IPL 2009 Champions - Deccan Chargers !

The 37 day festival has come to an end. The Indian Premier League 2009 has a new CHAMPION ! The Deccan Chargers have toppled the rest in the league to be deservedly crowned the CHAMPIONS OF THE IPL 2009 !

The worst performing team of 2008 had something to prove and they did it in style. What a comeback. The captain of the Chargers, Adam Gilchrist, was named 'player of the tournament'. This guy is magic. When he gets going the opposition literally gets going. The match between Deccan Chargers and the hot favourite Delhi Daredevils will never be forgotten by not only Charger fans but also every single person who has watched it. It will never be forgotten because of one reason...one man....ADAM GILCHRIST ! He went berserk. He blasted 85 from about 35 balls and ensured the Chargers were thru to the finals. Ravi Shastri, in the presentation speech said Hurricane Gilchrist just blew over the ground and took everything away from the Daredevils.

Like most matches in the league, the finals was filled with excitement and went down to the last ball. This season saw many nail biting finishes. Many finishes that went the Charges way was thanks to ROHIT SHARMA. He had a way to get 20 odd runs in the final over and hit the winning runs in the last ball. Howz that for excitement. What a player. Among other players RP Singh stood out for his spot on bowling and being the proud owner of the 'Purple Cap'. Gibbs gave a few good knocks but lacked the aggression in most matches. Symmo blazed in a couple of matches and gave a little lift in a few more. Dwyne Smith, Vaas, Ryan Harris, did their bit. The area where we really lacked was the rest of the team comprising local Andhra players. Unlike other teams there was no local player worth mentioning in our team. Our team was basically a 6 member squad. We've got to come up with better quality players for 2010 to ensure we retain our # 1 position.

Finally, a big cheers to the IPL CHAMPIONS - DECCAN CHARGERS !

Aakasamantha - beauty in simplicity !

I have been a part of the audience for mostly Hindi flicks. Only once in a way when I've heard of a movie being very good, do I go watch a Telugu movie. I don't think I have ever watched a bad Telugu movie. Aakasamantha has ensured that this record is maintained. I am glad I watched this beautiful movie.

For starters, I enjoy Prakash Raj. I have seen a few movies of his and his very presence is a draw for me as a viewer. The movie is set in a small hill station town. It is a journey of a father and his daughter from birth until her marriage. The movie revolves between these two characters and thankfully doesn't stray. The feelings, reactions and upbringing of a father has been aptly displayed. Comic moments are present all through. There are many scenes that are wonderful but the best among the best are the ones when Prakash Raj slaps the mother when he mistakenly thinks she dropped hot water on his daughter; when he requests his daughter's principal to ask a few questions to him during the interview because he prepared; the introduction of the Sardarji damaad and many more.

The movie moves at a nice pace and with a length of a little over 2 hours, it is just perfect. All actors provide good support to the main lead, Prakash Raj. It is because of him that this good movie turns into a beauty. The only negative that could be pointed out is the music. This movie transcends all ages and linguistic barriers and is a must watch by one and all.

I would rate it 8 out of 10.

A "hair" raising tale !

My brother, the famous blogger, Kamal - http://www.kamaldshah.com/ used to narrate a small incident to me and to several others sometime back. It goes like this.....

Sometime back his friends father visited his friend in the US. It was freezing cold and this gentleman decided to take a walk. While walking he happened to wipe the snow off his moustache and on doing so realised that one side of his moustache had come off ! Honestly......just came off his face. It was a real moustache but because of the cold it came off with a rub. So the next thing he did was rub the other side off as well !

I always laughed it off as it couldn't have been true.

I am reminded about this incident today as I encountered a similar incident myself in a more realistic manner. For those who had a look at my profile can see the kind of hair I had. However, I decided to cut it shorter. I informed the barber that I wanted a very short cut like a small layer. In a matter of seconds the guy took out the automatic cutter with a size 1 and ploughed thru my hair. No sooner did he start than I realised what on earth was happening. The b*****d nearly shaved off one side of my head. I kept looking into the mirror for a minute or so and gave him a mini piece of my mind. For those who know me well enough know that that barber got away with this very cheaply. I looked at my half bald head and dejectedly told the guy to complete ploughing the remaining field as well !

I feel very awkward when I see myself now. However, the hair style (or the lack of it) has met with a mixed response from those around. Many have liked it as well. As for me, I am waiting to have the small layer back. One things for sure, the next time I visit a barber he will have to give me a patient hearing before he gets to work on my hair.

Sell sell sell (for the time being)

The Indian markets are on fire again. The sensex has gained over 50% in a span of about 3 months. This rise has followed a disastrous year for equities of course. There are normally three factors that people track to buy or sell in the markets.

One is fundamental. This is the basics of the business....how a company's doing, are the sales rising/falling, are the profits rising/falling; how the sector is doing and in general how an economy is doing. The second reason is technical. This is more got to do with numbers than anything else. This basically considers different period moving averages. For example the 200 day average, 50 day average, etc. This is used mainly by traders. I have never understood how this works. But there are pundits who swear by this method and I'm sure this is something that cannot be totally ignored. The third category is the herd mentality. Market seems to be going up today so lets buy some scrips. The best example is the Reliance Power IPO. Everybody just had to apply as everyone else was. I too was enamoured by the idea of listing gains and got into the trap.

As for any product we have to also make an informed judgement while buying a stock. Unfortunately, there are no set parameters using which we can make that judgement. Each individual decides the value of a company and buys accordingly. There are a few simple terms commonly used like -

EPS - Short for earnings per share. This is the total profit earned by a company divided by the total number of shares. For example if a company earns Rs.1000 and the number of shares it has it 200 then the company has an EPS of Rs.5

PE - This is the ratio of the current market price to the earnings per share. If a company earns Rs.5 per share and is trading at Rs.100 then it has a PE ratio of 20 (100/5)

PEG - This is the ratio of PE to growth in earnings of the company. For example if a company earns Rs.4 in 2007, Rs.5 in 2008 the growth in profits is 25%. If the PE for such a company is 20 then it has a PEG of 0.8 (PE/Growth - 20/25)

The knowledgeable use these basics to value a company. Other things remaining constant a company generally is bought at PEG less than 1 and sold if PEG is more. However, this is a barometer using past figures in mind. Things could be different in future due to which many other factors that could affect a companies' performance has also to be considered.

As per http://www.bseindia.com/ the Sensex companies have an earning of about Rs.720 for FY(financial year) 08 and the index trades at about 16 PE. This means 16 times the combined earnings per share of Sensex companies. As per most brokerages the earnings of these companies would increase between about 10%-15% (best case) in FY09. This would bring the earnings to about Rs.790-830 per share. Going by the theory of 1PEG the fair value of the Sensex should be between 7900 to 12450. The Sensex has almost hit the upper end yesterday. Besides, the external factors also would play on sentiment. The elections are expected to present no clear winner. There is a good chance that the left parties and/or Mayawati's BSP would play a crucial role to form the next Government. This would certainly spell trouble. Uncertainty is something the markets don't like. Given this scenario I feel the markets are going to go down from here and based on the election results make the next move.

Hyderabad......Its Hot, literally !

For the handful of my elite readers I would like to apologize for not posting anything in a long time. Things have been extremely busy. Went for another trip - this time to Chicago for about two weeks. I have decided to give the travel postings a break as my blog is turning into a travel journal.

Well, coming back from the 5 odd degrees in Chicago to the 45 odd degrees in Hyderabad was as extreme as it gets. What a change this has been. This is what I had been experiencing for several of my trips. I talk like an American....no no, not the accent but about the weather. I can't stop complaining about the heat in India in general and Hyderabad in particular.

I remember during one of my flights back to India I landed in Mumbai from Frankfurt flying on Lufthansa. While off boarding I came a couple of feet from the legendary Sachin Tendulkar ! He was accompanied by his wife and a friend. While getting off the plane he commented - "This is called a WARM welcome".

The day after I got back I started to look for air conditioners for my living cum dining room. Contrary to normal homes, ours is the size of a football field. This would normally be a good thing. However, getting this 'football field' cool when the mercury hovers between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius is close to impossible. After a lot of comparing and fretting about budgets I finally decided to go in for an O General split AC. I heard a lot about this brand from several people and trusted their judgement. Although it is the most expensive among those that I saw, I went ahead with my purchase. Hope it lives up to its reputation.