"Magic Daalo, Say Hello"

(Published in Banking Services Chronicle December 2003)

Life is like a mobile phone connection. There come times when you feel things are not working. You hear that familiar computerised voice: “You have been debarred from service.” But there is no need to worry. The activation has not ended. It has only been suspended. Just go and get a recharge coupon. “Magic daalo, say hello.”

Where do you get this recharge coupon for real life? Or rather, how do you get it? By being aware of the changes taking place in the world. By trying to learn from things happening around you. By adapting to the new scenario.

Of course, there lies one difficulty. You can’t buy it instantly by logging on to shopping websites. You have to experience things and make efforts for them. Because money has its limitations even though it has become the pivot around which life revolves.

Money does not guarantee immunity against law. Had this not been the case, Mikhail Khodorkovsky would not have been arrested. He is the chief of Russia’s largest oil producer Yukos. Incidentally, he also happens to be the country’s richest person. He has been put behind bars on charges of massive fraud and tax evasion.

So, the basic thing is to make efforts. Effort to observe. Effort to analyse. Effort to experience. Effort to meditate. A recharge in life is necessary because one strategy cannot work endlessly. It wears out with the passage of time. In fact, every strategy has an expiry date, like you see in the case of medicines. Unlike medicine, however, this date is not mentioned on the back of the pack. And it is here that your discretion comes to use. The discretionary skill improves with repeated application.

The successful persons soon figure out the expiry date of a strategy. For example, they will tell you how the age of individuals is over. What really works is a team. Had this not been true, India would not have won only 30 of the 107 Tests in which master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar has played.

The team advantage is evident in the financial world as well. As can be seen in the success of mutual funds. Individuals have often burnt their fingers in the stock market. They then turn towards the risk-free market of fixed deposits and settle contentedly with low returns. But there is a middle path safer and sounder. That of mutual funds. Where individuals pool their resources and then invest them.

Mutual funds are based on the principle of ‘unity is strength’. It is difficult to enter the stock market with just a few thousand rupees. But one can easily do so though mutual funds. Secondly, since the mutual fund corpus is large, the investments can be diversified — from ultra-safe government securities to highly volatile shares. Thirdly, an individual may not be able to keep a second-by-second check on the moods of the stock market. But mutual funds can afford being professionally managed.

While recharging yourself, it is important to get your priorities right. Listen to what BJP chief ministerial candidate for Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharti, has to say about her arch-rival Digvijay Singh: “He has received international awards for achievements in the field of development while in reality there are no roads in the state, no power and 75 per cent students fail their first public examination. Jaise ki Digvijay Singh ki topi chamak rahi aur langoti gayab hai.”

No doubt, such an election campaign is vilifying. But the metaphors of “shining hat” and “disappeared undergarment” leave us much to learn from. Good icing is worth praising only if the cake is tasty. Priority must be given to the basics before going for add-ons.

There can come several such insights while you are recharging yourself. The basic thing is taking time out to recharge rather than complaining when thinks get stuck.