Random Thoughts

we see so many new news items about European companies, but rarely do we bother to check what is happening with their controller, that is to say, the companies operating stock exchanges themselves. here is a little summary of recent news, in chronological order

1. Deutsche Borse, the operator of Frankfurt stock exchange, has longed tried to persuade both London Stock Exchange and Euronext (operator of Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Lisbon exchanges). however, they both have been refusing the offers. Competiton Commission (CC) of Europe was against Deutsche Borse-LSE bid because it was afraid that it would create a monopoly.

2. recently NasDaq submitted a multi-billion dollar bid for London Stock Exchange.

3. NYSE, afraid of being the last in the race for access to European markets, submitted a bid for Eurostar.

4. CC then said that Deutsche Borse could submit a bid for LSE and there were no issues regarding monopoly. DB, however, was getting more favourable signals from Euronext and said that it was no longer interested in LSE.

5. Just when it seemed that DB - Euronext merger was going to happen smoothly, private client stockbrokers of UK have written to CC objecting that this merger will create a monopoly with respect to derivative trading.

6. if you think all this was not enough, the European financial watchdog, BaFin has announced that it will check if the hedge funds controlling DB were instrumental in causing the CEO, Werner Seifert, to resign and also had made him withdraw the offer made to LSE.

the world is indeed bad, but more than that, it is crazy. isn't it ?

A few lines of the song "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohenly"....

I did my best, but it wasn't much,
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch,
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you,
And even though
When it will all go wrong
I will stand before the Lord of the song....
With nothing on my tongue but .... Hallelujah

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah ......

I have heard the word "Hallelujah" so many times that finally i decided to look it up over internet. U2 have devoted a song over it. Enigma have done it, and so have done countless other artists including Leonard Cohenly.

Hallelujah is considered to be the most joyful word that you can say in the praise of the God. I don't know whether I conform to it or not, but this reminds me of what Ayn Rand has argued in her book "The Anthem". she says, or tries to proof, that the most beautiful word in English, or in any other language, is.....quite simply,

I.

There was a survey some years ago all across the world, in which the word "mother" was judged by the respondents as the most beautiful one. Now that I have given you three choices, which one do you choose ? or do you want an option like "None of these", like multiple choice questions ?

one good news for all the people who wanted to invest in the oil-rich Dubai zone but were not able to bypass the strict investment rules. Merrill Lynch has decided to create an index that will be used as a benchmark of the performance of companies listed there as a whole. FII can use it to hedge their exposure to the region, as the Dubai markets saw correction this year after remaining buyont for some 3-4 years.

Sometimes a picture tells everything that you want to achieve in your life.

the first thing that you notice when you land at Stanstead airport is how much British people have to learn from their European colleagues. there is always a huge rush at the passport control counters, and the crowd just seems like any other railways platform in India.

the second thing you notice when you (or I, actually :) ) clear the immigration office is the stark contrast in terms of girls. I mean, British girls just look like....well....girls. back in germany, they look like pornstars who dress, talk, walk, live, die for no reason other than tease, fun, and.....sex. you walk among the crowd, thinking about the different things that you have to do. back in germany, with all the east europeans and hot hot Germans around, this is impossible. at least I find it so.

i always thought that i will never get into a situation where i will have to lie down on a cold floor. but i was wrong. i did it last week. the only saving grace was, i did it in an airport, not on a Patna railway junction. it was 1 at night when the flight landed at the airport, and i had to wait for 6 hours for underground rail station to start working. the seats at the airport were full, not because people were sitting, but because people were actually sleeping on them. they would put their feet on one chair, abdomen on the next one, and head on the third one. no wonder many poor souls had to spend the night sleeping on the floor. i slept with a gang of chinese people. but folks, the girl sitting beside me was really hot !!! :)

I didn't like the underground railway network (or tube, as they call it here) at all. the stations are small, the trains are even smaller for the number of people who travel by them, and the AC system doesn't work. the air is stale, and i actually had to gasp for air when i was in. thank god we have a modern system in new delhi. and the worst part is, it is actually expensive. you have to spend 3 pounds for a distance which will take only 30 mins by walk. and you have to change ur train at least twice. but you have no choice because the other sources (bus and taxi) are simply too expensive.

but yes, there is one good thing about london. the buildings are really very artistic, old, and unique. just yesterday i had dinner around the London Tower. this is one of the buildings included in the UNESCO world heritage site, and here is the place where our beloved Kohinoor diamond is kept. maybe i will visit it during some weekday, and will try to find some way of stealing it. :)

the mayor of london has called a party for Diwali celebration at Trafalgar square today, and I am going to visit it today. i am already getting late, and will post the details later (and maybe some pictures also). bye for now.

she was feeling cold, and she only had a see-through woolen dress over a very thin silky top. she was going slowly, because she was wearing high wheels which made enough noise over pavement. it was already 8:30, and she had to reach her flat by 9 to make dinner. it was a hectic day for her. she had classes in the university since morning, and had to work in the pizza shop in the evening. the bus to her flat was to come at 9:30, and she had decided to walk to her place because she would have reached there before that time if she started early.

John just came of his room thinking something and didn't notice that the road had got lonely by now. he was wondering how much would it cost him on his next trip, and whether it was a good decision to spend so many days just travelling. the trip was indeed costly, and he had taken a couple of beer bottles before leaving the apartment, just to feel better. he had gone around half a block when suddenly he saw a petite figure in a white woolen dress. the girl was thinking something, and it seemed as if she was wondering where to go. the streets were empty, all the shops were closed, and to John it seemed almost certain that the girl was going to her place. she was walking slowly, almost provocatively, but certainly didn't mean it to be so. John couldn't hide his curiosity, and the desire to see the girl's face started troubling his heart like she was the only woman he was searching in his life. unwillingly, somehow he decided to follow her. he had planned to do a complete round of the block and then return, but couldn't stop himself from following her when she took a right turn towards some other block. unable to control himself, he followed her blindly, not noticing that all the shops were closed on the street and they were the only two living beings. he increased his pace, so that he could get ahead of her and he could see her face. but no matter how fast he walked, he always seemed to get furthur behind her. finally he went ahead when the girl stopped behind the window of a shop to check some shopping bags. he went some 20 metres near a traffic light, and sat on the pavement, hoping that the girl would come and finally his burning heart, already under the weight of losing 20k ruppes in the next trip, would get some solace.

but alas !!! the Gods had some different intentions. the girl took a turn before the signal. she went away, and John was left in that lonely street, with chilly air blowing past his face, to contemplate whether it would be better if he got back to his flat and have some more liquor. this day sucked. life always did anyway, at least to him.

i can't believe i can make such a great mistake. when i was coming to germany, i had taken care that each of U2 songs were there on my laptop. i had even copied all the rare live versions of songs on the lapi (believe me, U2 is better when it plays live. it was judged the best rock band in live performance recently).

but i can't do anything without making a mistake. just now I found out that I hadn't copied my most favourite song of all time - "Red Hill Mining Time". this is the song i listen to when i am happy. this is the song i listen to when i am sad. this is what i listen when i am drunk. when i am sober. when i am sleeping. when i am awake.

this is what i listen when i want to live. this is what makes dying seem lovely.

for the past 6 years, this song has brought solace to me whenever i wanted to. it was always around when i needed it. but today, unfortunately, it is gone. for those of you who don't know what is the difference between "A beautiful day" and "Sunday bloody sunda", it may seem to be a trivial thing. but for me, it is a matter of life and death. a perfect occation to get drunk, which i am right now.

Amsterdam is undoubtedly the sex - capital of europe. but the prostitutes there seems to have taken inspiration from low-cost airlines, and have devised new and innovative ways to take money from their clients. now I don't have any first hand experience, i only got to know from some of my friends, who have been to these places.

first of all, you have to pay to take the girl to a room. she will get undressed from her waist downwards and you are free to have sex from her. but beware boys !! for the 50 euros you pay you are only allowed to have sex in one particular position. if you are adventerous, and want to have sex in a different pose, you have to take out 20 more euros. in the language of economics, this is called "Unbundling". you pay for each and every pose other than the plain vanilla version.

but the funniest part is, the prostitute won't take her top off. even though she is naked down her waist and is having sex with a client, he has to pay 50 additional euros if he wants her to get topless. :)

but one thing that most of the girls in Amsterdam won't do, no matter how much you pay them, is to kiss you on the lips. they kiss only their husbands, or boyfriends. i actually knew this fact beforehand. actually, it has been found by scientific experiments that if a couple is going through a tumultuous phase and the relationship is strained, the best thing the man can do is to kiss his girl goodnight and then go to sleep at night. this gives the girl more satisfaction and sense of emotional security than having sex.

i never knew that interacting with people from different cultures can be so fun. there are 2 slovanian guys who live some rooms from us, and we have become really good friends. to be honest, the only thing these guys care about in this world is liquor and girls, and you can really learn a lot about these things by hanging out with them.

on saturday night we had a party in our kitchen, and we had decided earlier itself that we have to get totally drunk by the end. we had bought almost 10 bottles of beer (coming at 33 cents a litre, beer is actually cheaper than bottled water here), a bottle of Ouza (national drink of greece, put some pudina pattis in vodka if you want to get a taste of it), and a big bottle of whisky. we had invited friends also - a portugese living on the same floor, an African living upstairs, 2 slovanian girls (By God , they were hot !!!), one Irish girl (kind of cute) and one Russian one (over which these slovanians are maaru-ing a big fight).

the party was interesting. for a change, my friend was cooking something for others to eat, instead of having them for himself. for the first time, I tasted black beer and got drunk after having 4 bottles of beer. the slovanians told us that back in their country, there are parties every tuesday in colleges. there everybody drinks, and it is considered a shame if at the end of a party you are sober enough to walk on your feet. guys play games, whose only purpose is to get people more drunk. one friend told us a very interesting story. once in a party the people were playing strip-drinking. in that game everybody would start drinking at one go, and the one who stopped earliest had to remove one piece of clothing. the next question that people asked, well it should be too obvious to boys, was whether there were any girls. the guy answered that there were some 3-4 girls and all of them were pretty hot and slutty (somehow slovanians don't know the word "sexy". they will always say that a girl is slutty). some time after the game, a girl got too drunk. she always had to stop midways between drinking because she couldn't drink any furthur, and so had to remove one piece of clothing. so after some booze rounds, she was completely naked, with nothing on, and using her long hair to cover her breasts (i can imagine the lusty look over your faces, boys !!! :) ). that was not before 3 of the boys, including my slovanian friend, had to get rid of their underwears. however, they definitely got the all the fun the party was worth.

If only we had these parties in the land of khajuraho and Kamasutra !!!