Beyond The Hills / Dupa dealuri (2012)

Religious superstition is a part and parcel of everyday life in any and every society around the world. Despite economic growth, despite the wide use of technology, and despite the global enthusiasm to study ‘science’ and medicine, we still believe in religious superstition. This is especially strong in Indian societies. Even though Indian parents, who are engineers or doctors or IT professionals, want their children to pursue a career in science and medicine, they still put the odd flower petal from the foot of the gods and goddesses into their pockets before any exam. Religious superstition is still a part of our life even though we fail to notice them.

Beyond The Hills draws our attention to such religious superstitions. Narrating the story of two girls’ encounter with religion and religious superstition, which leads to the death of one, it makes us more sensitive to our society. Deaths caused due to religious superstition are not unique to Romanian society but is widely prevalent in almost every society – just that they are not that widely publicized. In India, people in the rural areas, and sometimes even in the urban areas, are often drawn to religion to provide solution to their problems and these solutions often lead to death or serious health hazards. Religious godmen are quite prevalent in Indian societies, who look upon any illness or misfortune as an act of a spirit! They perform various rituals, some barbaric, that often leads to death, maiming or serious health hazard. One of the very common methods of getting rid of illness, as used by these godmen, is to sprinkle the person with boiling oil and thrashing him/her with a stick!

When I saw this movie, I could easily associate myself with the narrative and the characters. It seemed that I was seeing my own society being depicted on the screen – just in a different language! This brilliant movie deals with a real social issue – a controversial issue as most societies suppress such deaths to protect their image, to show that they are developed. Christian Mungiu has cleverly portrayed this issue without directly attacking religion or religious belief, but has focused our attention solely on the issue of religious superstition. Without any sub-plots to distract our attention and with a simple and strong narrative, the movie touches our hearts, irrespective of geographical location. Cosmina Stratus and Christina Flutur, two fresh faces, deliver a powerful acting that brings the story to life and they deserve the Best Actress award they received at the Cannes Film Festival.

Though many call this movie disturbing, this movie has made me think. This movie makes me feel that my society is not the only one that suffers from the ill effects of religious superstition in this age of technology but there are others. This gives us courage to accept these social evils and address them at a public level instead of just shoving them beneath the carpet just to look modern. Beyond The Hills has a massive international appeal and is a movie that I would ask everyone to watch.

The Barings Bank: The British Economy at Play

[Not many people are interested in going into the depths of economic issues as they are always shrouded in terrifying terminologies and a maze of numbers. But I have attempted to take a very important issue out of this confusion and put it in simple terms so that it is abundantly clear what goes on behind the scenes.]

Nick Leeson in his heydays.

In 1995 one of the biggest banking houses of Britain, the Barings House collapsed due to the reckless activities of a single ‘Rogue Trader’, Nick Leeson. This spectacular collapse has been blamed on several factors – the lack of a proper hierarchy of command and control, a lack of proper risk management systems, greed on the part of Nick Leeson and the officials at Barings, and on the ignorance of the upper management about the securities market. Even though all these factors influenced what was to become the most catastrophic collapse of a financial institution in Britain in the twentieth century, to understand the collapse it is necessary to understand the economic condition of Britain during the first half of the 1990s, as it was the prevailing economic conditions that influenced decisions being taken at the Barings Bank and at the National level that would ultimately lead to the collapse.

The Barings Bank, which was the oldest merchant bank in Britain and boasted as its clients, the Queen, had an office in Singapore called the Baring Securities (Singapore) Limited (BSS) that was trading on the SIMEX (today’s Singapore Exchange). Nick Leeson, who was working in the back office in the Barings Bank was made the general manager of BSS and was also given responsibility of the back office in 1992. He passed the necessary exams and also became the head trader in the Singapore branch. He began to carry out unauthorized speculations in the futures “linked to the Nikkei 225 and Japanese government bonds (JGB) as well as options on the Nikkei”. The Barings Bank did not allow its traders to invest its own capital in the market but rather to invest its customers’ capital at their behest. Nick Leeson began to speculate in the market using the capital of the bank using an anonymous client as an excuse. All the losses he incurred was hidden in the error account 88888. By the end of 1993 the account was losing 23 million pounds and by the end of 1994 this had increased to 208 million pounds. With his control over the back office he was able to subvert the losses and show only profits which made him a star trader of the Barings Bank. As his losses in the 88888 account mounted, he asked more and more money from the London office, which was provided to him without much questions. The disaster came to the notice of the Barings management only on the 23^rd of February 1995, when Nick Leeson went on the run and did not come to office – the error account now showed a loss of 875 million pounds. By the end of February the Barings Bank had been declared bankrupt and sold off to the Dutch company, ING, for the value of one pound. Nick Leeson was arrested for fraud and imprisoned. 

It is beyond doubt that it was the speculations of Nick Leeson that caused the collapse, it is what allowed him to do so that has interested us. Official investigations and academic research into this collapse of the Barings Bank have brought to light many reasons behind this. It has been pointed out that there was an absence of proper checks and balances in the workings of the bank that allowed Leeson to trade and manage the accounts in the back office at the same time. Also, there was a lot of ambiguity in the command structure that made it unclear who Leeson had to report to. Since there was more than one person who was responsible for parts of his duties, he was able to play one against the other to his advantage. The greed of the management has also been regarded as a factor behind allowing Leeson to continue trading even while asking for huge sums of money to be transferred from London. He was showing huge profits to the company, based on which the employees were getting their bonuses – no one seemed to have any reason to question this unbelievable profits, putting them down to Leeson’s better knowledge of the securities trade and his ability as a trader.

The above mentioned reasons were definitely responsible for the collapse of the oldest bank in Britain but I believe that we have looked at this issue from a very narrow perspective, focusing only on the circumstances of the bank. To understand the reason behind why the bank reacted to Nick Leeson and his trading in such a way, it is necessary to take a much broader look. We need to look at the British economy at that time.

The beginning of the 1990s saw a severe recession in Britain and a steady rise in inflation from 1993 to 1995. Added to this was the humiliating exit of the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 that made matters worse. The positive outlook that had prevailed over the last decade seemed to have come to an end. There was also large scale unemployment. The Bank of England was still under the government and was charged with controlling inflation. In this economic turmoil the profits that the Barings Bank was making through Nick Leeson’s trading in Singapore came as a blessing. The high profitability of the investment of the bank in the growing markets of the East provided a beacon of hope. The Bank of England also refrained from intervening into the financial matters of the bank and gave the managers an open field. Being the only sector making such huge rofits during 1993-1994, no one questioned the authenticity of the presented profits or the risks involved. The management also became complacent and let matters stand as they were.

Investigations and research into the collapse of the Barings Bank have not at all regarded the economic environment of Britain during this time. There is a need to understand how the economic climate of a nation influences business decisions across organizations – in this case, how it influenced the Bank of England’s and the Barings Bank’s management decisions that allowed them to be so complacent. There was definitely a lack of financial risk management mechanisms, management control and human ego and greed involved in the financial fraud that led to the collapse of the bank, but it would be an error to omit looking at the influence that the British economy had on the decisions taken by the management of the organizations. Such a broader perspective, coupled with the narrower perspectives will help us understand the issue in a more holistic way, and may even provide us ways to better understand economic decision making.

[Image source: http://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/index.php/on-this-day-in-history-march-2nd-1995-rogue-trader-nick-leeson-arrested-for-fraud/ and http://www.arbitrarytweets.com/nick-leeson/]

A Long Break

It has been a long time since I have published anything here on my blog. It is really a shame but I got caught up in things that are not that important and yet keep you tied down. In these past two years, many changes have affected my life and the life of others. I have shifted my base from India to Berlin to study and then have visited various areas of Europe, and now struggling to finish what I have started.

Many people might look at this as a struggle and sometimes even I am driven towards looking at life as a constant struggle. But then I realise that this is all an adventure, with its innumerable ups and downs and defeats and victories. I want to see this adventure through with the same sprite and joy in my heart as when I started it. Many adventures await me and many experiences to gain. I shall tell you all and try and make you a part of this amazing, simple adventure.

Charles Dickens: A Few Images

I have collected these images from the internet and have arraged them randomly to give you a literal look at the author who has inspired me every since I was a boy. You can easily come across his biography anywhere so I am refraining from repeating it here. Here are just a few images to set your imagination on fire, as every Dickens novel does.I have not arranged the images in any order so that they all look fresh. The 7th of February, 2012, was celebrated as the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens all over the world. Though writing in the 19th century, his works still hold meaning in the world of today where income disparity, poverty and corruption is as rampant as it was in 19th century Britain. I just hope we learn from his advice even if we are more than a hundred years late.

 

 

Charles Dickens as a young boy.

The author in his youth.

 

 

The author as a yong man.

The house that Charles Dickens lived in.

Charles Dickens' house.

Charles The library at Charles Dickens' house.

The parlour at Charles Dickens' house.

 

Genealogy of the author.

The young Charles Dickens.

The library at Charles Dickens' House.

The author as a young man.

Charles Dickens with his family.

Charles Dickens with his family and friends.

Google's search page on 7th February, 2012, in honour of the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens.

Valentine's Day: A Glimpse of History

People all over the world celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 14^th of February, but few people ask why we do so. Most of my friends are unaware of the story behind this centuries-old ritual, but they are so eagerly looking forward to enjoying it. This is just an attempt  to put the day into perspective, especially for those conservative people in society who look upon the day with suspicion and disgust.

Valentine’s Day or St Valentine’s Day is celebrated to commemorate the death of St Valentine. It is not very clear who Saint Valentine actually was. There are about three Valentines who were martyred and mystery shrouds the fact as to who among these three is honoured by the celebration of Valentine’s Day. Valentine of Rome, a priest in Rome, was martyred in AD 269; Valentine of Terni was the bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian; and there is also a mention of a Valentine who was martyred on the 14^th of February in Africa. None of the biographies of these men mention any romantic element about any of these Valentines, but by the 14^th century Valentine’s Day was associated with romance and the distinction between the three Valentines had been completely lost.

Several legends abound as to the origins of Valentine’s Day. The most popular legend refers to a 3^rd century Christian priest in Rome named Valentine. During the reign of Emperor Claudius II of Rome, marriage among young people was outlawed as the emperor came to believe that single men made better soldiers than married ones. But Valentine went on performing secret marriages among young couples. When the emperor came to learn of this, he put Valentine to death – somewhere around AD 269. Another legend talks of Valentine being put to death trying to assist Christians in escaping Roman prisons where they were tortured. Legend also has it that Valentine sent the first Valentine’s Day greeting while he was imprisoned to – most probably – the daughter of the jailer, who visited him every day in the prison, and with whom he had fallen in love. It is also said that this girl had been blind and Valentine cured her of her blindness. It is said that this greeting was signed, “From your Valentine”, a phrase that is still very alive.

But the celebration of the month of February as a month of romance has a much deeper root in the rituals of pre-Christian Rome. Many believe that the celebration of Valentine’s Day can be traced back to the celebrations of Lupercalia in Rome. Lupercalia was celebrated around the 13-15 February and was essentially a fertility cult dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

An order of the Roman priests, called the Luperci, gathered on that day at a secret cave that was believed to have been the cave in which infant Romulus and Remus were cared for by a she-wolf or lupa, and sacrificed a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The goat’s hide would be then stripped into strips and dipped in the sacrificial blood. The priests would then take to the streets, gently slapping women and crop fields with the strips as it was believed that the touch would make them more fertile. Legend has it that on that day, all the young women of the city placed their names in a big urn, from which the city’s bachelors drew a name and became paired with the woman for the year. This often ended in marriage.

Lupercalia prevailed during the early part of Christianity, but it was deemed “un-Christian” and outlawed during the 5^th century, when Pope Gelasius I declared the 14^th of February as St Valentine’s Day in AD 496. Valentine’s Day became associated with love much later, and at the time was believed by many in France and England to be the beginning of the mating season for birds. On the other hand, Valentine’s Day greetings were popular during the Middle Ages, but the first written greetings that we have today is a poem from 1415, written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. It is said that Valentine’s Day first became associated with Romantic love during the time of Geoffrey Chaucer when the tradition of courtly love flourished. A verse by Chaucer refers to the day and he is often seen as the first person who associated romantic love with Valentine’s Day. The day has been deleted from the General Roman Calendar of Saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but many churches continue to celebrate the day.

Valentine’s Day began to be popular in Great Britain around the 17^th century, and by the 18^th century it became a common practice for friends and lovers to exchange tokens of affection (called valentine) and hand-written notes. By the beginning of the 20^th century, due to the improvement in printing technology, cheap postal rates and social prohibition on direct expression of one’s feelings, printed cards began to be popular. In America, hand-written greetings became popular during the early 18^th century, but it was Esther A. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine”, who made printed cards popular during the 1840s. At present, the Greeting Card Association claims that an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sold every year, with women buying 85% of those.

Another piece of information that I came across in Wikipedia is that “the modern cliché Valentine's Day poem can be found in the collection of English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784):

The rose is red, the violet's blue
The honey's sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.”

Courtsey: The Internet, especially Wikipedia.

NEED HELP! NEED A GOOD SAMARITAN!

A visually-challenged friend of mine has been diagnosed with Leukemia. The treatment for Leukemia includes Chemotherapy and/or Bone Marrow transplant. Both these processes are extremely expensive for a person coming from a lower middle class background. The estimated cost of the treatment varies from hospital to hospital but is around the sum of Rs 20 Lakhs. He is at present undergoing preliminary treatment at CMCH Vellore.

Is there anyone out there who would be willing to sponsor the treatment of my friend? Is there anyone out there who knows of someone else who can sponsor the treatment? Does anyone know of any organization that sponsors such treatment? My friend needs help and I request you all, on his behalf, to come forward and help him. If there is anyone willing to help or knows people or organizations that can help, please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

Ramblings of an 18 Year Old

Munni is my friend from school. We live in the same town and have been friends for a few years. She is very pretty but is not very smart. She now goes to a local college while I go to a well known one in the city. I have always liked her and whenever I come home from college during vacations we spend a lot of time together. She also likes me a lot and we have long heart to heart conversations. But we are not dating. We are just friends – good friends.

Then there is Sheila in college. She is also a very close friend of mine in college and we hang out together a lot. She is not that beautiful but she is very smart. I really like her company and she also seems to like mine. But we are not dating. We are just friends – good friends.

I guess I am in love. I love both Munni and Sheila but in a different way and I can simply not make up my mind whom to chose as my girlfriend. I would like my girlfriend to be beautiful, in which case I have to go with Munni. But I would also like my girlfriend to be smart, in which case Sheila is the obvious choice.

I have known Munni for a longer time than I have Sheila. I know Munni much better and she seems to understand me, but she is not very smart. She does not read too many books and does not speak or understand English very well. How can I take her in front of my other friends? What will they think of her? It is true that she makes me laugh and I really care about her, but she won’t fit my social status. Undoubtedly she is much more beautiful than any of my friends’ girlfriends, but she will be the odd one out as she won’t be able to participate in discussions. I mean, come on, she likes Bollywood movies and she has no clue who Johnny Depp is or who won the Oscars or what the series Friends is all about!

Sheila is not that pretty but she is smart. She reads a lot and has read all the Nobel laureates in Literature. She watches French and Italian movies and she is suave. But she is very moody. She throws her temper all around and does not understand me most of the time. This does not matter much as she is so busy all the time doing something or the other. She is kind of attractive in her own intellectual way.

I guess I should go with Sheila. She has a very good social standing and she would increase my cool quotient among my friends. I know Munni cares for me and all but I need something more. I am so better than her. Sheila is just my type. This time when I go back to college I shall propose to her. God, I love her so much!

[P.S.: It so turns out that when the boy goes back to college he finds Sheila already dating a guy. He planned to come back and propose to Munni during the vacations, but Munni was also dating someone by then.]