19 Feb
A few months back I got my kitchen remodelled. It set me back by a couple of lakhs, and the guy who did the work for me insisted that I pay him fully in cash. I, who has had all cash inflows so far via bank transfers, was thus forced to withdraw (in several iterations) [...]
Posted in arbit, economics, finance by: skimpy
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12 Feb
Ok so this post has nothing to do with macroeconomics, though it borrows its concepts from there. As the more perceptive of you might have figured out by now (ha, i love that line!) I was diagnosed with clinical depression about a year back. Actually that was the second time I had been diagnosed with [...]
Posted in arbit, economics, fundaes, personal, science by: skimpy
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30 Jan
I spent most of the last weekend at a workshop organized by this not-for-profit called Khamir somewhere near Bhuj in Kutch. It was a rather small-scale festival they had organized called the Desert Art and Music Festival (though the fees were anything but small scale, setting each participant back by seven and a half kilorupees). [...]
Posted in arbit, business, economics, fundaes, travel by: skimpy
29 Comments
21 Dec
So you think India is an agricultural country? Maybe you are right in terms of the number of people employed in the sector. But that is not really the case in terms of output – the contribution to GDP to agriculture is a paltry 30% in most states and dropping sharply. The chart here (hope [...]
Posted in economics, fundaes, general by: skimpy
1 Comment
29 Sep
My association with the Takshashila Institution took me on a field trip today to trace the story of the not-so-humble potato. The journey actually started last night, as we checked out potato prices at retail stores near our respective homes. And we continued the journey this morning, in reverse order as we went first to [...]
Posted in business, economics, fundaes by: skimpy
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22 Sep
In economic theory, outside of capital markets, “liquidity” is a topic that isn’t spoken about as much as it should. While I’m no academician to set this right in theoretical circles, I’ll make an attempt to help my readers what the fuss is all about. Well past midnight, when you exit a mall after having [...]
Posted in business, economics, fundaes by: skimpy
4 Comments
01 Aug
Over the last couple of days, I switched on the TV in order to “jinx” two of India’s more promising archers in their respective games at the Olympics. On Monday evening, I switched on the TV to see R Banerjee (forget his first name) lose a close game in the round of 32. Yesterday, I [...]
Posted in economics, fundaes, sport by: skimpy
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06 Jul
Today, for the first time ever, I went out to buy wine, and in hindsight (I’m writing it having finished half of half the bottle) I think I did a pretty good job. I had gone to this “Not just wine and cheese” store in Jayanagar hoping to pick up some real good wine to [...]
Posted in arbit, economics, food by: skimpy
1 Comment
29 Jun
This post is not about any statistical analysis. Neither is it about people’s sensitivity about others, which is associated with empathy. This post is about what I can, incorrectly but more specifically, call “self-sensitivity”. About people who are really thin-skinned and who are likely to “feel bad” at the drop of a hat. I argue [...]
Posted in arbit, economics, fundaes, personal, relationships by: skimpy
1 Comment
28 Jun
So you have generalists and specialists. Generalists are fundamentally smart people who can do a variety of things. They take a look at a problem, take some time to understand the basics, and then go about solving it. They get bored easily, and move from problem to problem. Generally, they don’t dig deep but are [...]
Posted in arbit, business, economics, fundaes, science, work by: skimpy
3 Comments