Economics of Relationships

Before you read further let me make a disclaimer! The text written below has multiple connotations, interpretations and significance which would vary at an individual level. It might appear to be the stupidest thought to a few, wacky to some and geeky to most people. And there might be a small section of people who understand something of game theory and probably would be able to understand the pervasiveness of economics and its application not only in business but also in personal life.
But as usual it doesn’t offer any solution to the problem. It identifies it and goes deep into the rational of why the problem arises at the first place. Probably identification is the first step towards reaching a solution.
At the same time it also deals with the rationale of the irrationality of the so called rational human behavior.
It tries to understand why some good people remain unhappy in relationships while many not so good people are found to be much happier and relaxed.
Let’s first understand the application of game theory in the world of relationships and seek an answer to the observed behavior of people around us.




Now in the above matrix, if one out of the two is not serious, while the other is the resulting pay off is highly unfavorable to the one who is serious. This is very evident and self explanatory. It’s always the one who is serious and gets dumped cries, while the other partner after having all the fun and frolic moves ahead. Now as a logical human behavior both partners should be serious and committed to each other to attain maximum satisfaction and utility. In economic terms both being serious should have been the “Desired Equilibrium”
However here lies the catch and a proof that the behavior of people might not be always rational and there will be various occasions when they settle for the 2nd best optimal solution rather than the best available opportunity.
In this case there is an intrinsic fear in both the partners that if the latter is not serious, the former would have to pay a heavy price. And hence both of them end up being not so serious in their relationship. This leaves them with no real gains and utility.
We all know that the best utility ad highest level of satisfaction would have been achieved only when both the partners are serious and that is the ideal and rational expected behavior. However the application of game theory helps us understand the irrationality in the otherwise rational human behavior.
Thus we see how pervasive Economics as a discipline is. For all those who have no background in economics this was possibly the easiest explanation of the application of game theory in our everyday human life.
This is what I call as “Economics of Relationships”

P.S. The origin of thought came after I saw Aanand Ji devastated... :P

A moment of Humour and smile

Yesterday evening when I was laughing my heart out as i listened to the jokes in a stand up comedy by Cyrus (the MTv guy), there were a lot of things which flashed at the back of my mind which i didn’t realize it then. But now on a lazy Sunday afternoon, where luckily i am not expected to read anything remotely connected to finance, I realize everyone had a different interpretation while bursting out into laughter; yet the common thing is all of them came there to have a time off from their otherwise monotonous schedule.

There were lawyers who wanted to listen to something really creepy other than the “order order” and there were doctors who desired to something other than blood and pain. Then there were a lot of lovely couples who could finally take time for each other, and as they held hands while listening to the puns of Cyrus I could see a couple of celebrities too who were totally having a good time without anyone around pestering them to by asking all sorts of stupid irritating questions. And then there were students like us who wanted a total stress buster and luckily were at the right place at the right time.

Just as diverse as the kind of people were the reactions of each of them... with every double meaning joke he cracked. While a few so called sophisticated people tried hard from laughing too loud, the group of young girls and boys almost roared with laughter. But this was quite expected. What was more interesting was how a few ladies almost in their late sixties at time burst into a kind of squeaky laughter and the way a few old men almost guffawed. On some occasions with the typical bedroom jokes, while d oldies couples tried reminiscencing their good old days; the newly formed couples probably anticipated an intimate passionate moments in next few hours. Atleast I would have, had I found my better half

Humour certainly is an integral part of life and probably these people do a great job by externally adding some of it in our lives, which at times gets so cluttered and messed up with our visions, goals and gruesome schedule. Overall it was a good experience and after a long time I could actually see some really beautiful girls after getting stuck in Ghatkopar. Just let’s hope we keep up the light of humour alive in our lives and relationships and someone righty says “We all smile in the same language “ So keep smiling and the world around will look more beautiful and wonderful than ever.
-Sriram

Random Thoughts

Life is so strange full of surprises
And equally strange are the thoughts
They keep coming and going
And like the Mumbai rains... always catches me unaware

Sometimes it brings a smile so subtle and unnoticed
Yet makes people around me wonder
While at times it kills those same smiles in the bud
And yet again makes people around wonder

Random thoughts are often so irrational
They have neither logic nor a flow
And leave no trace of where did it
at the first place come from

A few minutes back I was so much
Into the world of options and futures
And moments later here I am
Drowned into an all together different world

But the best and the worst part is
I do not know what I have been thinking all along
It’s just that a thought came and made me smile
And the other one, cry

-Sriram

An Incomplete poem... I didnt wanna finish

I sit in a dark room
All alone in a gloom
And as i look outside the window when the night is in the full
I feel so much woeful

I listen to the soft tunes of old classics
And every line of it seems to give me kicks
Ears are so filled with the melancholy
So are my eyes drowned in complete silence

I don’t sleep for more than a few hours
Thinking about her I spend hours
And as I look at those stills
It seems as if life lacks all the frills

I wonder how life would have been
Had she been there with me today
Possibly I would be wring a love note for her
Instead of this moron text

We may not get back ever again
We can never walk together on a lane
But still there’s something I don’t know about
And it makes me go back to the forbidden zone

A few unanswered questions

When you travel alone on the streets of Mumbai and especially during office hours, even a 15 minutes travel converts into an hour and a half because of the incessant irritating traffic. Often under such scenario I end up having a shirt nap or taking to the auto driver. Most of them are the usual boring ones but sometimes I have come across people who really are different from the marching crowd of vagabonds and cheaters.
A few months back I met a driver who was a graduate and worked with reliance as a sales manager drawing some 30,000 per month. And when I asked him the rationale for his night shift as an auto driver, he gave a simple plain reply; money. Of course he worked that extra bit to earn money. How could I be so dumb in not interpreting that myself? Possibly because I completely blew out of water knowing that even a person earning this amount has to drive to earn that extra buck in order to meet his family demands. Not that I was aghast because I consider driving a menial job but I was more than surprised at the level of determination and commitment he has towards his success. I could only visualize his daily schedule and the amount of allegiance he maintains to his goals and ambitions. And on the second though I realized do I also have that kind of passion to get to the top. Do I have that guts in me to take up whatever I get in a short term and sacrifice my comforts in order to secure the future. I guess not to the tune of what that man possess. Last time when I heard a person needs to work from 8 to 8 in a dealing room I almost thought not to go in that field. I could probably think on those lines because I have someone to fall upon if needed. But then I realized, it’s not the way I can afford to be.
Yesterday again I met a driver who couldn’t complete his education because of his family commitments and does not loot his customers because of his moral principles. He tries to save a mere 300 to 500 everyday which goes into the family of 4. So no savings for him! And inspite of these entire circumstances, he never complains about his state of life or blames the corrupt system around. Probably he is a stalwart believer in the goodness of the almighty. After listening to his story where in I couldn’t find any remorse and knowing his value system I could help questioning myself and people around me on a number of issues.
Where do we stand on these grounds of moral principles?
Where do we find ourselves in appreciating what we can gain instead of endless cribbing about the system?
And for those of us like me who feel it’s important to be a critic have ever tried to move towards a position where in they could possibly bring about all the changes they talk about?
Where do we see ourselves without the support of our parents?
Where do we rate ourselves in terms of the amount of patience and belief in the goodness of the great God?
Where do I find my knowledge of economics helping them increase his standard of life?
How many of us have actually ever thought about people not so fortunate like us and come up with a sustainable solution? Or at least even tried to work towards that!
Where do I find my MBA education useful to these people in even a slightest of manner?
Or to go deeper, how does my overall education help in ameliorating the lives of millions of piteous around who don’t even have the very basics of their life?
It’s not that these are the questions which come once in a while and fade away like the colour of a shirt bought from a venal seller. Some of these unanswered questions have troubled me not since a year or two but right from the day I first spoke in my school long back. The dubiousness of my mind is a chronic issue. And till the time I don’t find one for myself, I don’t have a right to question anyone else.
But I do hope I will find an answer to all of it or at least some of it in my lifetime. And now that I have nothing to say I can think of just those few lines which have impacted my thought process more than significantly
“Our ingress into the world was fun and fare
Our progress in the word is troubles and care
Our egress from the world would be nobody knows where
But if we do well here, with care
We will do well there “

Beautiful loneliness

I look out of my window
Mellowly into the far sky
I am happy for there is no one to disturb me
In a hostel so full of lonely melancholies

The horizon is like a bright orange
With shades of pinked hue
Hills on other end seem like a mirage
And I keep gazing as if stuck with glue

The birds are flying back in groups
But to me they seem like a bunch of elegant shadows
The lights across the roads have started flickering
And as the darkness takes over the little squirrels start quivering

Down the lanes and the small patch of neatly cut grasses
I see people walking to the tunes of their life
There are both the old and the young
Accompanied by women and children big and small

While the old, stroll spreading calmness all around
And the couples saunter, creating an aroma of romance and synergy
A young men few take strides burning their calories and pound
As the small children hop around disseminating energy

Slowly I could see none of it
Only their sounds and energy traveled across me
And as the sun set on the distance so far
Those flickering lights took over the hued sky

Suddenly I hear a commotion on my floor
With people coming back to the hostel
And I am forced to come out of that beautiful moment
With a loud knock on my door

It took me an year to realize the beauty around
But i am happy to have felt it today; and as I opened the door of my room
I realized that sometimes loneliness brings us closer
And intimate to a lot of other beautiful things around

---Sriram

Status message

A few minutes back I saw my friend completely engrossed in something over internet. It was nothing new but still this time he seemed to be trying to concentrate and come up with some new ideas, I guess. I didn’t want to disturb him. So I just waited patiently. After I could hold no more, I peeped into what he was doing with no bad intentions. And guess what! He was surfing to find some humorous messages. Till now everything seems pretty normal. Isn’t it?
Well then hold on. This message search wasn’t for an add or a concept development as I actually initially thought it to be. It was exclusively for putting it on the gtak status message.
Can you believe it? An exhaustive surfing done to find a good message to be displayed on the G talk!!! Well don’t be surprised. The effort is not just unidirectional. There are equally energetic people who read those status messages and even initiate a chat on those lines.
I was wondering what all possible uses people make of this thing. I will start from my own. Whenever I add a new post on my blog I update it on my status message. If I feel very happy or very melancholous I again write something in indication to that on my status message. Sometimes i also tend to get a little philosophical and so end up writing some heavy statements (mostly picked up from some great source)
Many people write great quotes as per their personality. It ranges from being academic to pun intended and from lively to dark humor.
Currently most people have their status message inspired from “ kamene” with s being replaced with f and this is getting truly very viral.
One my friend and his love indulge in online romance through gtak status message!!! (I know he might screw me for this. but couldn't help mentioning this.) After all this is one of the sweetest uses of status message i have seen till now.
But off late the best use of this has been made by the students of PGA @ SIMSR.
Every controversy in class is communicated in a very subtle manner through gtak status msg. There have been numerous instances where everyone in the class came up with a common status message for a specific person. And that poor targeted creature could do nothing but sigh. And no one is spared in this.
And as I complete this and post this, my status message would also be “blog updated”. And why not? After all it’s all about using the resources we have, at our discretion.