One of my favorite poems of all time is ‘Where The Mind is Without Fear’ by Rabindranath Tagore, and it is only natural that I thought of it today as India celebrates its 67th Independence Day.
Unfortunately, it failed to bring a smile to me as it usually does. First, please spend a minute to read this beautiful poem.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
The country has not awaken in a heaven of freedom, and it isn’t getting there any time soon. I haven’t ever felt this despondent at the state of Indian affairs, and it is indeed a big reason why I haven’t posted here in a while.
Is there much purpose of an investing blog in an environment like this? If you can barely afford onions, what hope is there to save for retirement?
It is true that when things are going so depressingly wrong, it is hard to imagine they can ever change. During the great recession of 2008, it felt like the global economy will collapse and I certainly didn’t hear anyone predicting Dow making new highs in 2013 even a year ago.
With that in mind, I did buy into Indian equity last week. All our problems are self inflicted, which is sad, but it is also good because we have the power to solve them. We are not solving them now, but I do believe something somewhere will change that will turn things around. With that hope, I wish everyone a happy Independence day.
It is not only you, we are many; equally disappointed like you. All we have is some more hope that things still can change better. This is high time for a new revaluation.
Happy Independence to you too Manshu !
Let’s keep our hopes alive
Amit
Thanks Manshu and Happy Independence Day to you too!
I wish, by this time next year, we emerge as a better nation to live and invest/save !!
Thanks and happy Independence day to you too.
As you said ‘I did buy into Indian equity last week’… So did I too..because I am a reader of Manshu’s blog.
Happy Independence Day to you too!
I am very glad to hear that and I hope your bet pays off, and with a little bit of patience I’m certain it will for both of us.