What the government should do about black money ?

During the last national elections , the BJP as part of its election campaign promised to bring back to the country , black money lodged overseas. It passed very stringent laws and penalties for people who do not declare their overseas holdings. Expectations were that billions of dollars would flow back. Unfortunately upon expiry of the deadline only about INR 7000 crores was declared. It was a good attempt even if it was with limited success.

While the overseas holdings makes good press, the larger amount of black money is within the country. In Delhi go to the Lajpat Nagar, Chandi Chowk, Chawri Bazar or the mandi's all transactions are cash based. Not all , but a large number of lawyers ,accountants,doctors  and other professionals prefer cash payments for their services. In addition all payments for greasing the wheels whether in the government, public or private sector are in cash. This is the same in every single city in the country.

However its not that the money is hidden under the mattress or buried in chests. A large portion  goes into real estate investments and  into conspicuous consumption such as jewellery, designer clothes or bags or overseas trips so it does circulate back into the economy. It is just that the government misses out in collecting taxes on this undeclared income.

Part of the problem is that the avenues are limited. Yes you can invest in real estate. . However there is no pportunity for investments in the capital markets particularly debt . I have attempted to buy corporate bonds but without success as the minimum trading lots runs into crores.

In my opinion the government should declare an amnesty with no penalty. However the holder should be required to invest the amount declared into government bonds. Fifty percent of the funds  should be required to be invested in government bonds with a maturity of five years, bearing interest at one percent below the prevailing savings rate. Another twenty five percent should be should have a maturity of seven years at the prevailing savings rate. The remaining funds should go into ten year bonds at a savings rate plus one percent. The scheme does not end there as this will no be incentive for the black money holder to declare his/her holdings as the funds will be locked up for a long period.

The government should then make some of the public sector and private sector banks to make a market with a restriction that the spread ( between buying and selling should not exceed one eight or one quarter) and that the trading lots should be in amounts of one lac.

The black money holder can then sell the bonds at a discount ( which would require him to take a loss ) but then it allows him to re-enter the funds into the legitimate economy. The government obtains a substantial amount of funds at below market rates and at the same time create liquidity in the debt market at the retail level. In my opinion a win-win situation for all.

The Ubiquitous Mobile Phone

There have been numerous articles about how  technology has changed and is continuing to change the world. I think it is the internet which has brought about the changes  by putting  in place the infrastructure  and setting in motion the disruption of many industries and lifestyles . It has totally changed the publishing,  retail , travel and the sex industry .It has also transformed  the entire information technology industry through software as a service and now the cloud based services.We are now entering phase two with the drop in prices of the smart  mobile phones and the supporting services including the use of apps. On a individual basis, I do not think anything has the changed our lives as much as the mobile phone - both for  good and bad.

I remember when  the first Motorola mobile phone was introduced to Hong Kong . It was sold for about Forty Thousand Hong Kong  Dollars.The traders in the bank  were among the first to acquire them and it was the senior guys in the dealing room who used to strut around with them. I remember going to lunch with my bosses and they would line up these brick sized contraptions reaching a height of almost fifteen inches including the antenna and weighing a a few pounds. It was a  status  symbol.

My life began changing when the Blackberry  arrived. At Citibank my job required me to frequently  travel across Asia and I had to lug around a heavy lap top. Reaching the hotel I then spend the next hour or so   responding to emails. With the Blackberry  I finished with the responses by the time I reached the hotel. With the decline in prices of the phone and the user services the mobile phone has become an indispensable item. Even though I am now retired I  feel naked without it. Short of the bathroom I carry the damn thing around with me almost everywhere. My wife asks me why -" in case the children call ".

However I am not the only one - increasingly I notice that the phones have become an extension of the house maid's ears and mouth during their waking hours. When we go for our walks regardless of the time we see our fellow walkers chatting away. I constantly wonder what is it that they have to say  that they can continue talking non-stop for hours ?

With the coming of the 3G and being able to access the internet on the go it has definitely increased the use of the mobile phone. I remember taking to the CFO of a Hong Kong based company which was about to introduce 3 G services on their network in the United Kingdom. He mentioned that based on a survey they had done, they expected the maximum usage would come from users for gambling and watching pornography.However I am sure that the mobile phone is being used in ways which he could not have imagined .

When the phones started coming out with a camera, my initial reaction was that it was  a dumb idea. Now that it has been around for more than ten years I have to confess that I was wrong.  It is a handy tool and convenient for shopping or trying to remember a particular flower or tree or some setting, not to mention taking photographs. Taking selfies appears to be very popular with politicians including President Obama and Prime Minister Modi. It is also very handy in using as evidence and identifying the perpetrator.In India almost every day the television shows clips of "stings" showing the mis-deeds of  politicians and policemen or bureaucrats.  Unfortunately it can also be misused. A few years ago a Delhi teenager took a photograph of his girlfriend while having sex and circulating it to his friends.It went viral and ruined the young girl's life. 

Over the last few years with the introduction of the app based services we are now entering the second phase of industry disruption. The Uber app has turned the city based taxi services on its head. It enables the taxi owner to make a lot more money. It enables the user  to get a taxi when needed.
According to a friend in Germany where these services are legal,  there is a Uber copy cat for call
girls. In India some online shopping sites have blocked desk top based orders and now accept only
 mobile based orders. Appears to be a bit extreme but perhaps they know  something which I do not.

With the  mobile phone the future is now here through the use of apps such Skype, Face Time and Whatsapp. It  has become a boon for the self employed whether it is the plumber or the electrician or the part time cleaning lady. With the help of applications  such as Whatsapp, they are able to send out marketing pitches or communicate free of cost  or talk to their friends and relatives in their villages and overseas. It has certainly reduced our long distance calling bills . The added bonus is that you can see them as well . Now the phone is replacing the desktop.You see young people looking at their tablet sized phone in the elevators and on the Metro sending out email or even working spread sheets. As has been said often enough your average mobile phone now has the same amount of computing power which was used to send Neil Armstrong to the moon.

The financial industry certainly on the retail banking side is seeing a lot of development in terms of online payments. Vodafone was one of the first to start mobile transfers through their MPesa services in East Africa. In Kenya where it all started  individuals use it to buy a single banana from a street vendor.

The mobile phone started out big then started to shrink and now has been gradually increasing again. However with the 3 G and now 4 G your phone is not just a communication device. It is your computer, your entertainment center ( audio and video ) , your credit card, your camera, your digital diary, your novel, your prayer book, your health monitor and the list goes on. Previously when you were traveling you had to carry these items separately. Now its just one device which fits into your pocket - almost.

The next item in my mind which is due for extinction is likely  to be the credit card. With biometric
identification now becoming more reliable there is no need to carry around a card with a magnetic strip or a chip and having to remember a personal identification number.

What has been holding back the development is the slow service. 3G  and now 4G is supposed to be faster but the problem is the service providers never deliver the speed which they promise. Apparently Korea is the most advanced and its internet allows you to download entire movies within seconds. IBM has just developed a processor  chip which is going to be four times faster than the fastest chip presently available.

Not sure whether this is suitable for mobile phones, but I am sure that it will be a matter of time before you will see a mobile version which will give you even greater computing power in your hands. The question is what will you do with it ? Will it be like the video player you used to have? We all were quick to buy the advanced versions which came loaded with features allowing  you  to record a year in advance, it tracked what programs you liked and then automatically recorded similar programs, but most of us used only three or four  features - play,record, fast forward or rewind.

 This time around  the mobile phone designers have been smart in a number of ways. Google, Firefox and now being followed by others started offering their operating systems for free. You do not have to pay royalties which reduced the costs. Secondly their architecture welcomes the use of apps by third parties which allows the users  to play games, make free video and audio calls, check the weather, check your map for directions,send you notices whether your son's flight is arriving on time and so on. The beauty of it all is that even for non-technological savvy persons like myself I can use a lot of these apps. However  with all the features and the thousand of apps which are available I wonder if the mobile phone is going the video player way to be replaced by another device ?

The Changing Economics Of World Trade

The dynamics of world trade could be changing in the next couple of decades due to technological changes. 

The Technology Quarterly of the Economist magazine dated May30th-June 5th ,2015  had an article as to how a robotic sewing machine could throw garment workers in low-cost countries out of jobs. At present it takes a human to stitch two pieces of material together. It had to be aligned and fed steadily through a sewing head to ensure that it did not slip or buckle. A company in Atlanta has now invented a machine which tackles this problem with software and high speed photography to create the alignment and tension as the fabric passes under the needle. Also Nike is using a technology called Flyknit to make the uppers for trainers. This combined with 3D printing technology will allow  shoes to be manufactured onshore in the United States. Divergent Microfactories in San Francisco  is about to show off a prototype of a high-performance, lightweight car designed to be built in small volumes in low-cost factories around the world. If all of this and other such innovations are successful it will have a major impact on employment in low income countries.

The first step in the development or industrialization of a country was the introduction of manufacturing garments, electronics  and trainers  for exports. This helped countries such as Japan, Korea and Hong Kong  to  industrialise  and increase their per capita income. The second wave led to countries such as  Indonesia, Malaysia , Thailand, Vietnam and China  . The third wave is  now happening in  Bangladesh and countries in Africa.

With new technology the whole dynamics of international trade will likely change. Countries such as China, Bangladesh and Vietnam primarily act as assemblers. The raw material is imported and processed elsewhere and the complex web of raw materials, parts and assembly is put together by middle men such as  Li & Fung from Hong Kong. The value added from even countries such as China is actually very small.

The goods are then shipped to the United States, Europe , the Middle East and Africa. What will change is that the role of China and Vietnam as exporters will decline as the goods will be manufactured closer to the markets such as  the United States, Canada or perhaps Mexico. The labor component will be become even smaller.

The basic commodities which will be imported from Latin America and Africa will  be processed in countries which have the ability. Some of this will be migrating back to countries such as United States as the cost of electricity has come down considerably due to shale oil and gas.

The new model will be intra country assembly and distribution  for countries with large populations such as the United States, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia and intra regional for smaller countries within South East Asia. This will affect the smaller countries in Asia,Africa and South America. The impact will also be on shipping companies who are continuing to build ships with ever increasing capacity for carrying containers.

What will  increase is the trading of soft and hard commodities. As countries such as China and India continue to industrialize and with the population increase, their ability to grow enough to feed themselves will shrink and they will become more dependent on agricultural imports.

Obviously all these changes will not happen suddenly but will be over a period of time. This is of course a personal  and perhaps a simplistic view. I could be totally wrong and none of this might happen, but I would bet the odds are in my favor. 

Waking down my music memory lane

 ( This is a self indulgent walk down memory lane which you might have no interest in - feel free not to proceed further ).

I enjoy listening to all kinds of music,with the exception of  Western classical. I like rock, blues, jazz, country, folk, gospel, blues , country , blue grass,sufi, quali, and some Bollywood numbers. I rarely listen  to the modern rock groups or rap singers as they all appear to deliver the lines  in the  same monotonous style . Even singers such as Usher seems to sing all his songs in the same style. If you have heard one you have heard them all.

My earliest memories of listening to music was that of Elvis Presley ,Cliff Richard and Ricky Nelson while in middle school in Rangoon. Even better was seeing Elvis in movies such as Jailhouse Rock and  King Creole.The school which I attended required us to go to the chapel twice a week where we sang  hymns and other songs which I found out much later were American gospel. While I mouthed the words ( since I am close to  tone deaf) , I did develop a liking for gospel music which surfaced again when I went to the United States in the early seventies.

It was the early sixties and soon after the Beatles phenomenon started. I remember that my father brought me the full set of the Beatles albums from London in sixty-four or sixty five. Must have listened to the Hard Days Night, Please Please Me and the others over and over again.  Apart from Elvis, most of the exposure till then was to the British pop stars. In high school and undergraduate school,  the list broadened  to include Jimmi Hendrix, The Doors, Steppenwolf, Ike and Tina Turner, Rolling Stones and some  esoteric names such as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass which for some reason was quite popular in Chandigarh. In 1970 my brother went to London and came back with a modern turn table, amplifier ,stereo speakers and  a couple of dozen albums. Among others they included names such as The Grand Funk Railroad, Isaac Hayes ( of Hot Buttered Soul fame ), two Canadian groups, The Guess Who,The Band  and other names which we had never heard of . I became very popular and almost every evening our living room converted into a informal music room with friends listening to this extremely loud music. Fortunately my mother was very tolerant . My Grandmother who was in her eighties would occasionally  sit in a corner seat with an amused look on her face.  The Guess Who ( and their American Woman ) is still  on my all time list of my all time favorite albums.

In Dallas in my first year year at graduate school, I bought a really cheap music system and remembered one of  my favorite albums was  Carole King's Tapestry. A year later I attended my first open air  live rock concert  by The Grateful Dead  in a open air stadium on one of the coldest days ever in Phoenix. That however did not stop the Deadheads from having a good time. People were smoking grass, some discreetly sniffing coke, a lot of them stripped to the waist and some totally naked . It was quite a experience. While I do not mind their music, I am not a particularly big fan of theirs.

After finishing graduate school I ended up job hunting in  Los Angeles. I stayed  in Westwood Village across the street  from UCLA. In between sending out my job applications to kill time I would hang around the book and record stores. Since funds were limited, I would always sort through  the bargain  bins and pick up blues recordings such as  Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Lightning Hopkins, John Lee Hooker  and BB King with his electric guitar.Also gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson , Aretha Franklin and The Staple Singers.

I would also visit  the UCLA campus and remember a particularly memorable performance by the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The players were mostly in their seventies and eighties,but it was a joy to see them perform as  they really seemed to have such a good time playing.They came into the aisles and got everyone on their feet.That was my first exposure to jazz. I saw the band again  in Hong Kong in the late eighties.Recently watching a TV series Treme', I was pleased to see the Band is still around but obviously must be a newer generation.

In the late seventies Jean Michel Jarre came to Hong Kong . According to Wikipedia he is" a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age  genres, and known as an organizer of outdoor spectacles  of his music featuring lights, laser displays and fireworks."There were no fireworks in the indoors  Hong Kong show, but it was quite a performance overall.I was fascinated.However these days at weddings when I walk by or pop my in head to the party after party for the younger generation and hear the techno music, I do not find it appealing.

To me the hey days of modern music was from the fifties to the early eighties. My favorites both solo and bands are mentioned  below .I have tried to analyze my preference for these singers and have come to the conclusion its because of the variety of their musical styles. Its not just straight rock and roll. You have a mixture of rock & roll, you have blues, you have ballads, and occasionally you might have a hint of rap . Their chameleon like ability to change and adapt is what makes them most interesting.

Unsurprisingly in my mind the best band was the Beatles. They took the traditional rock  & roll and as they themselves got exposed to the world their music changed as well.  They experimented with the sitar, they added orchestra . Their Sergeant Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band was supposedly under the influence of drugs.Their lyrics were original and amazing,  not just about love and broken hearts or blues. Their creativity and their gradual widening interests showed in their solo albums with George Harrison and John Lennon going down different paths, whereas Paul McCartney  sticking to his " silly love songs" but which are still loved .While Bob Dylan's lyrics are interesting, his monotonous nasal delivery can be boring after a few songs unlike the Beatles who you can hear all day long. 

The other bands ( or solo artists with back ups ) which I like are The Doors,Queen, Prince  and Micheal Jackson. I found The Doors fascinating because their music and lyrics were so different. Jim Morrison  the Lizard King was such a different performer and was the soul of the band.Queen's music was also so varied with Freddie Mercury at the center of it all. I like some of Micheal Jackson's later years performance. In the early  nineties as my children were growing up, we went to a live concert in Singapore. He was a incredible performer.The Who could be classified as great performers specially with Pete Townshend's guitar smashing act, but their music never appealed to me. I remember taking my ten year old son to their Rock Opera Tommy in London, but have to admit wanted to leave after about 30 minutes.

Among the female  singers apart from Carole King, Judy Collins and Joan Baez are names are I like. I love Judy Collins Amazing Grace being sung without any music backing her .Her voice is just fascinating. Sheila Chandra is another person who I have heard singing without any musical back up.

 There are numerous others  in all categories such as Simon & Garfunkel, Peter,Paul & Mary, John Denver, Check Berry, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Otis Redding, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Harry Belafonte, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, ( I could keep going on ) whom I enjoy listening even though they might not fall in the category of favorites.

With regards to South Asian music ( broadly including Bollywood, bhangra, quali's ghazals. sufi etc ), I enjoy it all. The Bollywood actors /actresses were way ahead of some of the recent rock stars in terms of lip synching, but there some songs which I remember Mera Joota Hai Japane, Budha Mil Geya,Junglee, Eena Meen Dikka, Tere Ghar ke Samne. Nowadays of course ever movie has to have a hip shaking , bosom heaving "item number " which are titillating and extremely peppy.

I remember taking some Punjabi records by Ramta for my  host family in Dallas. While not understanding the words they loved the bhangra beat. Today's bhangra interpretation seem to have a even faster beat. In the mid-nineties,I was introduced to sufi/quali's at a dinner at a Citibank Pakistani colleague The first time I heard Nusrat  Fateh Ali Khan, Sabri Brothers and others for the first time and immediately  went and got their CD's.

My music collection started with long term playing records( I still have a case full  in my store room ). I then replaced them with cassettes and starting in the nineties, replaced them again with CD's. I have drawers full of music CD's. Now of course with the continuing change in technology, I find that I no longer need to buy and build up a library. Streaming music sites such as Spotify for a  nominal charge per month, will stream my favorite music any time  I want.

I shut my musical clock in the eighties . Perhaps there some present day  groups,bands, singers whose music is just as good as the ones I like, but like older people I feel its not as good as when we were young. 

India - The Ironies

This is part of a chain letter forwarded to me by a friend. It is so true that I could not resist reproducing it here.I do not know who the author is?

________________________________________________

Its dangerous to talk to strangers but it's okay to marry one!

You have to look both ways to cross a one way street!

Its okay to piss in public but not okay to kiss in public!

Everyone’s in a hurry, But no one reaches on time!

Priyanka Chopra made more money playing Mary Kom than Mary Kom made in her entire career!

Swear in English and people think you are cool , Swear in Hindi and people think you are uncouth!

Most people who fight over the Gita and Quran have probably never read either book!

In our election we don’t vote for the candidate we like the most, We vote for the one we dislike the least!

Ours is a country where sayings like ‘ladki ghar ki Laxmi hai, ladki baap ka bojh hain‘’ coexist!

We’d rather spend more on our daughter’s wedding than on their education!

The shoes we wear are sold in air conditioned showrooms and the vegetables we eat are sold on the footpath!

You need to have studied till 8 th class to become a peon, you don’t need any educational qualification to run the country!!

Thoughts on dying

In his book The Tibetan Art of Living & Dying, the author  Sogyal Rinpoche, relates an incident in 1976 when he was visiting New York, with his teacher Dujom Rinpoche.

A middle aged American woman suffering from a terminal illness came to see them . She cried" My doctor has given me only a few months to live. Can you help me ? I am dying"

To her surprise, Lama Rinpoche began to chuckle. Then he said quietly:"You see, we are all dying . Its only a matter of time. Some of us just die sooner than others" 

With these few words, he helped her to see the universality of death.... this eased her anxiety.

In my last blog I mentioned about the recent deaths in our immediate family . That gets you to start thinking about your mortality. Much as we hate to talk or think about it, the fact is that we are all going to die.

Most people  fear death. I am not sure if that is because we worry that death might not come easy and that we might have to suffer for a long period or because it might come so sudden that we are not prepared for it. Or perhaps deep within us there is unspoken fear of the unknown. What happens when we die ?  Will we go to heaven or hell ? Will we be reborn in another form ?

Different religions have differing  views about what happens after death. With a view to ensuring that you live a good decent life in harmony with your friends, fellows, colleagues and strangers, most religions tend to pressure you. Some by the concept of heaven and hell. Others by telling you that you will be re-born, as a person, or some other living form until you live the life in which you do good deeds and  which ultimately  helps you escape the cycle.  

While I understand the need for people to live harmoniously and in a broad sense follow the Ten Commandments or its equivalent in other religions, it is difficult to accept  God as Big Brother or Santa Claus keeping an eye on you twenty four seven , to see if you have been good or bad ? Instead of not  getting presents you get assigned to purgatory and continue to burn for eternity and have the devil sticking his pitchfork into you to turn you over to ensure that you are getting roasted evenly. The other alternative is for you is to be  re-born again and again , sometimes in different forms and continue to  suffer until you rack up all the x's and win the lottery ticket to enlightenment.

If these menu of choices of life after death are indeed true I can picture Stalin  or Mao, or Hitler or Pol Pot  and numerous others in history who were responsible for the death of hundreds of thousand if not millions of people, all meeting their just deserts. However in the case of some of these people, and some still presently living, life before and after death got reversed. Mao and Stalin died in bed. Hitler and Pol Pot are believed to have committed suicide. During their regime people did not have to die, they suffered hell on earth whereas these dictators all lived in  luxury. The victims saw hell and their tormentors saw heaven on earth.

There is  a television show Persons of Interest  which I enjoy seeing,  where a bank of computers through the various CCTV cameras scattered all over the country monitor the citizens. Its complex algorithms are able to predict whether a crime is about to be committed and the star of the show rushes to prevent it. Another variation of that was the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise. If in the future this comes true,  as it has in some other science fiction stories, then hell is going to be a lonely place and heaven running out of space,  because no crimes or by extension sins will be committed.

As a simple layman and not understanding complex theological thoughts, one wonders about the  question of re-birth .Since most religions do not appear to accept the concept of evolution, I wonder how the re-birth theory works out with the ever increasing population. It should  be a zero sum game.

Looking at increasing scientific discoveries being made in terms of cloning if the governments permitted, some scientist will eventually be able to clone human beings. If Dolly the sheep, why not John the human ? Difficult to understand how theological  theory  reconciles with science which is now  in the early stages of growing human organs in laboratories. Presently organ transplant is restricted to taking donated organs replacing non-functioning organs including  the human heart.How does re-birth work here ? In some religions it is the soul which is considered eternal not the physical body. Where does the soul reside ?

As is often been said and written about, no matter what you think about your role in life and even within your family, realistically you will be surprised to find out how quickly you are forgotten. The minute you stop breathing you are no longer  a he or she, you  become a it or the body.

From a personal point of view, if your death comes after a certain age, say over seventy five years, it should be a cause of celebration for two reasons. If your death is sudden and unexpected, what more can you ask for ?You have lived to a good old age of seventy five and you died without suffering. In my mind you are blessed.  On the other hand if you die after a long illness, should the family not be relieved that the suffering has finally ended ?

"Ashes to ashes , dust to dust "  from the Anglican Burial Service is a phrase I have read and seen in movie burial scenes. Having been to some cremations and the immersion of ashes, I am finally beginning to understand the phrase. I am perhaps taking it too literally, but reality hits you when you see a person who is active one day and next day he/she is reduced to a bag of ashes. 

On Growing Old

In a few weeks time I will be sixty five.

Over the last decade I have gone from being middle-aged to senior citizen.My son says I am greying gracefully as my hair is now salt and pepper. Sometimes when I am at a social function and the question of age comes up, I am told that "its hard to believe". I normally take it as a flattering comment. It just occurred to me  that perhaps the person  meant that I look as if I am in my  eighties and was surprised to find out  that I was much younger. I will however give myself the benefit of the doubt and take it as a compliment. This is of course contradicted increasingly by the  forty year old parking car attendant or some similar aged person calling me "uncle ji "  Perhaps when my hair goes all white the I will graduate to "bau ji ".

We were abroad for a long period and  were away from our family.We missed the illnesses, deaths in our families and tended to be more casual about reaching out to friends and relatives.We did not quite appreciate how in India friends and family circle together at time of stress.Over the last few years we are gradually  beginning to see the fading of our parents generation.There have been  a number of deaths in our immediate family. We had relatives and friends who we had not seen for decades and friends with whom we had lost touch with getting in touch and in some cases showing up at the memorial services.This made us realize how lax we have been in terms of maintaining our relationships.

Frequently these days when we get together with friends and cousins,the conversation inevitably  turns to health, illness and similar issues.We exchange notes about specialist doctors-who is good and who to avoid? When the need arises and where we know the practitioner concerned, we make introductions to ensure personal attention is given.

On a more cheerful note since a lot of our friends have children who are working or settled abroad , we travel and share experiences and talk about our children ( and in some cases grandchildren).

 Increasingly we find our friends going off on cruises to the  Artic, Antartic and other exotic places.That has never appealed to me.I dread the cold and the  idea of being cooped up on a boat no matter how big it is , and having to socialize and make small talk to strangers.Even when we are at a social function with a large number of guests I hesitate to go around introducing myself. At my age I am quite contented with the circle of friends I have and do not see the need to network.

Because of my past health problems, I have to be careful about my diet which  is becoming a challenge. Until my early fifties I could walk away from desserts after dinner. Now to say no to a bowl of ice cream or a slice of apple pie, requires a sharp look from my wife. When we are on holiday with the children I often get reminded that  what I am about to eat is not good for me .Woody Allen got it right when he said " You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred ".

 It is interesting how your relationship with your children changes as they become independent and you get older. The roles get equal if not reversed. Instead of me telling my daughter to eat her broccoli I get told that vegetables are good for me and I should finish whats on my plate. I remember a few years ago on a family  holiday we had a discussion about my  need to pay more attention to my diet. We then  went down and I ordered a steak. I got a earful from my son.It was then I realized that roles were starting to change. How the wheel turns.

As I grow older I am reminded of  an incident during my Citibank Hong Kong days when I was in my  mid-twenties.I had just returned from a customer call. My boss asked me" How did it go?"  My response was " It was ok. He was a oldish guy  in his forties ". My boss  who was a natty dresser immediately preened himself and responded " My friend forties is not old ". It is now my turn and  I often quote a line from an article that "sixties is the new forties". After all look at Mick Jagger and Tina Turner, now in the seventies still cavorting wildly  on stage. Watching their performance on television, you fear they might clutch their hearts while the band is playing " another one bites the dust ".

I have to confess I feel no different mentally than when I was in my forties. Physically I might feel a bit tired then when I was younger. Of course this also works to my advantage when I do not  want to go somewhere.The excuse is I am tired or I need to rest. People tend to be understanding. 

A Guatemalan proverb best describes my thoughts on growing old " Everyone is the age of their heart."At heart I am still forty. Now if I could only have a bowl of  Haagen Dazs cookies and cream.