Long read: Manoj ‘Bharat’ Kumar sang so Sunny Deol could yell—journey of Bollywood patriotism
Those of who grew up in Doordarshan era remember being fed a steady diet of the late Bollywood legend Manoj Kumar’s patriotic movies. In this article, Shekhar Gupta describes the impact this Bollywood star on the decade which, by a comfortable distance, should be deemed to India’s most perilous: the 1962-72 period was characterised by […]
Long read: American Disruption
Several critics of Trump have also admitted the need to reorder the current global trade system from an American perspective. Except the way Trump and his advisors have gone about achieving it i.e, through blanket tariffs is something that the critics believe is akin to shooting oneself in the foot. Ben Thompson who writes an […]
MeritorQ: Minimizing Risk by Focusing on Errors of Commission
Balancing the trade off between errors of commission and errors of omission in stock picking is essential to any investing process. In this newsletter we explain why these two errors are NOT created equal and usually portfolio hit rate is more sensitive to errors of commission. MeritorQ‘s rigorous rules-based screening steps in which we reject […]
Exit the Salaryman, Enter the Entrepreneur
Even as conventional white-collar employment becomes a tricky proposition, entrepreneurial opportunities are proliferating in modern India. For educated Indians, this shift – from a white-collar professional’s mindset to an entrepreneurial mindset – requires considerable attitudinal retooling. Ironically, those Indians who are able to make this shift are succeeding not just as entrepreneurs but also in […]
Short read: From the police to the prime minister: how Adolescence is making Britain face up to toxic masculinity
Whilst the implications of social media on impressionable minds is well documented, things are only getting worse. A new Netflix series shows how influencers on social media are driving teenage boys into toxic masculinity and misogyny. In Britain, this apparently has resulted in several crimes committed by young boys on girls and women. The series […]
Short read: 704 BRO personnel, 575 casual paid labourers killed in last five years, MoD tells Parliament
Anyone who has visited India’s extensive Himalayan borders over the past five years would have witnessed the large-scale road building being undertaking by the aptly named Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in harsh climatic conditions at very high altitudes. What we didn’t know until we read Smruti Deshpande’s piece is the toll that is taking on […]
Short read: Indian mural that spent decades on Norwegian hospital wall sells for record $13.8m
One of the most interesting aspects of a country’s art & literature is that when the country is “discovered” by the world as having merit, its art & literature are then seen in new – more positive – light by the global cognoscenti. MF Hussain’s ‘Gram Yatra’ selling for $14mn in New York last week […]
Long read: China is trying to kneecap Indian manufacturing
Liberation day is here. This time Trump wasn’t bluffing. Tariffs on Chinese imports hit 54%, close to the 60% he promised in his campaigns. Expert implications range from near term inflation to long term growth slowdown or potentially prolonged stagflation in the US. This will inevitably drag global growth down. More alarmingly, the rest of […]
Long read: Marko Papic: “Trump Has Popped the Bubble of American Exceptionalism”
This interview was published ahead of the Liberation Day. So, please be mindful this may not be factor in updated thoughts on the same. But nonetheless, Marko Papic, chief strategist at the well-regarded BCA Research, is someone we should listen to. And as he explains in this interview with the Market the end of American […]
Long read: How Kerala got rich
When one goes on holiday to Kerala, long before one reaches the backwaters, the Nilgiris or the beaches of ‘God’s Own Country’ one is stunned by cleanliness of the streets, the quality of the roads and the pleasant demeanour of the people. At that point one is compelled to ask the same question that Tirthankar […]
Short read: ‘If Big George hit you, you stayed hit’
There is little debate about Muhammad Ali being the greatest boxer of all time. But Ali’s legacy goes beyond his deeds in the ring, an aspect that’s been a source of inspiration for our firm to be named such. But this is an obituary about a legend in the ring – George Foreman. And if greatness is […]
Short read: A shambolic leak reveals Team Trump’s contempt for allies
Whilst AI is making science fiction redundant, with the Trump administration’s daily shenanigans, no one’s interested in a political drama series on TV anymore. Reality is far more thrilling. Last week, as the US launched attacks on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, a chat group involving effectively the most powerful people in Trump’s administration, set […]
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