Windy City

Re-structuring ( ;) , synonyms being cost-cutting, rationalization, re-alignment of business objectives, streamlining). New group. Back to the US!

Developments

- Summer is here.
- Winter is gone. Gone gone gone. Till November.
- 5 months in London have gone by most rapidly and have been most enjoyable.
- Where am I going to be in a month? London? Chicago? Elsewhere? I do not know. I cannot say. I am not trying to answer the broader meta-physical question by the way.
- Most importantly, I need to start making summer plans. Any ideas?
- Quite interestingly, today I spoke to one of the sharpest guys I have spoken to in a long time. British guy, from Oxford I think, Math, one of those people that make you question if you have really been doing anything useful with your life.

Update on life

I am sooo bored right now. One more hour to get out of the office and to freedom. I think worse than having too much to do, is having too little to do or having something to do and not feeling like doing it!

A general update on life for the sake of posterity:

- Last 5 months or so in London have been quite nice. Work was not torturous, hours were kind, made new friends and drank some wine. Traveled around Europe, went to Stuttgart, took a train down to Paris and looked at some art.

- Last trip was to Interlaken for the Easter weekend. Graduated from the baby slopes to some long blues and reds. No Blacks anytime now though! Maybe in a year or two! The apartment was awesome. Great views of the triumphant trio - Eiger, Munch and Jungfrau, which mean Ogre, Monk and Virgin. Company was good fun too. We got stuck in a snowstorm on Friday evening (trip was from Thursday March 20th to Monday March 24th), and the car refused to move up a hill. I insisted on trying, even though we might be dying, making frequent references to the video game Need For Speed 3, and driving everyone else up a tree. I thus earned for myself the moniker "NFS".

- Going to Chicago next week for an extended weekend. Haven't been there in almost 6 months now. Meet up with the Chicago and UIUC crowd.

- I will be knowing about my permanent placement quite soon. I need to do 3 6 month rotations before they put me in a permanent role. I am about to finish with my 3rd in a few weeks, so the day of reckoning has arrived. It is somewhat likely I will stay in London but things tend to change quite frequently around here, and its very dangerous to jump to conclusions in my particular line of work! :)

- More generally things have been quite volatile on the market front. Most banks are cleaning headcount and that does tend to make things tighter for everyone. A lot of people are out there looking for a job, which means, if you lose yours, its quite unlikely you will find a good position. Unlike in my previous group, this time around I have been quite insulated from the big market moves. When the whole credit saga started in July/August, I literally had to at times work 24/7, through the weekend and everything! Thank god for small mercies.

- I have taken up running with some enthusiasm over the last few months. I run about 12 miles on the weekend, and 6 miles during the week. I have found it quite addictive, if I might use that word. It is some kind of natural feel good drug, you feel completely refreshed, clear and peaceful after a good run!

- As for reading, I completely recommend that you read "The English Teacher" by R.K.Narayan. It is one of the most unpretentious, genuine and touching books I have read in a long time. One doesn't have to show off with fancy word play or complex story constructs to captivate the reader!

Ok. Thats it for now. I shall promise to blog more often.

PS: Which brings up the question - will I?

I have made this promise many a time,

But have failed almost to a crime

It is not that I cannot,

But I just will not.

Stupid rhyme you have read through,

Don't you have anything else to do?

Go read "The Golden Gate"

By our good friend Vikram Seth.

Long overdue :)

Madame BBB (pronouned Bey Bey Bey, as the French might) has tagged me. I believe in doing everything in the fullness of time, and thus have taken my time to respond.

So here are the rules:

First, the rules:Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like).Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

Family: No idea why I don't really write about my family! But I did once or twice. Here it is.

Friends: This isn't exactly about a friend, but more about high school and things past.

Me: This isn't going to be that hard. Most of the blog is about me and my rantings and whinings. For example.

Love: Some of my famed analytical skill has extended to this subject as well.

Anything I Like: This is pretty much my blog, and I write as I please about myself and my life. You really need to visit the Artic! Aren't you totally taken by this? Remember OTG?

PS: I think this tag come out over 2 months ago. I doub't if anyone even remembers.

Who do I tag? Everyone who comments on this post. Ha ha just kidding. That would drive away even my 2 commenters. No one I say. No one.

Chennai, London and other things

A week back, I did write this witty, sarcastic and amazingly funny blog post that just vapourized when I tried to post it because I had got disconnected in the meantime. Yes people, I was in India, like I currently am. Though some things like terrible internet connections never really seem to change, a lot else has.

• Privatized airlines. Jet Airways from London to Mumbai was great to say the least. On time. Good Indian food. Desi in-flight entertainment . A lot better than the American carriers (Delta, United, AA) that actually expect you to pay cash for your food on a 14 hour flight. Heard a lot about Kingfisher as well, from friends. Looks like Mr Mallya personally selected all the air hostesses.
• Cell phones. Everyone has a cell phone, some have two, and ads are everywhere. Whoever would have imagined?
• Construction. Everywhere. Flyovers, commercial complexes, residential flats … Lots of lending. Banks are competing hard to sell home loans. Many people are going to be very broke if demand slows.
• Prices. I think the official government inflation number of 6% is inaccurate to put it very mildly. If I were to not put it mildly, I will call it a blatant lie propagated by the political parties to keep the populace quiet. I would put the number close to 35% a year for someone living in a metropolitan city. A roadside meal that used to cost about 30Rs now costs 100Rs. An average restaurant dinner ends up running to around 400Rs PP. Auto fares have double over the last 2-3 years. Let us not even speak about real estate prices. It isn’t surprising that the IT companies have had to ramp up salaries by 20% a year to keep turnover in check. What used to be a 1.5 lakh a year job in 2003 now pays about 4.0 lakh. I shudder to think how the median Indian (rhymes doesn’t it) is coping.
• The traffic. I don’t know if it is just me, but the whole city appears to crawl during the morning and evening rush hours. A good alternative to driving down from Kalakshetra to Nungambakkam is to shut yourself in your garage with your car, turn on the engine, honk repeatedly to yourself, and wait for the end.

I have another week to go before I am back to my good old SSDD lifestyle. (Same Shit Different Day)

I shall now backtrack, and fill you in on the numerous splendors that have bedecked my life since I landed in the land of our colonial masters on the 19th of November, in the 2007th year of the lord, but before I descended upon the land of the sacred cow.

I think the biggest problem with London is the Colonial Hangover Premium (CHP) that debilitates it. Now, not many of you read random finance papers that proselytize on risk premia and investor utility, so I need to explain.

See growing up, in whichever city you might have, you had a Hyde Park or Connaught Place or Victoria Terminus or (insert name of dead British guy) Road. Or, if you are that type, you had visited a bar/pub that pilfered alcohol in the name of some person/place/thing from that exalted pile of mud (it keeps raining) in the Atlantic. When you finally grow up, you finally want to go and see what the fuss is all about, and pay the price. Ouch!

• 5 pounds for a tube ride in a system that is perennially delayed, overcrowded and closes at 12:30 am. Now that is better than spending 30 pounds on a cab ride.
• Tourists everywhere. I made the mistake of going near Harrods around Christmas. It took me 25 minutes to walk the 100 yards from the west exit to the tube stop.
• 400 pounds a week in rent for a studio convertible.
• 10 pounds for dinner on the wayside (60 pounds to make a meal of show and pretension)
• 40% taxes. What?! Where is my wage?! Government! Give me back my money!

Setting all the cribbin aside, London is a fun city. Firstly, unlike Chicago, it is a focal point for DLA’s (Desis Living Abroad), which means that there is a large contingent from university infesting the city. The museums look delectable, though I still haven’t done full justice to them. However, in all modesty, I am forced to admit that nothing can beat having, on a cool summer eve, for your perusal, a couple of wings of Picasso at the Art Institute. Desi food is plentiful and cheap, which keeps me happy and sated. However, the most important point that should guide any decision making process is that none of the bartenders have heard of (or would like to hear of) Miller, Budweiser or Coors.

Now, astute readers would note that this sporadic periodical was started on a blustery January evening, in the dank depths of a computer lab in Lyon, way back in 2004. It is now 2008, and I am back to Europa, though I always thought I had got dumped for good the first time around.

Labor day holiday

I had a nice 5 day break for Labor Day. Breaks are good. Most breaks are to a good extent characterized by fun and frolic. Mine was mostly confusion and mayhem. However, it was interesting. In the end interesting is what matters.

On Friday evening flew into Rochester, NY to visit my friend Arrvindh. We planned to drive down (or rather up) to the Adirondacks for a spot of trekking. At the outset, our plan was quite ambitious. We would set out from Rochester on Sunday morning, reaching Lake George in the Adirondacks by lunch. We were to join KP and Rajesh, who were driving up from NYC, and who would be there at about the same time.

After a shockingly early (atleast by my standards) Saturday night we set out to Lake George at the unearthly hour of 7 in the morning. I get a call from the dynamic duo at 8:15 informing us that they have just woken up. They were supposed to have left a 8:00am, to compensate for the 60 less miles they were driving. So, we kill time at a gas station, getting breakfast and set out again. Then at 9:30am we get another call. The front wheels of their car had just decided to part ways with the main body. The car had ripped through some spikes on the road. They were stuck at the New Jersey turnpike, waiting for the tow van. At this point, we decided to stop waiting, and drive on straight to Black Mountain, the hill we planned to hike up. We reach there at 2pm. We wait till 3pm, and head out. We shorten our trek and come back by 6pm. We find out from the departure register that the other two had arrived at 3:10pm. Bad luck. Why couldn't they have arrived 10 minutes earlier? This little mishap unleashed a chain of events of such fury and complexity that in ancient times the skies would have parted and demon lords would have wreaked havoc across the lands.

Since they left 10 minutes after us, they should arrive 10 minutes after us, we think. We decided to wait. Most deceptively simple arithmetic in real life usually tends to be flagrantly wrong. There was no sign of them at 7pm..7:30pm..8pm. I tried to call. I heard a phone ringing behind me. KP had bravely decided to leave his phone and wallet behind in the car. Brilliant!

Finally at 8:30pm we get a call. For some completely incomprehensible reason, Rajesh's cell phones had found reception. It turned out that the two had made a wrong turn, and were stuck 6 miles away, in the woods, right by the Lake. Notice that these are two nice Brahmin boys (very marriagable, to any girls who are reading this) who do their Sandhis every morning and take their coffee hot every afternoon at 4 sharp. Snakes and bears? Ayyo ayyo. It began to get chilly. I wanted to suggest that the boistrous boys should kill a bear, eat its meat and wear its skin as a coat.

I was ahead of myself. It turned out that there were some boats by the Lake. Though the occupants were quite intoxicated, they were not sufficiently enough that they couldn't call the Rangers. Rangers ride (glide) to the rescue. The poonaled payyas were loaded onto the boat and duly tranported to the nearest spot of land not inhabited by bears and snakes. Unfortunately, this spot of land was 50 miles away, it was 11 in the night, and we were driving a 2 seater. We did what we had to do (not really, but since we did it, one might as well take the credit). The two were parcelled into the back seat. I suggested that the one who had forgotten his wallet and phone should be put into the trunk, but my friend Arrvindh had been weaned on the milk of kindness.

Now the keen observer would note that if the wallet and phone were in a parking lot 50 miles away, so would be the backpack and clothes. Thus not only was my evening ruined, but my clothes were too (due to forced donations). So concluded my Sunday.

Monday was spent driving to New York City with Rajesh and KP. Arrvindh had decided to return back to Rochester. Such is the busy schedule of a Ph.D. student.

As is life, troubles tend to multiply. In NYC, not one, not two, but three friends bailed out on me. Is there something about me that is intrinsically undesirable? One was busy with work, another had a gf's birthday and the third had to visit parents in New Jersey. My moping was partially saved by Rajesh, who offered to continue to tolerate my existence in his apartment. His roommate Arun I found interesting, mostly due to our shared interest in coffee and tennis.

I found NYC to be too crowded, expensive and noisy. However, I did fulfill my newly found interest in Finance by visiting (externally) the headquarters of every major financial institution - Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stears, BlackRock, Citigroup, Bank of America etc. . The list is very long. Outside the Bear Stearns headquarters I tried to imagine which were traders who had lost a lot of money. Since I hadn't checked on the market that day, I let my mind run wild with all the things that might have happened. Maybe the market had crashed, and all these people were leaving, never to return. They looked that way anyway. I was to be disappointed, the market was up 20 points for the day. That was my Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, after a late coffee (with Arun) and an even later lunch, I go down to Greenwich Village and Soho. Most overrated. I certainly wouldn't pay a million dollars for a 1 bedroom apartment there. I think NYC would be a good city to live in if you make a couple of bucks a year, and can afford a good standard of life. Otherwise it is all about small apartments, crowded trains, and long commutes.

What I do love about New York though is Central Park. It is the little patch of green and peace that counterbalances all the madness. All of New York comes there, be from Harlem or the Upper East Side. I saw Steven Tyler listen to a some roadside bums explain their decoration on a mosaic that said "Imagine", obviously a tribute to John Lennon. The running paths: I could run forever, what with the skyline in the background and endless stream of interesting people to look at. I wanted to run a quick 5 miles, but I hadn't brought along my athletic shoes.

I also love the Metropolitan Museum (Met). It is one of the most carefully designed museums I have been to, and trust me I have been to many. The arrangement of the Egyptian temple in real scale, as it would have been 4000 years ago, is something I have seen nowhere else. It also has a great collection of Roman and Greek artifacts. I was so enchanted that in my 5 hours there on Wednesday I barely managed to finish the Greek and Egyption sections. Very disappointing. It is something I have to get back at a later date.

Late on Wednesday, I take the bus out to La Guardia to catch the flight to Chicago. As luck would have it I forget the name of my flight, though I did remember the departure time. I have a harrowing and highly embarrassing time trying to figure out the name of the airline. Thus is too much choice. India is good that way - Air India and Indian Airlines. It was that way at least. Capitalism, competiation and choice have descended there as well.

I return home late Wednesday night, and head out to work on Thursday, my traditional hatred of Monday mornings temporarily shifted to Thursdays. All in all a good holiday, a lot to write home about.

Summer Update

Dont you find it funny that only after much of the summer has slipped away do you start thinking about things - the things you did, the things you could do but did not do, and the things you wanted to do but could not do. In any case, I had a good time, and look forward to the fall and winter. Winter however cold, wind swept and bleak you might be - I am not scared.

Interestingly, I did vigorously cram as much as I could into the summer because the winter is boring. If summer extended all year long (as it does in Madras), I am sure I would have planned out far less.

In other developments, the past few weeks have been quite the learning experience. As many of you may know, and may not know, there has been much tension in the markets. Spurious NINJA (No INcome Job or Assets) housing loans over the last few years are coming back to haunt many a lender. There has been many a default, leading to many a loss of money to those wise people who lent the money. Summing up, hedge funds who bought these loans have been blowing up left right and center. It doesn't help if you borrow 10 bucks for every buck that you have and buy stuff that then goes on to lose 50% of its value over 4 weeks. When a fund loses big money, it gets margin calls, and to meet these margin calls it has to generate cash, and to generate cash it has to sell other parts of its holdings that are doing just fine. So, the whole market crashes down because there is a mad rush to sell and get out of positions before they fall in value. It is like a game of musical chairs; when the music stops the last one standing is out. At times like these one is thankful that one is an Analyst, the lowest kind of life in the Financial pecking order. As an Analyst, you aren't really responsible for anything, and consequently get paid nothing. However, you do get a birdseye view of the proceedings, and observe all hell breaking loose without actually being tarred and feathered.

Weird

I got this SMS on my office phone today :
"Tilly and me would like to invite you to golf today at ridgemoor 2pm."

a) Whoa! Hold it there buddy! You are inviting me to golf?! Are you insane ?! FOBs don't play golf. They wear running Nikes, buy 14$ 50c racquets and screech up the neighbourhood Tennis court.

b) Since you are bringing Tilly, I really need to rush to the pet shop nearest me and take Collie, my newly acquired pet dog.

c) Now since it is on the office phone I really need to be careful. Wit might lead to bit of bother. See everyone has the same first 6 digits. Its the last 4 digits that differ. So a misdial would lead to an office colleague (most likely senior as I am the lowest form of life). To explain how scarily well this works, I once had a friend who got robbed blind while on vacation. He got in touch with me (to go through his apartment and retrieve identification documents) by dialing random digits on the last 4 and asking the person who connected to look me up on Outlook!

Over the last few weeks I have been feeling really stupid. See, I am not a great techie. I can use a computer well enough that people who know nothing about computers think I know what I am doing. I suck at math. I know more math than the average social science major but can't hold a candle to anyone who knows what they are doing. And my interpersonal skills? Ha! Lets not even get into that. One might argue that a combination of these skills might be worth something even if each of these skills are worthless individually. But then comes the principle of comparative advantage. It just restates that there is little point in being the Jack of all trades and the master of none. Or that Roger Federer is better off playing Tennis than Golf. Why didn't I believe in worn out cliches?!

To be honest, the basic reason why I feel so blah is that I am going to be a quarter of a century old pretty soon and have squat to show for it. There were so many things I thought I would be when I was 25 (when I was like 17) - let me not embarrass myself by delving into my adolescent aspirations but just say that there is a disconnect between reality and past expectations. Lets try here, what can I show? Can I show you my biceps? I know it isn't going to make me mister universe but who are we kidding? All we need to kid is myself!

The worst part is I really have nothing to complain about. I find my job reasonably interesting, I have a varied group of friends, play Tennis, Soccer (terribly) and Swim when I can, and eat in nice restaurants and travel to nice places. Its the general sense of blahness in life that is getting to me, the sense I am missing what I really wanted at some point in my life.

That makes me wonder...How did you feel when you were going to be 25?

I think..

I think that life is one process that is constantly reverting to -inf. In the sense, its a random walk where if you were to go down, you are more likely to go further down than go up (think about it, in the end you die, the boundary condition). Its also one you have no control over as there are too many free floating variables. You cannot control your birth, race, ability etc. etc. You cannot control many of the random events that come to affect you. You can only try, and that can only help so much. Its also memoryless. The future has no memory of your past successes. If you dont get through the next stage, you are basically back to where you started. It doesn't care how many stages you had made it past earlier. Interesting. Does anyone have a good model for this?

Guess...

Guess who we had coming into work today - Barack Obama! As you all know he is running for president, and to be elected president you need to win the presidential elections (no kidding!), and to win the elections you need to campaign, and to campaign you need money to pay the bills, and what can be a better place to find funding than in a financial firm. It was the weird that I went. Firstly, I am not American so I cannot vote. Secondly, it is illegal for me to contribute to his campaign funds (do you know people what people who accept such funds are called - traitors!). In my company an easy 25% of the populace is non-American. Weird that everyone would go listen to him talk. He came in at about 4 in the evening, gave a short 30 minute speech and then took questions for another 30 minutes.

He comes across as a smart well educated guy. He a a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and an editor or something of the Harvard Law Review. He is well poised, self-effacing and articulate, much unlike George Bush who has the grand prescence of a gerbil with a speech defect. I am pretty sure that 75% of the female population is going to vote for him. One manifestation of this fact was that I didn't hear him say anything that approximated to - "I am the President of the United States, my job is to help you so that you can do your job. If, I do my job well than you can do your job and I will save you from all the evil terrorists who want to drag your wife and children from your home and burn them at the stake. Bah. Bah. Bah.".

In America there are 3-4 main topics that get everyone heated up. Barak covered most of these topics , and proposed quite reasonable solutions I would think. In decreasing order of importance -

- Iraq War : Fund for now. Withdraw in a phased manner, without causing chaos. This is kind of the line that most Democrats tow now. Disagree with the whole war idea without alienating the troops.

- Social Security and Medicare i.e. entitlement programs : This a big problem in the Western world because the population is aging - this means you would need to pay increasing pensions and medical bills for the old people from money from a smaller working population. This is not as much of a problem in the US because the population is still relatively young. However, expenses have spiraled. Barak wants to trim the pork by streamlining the whole thing. Would be a hard thing to do. Historically success rates have been quite low. Lets see if he succeeds.

- Taxes ! He is going to pull out the freebies that Bush Jr. doled out to richest 5% of the population. Not surprisingly this 5% also pays 70% of all tax.

- Education. Wants to reform schools. Improve school teacher pay. Trim red-tape. Make the system more accountable and performance driven.

He has made the promised what every politician promises - change! Drastic change! A whole new world. Prosperity. Happiness. Lets see how much of it actually comes to fruition.

I know I keep repeating myself, and am running myself thin, but you know what - he comes across as a fresh open guy, practical, action oriented and free of ideological rhetoric. Has a natural sense of humor.

As you know April 17th is the day when all us humans need to pay our dues to the IRS. Not so shockingly, one of the first questions that came up was the changes he was going to make to the tax code. He said that he is going to roll back tax rates to Clinton administration levels (read increase taxes.) Then he said, "However, I am one of those unfortunate people. My book did well this year, and I earned just about enough to be at the highest tax rate, but not as much as K (the ultra big boss) to actually have fun with all the money." That broke the tension (and lost votes) from nervous professionals into a roll of laughter (and won votes + admiration.) Nice personal touch.

There were also some questions about the Iraq War (fielded by a veteran) and a couple of more mundane things I forget.

I feel that one of his biggest problems in getting elected is going to be the fact that he is too well educated and articulate. Will he be able to rouse the rural populace? Simple unadultrated emotion might go down better with them than sophisticated arguments. This is a problem that has plagued the Democrats in general I feel. By Democrats I mean, Hillary Clinton. Additionally, she appears to be a stuck up and I am not sure how many people want a re-run of the Clinton dynasty for another 4 years. She lacks the "breath of fresh air" factor.

Lets see what happens. I think he would make a nice President.

La Vie

I sit in my office writing this post. What does that mean? Nothing deep, just that I have some time to spare. The training program is winding down. I have passed all my courses, which is actually a big deal as 6/17 failed, and had to retake. Writing 3 exams in Investments, Options and Accounting, after a month of preparation, is a pain in the derriere. I didn't know a debit from a credit when I joined the job. Finance was this weird field whose point of existence I really couldn't get. See, its the only profession that doesn't produce anything of its own (e.g. Steel makers make Steel, Law firms make legal documents, Financial firms manufacture money?!). I wasn't even sure why I had quit my Ph. D. program.

See, I had no real problems with my Ph. D. I found my research interesting. We were developing computational methods to wade through the flood of experimental data that current high-throughput methods were producing (the days when you stare at the test tube for 2 weeks for something to happen are over!). I liked my advisor. I had a fairly fun social life. So, no real complaints. However, I was bored. A Ph. D. might be a number of things, but fast paced it is not. Also, I tend to lose interest quickly with most things. So, for fairly random reasons I got this job, and decided to take it up.

Then, life wasn't boring. It was the opposite of boring. Ok, not the opposite of boring but crazy. The opposite of crazy is sane, so technically life was the opposite of sane. In any case, I survived and learnt a fair bit about finance. For example, I know that Sarbanes Oxley is this new totally hep accounting rule, that is forcing companies to spend billions of extra dough on accountants, and give employment to all the Keshav Patels down in Bangalore. Then, as I said earlier, I wrote my exams. Didn't do that well, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, (usually I ***@#@ hate excuses, but an exception had to be made, or I have to dent my self image, and assume unto myself a less capable persona).

Then, lady luck decided to throw some change my way, and I found potential employment in this group that pays me to study nice problems. And so the tale comes back to the point where it started. Thus spake Zarathustra, throught Nietzsche, for no specific reason really.

In other breaking news, winter has arrived. It snowed a bit last week. So, the jackets and pullovers and skull caps and mufflers and gloves and snow boots and thermals are out. I live right by Lake Michigan, and as I walk back home from work, I feel like one of those heroes who against all odds, continue to trudge through the dark, foreboding, wind swept, snow laden fields, not knowing what miseries lie ahead of them, never slowing, never yielding, showing no fear, whatsoever.