Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Brave Indian Investors

Bravery has been a tradition in this land of fearless warriors, just rulers and almighty gods since time began.. in fact bravery was widely practiced in India when European natives were still running around in crude,(very) smelly diapers in their caves.. and don't even get us started on the native American "braves".

So, quite clearly we were far ahead of the planet in any feats that precipitated much chest thumping and the ritualistic hopping dance.
Since paleolithic ages the fairer sex in India has suffered from chronic weak-Knee syndrome resulting from being exposed to much chest thumping and ritual dances, which invariably accompanied the multiple acts of bravery and valor of the hairy chested alpha males around campfires.

As time progressed, the feats became less bloody, in a way, but left the ladies no less awe struck by the sheer, inherent heroism they were exposed to.. and to this day the knees of the Indian women remain arguably the weakest on the planet.

The stock market index has fallen from the heady, frothy 21,000 level to the current, irrational 8,500 (and falling) .. but the braves (a.k.a the Indian retail investors) have stood their ground.. they have rallied behind any and every "expert" on the telly advising them not to panic, not to sell in panic.. long term investors have nothing to worry .. this is in fact a time to buy.. short term volatility is to be weathered.. no need to panic for the "investors" with a horizon..

So, drawing upon their generations of genetic fortitude, the braves did not panic and nobody sold any.. week after week , month after month the shares kept falling .. equity kept vaporizing .. but nobody wanted to panic.. *nobody* could ever accuse a brave of selling in panic.. this after all was what the experts were saying (in any case it felt better to live bravely in hope).. also the two greatest truths were on their side too:
1. How much lower could the stock fall?
2. It was too late to sell ( yet again as it gets after every 1000 point drop since 21,000) ?

Deeply intertwined with the bravery chromosome of the Indian investor is the recently identified handOfGod sheath that most Indian investors are blessed congenitally with.. and recent studies by Luddic Research have shown clearly the average God is much, much more inclined to protect and guide the Indian retail investor and his long term investments rather than any other comparably clueless random clown in other random markets.

As it stands now.. the Indian investor has halved (to be kind) his networth but discovered new pools of bravery in his soul, hitherto unknown, which he should cash in, in short order, as the markets inevitably recover, carrying his brave ass back to the glory and fortune.. and we'll all have a hearty laugh about these trying times.

The only disturbing sign is the new Luddic report out, that talks about an increasingly frequent observation of new cartilage in some urban Indian women's knees that is leading doctors to predict irreversible elimination of the weak-Kneed syndrome in Indian retail Investors' spouses.

To reiterate the Brave Mantra :
1. How much lower can ________ stock go ? (fill in your errant stock)
2. It is too late to sell. (again!!).

Lastly the two premier Stock exchanges NSE and BSE of India have finally succumbed to the pressure from members and started interviewing various hermits, sages, gurus (non financial type) , priests and god men ( basically anyone with a more direct line to the three reigning deities in charge of financial matters ) to be appointed as floor chanters and supernatural put sellers to put a firm floor under these errant prices.

4 comments:

Max Dama said...

Ludus,

Just wanted to inform you that the S&P 500 has finally hit bottom and started moving back up.

Fyi you might want to check out this open source trading platform software, Marketcetera. It's still being developed but in the few months I've been following it, they've added a lot. It has CEP integrated. Anyway I'm watching it for now.

I saw some movies recently: "Om Shanti Om", "Tashan", and "Ghajini". I liked the first and third, especially Ghajini.

Hope you are well. How was the marathon?

Regards,
Max

Ludus said...

Hi Max,

quote:
"Just wanted to inform you that the S&P 500 has finally hit bottom and started moving back up."

..heh, heh reminds me of a certain *theSage* fogey calling a bottom on national tv.. a few months back.

Knife Catching is a finely practised art in the US currently.

Yup,have Marketcetera down and makes life easier.. but real labor remains *within* Esper.

4:39 for the marathon..not bad for a first? ..with a cramp break. :)

Re.movies..you continue to amaze!
..as your blog postings continue kick bigger ass!!

Max Dama said...

Haha thanks for the compliment!

Nice time on the race.

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