Who is an Indian ?

We, as a people, have devoted countless hours discussing the concept of being an Indian. Terms like Hindu Rashtra, Bharat Varsha get dropped. Controversies abound, e.g. fringe states like those in the Northeast, are they part of "India". Is a Tamilian and a Punjabi really both part of the same country and "Indian". They can't even stand in the same room before going off on the "genius of Ramanujan" or "physicality of Dara Singh" and almost coming to fisticuffs. All this makes you wonder.... hmmm... who exactly is an "Indian" ?

I have a simple criteria for this. Look to the legs. If you don't have calf muscles, you are an "Indian"... simple as that. Sometimes here in the US, I get confused if I see a particularly fair person whose features look like people of the subcontinent, but could be a Hispanic or middle eastern. Well, if its the summer and I can see their legs, its an easy answer. In the winter, its tough, but you just have to follow them to their cars and if its a Honda Civic/ Accord, Toyota Camry / Corolla... bingo. But that is a topic for another blog.

In college we had a very strong looking North Indian fellow in our cricket team. We used to meet frequently in the gym and always used to wonder together.. how the heck do we develop our calf muscles ? He would comment to me "Saurabh bhai.... calf raise karte karte ga&*$% lag gai par saali mucles nikalti hi nahi hai". And I would nod in complete agreement. Once I went to watch a cricket match in Mohali and before the innings opened, out came our reserves for some catching practice.... very fit guys, quite athletic but carrying the shame of all us "Indians"... skinny legs with no calves.

Is their a site funnier than a desi on the tennis court... looking cool with dark shades on, fancy racket... but with chicken legs and a huge paunch. What about all these gorgeous women we have, whose gorgeousness diminishes once legs appear south of the mini. Do you have any doubt about God's sense of humor.... hmmm... let me create this creature, smart, more or less good looking etc., but I shall give him/her no calf muscles and make him/her look completely ridiculous in shorts once he/she develops a belly. I also wonder, if this is why Hindus stopped eating cows (and calves)... maybe we can get God's attention to this matter and appease him....

So really the answer is in front of all of us... if you feel conflicted about your identity, look to your legs, if the calf muscles are absent, you are 100% certified "Indian".

Stock Update

I recently bought some additional consumer staple ETF VDC. I feel one should have an investing philosophy and I see myself as a defensive investor going for dividend paying, solid long term growth companies with little debt. In the past I have been burnt primarily on tech investements where I had the right idea but did not think more about the specifics of the company. E.g. I bought Webex rightly thinking that web meeting market would go up. I did not think about position of webx in the market, however. The stock dipped when Oracle announced that they were bulding a similar product. I panicked and sold WEBX.

So you don't make the same mistakes again. But of course, there are so many variables involved, you can still get burnt.

I currently have Altria, Cisco, international 100 ETF (IOO), Biotech ETF (PBE), Japan ETF (VPL), VDC, Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Johnson & Johnson and Home Depot. I also own some bond funds.

In the coming months when the stock market has its annual late summer swoon, I will look for additional buys. In particular, I am looking at Citibank and Marathon oil.

Update on 8/1/2006: Opened a position in Honda. Last year I made a nice profit on it. I should not have sold it... like the company very much, no frills, solid engineering . I hope they don't try to expand too quick like Toyota is doing.

Update on 8/3/2006: Final purchase for a while. I bought some NBR which is an oil driller stock. On my stock screener it camu up with amazing numbers, low P/E and low P/E/G with EPS growth more than 25%. Logically, you figure with oil companies making so much money, they have to invest in further drilling to increase their reserves.

So as you can see I am leaning towards possibility of high gas prices in the future. Honda will sell more cars if this happens, OXY already split 2:1, increase dividend and is buying back shares and now I thick the money will flow to drillers.

Quotes Hall of Fame

This will have quotes which are high on unintentional comedy scale. No inspirational crap... I hate those things.

Rafael Nadal commenting on Wilander's assertion that Roger Federer's cojones disappear whenever Nadal plays him:
"its a crazy thing because if [Federer doesn't] have balls, who has ? Who wins three consecutive Grand Slam titles, makes the final at Roland Garros, wins consecutive Wimbledons and makes the final this time ? Who lost [only] four matches in a year ? He has very good balls."

On Terrorism

Recently Mumbai was hit by a series of bomb attacks resulting in several deaths and countless families being affected. One can only imagine the agony of people who have to go through this. It is just extremely sad.

What does terrorism achieve ? Hate for the terrorists and their agendas. One thing is for sure that whatever cause they are fighting for loses all sympathy. E.g. Palestine conflict and Kashmir conflict. Who in their right mind, even if they understand the injustices these people have had to endure by the respective governments, would support their cause after such cowardly attacks.

I see the genius of Gandhi and Mandela in these situations. The only way you advance your cause is by non-violence and non-cooperation. You get international sympathy and hope for a resolution. One can argue that people of Burma and Tibet tried this but went nowhere. But I can guarantee you this: Palestine issue and Kashmir issue are getting nowhere with terrorism. Only when terrorism is renounced will we get somewhere in these conflicts. If nonviolent struggle is persisted with, agendas will be advanced. Tibet has given up on this and is hence going nowhere.

The hypocrisy of the international community is evident in these situations. On the one hand everyone is united in their disdain for terrorism. On the other hand, where peaceful struggles continue, the community provides no support because of selfish interests. UN is powerless and USA cares only if it gets affected economically (e.g. price of oil) all the while preaching about compassion and liberty. Struggles then take up the wrong option of terrorism which kills the cause they fight for.

In the current case of Islamic terrorism, the genuine struggles have been ironically (or purposely) hurt by the very people who profess to sympathize with that cause. E.g. terrorists talk of injustice in Palestine while blowing up buildings in NYC and trains in London. How is this helping the cause of the Palestinian people ? The political struggles have been hijacked by religious ideology. What these terrorist organizations like Al Qaida want is fundamentalist Islam across the world. Of course, this is not acceptable,rightly, to any sane person. In the process, political struggles in Kashmir and Palestine get sidelined.

The terrorists and governments supporting the terrorists give an excuse of Palestine. But they do not want the problem to be solved. Why ? Because it provides a platform for fundamentalist Islamist to spread their ideology through. And it keeps attention away from screwed up regimes in the mideast like Syria and Saudi Arabia.


Whats the option for the world ? Destroy the terrorists and their sympathizers. Then, look at the political conflicts and try to find a peaceful solution for them. Why, you ask, should we not resolve Palestine and Kashmir first and destroy the terrorists motives ? Because, I tell you, the people supporting terrorism do not want these conflicts to be resolved. If these conflicts persist, these people can spread their ideology with the conflicts as an excuse. So ,e.g. if there is talk of peace between Israel and Palestine, these people will blow up someone in Israel bringing talks to an end.

Zen quote

This from Shunryu Suzuki:

To stand on your feet is the most important thing. To sacrifice this moment for your future, for your ideal even, means that you are not standing on your feet. Don't complain; accept things as they are and satisfy yourself with what you have, right now. You should think, "This is the only reality, the only Buddha I can see, I can experience, I can have, I can worship."