Sunday, January 27, 2008

Patriotic Songs .. or Inspirational Songs ??

Just an observation ..

Come Jan 26th (and also Aug 15th, for that matter) and we have schools holding Patriotic Song Contests.

I attended one such competition and was surprised that out of the 4 songs that were sung, only 2 could be classified as "Patriotic."

The others were just, pure "inspirational" and "motivating" - at best.

Guess who won ?

The teams that sang the really "Patriotic" ones - came 3rd and 4th !!

I guess its more the fault of the Teachers and Judges who didn't make it clear to the children as to which songs were really classifiable as Patriotic.

Which also got me thinking .. just how many Patriotic Songs do we really have? The only ones I know seem to be the ones I have seen in movies at some time or the other.

Coincidentally, the same day HT Cafe (Mumbai, Jan 26th) ran a cover story on Patriotic songs!!

Being the good samaritan that I am (Ha ! Modesty does seem to have taken a back-seat!) I thought of reproducig that list - and have added some others that I remembered.

Here goes ...
1. Aye mere pyare watan (Kabuliwalla)
2. Jahaan daal daal pe (Sikander-e-Azam)
3. Vande Mataram (Anand Math version)
4. Aye Watan, Aye Watan (Shaheed)
5. Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna (Shaheed)
6. Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon (Haqueeqat)
7. Zindagi Maut Na Ban Jaye (Sarfarosh)
8. Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai (Roja)
9. Yeh jo des hai tera (Swades)
10. Rang de Basanti (Rang de Basanti)
11. Dil diya hai Jaan bhi denge (Karma)

Feel free to send in more suggestions .. so that come Aug 15th, schools can refer to this list !

Jai Hind !

Friday, January 25, 2008

Can we accuse MFs of "insider trading" ??

Just read the article, “When MFs raise capital & a stink” (Economic Times, Mumbai, Pg 15) by Gaurav Pai & Muthukumar K.

Very interesting stuff ..

The mutual fund companies ofetn invest in their own Group companies - but of course, SEBI has a limit, which they do not cross ;)

Did you know...

1. Reliance Mutual Fund has invested Rs. 1,726 crores of YOUR money, in its own R-ADAG group companies like Adlabs, Rel Comm and Rel Energy?

2. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has invested Rs. 678 crores of your money in its own ICICI Bank?

3. SBI Mutual Fund has invested Rs. 459 crores of your money in its own SBI?

4. Birla Sun Life has invested Rs. 251 crores of your money in Hindalco, Grasim and Idea Cellular?

HDFC Mutual Fund seems to be the most prudent! It has invested only Rs. 74 crores of your money in HDFC and HDFC Bank. And the article state that Tata MF and Kotack AMC have a miniscule investment in thier own Group companies.

Kinda makes you think, right ?

Shouldn't there be some rule on "insider trading" ... because at the Top management level - these guys are the SAME !! Are you listening SEBI ??

Unless, you actually believe that the Head of Reliance Mutual Fund DOES NOT know what the rest of the Group companies are up to .. yeah, sure .. !

And we wonder why Reliance MF has become the No. 1 MF with the highest AUM (Assets Under Management) ...

Coincidentally, at the same time the R-ADAG group companies' market capitalisation has almost doubled in the last one year...

THINK .. THINK .. THINK ...