Day: August 7, 2008

You got to get to know this Lady….MM….let’s call her M Square…..she’s been a part of the Bombay Stock Exchange Circuit for Donkeys years….she’s not a Broker….but knows most of them…atleast the ones’ that matter…..trades in and out all the time…an addict you might call her…cries when she loses…cries even more when she has to pay taxes…handles her own portfolio…nobody elses

Her passion for stocks supersedes all other passions,including those she may feel for her husband and kids…….she’s more Sensitive than our Sensex !…..I thinks it must run in her genes…she’s been brought up in one big joint family and in a commercial environment, as a big mill owner’s daughter…”Those were the days” she reminisces  

At Two in the night she’s online and initiating a chat with me saying “What’s Up ?” and I tell her to go to sleep promising that the Sensex would be Up the next Day…We’re always popping up on MSN during Market Hours exchanging stock notes and research and how our kids are faring in school…both our daughters are in the same division…same class and same school

She’s more into Technical Analysis and reads Stock and Index charts all the time…I’m not into  it at all…More a Fundamental Guy

She’s street smart and her Instincts are very sharp…she can smell a winner before it becomes one…..”I told you so !” is her common refrain when I don’t heed her call…and when she herself does not heed her own call or instinct she utters ” I’m sooooo stupid…I’m an Idiot…a fool !  ” 

Her Network is very strong…all “Bhais”…no “Behens”….she’s an ace at keeping these “Bhais” at arms length…some of them are “Big Bhais” in our Capital Markets….after all this is the line where you work hard and play hard…she’s especially get’s hot when she inquires ” What’s Hot?” and expects a Stock’s name and I reply “You!” 

She prefers stocks to shaking a leg while her husband,who’s a great guy, loves partying…he’s promised to take me instead of her to happening do’s…he’s invited regularly to quite a few Page 3 events…he’s in a top position in a top ad group..I’ve told him I would prefer “do’s” where I can have some intelligent conversation…he’s not yet taken me !    read more

Just thought I’d share a close friend with you…this guy’s goes by the name MGC….well off but not showy…plays the Guitar superbly…learnt it in Los Angeles…moved further north to the greenery of Powai from a Mumbai Suburb after having moved there from South Mumbai….just cant stand the traffic,pollution,noise and cramped spaces in South Mumbai…now everyone seems to have discovered  Powai too and it’s one construction mess there too

Originally he’s from Nagpur and froma well known “Khandaan”…..a whole area in Nagpur is named after them…yet this guy is Humility personified

MGC has his great fundas in life…no tipping at the club is one of them as he believes it gets you preferred service and that is unfair to other club members…actually the written rule is that tipping is not permitted but the unwritten rule is that it is expected!…he chides me whenever I flout this funda of his !…even the Barber at the Club is not an exception to MGC’s Funda of no Tipping…I’ve quietly advised the Barber to cut MGC’s hair the next time to leaves streaks behind like Aaamir Khan’s new style for “Gajini” and not show him this rear cut through a Mirror like normally done !

MGC cant stand cruelty to Animals and goes out of his way to save them…picks up “panga” with those who hit them

There is no mean or jealous bone in this guy….you feel a positive vibe everytime you’re around him…does not believe or not believe in God….not an Atheist, but an Agnostic 

A few years ago I had converted a Rs Ten lakh Equity Portfolio of his to one worth over Rs 50 lakhs inside a year…his wife had called me to say “Hey Gaurav !…what have you been doing to my husband?!”…I was a bit wary as to what she meant till she revealed “He’s been taking me out for dinner twice a week !” ……I asked her to confront MGC about it !

Our  wives hate Ghost movies…so a few years ago MGC wanted to see “Bhoot” starring Ajay Devgan and Urmila….so he coaxed me to accompany him for the late night show…and imagine us sitting in the theatre…the two of us….and everytime a “darawana” scene was unfolding he would grip my hand…we were getting weird looks !  

Our Families were travelling to Kashmir together for a holiday by train way back in the late 1960s or was it early 1970s….MGC’s father had gone to the  Bathroom…he had hurried back and told all of us to remain quiet…the Train had stopped and a guard came into our bogie to inquire who had pulled the Chain to stop the Train….you guessed it ! his father had gone to the bathroom and instead of pulling the Flush lever ,he had pulled the Chain to stop the Train! read more