To Wonder

To crush and to ridicule one, people may try

But it does not make sense to wonder

All the what which where when and why?

Some scheme and connive, some may even lie

But it does not make sense to wonder

Why lesser mortals don’t change till they die?

To improve or to destroy? Even God gives a sigh

But it does not make sense to wonder

In which manner did God cut the pie?

'm scribbling these lines to you my children

Just keep smiling and don’t you ever cry

In this world it is no wonder

We go forward only if we try try and try

© Nitesh Kotecha

No One Killed the Indian Mutual Fund Industry

The Indian Mutual Fund Industry is in bad shape.  Is it really in trouble?  I would like to disagree.  This is one opportunistic industry which has always benefited from outsmarting investors by selling dreams instead of genuine products.  Here are some facts

The Association of the Indian Mutual Fund Industry has released data last week that the top 250+ distributors of this Industry have earned a total Rs 18600 million in the financial year 2011-2012 up from Rs 1770 million in the previous year.  The increase in profit has come despite the fund houses increasing their pay out commissions by 5%.

This is not an industry which is in trouble.  However, the MF industry is a cry baby and has Godfathers in the Government who have a vested interest in this industry.  Most Politicians route their illegal holdings through Mauritius and this money enters the MF Industry via the Foreign Institutional Investors route.

Readers of this blog are advised to look at expense ratios of each fund they opt for.  The MF industry has just received a go ahead from its regulator to increase its charges by 0.25%.  This is a net increase of 11%.

Stick to funds that charge minimum amounts as expense ratio.  Stay away from brokers who try to sell you the funds.  Be careful of every IPO that the fund house brings in.  A new IPO is allowed an expense of 6% as its initial costs.  These are nothing but the salary hikes that they need to pay their fund managers.   As an existing fund cannot charge in excess of 2.25% as expenses, the fund houses come out with IPOs to pay this money to their expensive fund managers.  The period between 2003 and 2007 saw this string of IPOs that were just rubbish.

Remember, any fund charging anything in excess of 1% as expenses, is expensive and you need no pay that kind of money for a mutual fund.  Stay away. Stick to funds with lower expense ratio.  If your broker is selling you this kind of junk, don’t buy and close your account with him.  You don’t need an expensive fund and neither do you need a greedy broker.

Happy Investing!

© Nitesh Kotecha

On Death And Dying

Death is inevitable, something that will touch every one of us at some time – no matter how hard we try to avoid the thought or pretend it’s not there.  It is something that people don’t wish to talk or think about and yet it is as certain as our birth.

The greatest fear in human beings is the fear of the unknown.  What happens to me at death?  The cause of this fear and confusion stems in not knowing who or what “I” am.  We feel “I” am dying thinking “I” to be the body.

When I realize “I” am not this body, then I free myself from death altogether.  I am immortal, eternal and I leave this body when the part I have been playing is over.  Remember, the senses (smell, touch, taste etc) are the instruments of consciousness, but not consciousness itself.  Whatever we can experience from sense objects will not give experience of immortality.

We experience sorrow when something is taken away from us and yet we know that everything in the world is perishable.  It is not that we should not enjoy the things and the people around us.  We are actors on a stage.  The world is a drama and we souls are acting through our bodies, playing our part with other actors, using the props, and choosing scenes of our choice.

We must learn to live in the present enjoying each moment realizing the overall plan of this drama.  We wonder at the intricacy and precision at which each action brings an equal and opposite reaction.  This theory of cause and effect, action and reaction, is the basic law of life, both on physical and metaphysical planes.

This understanding also helps us to face the loss of a loved one.  We must realize that we were playing a part together with someone and now, that scene is over.  It is the possessiveness of things and people that causes sorrow.  This is also called “Maya” or illusion of life.  It is because of Maya that we experience grief, sorrow, emptiness and loneliness.

When somebody’s part is over, we fell that we have lost that person’s love and comfort.  But, it was never yours.  You are fortunate to experience that person’s love or comfort just as you are fortunate to experience the warmth of the sun’s rays or the coolness of the water.  We cannot control the coming and the going of a person more that the rising and the setting of the sun.

Neither money nor power nor prayer can stop the eternal flow of Life and so we must learn to flow with it.

© Nitesh Kotecha

Don’t Let Yourself Be Hurt This Time

The gazelle slowly walked 

As her mother patiently talked

"We are the lion's meat

Everyday is not so neat

Calm your senses as you eat

For the bell will ring

And loud will be the chime

Don’t let yourself be hurt this time"

Don’t let yourself be hurt this time

Don’t let yourself be hurt this time

The boy quickly shook

As his father gave a last look

"I know I have been rude

'm sick 'n can’t have any food

Gimme a hug 'n make me feel good

For the bell will ring

And loud will be the chime

Don’t let yourself be hurt this time"

Don’t let yourself be hurt this time

Don’t let yourself be hurt this time

© Nitesh Kotecha

Old Wine - Computer Education in India

The world is different place now then at the time when I attended school.  Today, social networks and mainstream media are an integral part of all communication that takes place – whether it is Business, Politics, or Social Life.  However, the state department of education has participated just a little.

Teachers, Educators, Parents and Students do understand how learning is changing.   However, I am of the opinion that the involvement is just not so large enough, for our schools in India.

Many students are immersed in social networks and cellular technology outside of school life, and there are not enough adults in their lives who can guide them as to how they can use those connections to learn.  Our access to information, people and ideas is exploding on the net.  However, the education system in India has had this inability to recognize the paradigm shift.  The Education Boards do not fully understand the learning process that are needed for learners who want to share their knowledge and interests. 

The syllabus and course material does attempt to integrate the net and media with the way we learn, BUT, the examinations and their formats, together with state education board politics ensure that such 21st century skills do not amount to much.

My stay in USA had me interacting on the UNiX software by AT&T.  There was no graphic user interface.  Communicating was cumbersome (If you wanted to chat with somebody at a site - say school.com, you had to use for a command a word that was rather inappropriate - “finger xyz@school.com”!!!)

The net is now easy.  However, this ease does not necessarily guarantee education and growth.    The content on the net is much, but essentially that work reflects what we were doing with pen and paper.  The medium of publication has changed and nothing else.

21-century skills are just not possible for schools that are run by archaic school education boards which in turn are controlled by politicians and antediluvian academic dinosaurs.

Here are some thoughts:

- Mathematics is taught beautifully on the internet, free of charge, by the Khan academy (www.khanacademy.org).  I wish I had learnt to tame this monster this way.  Why cannot school children “officially” learn their material from websites such as these?

- I have downloaded dance numbers and videos that explain economic theories!  It is fun!

- School going children and schools must publish their own teaching skills at their own websites.  All school going children must have their own blogs at the school website where they are encouraged not only to share know but to also develop their own content.  The school webmaster can surely monitor the content.

Our ability to easily publish content online will force us to rethink the way we communicate with students, the way we deliver our curriculum and the expectations from the next generation.  Likewise, Teachers and Professors must publish their own content on blogs and encourage participation from students.

- Blogging on school websites allow children to have an audience and thus the children may grow to be more confident.

- Publishing self-content will force the children to have better critical, writing and analytical skills.

It is understood that the above model suggests a school which has funds and has children whose parents can afford the higher expenditure.  This is ok.

© Nitesh Kotecha

Goodbye Mr. Finance Minister, Thank You For Nothing: Lessons From A Bad Leader

The past week saw a resignation from India’s Finance Minister.  In all honesty, let us begin with the positives concerning this man:

He is a highly learned man with a complete knowledge over law and governance.

He adorns an amiable nature and can reach out to any person including members of the opposition.

Let us now focus on the number one reason for his survival and dominance in politics – He was Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s most ardent devotee.  Pure and Simple.

India’s economic deterioration over the past three years can be solely attributed to him.  He was a complete failure and has left the country in a deep crisis.  Most of our economic indicators are worse than 1991 – corruption, inflation, current account deficit, fiscal deficit etc.  Every sector of the country is in crises – Agriculture, Industry and Services.

This is a blog about purity and prosperity.  Politics and Politicians have no permission to stink up this blog.  However, we will discuss this person without getting political.

He was never the leader.  This is because people know who the real leader is.  No, it is not the Prime Minister, which it should be - logically speaking.  It is the Chairperson of the Coalition Government.  The Chairperson does not understand finance or economics.  The primary task of the chairperson is to stabilize government and ensure the return to power.


Herein lays the conflict – good economics v/s the desire to remain in power.  (Have you  noticed that politicians want to come to power – they never want to come and govern!)

The leader is never concerned about hierarchical position – the only concern is about being effective.  The current prime minister was working under the finance minister in the 1980s as the Governor of The Reserve Bank.  The situation reversed in 2009 wherein the Governor became the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister was still the Finance Minister!  This fact created a communication logjam between the two people and so we had a finance minister working independent of the Prime Minister and India suffered as a result.  The FM must now surpass the PM and so the nomination for the President’s post.

The Finance Minister was a sour-puss and a bad loser.   Leaders cannot afford to have that kind of a reputation -they need to earn their respect.  The Government of India lost a prestigious taxation case against a telecom company.  The Supreme Court verdict was very clear.  The FM amended the law with retrospective effect from 1962 so that he could win the case.  What kind of a leader does that?  The PM had given an assurance to his counterpart in the United Kingdom that India would not collect any retrospective tax but here was his FM doing exactly that!

The President of India is a titular head with little powers.  No great leadership is required for this post.  I guess it suits fine for the FM.

It is rumored that when the chairperson of the coalition government announced the FM’s candidature, the person who clapped the loudest was the PM.

Let us celebrate to that!

©Nitesh Kotecha