Can't Decide

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost

I don’t remember when I first read this poem, an outstanding piece of literature if you ask me. And the impact, needless to say was profound. I am always reminded of it whenever life brings me to a crossroad, and that does happen quite often.

I’m a Libran. In other words, I am literally in hell whenever I have to decide anything, even choosing between pasta and pizza at the neighbourhood Pizza Hut. Yup, that bad. You can imagine what I must have gone through when I had to decide the subjects I had to take up in grade 11 (in India, we have to choose a stream after grade ten- commerce, science and art). And being true to my stars, I first thought of commerce and the day of submission, convinced by my father, chose science. And my poor mother then had to bear the brunt of my indecisiveness and my father’s quick input and deal with the school bureaucracies and shift me from science to commerce. Then, in university, I was first in the Mathematics program as I have always believed it to be my first love ( Don’t raise your eyebrows, I’m an Indian!). But then as my restless brain’s bickering with me lead me to check the job market in the field; I decided it was time to make a switch. And so, my undergraduate degree now is Business Administration or in the U of T jargon, Management. But can I ever rest in peace, No!!!!! I had to choose a specialist field within Management. Damn! At the crossroads I was beckoned again. The journey from here on is pretty interesting as well. I was first in Accounting as my father thought it was one recession-proof field and companies always needed nerdy accountants or puppets with no life. (No offence intended, it is my personal opinion as it made me absolutely miserable). But then unable to handle the blood-sucking balance sheets and cash flow statements, I decided it was time to choose another stream. Enter Human Resources. I absolutely loved intro HR class, Organizational Behaviour, loved everything about it. And so, not knowing how much difference the teaching style of a professor can make, I made my pick. Then as I took some more courses in it, I decided I could not live a life of boredom. And switched again- this time to Marketing. And what brought on this? Advertising. I took a course on advertising and the relaxed atmosphere of this class, the funny videos we watched and the cool teaching style of my professor lead me to my umpteenth switch. Wait! It’s not over yet. I am now in Finance and have taken enough courses in it so technically, it’s too late to switch if I want to graduate on time. So, I have decided to stay. Finally! Phew. Not that I never get tempted by International Business and Strategic Management. I do, as being indecisive is what I am unfortunately best at.

Right now as I am currently immersed in Financial Economics and Money and banking, I do smell the irresistible smell of Interior Decorating (I think it’s my dream job, but I really can’t trust myself for obvious reasons). Oh yeah that’s a whole other topic, which I’ll tell you about later.

Back to my books now,

Harleen A.

To Dilli

“People who love only once in their lives are...shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination.” – Oscar Wilde

When I told my mother that I am writing a blog on Delhi as I feel I am being disloyal to my hometown when I titled my blog “The Chit-chatting Torontonian”, she quoted the above to me. Lack of imagination? Lethargy? Ouch.

They say- Dilli Dilwalon Ki, which loosely translated means the city of Delhi belongs to generous, large hearted people. It sounds very poetic but there is history behind this term. Delhi is the oldest place in India which has been invaded by several kingdoms from Kurukshethra to Sultans, Mughals, the East India Company and the present seat of government and it has embraced or accepted all of them and their people with open arms.

What is Dilli?

Dilli is  a game of politics and power and somewhere down the lane, there is helplessness too.

Dilli is Lassi and idli in one meal.

Dilli is sufi and rock in one concert.

Dilli is a beautiful home to mandirs and masjids.

Dilli is Janpath and Emporio mall.

Dilli is the hometown of a Gujrati and a Bengali, a Punjabi and a Tamil.

Dilli, though a city of great contrast, is a monument of love, of devotion, of respect and honour.

Quoting the great Amir Khusrau-

 “Delhi, the refuge of faith and equity. Delhi is the garden of paradise. May its prosperity be long lived. If Mecca happens to learn about this garden, it may circumambulate around Hindustan.”

Born and brought up in the capital of India, a place with an ample summer, a winter too short and breathtaking spring and autumn, I never knew I’d miss it so much once I moved. It is the most interesting city. On one end there will be slums with no water and electricity and on the other, a man in an Armani suit will roll up in his chauffer driven Bentley. You will see extraordinarily beautiful malls and the incredibly colourful street markets. A city of contradictions, a city of rich history, a colourful palette with people from all over the country.

Many books have been written on it, but none can do justice to its vibrancy, its warmth and its grandeur. This blog is my dedication to a city of love, life, laughter. A city that makes me smile and tear up at the same time.

A toast.

Harleen A.

Deeply involved in soccer, has eight legs, yet hasn’t kicked any balls?

After hearing about it all soccer season long, I finally Googled it. What exactly is Paul the octopus? It’s an octopus that predicts the outcome of soccer matches!!! Wow, I mean, what has the world (or should I say soccer fans) come to? This is pretty bizarre, don’t you think?

Yesterday, just as Paul the Oracle Octopus predicted with his arbitrary clam picking, Spain beat Germany 1-0 to proceed to their first World Cup final. That makes Paul six for six in picking the outcome of Germany's matches. Before the match, nervous Germans, doubting Paul’s genius physic held up signs of "Also octopus can be wrong.” As it turned out, nope, it cannot.
The tentacled oracle, who resides at the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhauser, Germany, broke the hearts of his countrymen. Paul has been correctly predicting results since 2008, but he has made one mistake. He selected Germany to beat Spain in that final, which the Spaniards won 1-0.
Apparently his owner has received death threats and even recipe suggestions from football supporters who have found their teams on the wrong side of his predictive powers.
The internet these days is overflowing with comments, especially now that Paul is to predict the final result - the first time he'll prophesy about a match not featuring Germany. Google him and you get as many as 2,630,000 results.
Will doubting his powers lead him to liquefy your intestines and blow bubbles while he does it. Because blowing bubbles is the closest thing to laughing maniacally an octopus can do. Or will he now appear on the specials of the German soccer team’s menu?


Harleen A. 

Historic commitment: G20

An institution that has met only four times, created enough drama around the world esp. in Toronto, with leader from countries as as disparate as Germany and India, is now astonishingly close to achieving its objective of rebalancing the global economy. Kudos!

By contributing to the strengthening of the international financial architecture and providing opportunities for dialogue on national policies, international co-operation, and international financial institutions, the G-20 helps to support growth and development across the globe. In the recent summit that took place in Toronto, Canada, countries have promised to explain in some detail how their domestic policies are helping to achieve the G20’s goal of reducing the excessive mismatches in spending and saving that exacerbated the financial crisis. With the help of the IMF, members can access whether each partner is doing enough.

Trust, credibility and transparency increase as the leaders put their cards on the table and peer review each other’s economic policy. Since the review remains a voluntary exercise without penalties, success will depend on G20 members taking the process seriously, both by submitting credible policies and showing the courage to offer tough, but fair, criticism. Given how these countries allowed the global economy to get out of control in the first place, there is reason to be doubtful of their capability to improve the shape of the economy.

In Pittsburgh, the G20 acknowledged that self-interested policy making had fashioned the conditions for the global recession that was sparked by the 2008 credit crisis. In was unclear whether the G20 was fully committed to create a forum in which they would shape their domestic policies in way that would ensure “strong, sustainable and balanced” global economic growth.

As we know, uninhibited spending and borrowing led to the recent recession which was happily exploited by the major exporters all around the world. China underwrote the spending as it purchased US debt and hence kept its currency low against the dollar. This in turn lowered the American interest rates. Instead of investing in their domestic economy, oil exporters bought US bonds. Continental European countries refrained from confronting rigid labour markets that inhibited investment and productivity.

Previous failures led economists and policy makers to doubt the success of sovereign nations to tailor domestic policies for the sake of the greater good. Going into Toronto, some countries, including China, were reluctant to accept country-level reviews under the framework, saying instead that G20 members should be divided as surplus countries and deficit countries.

A noted economist remarked that the framework introduced at the Pittsburgh summit would only be a passing phase, a temporary political convenience that will help leaders’ intentions to unite at a time of global crisis.

The confidence in the summit increased as the IMF and World Bank submitted studies that showed the G20 could generate GDP of $4-trillion, create tens of millions of jobs and lift even more out of poverty if countries actually made the changes necessary to achieve more balanced growth.

Any boost in credibility the G20 gets from embracing country-by-country peer review will be lost if the promises the process accepts lack ambition or commitment.

PS- This is a summary I made for a course in International Business about the G20 summit. Hopefully it will give a good idea about the most talked about issue of the year.

Harleen A.


References:
http://www.g20.org/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/