Shareholders Make Merry

There is this funny article up on FirstPost.com on the banality of the Indian shareholder and his ridiculous demands.

The coupon says I get a snack and a hot beverage. I want a cold drink,” yelled a shareholder of Tata Steel.

Here is a list of questions that were directed at the Tata Steel management on Wednesday.

Why do you have the AGM during the monsoon period?
Tata: Not possible.
Why don’t you use recycled paper?
Tata: It is already being used.
Will you be discontinuing paper-based annual reports, and what is the cost of distribution?

Tata: Both options are available and the cost is Rs 24 per copy.

Why don’t you provide binoculars or glasses with your annual report?
Tata laughs and suggests this question be asked in the AGM of Titan Industries.
Why don’t the board members and other senior people hold shares in the company?
Tata: We had problems in the past and hence, this is not encouraged and we are cautious due to insider trading regulations.
Who pays for the AGM meet?

Tata: Shareholders pay for the expenses.

When will you appoint your successor? Who is it going to be?
Tata: We are looking into it.

Can we go for a plant visit?

Tata: There are safety issues and not possible.

 

There's this great anecdote of how a particular women, i must refrain from naming, buys a single share in some random companies, medium size and then screws them .

                      So for example lets say she's at ABC company's AGM.Now out of nowhere she stands up and says that either she wants to move some resolution or make a speech.Now moving of a resolution can be done by show of hands or an actual ballot .With a ballot, its the added trouble of getting the ballot paper,boxes and booth's ready.Plus there is still tally of the votes to be done.

                      Now in both situations,either the speech or a vote, consumption of time is on the higher side.So the AGM stretches beyond the planned time leading to the  company having to arrange for further stay-so hire the conference hall for the time consuming activities.Then make further arrangements for snacks and beverages for the irksome shareholders.

                      This leads  to a considerable cost for the company and more than the cost its the hassle which comes with such bastards. Shareholders are quick to make merry of the situation making ridiculous demands and wringing the company until the last drop.

                      So to avoid the mess , the companies usually resort to paying off this woman rather than to fall into her web of frivolous activities.        

Huge companies,though, don't take this bulls@#$.Through extra constitutional means ( read misusing the police, roughing up people or simply making an anonymous tip to the income tax department) make life hell for such people.Thus generally the woman avoids such companies.

P.S:The woman comes in a three wheeler but bills it at the same level as hiring a luxury car.

Penny wise,Pound foolish

The phrase could be apt for the buffoons running the country/congress.About a couple of months ago there was a bit of chatter on how Mrs. Meera Shankar, India's envoy to the US, during a summit had referred to Sonia Gandhi as a catholic.Mrs.Gandhi 's religion has been the subject of deep speculation.Though she herself refrains from making statements on the subject, babble emerging from her party calls her a Hindu.

The aforementioned article read:

  Just how sensitive an issue it is was revealed last month when the official representative of the UPA Government in Washington, Ambassador Meera Shankar, delivered a speech at a US university referring to Sonia Gandhi being a Christian as a testament to India’s pluralism and diversity. However, that reference was later quickly deleted.

So  i found it highly amusing to find the same references being made in the akshay kumar movie Nameste London .A paraphrase of his words would read-

India is a country where a Catholic woman stepped aside so that a Sikh could ascend to the post of the prime minister's country.

Now putting aside all those lovely disclaimers which appear before the movie, i would imagine this hypothetical situation aping reality would irk more than a refernce on the MEA's website, which people rarely bother to visit.

Especially in India, where there is no better propaganda vehicle in India.

Glamour is a magnet

Glamour.The one magnet which attracts one and all.One which possesses the ability to asphyxiate your brain.Its almost synonymous to putting blinkers onto horse.Though it is a deeply mystifying situation, it isn't a new phenomena.You witness it in all walks of life.From the inherent racism we as Indians display towards our countrymen at the scent of a foreigner to even the minute matter of being one of the many to buy an iPhone (just coz it's cool).

                  So why all this babble?Well, recently the new Pakistani foreign minister Mrs.Hina Rabbani Khar took the pains to visit India for another round of 'Lie To Me' with her Indian counterpart.As expected the media when overboard,twitter was busy discussing her handbags and comparing her looks with that of the duchess of Cambridge( another prime example of Indians getting blind sighted by glamour) and news anchors couldn't help but use the potent but cliched 'beauty with brains'.Now there is nothing wrong in taking such a deep interest in our relations with our friend/foe neighbour Pakistan.  

                  But a there's a certain extract in a Times of India article which could give us far more insight on Pakistan's latest and probably the most cunning crook.

She apparently loves her Birkins, which can cost as much as $100,000. Hina belongs to one of Pakistan's landed elite, is enormously wealthy, and owns Polo Lounge, an upscale restaurant in Lahore. In 2010, though, she - along with 25 other ministers of Yousaf Gilani's cabinet - didn't pay income tax. Over the past few years, she has paid agriculture tax of (Pakistani) Rs 7,500 but nothing under the head of income tax.      

                But why bother to read the complete article when the first paragraph gives a rosy picture.Here is a woman who is probably among the most wealthiest in Pakistan but hasn't paid tax since years.She pays a pittance in the name of agricultural tax.And this is the same woman we hope will help and participate in the eradication of terror from South Asia.Same one, we  hope will act on the evidence from the countless terrorist activity the notorious ISI has perpetrated in India.

               The point is that the veil of glamour is opaque .We never manage to see beyond that.Style quotient has become the substitute for lack of character.Glamour is such a powerful drug that it manages to even negate the obvious anti-Pakistan bias which exists in a major portion of the media and a part of the Indian population.

              The way we are going we might end up being a PR representative's dream audience.If people after being made aware of her unique achievements still wish to fawn over her then that's a personal choice.But i wouldn't hold my breath.


UPDATE: There's a nice article up over at first post titled
'

Hina Rabbani’s face may be new, but her lies are old'