as their random use for speculation. We were introduced to the various forms of derivatives in the forms of forwards, futures, options and swaps with the introduction session focussed on the first two.

Now we know that futures are exchange traded and have cash settlement as opposed to the forward contracts which are OTC and have physical settlement. But these forwards can be cash settled too if the contract is so made. This means I can enter and speculate on the price of a commodity, the volatility of the stock index, stocks etc. legally to enter into forward contracts with a third party.

So how different is it if I would like to extend the same to the success of India in the T20 world cup or the number of wickets taken, the probable score to be made and so on. Why is it called a satta then? Is it not the form of a futures contract in which I decide the underlying, the price, the mode of delivery as well as the payment date?

Why is speculating on stocks allowed and this termed illegal? And the argument of gambling doesn't hold as that is exactly what you do in stock trading. The future price of the stock is not actually related to the exercise price, it is just a value derived from the current price to which certain risk premiums have been adjusted and in no way reflects the spot price of the day.

So isn't this whole derivative crap a slightly sophisticated gamble??? Let's see what happens in the future classes and whether my doubts are dispelled.....