DHAR DHAR

A Lonely soul in London wishes Happy Birthday to himself!!

Have you ever wondered how easier it would have been if all the countries of the World had perfectly geometrical shapes. India would have been a rhombus, Pakistan a triangle and China a big trapezium. Geography students, school going kids and the big shot cartographers would have been a much happier lot.

But, simple is a word most of the human kind has never learned. We have this habit of making everything complex. If somehthing you have proposed is understood by all, then your intellect is not worth proposing.  It has to be difficult and if only its’ complexity reaches heights bordering absurdity, you gain entry into the mile high intellectual club.

Coming to the boundary and border issue, look at India, China and Pakistan. However, the borders look in one country’s map, the truth is as follows:

1. Arunachal Pradesh in the far eastern part of India, which China claims to be its own is effectively and for all practical and theoritical purposes under the jurisdiction of India.

2. Askai Chin in the Xinjiang Autonomous region of China is claimed by India but is controlled by China as part of the Hotan County in the Hotan Prefacture.

3. Azad Kashmir /POK and Gilgit-Baltistan are under the control of Pakistan but are claimed by India as its own.

Check out these three Google maps. The differences are quite obvious.

Considering the fact that these three issues are responsible for most of the tensions in South Asia, isn’t it the duty of the people who are at the helm of affairs to correct these disputes and bring peace to the region? I know, it is very easy to say and very difficult to achieve, but why not try? And try we must, if we don’t want to see our future generations cut each other into peices, which by the looks of it seems highly likely at this juncture.

Why not declare the present boundaries as the actual borders? There will be no displacements, no riots, no killings and no partition. In a game among equals, everybody has to give up something to gain something more valuable. What is China deriving from Arunachal? nothing… no trade, no control. What is India’s interest in Azad Kashmir/ POK? nothing. These are just small adjustments in a piece of paper that the countries need to make to bring everlasting (not sure about that though) peace to the region.

I know this is a big deal for many people. But,after setting all the patriotic babble aside if you think logically then it is all about a zero-sum game.  So, why not realign these borders.

We have all heard about this famous DeBeers tagline. A diamond is forever. Many brave men have found their pockets empty in persuit of the forever dream. The elegantly designed advertisements with their messages of  “love forever” do not help either.

I have always wondered what makes a diamond so attractive to women. Though I don’t want to believe it, but the saying that women are attracted by everything that glitters gets a massive proof of concept from the diamond example.

Except the industrial grade diamonds which you can get for as low as $30, the shamelessly priced gemstone diamonds serve no purpose at all. As Nicky Oppenheimer, the chairman of DeBeers once said:

A gemstone is the ultimate luxury product. It has no material use. Men and Women desire to have diamonds not for what they [diamonds] can do but for what they [men and women] desire.

Coming to the tagline “A diamond is forever“, DeBeers has been using it as a tagline for many many decades now. Though to the general unsuspecting public it is nothing more than a catchy tagline, for DeBeers, it has a much deeper psychological and economic connection.

During most of the 20th century DeBeers acted as the custodian of diamond pricing and supply. They created the Central Selling Organisation (CSO) (the parent of the present DTC, Diamond Trading Company), which was given the sole right to trade in diamonds. De Beers was able to control the cartel to such an extent that it became the sole monopoly in the diamond industry and exerted total control over the supply and pricing of the precious gems.

So, why is a diamond forever? The reason is purely economics.  De Beers was able to control the supply of diamond at an artificially low level throughout, which created scarcity of the gems and thus made them costly. If the consumers start treating diamonds as a short term investment product, then they will start hoarding the diamonds and start building the stocks. As long as they keep the stocks, no problem, everybody is happy and the cartel functions effectively. But, if in anticipation of a price fall, everybody starts selling their stocks in the market then the supply of diamond in the market will suddenly increase leading to a decline in prices. This will reduce the profit for the entire industry and will thus hurt DeBeers a lot.

DeBeers wanted to create these advertisements which played with the psyche of people, particularly those in love. By saying that diamonds are forever, they were in effect creating a mindset that cherishes these precious gems for their sentimental value rather than their monetary worth.

That’s the reason why “a diamond is forever“

There are days and then there is the day. Today was one of those the day for me.

Everything was perfect. Thanks to all the friends for making it such a special day.

Tonight is one of those crazy Red Bull nights. I have loads of work to do in very little time. At crisis points such as these, Red Bull becomes your only faithful companion.

Hail Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz everyone.

Signing off

Sid

Image Courtesy: http://frogsmoke.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/red%20bull.jpg

1. Fret about the awful London weather to friends.
2. Call my parents informing them that I am leaving LSE and going to the Himalayas to become a monk/ saint.
3. Call them the next day and tell them that it was all a joke and that actually I am going to join the Al-qeada after I graduate.
4. Come up with everything and anything to stall the fast decline in my available resources. (money)
5. Make a list of all my expenditure for this week so that I can survive on the minimum amount possible.
6. Pay the Credit Card bills after selling one of my kidneys.
7. Find all the Library books I have amassed and read them atleast once before returning them back to the library.
8. Realise what a bad idea that is.
9. Take those Library books and make photocopies of them.
10. Write to our course advisor asking for a convenient time to meet to discuss the stalled Case Study topics.
11. Pretend to research the Case Study Questions.
12. Complete MN415 assignment and hand it over.
13. Complete AC491 assignment and hand it over too.
14. Prepare for MN-404 Seminar Case study for next week.
15. Fail in the above three tasks and then moan about them by watching a movie over the internet and eating some Snickers bar.
16. Go to the volunteer centre asking for the outcome of my application for a volunteer opportunity with a kid’s organisation.
17. If refused, go and break all of their furnitures in anger and frustration with superhuman strength.
18. Write to the fee office enquiring about the discount I was supposed to get from them.
19. Beg them by showing my torn clothes and meager resources if they refuse.
20. Try and come up with something interesting for my dissertation.
21. Search Google Scholar for good “papers” and nice “ideas”.
22. Complete the Myer’s-Brigg’s Questionnaire and send it to the concerned person informing him/her about the degree of my pathetic-ness.
23. Go to the nearest Tesco and purchase the weekly grocery and steal some candies.
24. Cook to apparently survive.
25. Do my laundry to actually survive.
26. Try to read the previous Economist before the new one arrives.
27. Apply to various companies for Jobs.
28. Apply to some more companies for jobs.
29. Sit idle in my room besides the heater and day dream.
30. Blog about all the stuff that I do and don’t.

I want to present two portraits of me drawn by two exceptionally talented Greek artists from the LSE visual arts society. They are exactly what I look like in real life, and I want to thank the artists for making me seem so special.

So, here they are.

I hope the Taliban is not looking for new recruits.

(Everybody reading this: Don’t take any offense. Everything is written in good humor. I don’t want Taliban/ Al-Qaeda hate mails or threats please. )