Banking

New Videos added on the topic "Banking" by Khan Academy.

Previous post.

Happens everywhere

See the news from Chennai, 2005
See the news from New York, 2008

I can see a lot of similarities between these two. People started queuing up long before the scheduled opening. Once the commotion started, they showed no concern for anything else. Most importantly, the crowd did not care for the fellow human beings.

What is the motivation behind standing in those long queues?
I could think of the following 3 reasons.
1. Perceived “necessity”.
2. Limited resources and fear of being the last and to be shown the door.
3. Intention to come out of the queue quickly.

One should think about the risk in terms of the cost of time and money involved in standing in the queue and the benefits that they gain from successfully coming out of the queue. Once he is clear that the perceived benefits outweigh the cost in terms of money, unpleasantness associated with standing in the queue, time etc., only then he should proceed to stand in the queue.

The second reason is what it happens once the person is in the queue. This means he has already invested and he does not want to go empty handed and wants to get the maximum out of the investment. This is where he forgets about the ethics and everything else. This has a close association with the third reason. Since, he perceives that standing in the queue is so unpleasant he just wants to come out of it at the earliest possible time.

In this scenario, if the queue breaks up slightly for whatsoever reason, every individual will try to take advantage of it. He does not want anyone who entered the queue to go ahead of him and at the same time, if there is an opportunity he wants to make use of it. The same logic applies to every individual and this creates a chain of chaos and commotion. Remember that, the person who critically analyses point 1 will never stand in this queue, because he knows that the cost outweighs the benefits.

Two ways to overcome this problem:
1. Change the mindset of the people.
2. Better crowd management system.

Point number 1 is easy said than done. Forget it. Lots of investment required and no body will guarantee the output. Point number2 can definitely be implementable. Better queuing system with proper information about when does it start, what is the approximate time of standing in the queue etc will certainly help people make an informed decision. Also, if there are some features in the queue aimed at keeping people in the queue engaged, they may not feel that the time is wasted unproductive. Those features really depend on the context of the queue.

Khan Academy doing a great work!

Recently one of my friends (Arockia) forwarded a playlist @ youtube about the recent financial crisis, MBS, CDOs etc.  Here is the link.

The way the instructor explained the concepts behind all those in simple terms and with apt analogies is really awesome.  Not only they talk about this financial crisis, banking etc, but also about various other basic and advanced concepts ranging from algebra, trignometry to physics.  One might be interested in going through their site.  It is a non-profit initiative by the duo - Salman & Jonathan.

May We Help You

I noticed that I have not been receiving my airtel bills for about 3 months in a row. Usually, I go directly to their website and pay using my card. Today, when I did, I noticed the link saying "May We Help You?". Yes, Of course. So, I went there and it gave me a screen.



I promptly filled in the relevant fields and gave a detailed description of my problem. Then clicked on the submit button. Then came this screen.



Great!! It had deleted all my text and presented me with the blank box again. And just look at the text-area given for the description field for “150 characters”!!

But still, I went ahead and logged in my complaint only to get a message saying that they would revert back on Dec 1 (11 days from now).

I thought I should not have asked for the “help”.

Matrix Spoof

Truly hilarious!

The White Tiger

The book is written as a single long letter by a "self-made entrepreneur" in Bangalore to the Chinese President Wen Jiabao. The entrepreneur Balram Halwai, calls himself as "the white tiger". He takes through his life describing his notorious journey from the Darkness (that’s the name he gives to the Gangetic plain region) to the Light (the likes of Delhi and Bangalore).
The author, Aravind Adiga, portrays a picture of India in its true(!) colour. He touches upon many things: the pathetic condition of the poor people in the rural North, the cunningness and dominance of the rich and the land-lords, irresponsible behavior and actions of the government officials, the plight of the construction workers in big cities like Delhi, meanness of the masters and the unquestionable servility of the workers, corruption at different levels etc.
Balram starts his story from his village Laxmangarh. He then goes on about his experience in the school, how he was stopped schooling, his days at the tea shop, his experiences as a driver of Mr. Ashok in Delhi, his escape to Bangalore and his "entrepreneurship" in Bangalore. The sharp contrast in attitude of Balram from being a driver to being a master is vividly presented.
Author stands out with his sarcastic comedy throughout the book. Some of them are,
Oops! Thirty-six million and five-!
How does the enterprising driver earn a little extra cash?
Balram saying to the Toyota dealer, "I want to drive your cars".
Beating down the entire family of the unfaithful servant, asking the driver to go to prison for the accidental murder by the master, meanness to give driver some money on his marriage, doubting on the driver for a single rupee, comparison with rooster coop - These are some classic extracts from the book trying to bring view-points which may go unnoticed.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia