Well here it is…….on the treadmill today……

Speed = 6.5 Km/hr
Average Speed = 5.9 Km/hr
Average Incline = 0.0
Total Time = 29 minutes
Total Distance = 2.86 Km
Total Calories = 125

Well, this took about 35 minutes in all including the important warming-up session.

After this work-out, I moved to the weights – all that exercise took about 20 minutes.

In all, close to 55 minutes, it was good stuff.

The pain which was earlier there in the knees and legs has now gone away. Supplementing this with Yoga is very important, in my opinion. So, do Yoga on alternate days, or on all days, as it just takes 20 minutes to do 15 Surya Namashkars in the morning. One should remember though not to take any drinks including water before Yoga. And, wait for atleast another 20 minutes before you hit the coffee !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
9th Nov 2009
Mumbai

Well one of those topics from old times………

Most people that we come across in life have no “glue”, meaning no fixed bearings. That would sometimes mean that people are “unfocused” with not much of mental energy to tackle life’s challenges.

I recently met one of my friends who has given up his corporate job. He was a bit unfocused in the beginning, not entirely prepared to face the challenges which pounce upon once there was no steady life. However, he overcame the hurdles by two things – Faith in himself and God ; and, sheer hard work in making things happen for himself.

He was optimistic about the future all the time. I guess that optimism was fueled by faith and self confidence. More than anything else, he had concentration, i.e., focus on what he wanted to achieve in life.

In combination, these three things – Faith + Optimism/Self-Confidence + Focused Concentration – surely will lead one to achieve the desired things in one’s life. Unfocused, faithless and pessimistic people do not achieve much in life. They constantly crib about everything in life.

Well, that is the thought for this weekend, folks

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
8th Nov 2009
Mumbai

Last week, I had the pleasure of having two great red wines – both Shiraz – while dining out in Singapore.

The first one was Henry’s Drive Dead Letter Office Shiraz 2006. I selected this wine because of two reasons – I had known Henry’s Drive wines for a fairly long time (atleast 8 years if my memory serves me right), and secondly, this Shiraz was the only Henry’s Drive wine available at the restaurant ! I guessed that it must be a good Shiraz coming from the famous winemaker. I was proved absoutely right.

The HDDLO Shiraz 2006 was a great selection – my description of its taste is as follows : intense wine with coffee and caramel aromas, dark red/black colour, chewy taste with plum fruit on the palate, delicious……wow, absolutely delicious. I thought I detected something chocolatey as well, but not sure, need to try one more bottle ! I am not that technical to describe more here, but this is a wine you should not miss, though it is a bit pricey. Drink it in Australia or the U.S., where it is likely to be much cheaper than it is in a Singapore restaurant.

The second bottle that I ordered was the Cape Mentelle Shiraz 2006. Again this was a great selection. This wine has a dark purple colour, it is intense, and has kind of thick chocolate taste. It stings a bit, so I guess it is peppery. The thick fruity taste resembles the HDDLO Shiraz. Again, a great wine from Margaret River. Price is close to the HDDLO Shiraz.

It is a great sensation to have one great Shiraz glass of wine for the evening. Having two of the best Shiraz wines is surely a reward. I would strongly recommend both wines. These wines are easy to drink for the beginners as well.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
31st October 2009
Mumbai

I was having lunch at a food court in a prominent mall in Singapore yesterday.

I could not fail to notice the cost increases which were getting passed to the ordinary customers. The people you see at a mall are the microcosm of the country itself – mostly average consumer, trying to eat out on a weekend, along with his family. They do a multitude of activities at their chosen mall – ATM transactions, window shopping, getting things fixed, hair cut, real shopping, casual shopping, et al – but the most important thing they execute is having lunch or coffee or dinner. Simply because they do not cook and do not wish to work during the weekend making lunch or dinner, I guess.

The prices of ordinary food articles/items have gone up by over 30 to 40% in Singapore – same is the case in most other places, but here the contrast was remarkable. We all know that subsistence costs are a lower percentage of discretionary expenses in more developed countries, as compared to the “developing” or “emerging” countries. What this means is that, food costs for example, are lower in developed countries (it should be the other way around, if you care to think about it !). However, with incomes falling, employees getting laid off by companies which cannot successfully tackle the economic downturn, zero pay increases, etc., the food costs become a bigger proportion of income/expenses.

That is at constant food prices. If the food prices rise, for whatever reason, you can imagine the impact. I am sure that this factor has had a big impact in the lives of Singaporeans, especially in 2008 – 09.

I noticed the cost that affected me. For a simple lunch of “Yong Tau Fu” which consists of a few selected vegetables/taufu/greens + noodles, cooked in hot water right in front of you, it used to cost around S$ 3.80 in yesteryears. Now, I had to pay S$ 5.30, an increase of 40%. Well, I am not incorrect to say that there has been a significant increase in the cost of food in Singapore.

Well, let us look at the formal restaurants – last evening I went to dine at a classy one in downtown. A dish which should typically cost S$ 16 was priced at S$ 24, an increase of 50% ! May be the upper middle class can bear a little more burden, I guess.

Well, whichever way I looked around, it made me wonder how the average Joe is coping. It should be pretty hard, I think.

I decided to take a walk around the shopping mall, and read the sticker prices of some items on display. I always thought that Mumbai was costlier for almost everything, especially electronic items. Was I shocked ? Yes, I found that the price of iPod Nano in the Apple Store at Singapore was around US$ 15 more as compared to the same model at the Apple Store in Mumbai ! May be the rapidly appreciating Indian Rupee is playing some tricks here, or the relative strength of the S$ vis-a-vis the US$ is having some impact. Don’t know, but it was surprising.

Well, well, Singapore needs to once again re-learn the art of being competitive. It is a country which has constantly re-engineered itself over the past four decades, and I am sure it would do so again.

It was interesting to see the impact, though.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
25th October 2009
Mumbai

I drank a fabulous new wine from the stable of Sula Wines today.

It is the Sula MOSAIC – Grenache Syrah 2009. I strongly recommend this wine for an evening of fun and appreciation of good Indian wine. It is deep red in colour, and fruity on the palate. It is rich and full of Syrah flavour, I guess !

While I am in no position to describe the full details of this wine, I enjoyed it and that matters, I think. And, at INR 360 per bottle, you could not go wrong at all. I am purchasing couple of bottles of this good red next weekend.

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
18th October 2009
Mumbai

Diwali Festival and Festivities have gone international.

President Barack Obama celebrated Diwali at the White House.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown celebrated Diwali at 10, Downing Street. “This is a great day for Downing Street, a great day for us and a great day for Britain to celebrate Diwali for the first time in Downing Street. This is a historic event,” a beaming Brown told a packed gathering in the Pillared Room of his official residence last evening after formally lighting the lamp – quoted from the Times of India 17 October news coverage of the event.

So, for the first time, world powers are recognizing the most important festival of India. This is a recognition of the rising importance of India in the world stage, as we move from a developing nation to a developed nation status and take the high table in global affairs management.

Not surprising though. This ought to have happened quite some time ago. India’s governmental response mechanism to global events has improved considerably over the past decade or so, and surely after 2002. Things moved rapidly once President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice determined that India is the new emerging power in the world economy, and needs to be brought (or pushed into, rather) into the centre stage. The result was a growing strength in the bilateral relations between the U.S. and India from 2005 onwards. I think this was for the good of both nations, both being big democracies with a shared vision of the future.

I can hear the bursting of crackers from yesterday afternoon onwards, and today (the day of the Diwali) the cracker sounds started from 6 AM ! But one can’t complain, it is really a celebration of the success of “good” over “evil”.

Have a wonderful Diwali, and wishing all readers a great season of festivities,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
17th October 2009
Mumbai

I spent two hours this afternoon at the Infinity Mall in Andheri West.

That is quite unusual for me, I do not go to a shopping mall without purpose. But, I had to wait for my daughter who had gone to a class nearby, so no choice. However, I enjoyed the break after a very long time indeed.

First, I successfully manouevered my car into the parking lot, beating guys who were trying to break the queue. This is one nonsense which the well-to-do Indians can’t get away from. There was a long queue of cars waiting to get into the car park entrance (with its elaborate security checks), and here comes one guy from the left and another from the right, trying to cut into the queue with no regrets. And, on top of this, a couple of autos which got locked out and wanted to get out to the main road !

It is my policy that I would strictly prohibit discipline-breakers from breaking the discipline and getting away scot-free. So, the first thing I did was to block the breakers from getting ahead of me, by deftly closing the gap between me and the car ahead, leaving exactly one inch in between the two of us. I looked at the great faces of the discipline/queue-breakers, and decided that I would not make any gestures of any kind, just block their way. There were atleast ten cars behind me in the queue, and this bloke came all the way to almost the entrance of the car park and was trying to break in ! A fat chance for courtesy !!

Well, I got into the car park and successfully parked – there was lot of space. Then I went up to the bookstore in the second floor called Landmark. I am a fan of Landmark – it started off in Chennai more than 15 years ago, and I was a regular customer buying loads of book which I ferried back to Singapore where I was living. Now, I did not buy any books, just browsed through their great collection of books and DVDs. They were giving very good discounts indeed, and shoppers were buying – that showed the serious interest of the public in reading. Very Good ! But, what I never liked is that Landmark seemed to be more focused on toys and movies, handbags and writing accessories, and gifts/mementoes, rather than books per se. Only 60% of the space was allocated to books……..

I spent a good one hour out in Landmark, enjoying the browsing. Then I ventured out to have a snack and coffee in the food court just outside Landmark. It was absolutely full at 4 PM, and I was reminded of the Singapore food courts, wherein people seemed to be eating perennially, all the time. The same case here as well. Material advances and comfort bring a change in attitude towards spending and eating habits, I presume.

With some difficulty, I found a place to sit. While observing the people coming in and eating over there, I concluded that (a) people have lots of disposable money in Mumbai ; (b) eating habits have distinctly shifted from traditional Indian fast food towards Western food, atleast amongst the younger crowd ; (c) younger generation gets lot of pocket money ; (d) dating seemed to be prevalent ; (e) longest queue was at Cafe Coffee Day and Subway, of all places – may be this could be different at different times of the day ; (f) maximum number of teenagers ; (g) heavy SMS activity and giggling ; and, (h) a lot of sneak talk all around.

I got bored after some time, finished my coffee and headed out.

A different Sunday afternoon, I guess.

Have a wonderful week ahead, folks,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
11th October 2009
Mumbai

The Nobel Prize Committee made an error in judgement yesterday when they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama of the U.S.

While it is true that President Obama has made significant changes in the manner in which the U.S. engages and interacts with the ROW (rest of the world), he has not achieved something hugely significant for the benefit and uplift of the human race. That will probably take all of his remaining duration at the Presidency of the most powerful nation on earth.

“Hope” for accomplishing something like that cannot be the criterion for awarding the Nobel Prize, neither can change in rhetoric be the reason. Here we are talking about achieving something hugely important in terms of peace efforts, actual reduction of weapons, bringing wars to a close, et al. None of that has actually been achieved. In fact, it is funny to note that someone from somewhere even nominated President Obama’s name within one month of his assuming office of the President of the United States !

Well, the Nobel Committee is not without its biases, many of its past awards have been steeped in controversy. While debate cannot be avoided, the least it can do is to be able to justify its selections to the wider world. Yesterday, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee became almost a laughing stock of the world. It appeared that they are favouring the U.S. for some reason. There was not one single dominant reason why this award should go to President Obama – atleast at this stage of his Presidency.

I broadly support President Obama’s foreign policy initiatives. However, his engagement with India needs to be strengthened and should not be dependent on his ability to stop reactionary actions from India against a terrorist Pakistan. Will the U.S. not retaliate if a 26/11 Mumbai-style terrorist attack originated from Pakistan ? Sure they will. But why the U.S. quivers from the thought of an Indian retaliation against a country which sent all the attackers to Mumbai. Well, they might be worried about the impact such actions will have in their efforts to capture Osama and his lieutenants. They might be worried about a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. But what about Indian sovereignty ? President Obama talks strongly about Nuclear Proliferation. What about all the proliferation done by AQ Khan under the support framework of the Pakistani Government ? Why would any U.S. Government further provide USD 1.5B per year towards propping up the Pakistani efforts against the Taliban, when they know full well that those funds will be diverted as these have always been in the past – as verified by past President Musharraf in London couple of weeks ago ?

Notwithstanding all of the above, and the failed initiative on North Korean missile launch recently, President Obama is probably the best chance the world has in terms of resolving some of the intractable conflicts, such as the Palestine – Israel one. But he needs to prove himself. He needs to show the world that he can indeed follow up on all these commitments and deliver the goods. The world would then become a better place for all and President Obama would have deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.

For now, he needs to just decline the award and move on with his execution !

Have a good weekend,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
10th October 2009
Mumbai

Well, that sounds complex, isn’t it ?

I was thinking today about the behaviour of reasonably large groups of people in different circumstances and time points. One thing which struck me is the seemingly non-relational dependency of specific groups of people who apparently drive up unconnected markets, in close response to some significant event.

One example – how a box-office “hit” movie can lift peoples’ mood, and drive them towards behaviours in totally unconnected markets like stock market or realty market. A “mood lifter” appears to be a definite reason why people start behaving in a positive manner in their lives. May be it is the economic growth rate moving up in China, for instance, which I agree is not totally unconnected in today’s interconnected world. But, how about elections and the anticipation that the incoming government would spend more on the infrastructure ? Almost everyone knows that it is not a truism, it rarely is ever fulfilled. But, nevertheless the stock market goes up, the real estate market looks up. How about data on shopping trends in London, why should that have any connection with the “economic” mood of Indians in India ? Well, there you go…….rational or irrational, mood swings seem to have a large impact on the markets of a country.

At the same time, natural disasters, drought due to lack of rain, tough warnings by the World Bank Chief to expect a not-so-good 2010, mild threats to tighten interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India, rising unemployment data in the U.S. (almost 10%), et al, do not seem to be having that much impact on peoples’ mood. Why is that ? How can some factors that should affect the mental and market states do not cause any impact at all ?

I believe the market mood is not entirely democratic. A small, influential and powerful group of market makers drive the mood of the market. They make imponderable market actions, which seemingly reflect the “not-so-true” state of the mind of a large pool of people with money to invest in real estate or stock markets. Data is suitably positioned all across the market, that even the media is misled. People believe what they read, and infer.

Rational behaviour becomes irrational.

May be too much to derive, but this is my guess. Otherwise, so many of the actions that we see in the market are unjustified. How come realty companies are coming to the stock market with IPOs, when everyone knows that the appetite for realty stocks is quite low, and the realty market has not really recovered from its fall of 2008 – 09 ?

Well, one can go on and on. There is some connection !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
4th October 2009
Mumbai

I am now focusing on both “Surya Namaskar” in the morning time 5:30 – 6:00 AM as well as Gym in the evening, if I can get to it on time. The rule is to go to the Gym by around 7:30 PM latest, beyond that it gets crowded by the latecomers who prefer to work out late and go for a late dinner.

The trick is to get home atleast by 7:00 PM on couple of days during the week + ofcourse Saturday/Sunday workouts. I think four times a week will keep one going well, combined with simple Yoga.

Today, I reached 2.70 Kms on the Treadmill, expending 119 Calories in just over 28 minutes, at zero incline, with a peak speed of 6.5 Km/hr. The average speed was 5.8 Km/hr. It was good, but with some light pain in the calf ! I followed it up with some light weight lifting. Total time taken was 45 minutes, I normally try to do close to an hour in the Gym. The issue is to maintain consistency and stay with the Gym Practice atleast four times a week.

And, don’t give up on “Surya Namaskar” or “Sun Worship”. Doing this Yoga exercise over and over again for minimum 15 times (preferably 20 times) at one go, followed by the mandatory “Savasana” will help a great deal, let me assure you. But do not drink anything right after this workout, give it atleast half hour before you jump at the coffee !

Together, it is a great combination in my opinion, it keeps you going right through the day and after. You can have a drink and enjoy a movie after the Gym workout, believe me. It is a great stress buster as well.

My strong recommendation is to start the Gym, if you haven’t. Yoga is easy, just look up on the web. Easy stuff using YouTube !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
3rd October 2009
Mumbai