If we study history closely we see that man is often manipulated by larger forces at work. Then as now. Little by little, a man who is in positions of trust and authority often serves as a facilitator to some party or such forces that are in ascendancy. What controls were set in place after the Great Depression was in the 80s were circumvented to allow risk taking as a virtue to be rewarded. What was the buzzword of that time? ‘Greed is good.’ Investment banking and hedge funds came into being as a result. Let us now look at an example from the time of American war of Independence. The scene is set in France, though.
In 1783 Treaty of Paris was convened to ratify American Independence during which one of the demands made by Britain was free-trade provision for its control of the Atlantic trade. (You may imagine Britain’s position as somewhat similar to what America holds now.) By a separate treaty of 1786 France was forced to accept terms that were suicidal. By accepting it the French economy was ruined overnight. From 2% annual real physical growth in the 1770s and early 1780s, France’s textile, shipping, mining and agriculture went into a downward spiral resulting in famine in many places. Naturally the royal budgets collapsed, and in stepped the banker Jacques Necker as the Finance Minister and First Minister. He was the Swiss agent for Lord Shelburne( Prime Minister, Whig, 1782 – 1783) If you look into Necker’s antecedents you shall see he wasn’t entirely clean in his dealings: By 1762 he was a partner and by 1765, through successful speculations, had become a very wealthy man. He soon afterwards established, with another Genevese, the famous bank of Thellusson, Necker et Cie. Pierre Thellusson superintended the bank in London -his son was made a peer as Baron Rendlesham, while Necker was managing partner in Paris. Both partners became very rich by loans to the treasury and speculations in grain.) and he through his contacts in Geneva and London brought in huge international loans to fund the royal budgets from 1787 onwards. (His service was something akin to IMF coming to the aid of developing nations.) Apparently his policy ‘Compte Rendu’ was meant to subject the royal treasury to transparency and austerity and in practice it made Louis XVI under the financial mercy of Necker, and the banking interests he represented. The kings attempt to regain control led directly to storming of the Bastille in which the populace cried themselves hoarse for reinstating Necker, the man who really was responsible for their ruin!
benny
Tuesday 21 October 2008
Friday 17 October 2008
A Parable Retold
These two chapters are taken from the Parable of the Prodigal Son set in another time and place. Title of the book is The Son Who Came In From The Cold.
Adonai has two sons. Josh the younger son is 18. On his birthday he takes for the first time a trip by himself outside his palace and is shocked.He is overwhelmed by what he sees. He knows his father is trying to hide real facts from him. Josh leaves his father's home and the sheltered life of Sans-Souci.
He arrives at a city that is curiously similar to New York. With his share of the untold wealth he intends to understand why misery is only outside his father's home. He suspects there is some mystery. He intends to find it out for himself. Now I will leave you to the selected chapters.
Chapter-3
Sowing Wild Oats
The City had a strange name. Master Joshua vaguely understood what it meant in Armenian. When translated it went thus: ’Anything Goes’ City. It stood by a river and promenades that led along its banks were full of people. What strange dresses they wore! Stranger still was their dialect, peculiar to those who lived long in a city, and who lived especially without any known occupation. Obviously they lived by their wits, Joshua thought.
As he drove through the city in a handsome carriage drawn by four horses he knew he had never set foot in a city as strange as Anything Goes City. While passing through the commercial part of the city the people were out in the open. Like ants in groups and seeking out others and invariably they enquired ‘Morat! Morat!’ “Darn Morat, my ears have been a-tingling with it!” He tapped the driver to inquire. He stopped and gave a sheepish smile to run to a kiosk. The board read thus: “Buying on margin- Ensure your piece of happiness!” The newcomer didn’t fully grasp the meaning but something clicked. It sold something. The driver waved his sheaf of papers in air in exultation; he kissed the bunch as it was his talisman. Having pocketed it he settled himself once again on driver’s seat. Before he took his whip to goad his animals he said, ”Morat, master! Buy, Buy! Buy!” The out-of-towner could catch his excitement. Buying was a way of life. Those who couldn’t pay in full put down an initial payment on stocks as the driver did. At every corner he saw similar kiosks in red and green and similar crowds who jostled one another. Each thought nothing but his or her piece of happiness.
Only when he stopped at the City Hall to register his particulars and receive his permit for residence he realized the full gravity of the situation. The motto which was inscribed under the seal of the City was a superscription, ‘Everybody ought to be rich!” Perhaps City elders thought Latin and Greek gave money grubbing the adequate gravitas it was also repeated in these languages. Thinking it over he smiled for the first time since he took leave of his father.
He was in the right place.
Even as he resumed his drive he could only thank himself he had at last found the right place. A city that gave a piece of happiness. To rich and poor alike.
Sans-Souci stifled him. And now he was among real people he thought.
He was happy.
2.
Hardly he had moved into a villa that was fully furnished with rich tapestries, bric-à- brac, paintings by old masters, he received invitations from the 400 who were the shakers and movers of the city. So naturally he had to throw a party to show them the house he chose to live in. It was sumptuous but compared to his father’s mansion it was merely adequate. He was not for letting his wealth speak for him. All that he required was a human touch. It seemed to have touched the guests without exception that they instantly were on first name basis. “Josh let me know if there is anything I can do.” ”Another put it eloquently, ”we are at your service.” They knew he made the City by the river famous by his presence.
Soon after two or three fellows who claimed themselves to be the leading lights of The Smart Set dropped in to enquire. They were well received. So often thereafter they called on him. Matt, Mike and Jan were well groomed and knew all the right people whose names they were sure to drop every now and then. They had a bagful of jokes to amuse him on any occasion. It was very often. Before Josh could gather his wits about they had settled themselves under his roof. Josh had no idea how to handle them. He had his own life to lead. But to cut them dead with a snub wasn’t his style. So smiled politely at their jokes. He left them to fend for themselves whenever he went out. They didn’t mind.
Matt arranged his entertainments and hired musicians and theatre people. Jan provided exotic items that he averred no man of taste could do without. Mike was the one who carried tales and prompted whom to cultivate in order to get things done. Josh wasn’t sure he was well into entertainment. ‘Doing good to those in need is good enough’, he said. How they laughed at that!
The trio proved themselves in so many ways how useful they were. They ran with alacrity all his errands and did various services short of polishing his shoes.( He had his own valet, cook and major-domo not to mention gardeners and a porter who carried a brace of pistols and sported a fierce moustache that was waxed stiff for effect.) Had someone said his household was beginning to look more like a miniature version of Sans-Souci he would have been surprised. It was not what he intended but the unlimited credit he carried in his person needed an outlet. That was all.
At any given day he had some twenty guests to dine and Matt, Mike and Jan stayed on. The trio also gave company whenever he was alone. On such occasions they took to educate the master of the house to the ways of the world. Josh was certain he was only concerned with the ways of his establishment. “The world can take care of itself,”he had said.
One day the mayor, who had in the meantime become very friendly to him, asked him in strict confidence why he had those good-for-nothings around. He said those three were nothing but parasites. Josh could understand. He had something of a suspicion about them, which he had stifled as soon as it peeked. He thought he was being unfair and callous. Now the worshipful Mayor also observed the same. ‘There must be then something to it,’ he was convinced. Checking into their circumstances he found even the clothes they wore were hired from a shop that catered to the Smart set. As for the financial status it was almost nil. To his dismay he found they were daily one step ahead of the bailiff. As the worshipful mayor had hinted they lived indeed desperately. They avoided creditors all around by hiding in his villa.
“This is a sad business!” Josh felt they were more sinned against than sinning. They were poor and naturally they had latched onto him for succour. His tender heart melted. He called the three and gave each a sizable sum to spend for their own good. “Get a job, or live as simple as you can,” his kindly heart prompted these words. Before sending them off he didn’t forget to admonish,“Do some good so you haven’t lived in vain.’
They were loath to depart but Master Josh was adamant. They finally went off.
Chapter-4
The Bottom Falls Out
Josh viewed Anything Goes City as his own. He was on nodding acquaintances with all. The mayor made much of him, so did the common man. The shoeshine boy who plied his trade around the corner daily waited for him to appear. He could see him as he stepped out of his villa. Every morning dressed to the nines by his own valet, Master Josh stopped by to get his shoes polished. He did it to give custom. It was obvious. “May you prosper with my thaler.” he said always at the end. The boy as smart as they come, living by his wits knew how to make some easy money. It was so common.
Just the same. The denizens were in awe of Master Josh: he was the only one who did not dabble in stocks.
Banks, which nursed the fiscal health of the nation sent their experts to remind Master Josh: invest in common stocks while the prices were low. Or regret.” “It is a bullish market!” they all said. Banker ‘Blunder’ Buss brought sheafs of papers with a lot of statistics to prove his point. He was certain, as some 857 pundits who also shared his opinion, that the stock prices clearly showed the fiscal health of a nation. Master Josh shook his head. The banker couldn’t believe he could be so naïve. “The nation is marching permanently on a plateau of prosperity!” he said a little exasperated at his transigence,”Join up or go bust!” Master Josh still held his ground.
He wasn’t there to make a fast buck but face ‘the evil of the age’ in his own way. It was his article of faith. He would never let Sans- Souci cripple his common touch he had vowed on the day he turned fourteen. He had never departed from it. Before he took any action he asked himself: “Do I really benefit from it? Secondly: ‘does it further quality of life around me? Thirdly: ‘ does my action give disproportionate value to things than to man? If so I ought to revise my actions till a balance is achieved. Lastly: am I, with my actions, justifying my place among mankind?” It was his set of rules and it had given him no little trouble to put it down on paper. On their final leave taking he had shown it to his dear father who read it. (There were tears in his eyes. He wanted to believe it were the tears of joy. Didn’t he bless him and hug him fervently therafter?) City Anything Goes certainly tempted him. But he couldn’t go against his own beliefs. On looking at their craze for making a killing at stocks he thought he was looking at so many billionaires who existed only on paper. No substance to them, he had intuitively guessed.
Applying his own rules he saw he stood to benefit by making profits but for what? To keep a foolish charade longer? He had listened to those who sponged on him. While they ate off his plates and drank his wine they said things that made him sit up and notice. He saw all too clearly what was to follow. Inflated stock prices! Insubstantial billionaires! With a sinking heart he saw the curl of a tsunami growing so high before it broke.
Master Josh felt the shudder. One day it came. A rumble it was. A few investors dumped their shares. Stock prices swung wildly. “Oh such hiccups are natural,” said the banker who was certain the problem would correct itself. The mayor rallied some merchant princes to keep the prices under control. That helped for the time being.
Hardly four years since he had made the city by the river his home. Prior to the morning he had for days shut himself in his library fearful of the news that he knew would come. He heard it again. Loud and clear.
It was a Tuesday. Six months later to the day since the first hiccup struck its ominous warning. The bottom gave out. Everywhere people cried,”Sell! Sell!” On one day alone so many stocks were dumped and in the process they discovered they lost even shirts on their backs. In short some 50 billion thalers disappeared. With it went the sanity of the city.
Not a kopek he had invested or lost. But just the same. How could he sit there happy when people outside were doing unspeakable things to themselves? It was sheer madness romping the streets! It entered from broad avenues into the warren of homes. First a wave of suicides: it had its effect. People read the news and shuddered over the headlines: shocking yes! I knew so-and so. Tragic yes. What these didn’t spell out were: Families destroyed, children orphaned and so many dreams snuffed out in its swirling gaiety.
He had not lost his wealth. Yet for all that he was chained to a corpse! Against his will. He had bought his villa dirt cheap because it had no takers for long. The city thought investing in real estate was a dead investment. Especially when so much money each day could be made playing stocks. Now with so many houses being put on the market for paying off debts Master Josh thought he lived in the midst of a charnel house! So dismal he felt.
It was how he viewed the Black Tuesday even after a week: Dismal and horrible!
In the days to come the full horror of what happened was brought home clearer. While Master Josh had fasted and let out all his sorrow till he felt clean and strong to face the world life went on outside. Its mad frenzy outside his villa unstoppable it was. He didn’t have to go out. But he heard of terrible stories just the same. Many of his household had their loved ones come to ruin. In their tragedy he felt wounded again and again.
‘Life must go on’, as the wise men have often said made him now take matters into his hand. Two weeks later he got back into his daily routine.
He enquired after many whom he knew from that part of the city. Those tradespeople and craftsmen who always gave him special consideration lived in the vicinity. He never had to attend to the needs of his household so he hardly knew them. ( Hajmal the butcher had always sent his best cuts; so did the grocer. In their service he could sense their kindness, an impression almost palpable. He felt reassured always in their service.) He trudged along the lanes to look them up. But they were gone. So was the tailor who had his shop in another part. Next to the furrier. They all had mysteriously vanished!
One day he went to the place where he had his shoe polished. By force of habit, I guess. The boy was long gone and yet someone had taken his place. Upon closer inspection he shuddered. Instead of the regular, sat there ‘Blunder’ Buss, the banker with a foolish smile. In his baby pink and pudgy hands he held a brush awkwardly. He was now to polish his shoes! Master Josh burst into tears while the banker blinked on as if he had completely lost his marbles. ”Then came the bears,” he went on mumbling.
Josh ran inside and instructed his personal secretary to see that the banker was immediately attended to. He did as was told. He reported that evening to explain how things fared with the hapless banker. He aso made a note of instructions that his master gave and promised to attend them first thing in the morning.
Before he turned in Master Josh reviewed his actions: he knew his altruism didn’t benefit himself but all the other rules were met. If the banker was well again he would cease to be a problem for his family; and a banker, he thus reasoned, could get back into swim of things once more. Perhaps having learnt his lesson he would be more useful to the nation. So he didn’t regret in the least for what he had to spend.
The city was no longer the same. A regular war zone it was. No wrecks or smouldering ruins of buildings stood there but the people looked shell-shocked and the air he breathed had the stench of a serious malaise. He could feel it. It reeked of disappointment and misery.
One morning Josh was getting ready for stepping out. To his consternation there were two strangers coming in. Matt and Jan looked so different. His face showed a touch of irritation. He thought he had seen the last of them for good.
Matt and Jan were dressed in uniforms of civil guards and they greeted with a sombre look and explained they bought their commission with part of the funds he gave them. One was a colonel and the other was a rank immediately below.
“Why civil guards?” he asked as he led them into the house. Having settled themselves they accepted coffee while they took out cigars to smoke. Master Josh motioned his servant to open the window. Sheepishly apologizing they put their cigars away unlit. They talked about this and that till Mike came in. Mike came all flustered and he silently passed a few slips of notes to the other two. They looked at each other and the host knew there was something serious afoot.
In the end Jan took up the thread, ”Why civil guards? I ought to go back in time a little.” He spoke of racial tensions that had plagued the city for a long time. It went merely underground while people made money. With the last economic crisis, he explained the ugly tensions were out with a vengeance. With thousand tongues of drawn swords. Looking steadily at Master Josh said,”The people want to blame some one for the Depression. They have found whom to blame. You, my friend and benefactor, you are in deep trouble.”
“Preposterous! I am completely innocent.”
“Certainly!” they all said with their hands on their hearts,”but still you are an outsider and a foreigner.” Josh stood up and faced them,” Now are you going to tell me that I also belong to the wrong race?”
They nodded. They spoke of the benefits they got from their contacts. “Being a colonel in the Civil Guards I can help you to some extent. But from the reports our Interior Minister expects the worst. A blood bath is in the cards.” Jan asked Master Josh to look at the reports he held in his hands.” I had to use all my persuasive skills to get hold of them. The second is a list of names on the hit list: your name stands somewhere in the first five I believe.” Master Josh studied the list and the notes written by the Interior Minister himself. If he was sure of a blood bath it had to be true. His face went white.
They urged him to save himself. He knew he merely stayed home soul searching while the racial hatred was having a free run. He had thereby overlooked his own interests! Master Josh knew they were serious and they did put their neck out to do him a good turn. But ‘to pack up and go’ was a bit over the top.
His villa with all its appurtenances stood for something. It showed to all who lived in. A villa where every name in the List of 400 vied each other to get in. His style and immense wealth were proverbial. The movers and shakers of the city sought him out before the City Council took any important decision. They had flattered him and they showerd presents and sent invitations to honor them with his presence. So young! Yet noteworthy he had become in a matter of six years. He was inexperienced he thought yet they sought him out for advice.
After the threesome had left he turned to the 400 for advice. He sent his personal secretary to each and the door was, everytime, shut in his face.
It didn’t take much for him to understand why. Before the fury of Xenophobia finally burst and could come in his direction he fled. Matt, Jan and Mike were there to arrange his escape. Seeing him out of harm’s way Mike said, ”Providence took a hand to save you. We were only Its instrument.” Master Josh nodded...
Adonai has two sons. Josh the younger son is 18. On his birthday he takes for the first time a trip by himself outside his palace and is shocked.He is overwhelmed by what he sees. He knows his father is trying to hide real facts from him. Josh leaves his father's home and the sheltered life of Sans-Souci.
He arrives at a city that is curiously similar to New York. With his share of the untold wealth he intends to understand why misery is only outside his father's home. He suspects there is some mystery. He intends to find it out for himself. Now I will leave you to the selected chapters.
Chapter-3
Sowing Wild Oats
The City had a strange name. Master Joshua vaguely understood what it meant in Armenian. When translated it went thus: ’Anything Goes’ City. It stood by a river and promenades that led along its banks were full of people. What strange dresses they wore! Stranger still was their dialect, peculiar to those who lived long in a city, and who lived especially without any known occupation. Obviously they lived by their wits, Joshua thought.
As he drove through the city in a handsome carriage drawn by four horses he knew he had never set foot in a city as strange as Anything Goes City. While passing through the commercial part of the city the people were out in the open. Like ants in groups and seeking out others and invariably they enquired ‘Morat! Morat!’ “Darn Morat, my ears have been a-tingling with it!” He tapped the driver to inquire. He stopped and gave a sheepish smile to run to a kiosk. The board read thus: “Buying on margin- Ensure your piece of happiness!” The newcomer didn’t fully grasp the meaning but something clicked. It sold something. The driver waved his sheaf of papers in air in exultation; he kissed the bunch as it was his talisman. Having pocketed it he settled himself once again on driver’s seat. Before he took his whip to goad his animals he said, ”Morat, master! Buy, Buy! Buy!” The out-of-towner could catch his excitement. Buying was a way of life. Those who couldn’t pay in full put down an initial payment on stocks as the driver did. At every corner he saw similar kiosks in red and green and similar crowds who jostled one another. Each thought nothing but his or her piece of happiness.
Only when he stopped at the City Hall to register his particulars and receive his permit for residence he realized the full gravity of the situation. The motto which was inscribed under the seal of the City was a superscription, ‘Everybody ought to be rich!” Perhaps City elders thought Latin and Greek gave money grubbing the adequate gravitas it was also repeated in these languages. Thinking it over he smiled for the first time since he took leave of his father.
He was in the right place.
Even as he resumed his drive he could only thank himself he had at last found the right place. A city that gave a piece of happiness. To rich and poor alike.
Sans-Souci stifled him. And now he was among real people he thought.
He was happy.
2.
Hardly he had moved into a villa that was fully furnished with rich tapestries, bric-à- brac, paintings by old masters, he received invitations from the 400 who were the shakers and movers of the city. So naturally he had to throw a party to show them the house he chose to live in. It was sumptuous but compared to his father’s mansion it was merely adequate. He was not for letting his wealth speak for him. All that he required was a human touch. It seemed to have touched the guests without exception that they instantly were on first name basis. “Josh let me know if there is anything I can do.” ”Another put it eloquently, ”we are at your service.” They knew he made the City by the river famous by his presence.
Soon after two or three fellows who claimed themselves to be the leading lights of The Smart Set dropped in to enquire. They were well received. So often thereafter they called on him. Matt, Mike and Jan were well groomed and knew all the right people whose names they were sure to drop every now and then. They had a bagful of jokes to amuse him on any occasion. It was very often. Before Josh could gather his wits about they had settled themselves under his roof. Josh had no idea how to handle them. He had his own life to lead. But to cut them dead with a snub wasn’t his style. So smiled politely at their jokes. He left them to fend for themselves whenever he went out. They didn’t mind.
Matt arranged his entertainments and hired musicians and theatre people. Jan provided exotic items that he averred no man of taste could do without. Mike was the one who carried tales and prompted whom to cultivate in order to get things done. Josh wasn’t sure he was well into entertainment. ‘Doing good to those in need is good enough’, he said. How they laughed at that!
The trio proved themselves in so many ways how useful they were. They ran with alacrity all his errands and did various services short of polishing his shoes.( He had his own valet, cook and major-domo not to mention gardeners and a porter who carried a brace of pistols and sported a fierce moustache that was waxed stiff for effect.) Had someone said his household was beginning to look more like a miniature version of Sans-Souci he would have been surprised. It was not what he intended but the unlimited credit he carried in his person needed an outlet. That was all.
At any given day he had some twenty guests to dine and Matt, Mike and Jan stayed on. The trio also gave company whenever he was alone. On such occasions they took to educate the master of the house to the ways of the world. Josh was certain he was only concerned with the ways of his establishment. “The world can take care of itself,”he had said.
One day the mayor, who had in the meantime become very friendly to him, asked him in strict confidence why he had those good-for-nothings around. He said those three were nothing but parasites. Josh could understand. He had something of a suspicion about them, which he had stifled as soon as it peeked. He thought he was being unfair and callous. Now the worshipful Mayor also observed the same. ‘There must be then something to it,’ he was convinced. Checking into their circumstances he found even the clothes they wore were hired from a shop that catered to the Smart set. As for the financial status it was almost nil. To his dismay he found they were daily one step ahead of the bailiff. As the worshipful mayor had hinted they lived indeed desperately. They avoided creditors all around by hiding in his villa.
“This is a sad business!” Josh felt they were more sinned against than sinning. They were poor and naturally they had latched onto him for succour. His tender heart melted. He called the three and gave each a sizable sum to spend for their own good. “Get a job, or live as simple as you can,” his kindly heart prompted these words. Before sending them off he didn’t forget to admonish,“Do some good so you haven’t lived in vain.’
They were loath to depart but Master Josh was adamant. They finally went off.
Chapter-4
The Bottom Falls Out
Josh viewed Anything Goes City as his own. He was on nodding acquaintances with all. The mayor made much of him, so did the common man. The shoeshine boy who plied his trade around the corner daily waited for him to appear. He could see him as he stepped out of his villa. Every morning dressed to the nines by his own valet, Master Josh stopped by to get his shoes polished. He did it to give custom. It was obvious. “May you prosper with my thaler.” he said always at the end. The boy as smart as they come, living by his wits knew how to make some easy money. It was so common.
Just the same. The denizens were in awe of Master Josh: he was the only one who did not dabble in stocks.
Banks, which nursed the fiscal health of the nation sent their experts to remind Master Josh: invest in common stocks while the prices were low. Or regret.” “It is a bullish market!” they all said. Banker ‘Blunder’ Buss brought sheafs of papers with a lot of statistics to prove his point. He was certain, as some 857 pundits who also shared his opinion, that the stock prices clearly showed the fiscal health of a nation. Master Josh shook his head. The banker couldn’t believe he could be so naïve. “The nation is marching permanently on a plateau of prosperity!” he said a little exasperated at his transigence,”Join up or go bust!” Master Josh still held his ground.
He wasn’t there to make a fast buck but face ‘the evil of the age’ in his own way. It was his article of faith. He would never let Sans- Souci cripple his common touch he had vowed on the day he turned fourteen. He had never departed from it. Before he took any action he asked himself: “Do I really benefit from it? Secondly: ‘does it further quality of life around me? Thirdly: ‘ does my action give disproportionate value to things than to man? If so I ought to revise my actions till a balance is achieved. Lastly: am I, with my actions, justifying my place among mankind?” It was his set of rules and it had given him no little trouble to put it down on paper. On their final leave taking he had shown it to his dear father who read it. (There were tears in his eyes. He wanted to believe it were the tears of joy. Didn’t he bless him and hug him fervently therafter?) City Anything Goes certainly tempted him. But he couldn’t go against his own beliefs. On looking at their craze for making a killing at stocks he thought he was looking at so many billionaires who existed only on paper. No substance to them, he had intuitively guessed.
Applying his own rules he saw he stood to benefit by making profits but for what? To keep a foolish charade longer? He had listened to those who sponged on him. While they ate off his plates and drank his wine they said things that made him sit up and notice. He saw all too clearly what was to follow. Inflated stock prices! Insubstantial billionaires! With a sinking heart he saw the curl of a tsunami growing so high before it broke.
Master Josh felt the shudder. One day it came. A rumble it was. A few investors dumped their shares. Stock prices swung wildly. “Oh such hiccups are natural,” said the banker who was certain the problem would correct itself. The mayor rallied some merchant princes to keep the prices under control. That helped for the time being.
Hardly four years since he had made the city by the river his home. Prior to the morning he had for days shut himself in his library fearful of the news that he knew would come. He heard it again. Loud and clear.
It was a Tuesday. Six months later to the day since the first hiccup struck its ominous warning. The bottom gave out. Everywhere people cried,”Sell! Sell!” On one day alone so many stocks were dumped and in the process they discovered they lost even shirts on their backs. In short some 50 billion thalers disappeared. With it went the sanity of the city.
Not a kopek he had invested or lost. But just the same. How could he sit there happy when people outside were doing unspeakable things to themselves? It was sheer madness romping the streets! It entered from broad avenues into the warren of homes. First a wave of suicides: it had its effect. People read the news and shuddered over the headlines: shocking yes! I knew so-and so. Tragic yes. What these didn’t spell out were: Families destroyed, children orphaned and so many dreams snuffed out in its swirling gaiety.
He had not lost his wealth. Yet for all that he was chained to a corpse! Against his will. He had bought his villa dirt cheap because it had no takers for long. The city thought investing in real estate was a dead investment. Especially when so much money each day could be made playing stocks. Now with so many houses being put on the market for paying off debts Master Josh thought he lived in the midst of a charnel house! So dismal he felt.
It was how he viewed the Black Tuesday even after a week: Dismal and horrible!
In the days to come the full horror of what happened was brought home clearer. While Master Josh had fasted and let out all his sorrow till he felt clean and strong to face the world life went on outside. Its mad frenzy outside his villa unstoppable it was. He didn’t have to go out. But he heard of terrible stories just the same. Many of his household had their loved ones come to ruin. In their tragedy he felt wounded again and again.
‘Life must go on’, as the wise men have often said made him now take matters into his hand. Two weeks later he got back into his daily routine.
He enquired after many whom he knew from that part of the city. Those tradespeople and craftsmen who always gave him special consideration lived in the vicinity. He never had to attend to the needs of his household so he hardly knew them. ( Hajmal the butcher had always sent his best cuts; so did the grocer. In their service he could sense their kindness, an impression almost palpable. He felt reassured always in their service.) He trudged along the lanes to look them up. But they were gone. So was the tailor who had his shop in another part. Next to the furrier. They all had mysteriously vanished!
One day he went to the place where he had his shoe polished. By force of habit, I guess. The boy was long gone and yet someone had taken his place. Upon closer inspection he shuddered. Instead of the regular, sat there ‘Blunder’ Buss, the banker with a foolish smile. In his baby pink and pudgy hands he held a brush awkwardly. He was now to polish his shoes! Master Josh burst into tears while the banker blinked on as if he had completely lost his marbles. ”Then came the bears,” he went on mumbling.
Josh ran inside and instructed his personal secretary to see that the banker was immediately attended to. He did as was told. He reported that evening to explain how things fared with the hapless banker. He aso made a note of instructions that his master gave and promised to attend them first thing in the morning.
Before he turned in Master Josh reviewed his actions: he knew his altruism didn’t benefit himself but all the other rules were met. If the banker was well again he would cease to be a problem for his family; and a banker, he thus reasoned, could get back into swim of things once more. Perhaps having learnt his lesson he would be more useful to the nation. So he didn’t regret in the least for what he had to spend.
The city was no longer the same. A regular war zone it was. No wrecks or smouldering ruins of buildings stood there but the people looked shell-shocked and the air he breathed had the stench of a serious malaise. He could feel it. It reeked of disappointment and misery.
One morning Josh was getting ready for stepping out. To his consternation there were two strangers coming in. Matt and Jan looked so different. His face showed a touch of irritation. He thought he had seen the last of them for good.
Matt and Jan were dressed in uniforms of civil guards and they greeted with a sombre look and explained they bought their commission with part of the funds he gave them. One was a colonel and the other was a rank immediately below.
“Why civil guards?” he asked as he led them into the house. Having settled themselves they accepted coffee while they took out cigars to smoke. Master Josh motioned his servant to open the window. Sheepishly apologizing they put their cigars away unlit. They talked about this and that till Mike came in. Mike came all flustered and he silently passed a few slips of notes to the other two. They looked at each other and the host knew there was something serious afoot.
In the end Jan took up the thread, ”Why civil guards? I ought to go back in time a little.” He spoke of racial tensions that had plagued the city for a long time. It went merely underground while people made money. With the last economic crisis, he explained the ugly tensions were out with a vengeance. With thousand tongues of drawn swords. Looking steadily at Master Josh said,”The people want to blame some one for the Depression. They have found whom to blame. You, my friend and benefactor, you are in deep trouble.”
“Preposterous! I am completely innocent.”
“Certainly!” they all said with their hands on their hearts,”but still you are an outsider and a foreigner.” Josh stood up and faced them,” Now are you going to tell me that I also belong to the wrong race?”
They nodded. They spoke of the benefits they got from their contacts. “Being a colonel in the Civil Guards I can help you to some extent. But from the reports our Interior Minister expects the worst. A blood bath is in the cards.” Jan asked Master Josh to look at the reports he held in his hands.” I had to use all my persuasive skills to get hold of them. The second is a list of names on the hit list: your name stands somewhere in the first five I believe.” Master Josh studied the list and the notes written by the Interior Minister himself. If he was sure of a blood bath it had to be true. His face went white.
They urged him to save himself. He knew he merely stayed home soul searching while the racial hatred was having a free run. He had thereby overlooked his own interests! Master Josh knew they were serious and they did put their neck out to do him a good turn. But ‘to pack up and go’ was a bit over the top.
His villa with all its appurtenances stood for something. It showed to all who lived in. A villa where every name in the List of 400 vied each other to get in. His style and immense wealth were proverbial. The movers and shakers of the city sought him out before the City Council took any important decision. They had flattered him and they showerd presents and sent invitations to honor them with his presence. So young! Yet noteworthy he had become in a matter of six years. He was inexperienced he thought yet they sought him out for advice.
After the threesome had left he turned to the 400 for advice. He sent his personal secretary to each and the door was, everytime, shut in his face.
It didn’t take much for him to understand why. Before the fury of Xenophobia finally burst and could come in his direction he fled. Matt, Jan and Mike were there to arrange his escape. Seeing him out of harm’s way Mike said, ”Providence took a hand to save you. We were only Its instrument.” Master Josh nodded...
Thursday 16 October 2008
Now You See,Now you Don't
Chalk it to my innocence in economic matters, or I am out of step with the young eager beavers who gravitate to investment banking like proverbial duck to water, which perhaps is right on either way. I often think of events I read daily while stretched on my mattress. When I am thus inclined I know my deposit in my bank is quite safe. Of course I lay on it to think and to feel safe. By the way my mattress serves as my bank. Some time ago, in 1995 I think, I quite clearly remember of reading about Nick Leeson, late of Britain's Barings Bank. ‘I even thought had I the guts I could have stood in his shoes and busted Barings Bank before lunch and went out to do a few more to keep my day full’. But which Bank will employ for their most dangerous missions,(one of which is in window dressing their annual reports,) one whose entire banking operation is restricted to his mattress? Lehman Brothers would have laughed me in my face to put it out of joint, I know for certain.
2.
Only lately I realized there are two avenues that market economy takes to. Main Street and Wall Street. I am lifelong learner. So I went about asking questions. Then I asked those who dabbled in stock Pug and Mug, who were sitting by the kerb. They replied, “ Economic meltdown, Ben. When we began playing in stocks sky was the limit and now it has come down and took us with it.” It seems one goes to Yale or some other university where all that you get is an education. It must be job-oriented, any fool will tell you that. Pug, my Yale educated friend was signed up even before he left College to put ‘Greater-fool-theory’ to practice. As far as I can see the bubble burst just as Nasdaq bubble of 2000, Nikkei bubble of 1991,stock market crash of 1987and 1929, Florida real estate bubble in the 1920 and so on. Give a fool a bubble and all that he thinks of is buying up stocks and hope to sell to another. Meantime he trusts in God that it will not burst in his face till a greater fool could be found. Well I think I will lie on my mattress to think when it is going to burst again and over what. Honest to God I know that it will , only the details will change here and there. While Pug and Mug are out waiting for the bailout I shall sleep.
By the way I don’t sleep all that well what with nickels and quarters make my bed quite lumpy.
benny
2.
Only lately I realized there are two avenues that market economy takes to. Main Street and Wall Street. I am lifelong learner. So I went about asking questions. Then I asked those who dabbled in stock Pug and Mug, who were sitting by the kerb. They replied, “ Economic meltdown, Ben. When we began playing in stocks sky was the limit and now it has come down and took us with it.” It seems one goes to Yale or some other university where all that you get is an education. It must be job-oriented, any fool will tell you that. Pug, my Yale educated friend was signed up even before he left College to put ‘Greater-fool-theory’ to practice. As far as I can see the bubble burst just as Nasdaq bubble of 2000, Nikkei bubble of 1991,stock market crash of 1987and 1929, Florida real estate bubble in the 1920 and so on. Give a fool a bubble and all that he thinks of is buying up stocks and hope to sell to another. Meantime he trusts in God that it will not burst in his face till a greater fool could be found. Well I think I will lie on my mattress to think when it is going to burst again and over what. Honest to God I know that it will , only the details will change here and there. While Pug and Mug are out waiting for the bailout I shall sleep.
By the way I don’t sleep all that well what with nickels and quarters make my bed quite lumpy.
benny
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Storytime
Five Blindmen from Benares ©
Long,long ago there lived three blind men in the city of Benares. Benares stands on the plains of the river Ganges. ( This Indian city, for those who are more particular about names and places I might add, is now known by another name. Varanasi.)
The city of Benares (or Varanasi ) in those days, was known as a haven for scholars. By night and day, through seasons good and bad, came scholars of all stripes. Some brought along cartloads of books; some carried curious devices invented by them. A great many came empty-handed, nevertheless claiming scholarship of the most wondrous kind.
Ramu was a scholar. He had a carpenters rod. Never was he seen without it. Somu’s strength was in his looks. He kept a very serious air about him. Such an air of seriousness was very becoming, decided Pappu. So he also sported an air of gravity, which the townsfolk took for scholarship. Sadly these three paragons of scholarship were blind.
Ramu, Somu and Pappu having got to know each other thought their fortune was to be made in the city. A city which gave them a life of ease must indeed be a holy city, so they decided.
It so happened these three scholars found employment in a palace. They served a king who had an opinion on everything. The king would look at the sky and say, “It is red, is it not?” Ramu whose scholarship rested on his carpenter’s rod would immediately do some measurements on the ground. Each time he made as much noise as possible in order to impress the blind king. (King Chat-pat was blind in a manner of speaking. He had eyes but he never cared to use them well.) Ramu would answer,”Yes your majesty.”
Pat would come a reply from other two scholars thus,”Yes, the sky is red indeed.”
King Chat-pat once heard some fantastic news about an animal as huge as a stupa. It is an elephant, he said in wonder. Not having seen one he sent his scholars Ramu,Somu and Pappu to investigate.
Ramu took his carpenters rod along; Somu looked sharp as becoming of a scholar. So did Pappu. Having heard that an elephant was to be found at such and such spot they hastened to that address. Scarcely had they gone five paces they were joined by two blind scholars who enquired why they were in such a hurry. The three explained.
Barm and Dharm whistled,”On king’s errand.Oho!” “We shall spread our scholarship alike and see what we come up with!”
“Five heads alike,”chanted they in unison while Ramu beat with the rod on the ground to keep time,” in honour alike.”
Dharm knew the owner of that elephant which the three sought in such tearing hurry. The five blind scholars agreed to be a team. Soon they groped their way about, to the spot where stood an elephant.
The five scholars applied their scholarship. Ramu took out the carpenter’s rod and said, ”All facts must be set down on paper. That is the first rule.”
Barm took a step closer to the animal. He placed his palms against the side of the animal. Thereafter he stepped backwards to add,” What is handled must be compared with what is known.” Pappu was sure, “All things being alike, what facts we have at hand must mix well. Like milk and sugar. The result cannot be wrong.” Dharm refused to suggest anything. He said,”I shall not speak till I have had all the facts.” It was the turn of Somu who said,”What facts we have, must be set neatly in their order.”
”yes, rules strung like pearls, they are still rules,”cried they all while Ramu as usual kept time.
It was Ramu’s turn. He began measuring the animal. He cried out figures which Somu wrote down. When he was finished he added them and said,”It is a prime number. Five. It can be divided only by five.”
Barm let his fingers do the walking along the length and breadth of the elephant. It took a while for him to do a complete turn. He said worthy of an orator, “I know an elephant is only comparable to the city-gate which leads to the ghats on the East. ””Oh yes!” cried the rest, “gates are wide but they move just the same. So must an elephant similarly turn.”
Pappu felt its trunk and said, “ A turning elephant can only be held by a rope as thick as this.”Dharm asked,”What shall we call an elephant wide as the city gates but must be held by a rope; not to mention it measures a prime number?” All the five cogitated hard and paced in circles. Suddenly they stopped to cry at the same time,”Nature’s Mistake!” Somu neatly wrote down thus,
”A Nature’s mistake, that is elephant for you!”
All the five scholars put their hand to the report in agreement. How delighted these five blindmen from Benares were! They went straight to the king and reported.
Sure the king was delighted. Otherwise why would King Chat-pat present a medal of honour to each? Their scholastic achievement deserved due recognition. Thereafter the king sent them off to rest in his country estate.
Thus five scholars traveled to the king’s hunting lodge to rest and recuperate. On their way they heard a great commotion. There came an elephant. He was wild and very angry too. He pushed with his tusks left and right. His trunk swung this way and that way while his ears swiveled fast and furious. All could see he was bent on mischief. So they ran helter-skelter. Except the five. They were knocked down by the elephant who trumpeted which all could hear, loud and clear. The elephant cried, “Lay no blame on me for this mistake; blame it all on Nature.”
The End
Long,long ago there lived three blind men in the city of Benares. Benares stands on the plains of the river Ganges. ( This Indian city, for those who are more particular about names and places I might add, is now known by another name. Varanasi.)
The city of Benares (or Varanasi ) in those days, was known as a haven for scholars. By night and day, through seasons good and bad, came scholars of all stripes. Some brought along cartloads of books; some carried curious devices invented by them. A great many came empty-handed, nevertheless claiming scholarship of the most wondrous kind.
Ramu was a scholar. He had a carpenters rod. Never was he seen without it. Somu’s strength was in his looks. He kept a very serious air about him. Such an air of seriousness was very becoming, decided Pappu. So he also sported an air of gravity, which the townsfolk took for scholarship. Sadly these three paragons of scholarship were blind.
Ramu, Somu and Pappu having got to know each other thought their fortune was to be made in the city. A city which gave them a life of ease must indeed be a holy city, so they decided.
It so happened these three scholars found employment in a palace. They served a king who had an opinion on everything. The king would look at the sky and say, “It is red, is it not?” Ramu whose scholarship rested on his carpenter’s rod would immediately do some measurements on the ground. Each time he made as much noise as possible in order to impress the blind king. (King Chat-pat was blind in a manner of speaking. He had eyes but he never cared to use them well.) Ramu would answer,”Yes your majesty.”
Pat would come a reply from other two scholars thus,”Yes, the sky is red indeed.”
King Chat-pat once heard some fantastic news about an animal as huge as a stupa. It is an elephant, he said in wonder. Not having seen one he sent his scholars Ramu,Somu and Pappu to investigate.
Ramu took his carpenters rod along; Somu looked sharp as becoming of a scholar. So did Pappu. Having heard that an elephant was to be found at such and such spot they hastened to that address. Scarcely had they gone five paces they were joined by two blind scholars who enquired why they were in such a hurry. The three explained.
Barm and Dharm whistled,”On king’s errand.Oho!” “We shall spread our scholarship alike and see what we come up with!”
“Five heads alike,”chanted they in unison while Ramu beat with the rod on the ground to keep time,” in honour alike.”
Dharm knew the owner of that elephant which the three sought in such tearing hurry. The five blind scholars agreed to be a team. Soon they groped their way about, to the spot where stood an elephant.
The five scholars applied their scholarship. Ramu took out the carpenter’s rod and said, ”All facts must be set down on paper. That is the first rule.”
Barm took a step closer to the animal. He placed his palms against the side of the animal. Thereafter he stepped backwards to add,” What is handled must be compared with what is known.” Pappu was sure, “All things being alike, what facts we have at hand must mix well. Like milk and sugar. The result cannot be wrong.” Dharm refused to suggest anything. He said,”I shall not speak till I have had all the facts.” It was the turn of Somu who said,”What facts we have, must be set neatly in their order.”
”yes, rules strung like pearls, they are still rules,”cried they all while Ramu as usual kept time.
It was Ramu’s turn. He began measuring the animal. He cried out figures which Somu wrote down. When he was finished he added them and said,”It is a prime number. Five. It can be divided only by five.”
Barm let his fingers do the walking along the length and breadth of the elephant. It took a while for him to do a complete turn. He said worthy of an orator, “I know an elephant is only comparable to the city-gate which leads to the ghats on the East. ””Oh yes!” cried the rest, “gates are wide but they move just the same. So must an elephant similarly turn.”
Pappu felt its trunk and said, “ A turning elephant can only be held by a rope as thick as this.”Dharm asked,”What shall we call an elephant wide as the city gates but must be held by a rope; not to mention it measures a prime number?” All the five cogitated hard and paced in circles. Suddenly they stopped to cry at the same time,”Nature’s Mistake!” Somu neatly wrote down thus,
”A Nature’s mistake, that is elephant for you!”
All the five scholars put their hand to the report in agreement. How delighted these five blindmen from Benares were! They went straight to the king and reported.
Sure the king was delighted. Otherwise why would King Chat-pat present a medal of honour to each? Their scholastic achievement deserved due recognition. Thereafter the king sent them off to rest in his country estate.
Thus five scholars traveled to the king’s hunting lodge to rest and recuperate. On their way they heard a great commotion. There came an elephant. He was wild and very angry too. He pushed with his tusks left and right. His trunk swung this way and that way while his ears swiveled fast and furious. All could see he was bent on mischief. So they ran helter-skelter. Except the five. They were knocked down by the elephant who trumpeted which all could hear, loud and clear. The elephant cried, “Lay no blame on me for this mistake; blame it all on Nature.”
The End
Sunday 12 October 2008
Moral Sense and Religion
Moral sense of man is not born out of any religion; of course it helps to give a man’s innate moral sense its flavor. Mother Teresa did it in a different way than Gandhi did. Gandhi’s non violence was born out of the principle of Ahimsa while the Catholic Nun took a leaf out of the New Testament.
2.
Who is worthier the fire-and brimstone preacher like John Calvin or Johnny Appleseed? Didn’t Calvin let torture as a weapon to protect his own authority? Some might argue torture was in accord with the prevailing attitude of that age. ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever’. God’s words do not change according to fashions of the world. Didn’t Jesus speak thus, ’And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant...’Mt.20:27 No wonder what ails Christianity now is the accumulated evil of such hypocritical teachers who misused God’s name for their own selfish gains. The Calvin doctrine may be a theocratic rule but who should apply it but man? Only that bit by bit he loses from whence his authority derives and also whatever moral sense he had in the first place.
Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – February 18, 1845), was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apples to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, mainly Ohio. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways. He was a missionary but that didn’t stop him from making that part of the world a better place with his conservation programmes.(ack:JC ,J.A-wikipedia)
benny
2.
Who is worthier the fire-and brimstone preacher like John Calvin or Johnny Appleseed? Didn’t Calvin let torture as a weapon to protect his own authority? Some might argue torture was in accord with the prevailing attitude of that age. ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever’. God’s words do not change according to fashions of the world. Didn’t Jesus speak thus, ’And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant...’Mt.20:27 No wonder what ails Christianity now is the accumulated evil of such hypocritical teachers who misused God’s name for their own selfish gains. The Calvin doctrine may be a theocratic rule but who should apply it but man? Only that bit by bit he loses from whence his authority derives and also whatever moral sense he had in the first place.
Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – February 18, 1845), was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apples to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, mainly Ohio. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways. He was a missionary but that didn’t stop him from making that part of the world a better place with his conservation programmes.(ack:JC ,J.A-wikipedia)
benny
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