Random Musings

Love - the one magic word that everyone seems to be manically seeking in their life. If you have grown up in India listening to Hindi film music, ghazals et. al. you would know that maximum songs crooned by our favorite singers are about romance and love. The love between a man and a woman which is exalted to a status which is almost divine like. Even if you are a fan of English music - the same trend is visible there. Even the greatest of rock-stars who usually like to delve into the deeper aspects of everyday life and its frustrations, have usually composed some intense love ballads which become extremely popular. Why has "romantic" love become such an all consuming aspect of life? And why is the traditional Indian society now facing serious challenges to its old ways of looking at things in this new global era? To get a perspective, one only has to look at the number of divorces our society is suddenly witnessing. Even tragic divorces in the lives of couples who braved a...

2012 was not a happy year for many across the world. Numerous worries clouded the horizon and it seemed tough to predict where things would end up. Add to that a Mayan prophecy that the world was going to end and the general disposition was negative to say the least.  As someone working in financial services, the overall "mood" of the people in the world can make a lot of difference to my life. When people feel "happy" they spend more, companies earn more, stock market rises more, the mood in my office improves and my pay-check becomes healthier. On the flip side, when people are feeling apprehensive of the future, a reverse cycle starts. People in financial services start getting fired, there is pressure on everyone and its tough for everyone. You get the drift...... So 2012 over-all was not a year I would look back on very fondly. Except that I took a leap of faith and went from working from a small family owned outfit to a large MNC bank.  So for all those ...