5 Things Beyond My Understanding.... (as on 11/24/2008)

1. If Banks/Finance Sector, Why Not Car Companies?
    AIG got bailed out. The Execs go on a resort holiday gig and get caught on tape . Then Mr. Paulson with the full support of B. Obama, J. McCain and G.W. Bush, pass the bailout package to rescue the economy from the precipe. And today, Citibank was bailed out. As far as I know, Citibank was NOT a retail banking giant. It is a credit card giant - I do not know what to term the bank as other than as a CC giant. In the 3 years I have been here, Citibank has offered every 'theruvile-poravan' with a credit card with some credit limit. And banks which were rescued before Citi were ones which had literally acted as namba ooru 'seth' with their rates and lures. I'm not an economics/finance guru, but from the limited information available online, I believe that th Govt. would guarantee the bad debts and write off a portion of it - so who benefits from this? The financial institution. But does the credit history of a person who took the loan get modified/revised to show that the bank got that loan written off? NO. It is going to be the proverbial albatross around their neck for the good part of the foreseeable future. When all this is okay and not 'socialism' why does helping GM, Chrysler and Ford whose lack of foresight and lack of efforts to try to develop R&D in fuel efficiency in the 70s and 80s was limited by the budgetary partiality that defense and space technology got during the Cold War, being scored by the powers that be? While Japan with the comfortable knowledge that US was bound to provide it armed forces in times of a conflict was able to concentrate on R&D in electronics and automobiles, you know what happened in this part of the earth..... So, what is the big deal in giving $40 bn to the auto makers when AIG was given 85 bn. to be bailed out of the crisis? And if the auto makers CEO's act of travelling by a private plane was symbolically and politically incorrect, did the guys who doled out a generous measure to AIG demand the money back when its execs 'whored' around with public money?


2. Sachin - Dhoni controversy.
    All during the 90s and early part of 2000s there was unanimous decision by all concerned that there was only one BEST batsman in Cricket and in particular, ODI, going by the name S.R. Tendulkar. No! The critics were quite intent to point out that Sachin was NOT a match winner. They said the end mattered more than the means. Which was why half baked people like Ganguly and Gilchrist were written about in the same sentence as SRT. I accept that perhaps post 2007 WC, SRT has nothing left to play for. And currently, he is the highest scorer in Tests and ODIs and has the most centuries and 50s in both forms. Except for his personal reasons (which I'm not privy to,), based on pure cricketing logic, I do not see a point in SRT continuing any further. The team is able to do well without him and if he left now, it might be a good thing for a youngster like Badrinath or Raina to cement their place in the team. While this is on one hand, I genuinely believe that M.S Dhoni is the best thing that happened to Indian Cricket in the last 10 years. He brings with himself, a pragmatic approach to Indian cricket and has the guts and gumption to own his decisions in defeats and wins. Its an altogether different story that the Indian team is seemingly more invincible than ever under MSD. But now the critics are quick to point out that MSD is not the classical batsman nor the best wicketkeeper. Now they start questioning the technicalities behind Dhoni's swat shot (the one which looks like he is swatting flies with his bat) and his tendency to 'follow' the ball (physically) when keeping. So why are they hesitant to give MSD or SRT their just due?


3. Vaaranam Aayiram Vs Thirupachi/Veru-p-paachi/Ma*ira-pochi
    I have not yet seen the movie as a whole but did see some scenes on Youtube and Google Videos and did see some scenes which the so called critics panned (especially check out IndiaGlitz which 'subtly' kalachifies Vaaranam Aayiram in their articles) and found it was quite okay. Recent reviews also confirmed my view that Gautam Vasudev Menon might be the next Mani Ratnam in the making. Wait! There has been no Nayagan yet, but the symptoms are there, no doubt. So, when Vijay (if there is one guy who deserves to be banned from Tamizh Cinema, it is this one and perhaps followed by Ajith) can do all mushy things in the worsht way possible and people are prepared to take it, calling it MASS, why can't take V1000 in that spirit, too?

4. The wondrous ways of the GoI
    I agree that TCS, Infosys and other IT companies have contributed immeasurably to the GDP and the Indian economy in general. But, why do these well-off companies keep getting preferential sops in taxes? Why does the Govt have a process in place to tax the IT companies depending on their profit margins and try to develop the other industries like Manufacturing Sector and Agriculture? And the biggest puzzle is why does TATA Group - which claims to be the most patriotic and transparent pvt. sector company deserve so many salugaigal for its Nano plant?


5. The Bucs syndrome
    John Gruden must rank as one of the most lucky guy - he won a ring which should have gone to Dungy. And after that winning season, Bucs have been all downhill. The best QB we've had is Jeff Garcia - a 38 year old who is perhaps a couple of seasons from retirement. The Bucs make it play off almost everytime to lose the first play off and come back home. So we don't get a good draft pick and we do the same process year after year. Gruden never seems to get sacked and we never get a good QB.