Lumuhuku

Being befriended by a bird

After not thinking about it so much, I have finally decided to work for Twitter. No, I am not joining the company. I am just increasing their user count by 1.

When Twitter started making news, I just thought it to be another Waste Your Time type of stuff. I won’t judge it now. I have just started using it. Let’s see how it works out.

So if you have nothing much to do, you can have a glance at my tweets here. Or better, save your clicks and become a follower.

I was having a discussion with one of my close friends on the ongoing recession (no, we are not economists), when this thought came to my mind. About the brands we use in our daily life. Just ask yourself this thing. When you and I were growing up (if we do belong to the same generation ), did you here so many brand names? No. Did we pay any attention to the brand of the stuff we brought? No (atleast for me). But now things have changed. We do pay attention to the ‘name’ of the thing more than the functionality of the same. Is it not a dependency on something? I guess it is. Is it not a kind of slavery? I don’t have an answer for this question now. Slavery is something more serious.

To tell the truth, I ‘am’ loyal to certain brands. But there are also items where I am not one bit concerned about the brand I buy.

Like for example, I will never buy my cellphone which is not a Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, O2 (OMG!! – I just love it), Blackberry. I will never buy an a phone which is an LG. And I don’t have any reason for that. I just some how hate it by default.

And there are stuffs for which I am not concerned about the brand. Like “Pani Puri”…I’ll better have it at a road side vendor than look for some Bikanerwala or Haldiram!! (I have some friends who actually look for a brand in Pani Puri too!!)

Now here is a list of the brands I am using now. In case of emergencies, I might use others, but ususally, it is from these only :

Cell Phone

 Jeans

Shoes

Laptop

Cell phone service provider

Search (Thanks Sergie & Brin)

MP3 Player

Gillette – For everything related to facial hair

Car – Mercedez Benz Amen

 and I can go on and on…there will be more and more and more brands.
So am I a branded slave?

I still don’t have an answer.

Earlier generations including our parents , their parents did not have so many brands. But still, they could get their jobs done. Can’t we do the same. Of course we can. It is just a matter of convinience. Brans have become the equivalent of convinience for ur. So has consumerism really changed our lives for the better?

I feel it is too early for me to answer such a question.

Don’t know what more can I say on this. But as far as slavery is concerned, I think that practically everyone is slave to their choices, some consciously and some out of need. But when I say slavery, I mean a moderate one.

Btw, I don’t own a Benz.

Update : I got an award for this post …

So…even slavery has its ‘tangy‘ fruits !!

Oh…its February the 14th….Valentine’s Day. So is love really in the air? May be it is, but then why cant I see it. Anyway, no point discussing who is and who is not celebrating this day. The point is that you can’t really make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to the person to realise your worth…isn’t it? 

I came about this quote in a newspaper…

Today’s “Take Home Salary” doesn’t even take you there!

Isn’t it the divine truth?? 

Hi,

It seems that for some time now, I might not be able to post on my blog. And yes I may be completely wrong as well (i.e. I might be back tomorrow also)… Reason(s)?? 

There are many. And I assure you…they are all boring. So why should I spread the boredom?

But the good news (atleast for me) is, this is just a leave, so I’ll be unavailable only for a while. That is to say that this is just a pause and not the end. A comma and not a fullstop in a sentence.

So in my absence you can read some of my interesting posts like -

[Emotional & Personal Ramblings...]

Love?

I am still waiting for you – A Poem originally titled “Sad Heart Utters Beautiful & Hopeful Intentions!!!”

12:22 Story of a very close friend – Presently my most commented post

My shadow is the only one that walks besides me

You know you are in love when…

[Fun...]

Paris Hilton found on a social networking site!!! – Hail Photoshop!!!

46…oops 47 Things to do before I die

Lewis Hamilton’s SECRET LETTER to Barack Obama!!!

What should a blogger do when he has nothing to do?? –

A Dummies (Cow’s) Guide to the end of American Economy

Shankar Sharma’s Interview – What A Bear says ??

[Random Ramblings...]

An open letter to Fernando Alonso

My lunch with Warren Buffet – The Greatest Investor Ever

Luck is spelled as Planning, Preparation & Execution

World Financial Mess – A Walkthrough

And in case you do feel like…please subscribe Lumuhuku in a Reader or by Email, so that you get to know when I come back out of my hibernation.

Thanks and take care…I will be back soon…

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Let me confess it first. Warren Buffet is the equivalent of God for me. So any biases & excessive use of superlatives that might have crept in this post should be acknowledged & respected by you. 

$600,000 is what I paid for a lunch with Warren Buffet. I know it is too much for anything, leave alone a lunch. I could even have bought a Class A or B share and would have been granted an access to the now ‘a pilgrimage of sorts’ Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meetings. I would also have received the letter from Berkshire Hathaway as well as some of the cool See’s Candies…

But this is the price I was always ready to pay to meet my God. And almost an year after having won the bid for the privilege of dining out with the world’s richest man and my idol, Warren Buffet, here I was at New York’s famous steakhouse, Smith & Wollensky, for my big moment & pilgrimage.

I was out of breath when I came out of the taxi. I was already late. That too at such an occasion!! I was really feeling very stupid at this when I saw Warren, dressed in a dark suit and yellow tie, seemingly in no hurry and ‘waiting for me’ outside S&W. I bet I could see a halo around his head! Really. But he had no airs of being larger than life figure. But shit!!! was this a dream? I could see that Warren was not alone. He was accompanied by none other than Charlie Munger and Ajit Jain. Now it is one thing to bid and win a lunch with god (read Warren Buffet), but getting to have lunch with 3 great men @ a price of one, is one great investment. But just then the dream ended, and Charlie and Ajit left me with my God alone. They had some personal priorities greater than me… The Oracle of Omaha was more than happy to let me get as many pictures clicked with him as I wanted.

After the pictures were done, we sat down for our meal. The menus arrived and Warren ordered for a medium New York T-bone steak with hash browns and a Coke (Berkshire Hathaway owns shares in Coca-Cola Co.). Out of awe and respect, even I ordered the same, completely forgetting that I was a vegetarian!! I realized it after a while and called the waiter back, and modified my orders. Warren was all smiles and I knew that nothing was hidden from my God.

It didn’t strike me when we were chatting, but when I look back now I realize that over the 4 hours , we discussed millions of different topics, ranging from Warren’s value system as an investor to his friend and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger to the importance of picking the right life partner. But really the thing that made the biggest impression on me had nothing to do with Warren’s investment philosophy. Rather, what was moving was his love for his former wife, Susan. “I never did anything for Suzie, but she did everything for me; I wouldn’t have been as successful without her.” Even great men like him are not perfect when it comes to relationships. 

It was time for dessert (ice cream in shot glasses) and for our lunch to end.

And with that my ‘Cursed’ alarm clock buzzed me out off the bed. Shit!!! I never realized that this was a dream. And I swear that I will always be ready to swap my realities with this dream.)

It has been around 3 years that I have been learning vicariously from Warren. And I, not a very ‘awesome’ investor, have turned into a vastly better human being. Now this is what should be called a dream lunch…isn’t it?? 

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I have been not known much to keep my promises, but this one was easy. In one of my earlier posts titled 46 things to do before I die, I had committed that I shall dedicate a page on my blog to this endeavor of mine – of having a list of things which I want to accomplish before God calls me.

So…I have kept my promise and setup a dedicated page Things to do before I die. Now you can keep track of my life’s achievements through this page.

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