Sports is the new religion

The recent World Cup and the enthusiasm it aroused has amazed me. In India of course cricket is the religion and in my mind soccer is a close second, despite the fact that India does not have any soccer team or player of any significance.

Over the last few years I have found that people follow the UK or European soccer teams with such passion not just in the home country but in far away places which have no direct connection,but where the population is as knowledgeable about certain teams and players as their own country inhabitants. According to the media in India, the Bengalis in West Bengal are as passionate about the Brazilian team as the Brazilians themselves. It used to be the dream of every budding billionaire from the emerging markets to make movies in Hollywood.One can understand that as this is a way ( expensive perhaps) to get meet the starlets. But now every emerging market billionaire from Russia to India to Thailand wants to own a football club in the United Kingdom.

The passion about this game cuts across all race and religion and I would not be surprised if the Taliban fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan had special satellite connections and were watching the World Cup matches and cheering for their adopted teams.

Instead of spending billions of dollars on weapons , the world should set up soccer ,cricket and other sports clubs all over Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas. Sports is the new religion and the ruling deities are Messi, Ronaldo, Tendulkar among others. Have clubs which are allowed to hire from other countries , so you can have mixed teams from different countries, race and religion.

Australia and Indian cricketers used to have verbal jousts every time they played ,with the media playing up every slight and gesture. Since the Australians started playing in IPL teams and spending some time in India, there seem to be fewer such incidents.This convinces me now more than ever that the solution to many of the problems is to have people meet on the sports field rather than the battle field with a much lower casualty rate.

Race,Religion & Politics - Religion

In my blog of July 4th I referred to a op-ed column highlighting the fact that if Elena Kagan was nominated, the Supreme Court bench of the United States would consist of six Catholics and three Jews. What it did not mention was that it also had Hispanics and blacks, perhaps proving the point, at least in the United States, race was becoming less of an issue, but religion still is.

Interestingly enough,this is also true in the higher echelons of the Christian Church hierarchy as the number of Catholics, and non – Catholic Christian denominations in Africa and other emerging markets gradually start to outnumber those in the West. You are now beginning to see the diversity of races in the College of Cardinals at the Vatican and it is a matter of time before you have a black or brown Pope.

I do not claim to be well read or very knowledgeable about religion, but from a layman’s perspective , apart from Hinduism & Buddhism, the three other major religions Judaism, Christianity ,and Islam classified as Abrahamic, are all monotheistic, the belief that there is one God or Supreme Being. Yet preachers from the later two religion over the centuries have chosen to convince their flock that the path they preach is the only right path and all other roads lead to hell and perdition.

The Indians brought Hinduism and Buddhism to Asia, the Arab traders, the Mongol invaders, the Turks brought Islam to Asia, India and parts of Europe. The Europeans brought Christianity to most parts of the world as conquerors.

An observation worth noting is that while Christianity and Islam seem to have followers among all races, white, black, brown and yellow, the religions which originated from the East, Hinduism and Buddhism tend to be predominantly among the Asians (brown or yellow) – expect for a relatively small number of people in the West who have adopted Buddhism or Hinduism. Why is that the case?

The answer perhaps is that the diversity resulted from the forced conversion by the Christian and Muslim adventurers / invaders whether they were in Asia, the America’s or elsewhere. The adventurers were followed by the priests or where the rulers were religious insisted on the segments of the population being converted whether it was the Mongols (or Moghuls as they got to be known) in the sub-continent, the Spaniards or the Portuguese in South America and the British and the various European colonial rulers in Africa and the rest of the world. The religions from the East did not insist on forced conversion.

The Europeans brought Christianity to the countries which they colonized. They built huge edifices in the form of Cathedrals and Churches wherever they went. The migrants to the West are now bringing their religion deep into the European cities and instead of forcible conversion which happened in the past, there is no such attempt, yet when ever a new temple or mosque is built in the cities in the West, it causes unease. But with the minorities gradually increasing in numbers this too shall pass.

After all at one stage even in the United States, Catholics and Jews were treated with unease. Now the above mentioned headline from the New York Times says it all.

It is a matter of time; this will be true for Hindu's, Buddhist's and Muslims. In case anyone has forgotten, President John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic President of the United States of America, elected in 1961, almost 175 years after America gained its independence. This despite the opening lines of its Constitution reading We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

Obviously things have changed since then. In two of its most conservative states, Americans have elected (one already a Governor, the other potentially could be) two people whose parents were of Punjabi origin, but who converted to Christianity at an early stage, then hopefully the time is not too far away when the United States will again lead the way by electing a President who is a Jew, Hindu or Muslim.

Wine - The New Conspicous Consumption Item

Upfront disclosure - my palate cannot differentiate between a $2000 bottle of Lafite Rothschild or any other Bordeaux First Growth and a $30 bottle of Australian Wolf Blass. I cannot tell if the wine has " a velvety texture, and notes of spring flowers interwoven with camphor, melted licorice, creme de cassis,and pain grille. Not a blockbuster, it offers extraordinary intensity as well as a surreal delicacy/lightness " - Robert Parker's tasting notes of the 2003 Margaux or any of the other wonderful things which the wine tasters are able to detect with a sniff or a sip. My interest in wine is from the perspective of looking at it as an alternative investment.

Years ago a friend from Hong Kong gave me some advice on investing in wine. It sounds easy -provided you have the patience.I have yet to follow it - but have been tracking how wine investments perform. His logic was very simple. Focus on the top end, particularly those from a good vintage, buy and sit on it.If you do not need the cash leave it for your children. The prestigious estates produce a limited number of cases every year. With the yearly consumption the number of cases available gets fewer. If you are a wine aficionado or an Investment Banker , or a Private Equity Fund Manager , celebrating the closure of a very successful deal, you don't mind spending a few thousand dollars (euros or pounds) for a couple of bottles over dinner to indulge yourself or to impress your dinner companions. As the stocks keep running down, the price keeps going up. Sounds too simple?

Even better, there are a number of individuals and some magazines who rate most of the wines produced, at least from the known vineyards. The single most influential person is an American, Robert Parker ,who started scoring wines more than thirty years ago. His 100 score is the equivalent of a perfect score.His rating has the ability to move the market for a particular Chateau. The others are Jancis Robinson who also writes for the Financial Times. The Wine Spectator magazine is also influential. For Burgundy wines there is Burghound.com. There are others. The big brokers from the United Kingdom, Barry Bros. & Rudd, Lay Wheeler, and Bordeaux Index and others all have their own tasters.

The United States and the United Kingdom were the biggest market for French wine but that is beginning to change. The Far East, particularly China has now developed a taste for fine wine and is having a significant impact on wine prices.

When I first moved to Hong Kong in the mid-seventies, the drink of choice for celebrations was Cognac. The more expensive the better. The most expensive Cognac would be ordered and then coke mixed with it. That was however a long time ago. The Hong Kong glitterati palate is now much more sophisticated.Investors from Hong Kong, including some of the top business men probably have the world’s best collection of rare wines. A few years ago the senior government bureaucrats, who enjoyed a good bottle as much as anybody else, decided that the revenue generated from the duty on wine was not worth the effort in collecting it and decided to exempt it from all duties. The result is that Hong Kong is now the biggest auction site/market for French wines.

As an indication of the serious interest in wine, when I left Hong Kong in 2005, the expensive wines - upwards of Dollars One thousand were kept in cabinets under lock and key, but now you can walk into any upmarket super market or a wine shop and you will see these wines lying on the rack.You will not see that in a average wine shop in London or New York.


In the meantime in China you have the new rich who have decided to follow in the footsteps of their Hong Kong cousins.China is now a rapidly growing market for the top end, with Lafitte Rothschild being the favorite. Not sure why, but perhaps the association with the Rothschild’s – the wealthy French-English banking family. This has driven the prices through the roof. A few years ago you could buy futures (in barrels before they are bottled) of a good vintage first growth with a Robert Parker score in the high nineties and with delivery a couple of years later, at around three and a half to four thousand sterling. This year the 2009( supposedly a very good year),Lafite Rothschild-China’s favorite wine, was priced at approximately eleven to twelve thousand sterling and is now reportedly trading at around over thirteen thousand a few weeks later.


How long is this euphoria going to continue? China’s middle class and the upper class is expected to keep growing, In the meantime their neighbor across the Himalayas, India is also developing a taste for wine (although whiskey and particularly Scotch is still the preferred drink). Stir in the need for one up man ship, particularly in North India and over the next few years, you will see these prices getting a boost.

If any of you have the desire to ride the tiger there are wine funds managed by some of the wine brokers. Alternatively you can invest in futures or buy physicals through the brokers who will store it for you. If you truly want to be one up, the wine brokers can probably locate a case or two from a good estate from the year you were born.

The consolation prize, if your investments don’t pay off is to drown your sorrows with your loved one, by drinking the damn thing. What was the line from Omar Khayam ?

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me......

Displaying Our Common Heritage

I just read a news article about the museums in Taiwan and China working together to track down some of the missing Imperial Treasures. Apparently these are part of the collection of the Imperial Family accumulated over the last 1000 years.

Initially the effort was to hide the treasures to prevent it from falling into the hand of the Japanese invaders.The collection was packed into tens of thousands of wooden cases and hidden in the country side. Subsequently when the war ended and there was dissension between the Nationalist , headed by General Chiang Kai-Shek and the Communists by Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, the Nationalists shipped off the prime pieces to Taiwan when it declared independence. The museum was built into the side of a mountain. I remember visiting it in the mid-seventies. Some of the exhibits were exquisite.

Now that relations between Taiwan and China are improving, effort is being made to track down the missing pieces. It is after all a common heritage.

Reading about it made me wonder why the countries in the sub-continent do not make an attempt to at least display and share our mutual history. Can the museums from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh ( and perhaps Nepal and Sri-Lanka as well),not put on a display on a common theme in our respective countries or even a traveling exhibit shown in other countries. The political issues can be sorted out later. Much as we like to pretend we are different, we are children from the same womb and have much in common culture, history, race and religion.

Race,Religion & Politics - Race

I have often read that these three subjects should be avoided since they arouse so much passion. My intention here is not to arouse any controversy.

My decision to write on these subjects was initiated by an op-ed article in the New York Times ( June 25th,2010) The Triumphant Decline Of The WASP by Dr.Noah Feldman a Harvard Law Professor who pointed out that " five years ago, the Supreme Court, like the United States, had a plurality of white Protestants. If Elena Kagan .... is confirmed, that number will be reduced to zero, and the court will consist of six Catholics and three Jews". Interestingly it makes no mention of the fact that the panel now has Blacks and Hispanics , which would not have been possible a few decades ago. With Barrack Obama as the President, Bobby Jindal as the Governor of Louisiana and potentially Nikki Haley as future Governor of South Carolina ( two of the most conservative states in the United States with regards to race)it is becoming irrelevant in the United States.

Over the next fifty years with the dynamics of the world changing, not just from a wealth point of view but also from a demographic perspective,the issue of race (and probably religion)globally will become less of an issue than it has been for few centuries.

First on the issue of race. Why do you have racism? In my opinion racism is a result of migration ( either willing or forced). It results from the influx of people seeking wealth ( in the form of adventurers or conquerors )or those who were forcibly brought to provide cheap labor. To quote Willie Sutton the American bank robber who when questioned why he kept robbing banks, replied simply "because that is where the money is "The adventurers from Europe, went to the America's, Africa and Asia because that was where the wealth was. Similarly a few centuries later, the migrants from Asia and South America went to the United States, United Kingdom and Europe because that was where the money was.There will be some who will argue that American was settled by the pilgrims who wanted to avoid religious persecution, but the real wave came, as word went around that there was a lot of land and other riches to be obtained.

India or perhaps I should say the Indian subcontinent has had invaders ( from Alexander onwards ) most of whom came, conquered, settled down and blended into the local population.Their religion and cultures where accepted and adapted to suit India. Similarly the first wave of European adventurers came and adopted local customs, married locals and settled down.

In other areas such as the America's and Australia, the adventurers from Europe came and settled in the sparsely populated land mass, but in the process the native population were reduced to a minority.In Asia and Africa the numbers were just too large for that to happen, although this was attempted in some parts of Africa such as Zimbabwe and South Africa but were unsuccessful.

Race became an issue when the European countries started colonizing the world. The relationship between the rulers and the ruled transformed into a master – servant (or slave) relationship. The Caucasian’s were seen as the superior race because they ruled over countries which were populated by black, brown and yellow natives. As if this was not enough the colonial rulers complicated matters further by the forced “migration” of people , either in the form of slaves ( blacks to the America’s) or Indians as bonded labor to the certain sections of South America and the Indies, East Africa , Fiji, Mauritius, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Let’s not even go into unilaterally drawn boundaries creating countries with total disregard to tribal, ethnic or language origins, thus creating pockets of minorities in countries around the world.

The second wave of migration was effectively the “economic “ migration which resulted from the boom following the Second World War. It created a shortage of workers and the United States and Europe. It opened the doors for migrants to come and work in jobs which the locals were not interested in doing – in fields or the factory floors. Added to this was the flood of illegal migrants who came to escape the upheavals in their countries or simply to seek a better life for themselves and their children. Gradually this was followed by the migration of educated professionals. Their descendants, combined with the fresh flow, have reached numbers which are now causing concerns among the white population that they would become a minority in the future.

It is estimated that by 2050 you will have the browning of America and whites will be in the minority. There is also concern among certain segments in Europe that they might be following a similar pattern. According to estimates, in the United Kingdom the whites will be in the minority in a dozen cities by 2027. White Norwegians are expected to become a minority in their own country by 2021.One could probably look at similar statistics in other European countries.

When this happens or even before,one would hope it would be the end of racism and as an issue it will cease to exist.

Indians of American Parentage in US Politics

A lot is being made out of Americans of Indian parentage raising their profile in the United States political scene. Bobby Jindal being the first American of Indian parentage being elected as the Governor of Louisiana and Nikki Haley being the Republican candidate for Governor of South Carolina. What is interesting is that both of them belong to the Republican party and these states are very conservative.Does not quite fit the image of the Republicans being the conservative party. What has happened to the Democrats?

A little known historical fact which I am surprised that the Indian newspapers do not mention when they write about children of overseas Indians doing well, is that the first Asian American Congressman, Dalip Singh Saund,was of Indian origin and was born in Amritsar. He went to the University of California, Berkley, for post graduate studies and stayed on. The Democratic candidate was elected from California to the United States House of Representatives in 1955 and served till 1962 when a severe stroke ended his political career. Coincidence that all of them are of Punjabi origin .