Everyone has heard of the stock market but only a few know how it really works. In the current era of stock markets and cryptocurrency, it is important for individual understands the fundamentals of finance. To facilitate this, the Economics & Finance Society of Manipal organized their first event of the semester, Stock Meets, on 17th September 2018, at the M.V. Seminar Hall.

The event began with a video clip which showed the lack of knowledge that students in MIT had about basic finance and the stock market. In the video, two members of ESoM were interviewing students on their knowledge of the stock market. This was then followed by a clip which depicted the theme of the evening. It revolved around a child who routinely saved money to buy a telescope, only to realize that its price had shot up by the end of the month. This introduced the audience to the crux of the day’s talk—start investing your money.

Image Credits: The Photography Club, Manipal

The first speaker, Shubham, started off by giving a basic example of how investing money is a better alternative to saving money. He spoke about the effects of inflation and how money needs to be invested in places where it grows. This introduction led to a very important question—where should we invest our money? While making investments may seem simple, the difficult part of being an investor is choosing between what one wants and what one needs. The speaker gave an example of how Symphony Ltd. stocks worth one lakh in 2005 went on to be worth ten crore rupees in 2015. The main purpose was to compare the difference in interests of a savings bank account and the stock market. To explain the fundamentals of the stock market, the speaker decided to engage the audience by sharing his own experience. He focused on concepts such as primary and secondary markets, angel investors, and venture capitalists.

The second speaker, Abhinav, delved deeper into the various factors which affect stock markets. The core concepts of demand and supply, equilibrium, and stock exchange were introduced. The speaker provided further insight into different types of trading and brokers while giving examples for each of them.

Image Credits: The Photography Club, Manipal

These concepts were further analysed by the third speaker, Karthik, whose talk focused on the technical terminology of the stock market. The definitions of terms such as Sensex, Nifty, and dividends were explained. The speaker also advised the audience to have a proper portfolio by investing money wisely into different companies. The main objective was to never put all your eggs in a single basket so as to reduce the risk of losing money and can lead to higher rates of return.

The final speaker of the day ended with a very important discussion on investment strategy. Different types of investments were explained along with various possible scenarios of each investment. The talk came to an end with the speaker mentioning the precautions one needs to take before entering the world of stock markets. Real life examples such as the 2008 stock market crash and the Harshad Mehta scam helped the audience get a better understanding of the dangers. The talk concluded with a famous quote by Warren Buffet, “Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.”

Image Credits: The Photography Club, Manipal

The talks were extremely informative and provided the audience with a better understanding of the basics of the stock market. Real life scenarios helped to make concepts more relatable to the audience. “The talks were great for understanding the basics of the stock market. For someone who has prior knowledge of the stock market, the talks weren’t of much help. But for someone who wanted to understand the fundamentals of the market, the event was rewarding,” said Jude Fernandes, one of the audience members.

Featured Image by The Photography Club, Manipal

In what are believed to be the worst floods in Kerala since 1924, hundreds were left dead and thousands more rendered homeless in late July 2018. Former District Collector of Kozhikode and current Deputy Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Prasanth Nair, and his group of volunteers were some of the thousands who helped out with the rescue operations. Speaking at the venue of the National Conference on Youth in Social Change—at which he was a panellist—on Sunday, Prasanth Nair addressed media bodies and later in the day, the general public on this and other topics.

Prasanth Nair first addressed media bodies on issues ranging from his social welfare programs, his online presence, and the Kerala floods. Nair, the founder of the Compassionate Kozhikode initiative, is known for pioneering the use of social media to address various issues of the public as a District Collector. During his tenure, he has initialised various programs like the District Collector’s Internship program, Kozhipedia, Legends of Kozhikode, and the well-received Operation Suleimani. His dedication and connect with the people have won him the title of Collector Bro in the district.

The forum for discussion opened with Prasant Nair sharing his experience with the Facebook page Collector Kozhikode, that was used by the administration to engage with the public. He holds the conviction that communication is not one-way, or for that matter, even two-way, but gets initialised in a forum of numerous people. He differentiated engagement with publicity, saying that the aim was not to get a huge crowd to like the page. Complaints and grievances are received and looked onto here. Rather than pictures of the collector or fancy ceremonies, the posts on this page are a call for action. The page bridges the gap between government and the governed by offering the civil society opportunities to step in when in need of some paraphernalia or during budget constraints.

Talking about the recent floods in Kerala, Prasanth Nair gave a few insights into disaster management. He mentioned that under a new initiative of Compassionate Kerala as part of the relief operations, they were aiming to re-establish the lives of ten thousand flood-affected families. So far, about seven hundred people have signed up for the program, with two crore rupees committed by the public. Nair also mentioned the youth who have actively volunteered for Kerala, taking over the backend operations like tracing locations and work at BPOs. He’d had teams of volunteers from various universities, including ones in Manipal. For instance, SOS call centres in Kerala saw more than four hundred students from Amrita University itself.

Later in the evening, in a session open to the public, Prasanth Nair addressed an interactive session, talking about his experience of the rescue operations in Kerala and offering advice on how we, as citizens, can contribute.

The session began with Nair posing a question to the audience—how could someone sitting in an office in the city rescue someone stranded in the floods? He answered the question by elaborating on the setting up of call-centres in Chennai and the less affected parts of Kerala. The call-centres entertained any details related to possible evacuations, which helped smoothen rescue operations.  The main objective was to remove duplication of data and get proper documentation of people trapped in different places.

Image Courtesy: Compassionate Kerala

During the conference, Nair took questions from the audience about his experience during the rescue operation. He answered queries on how his team had worked with the local administration on forwarding the distress calls to the Navy. He also spoke about the importance of technology during times of distress. Google Sheets was a widely used tool by the volunteers to keep a track of all the rescue operations. They also formed a group of Navy wives and sisters who sent distress calls to concerned officers. He addressed the importance of social media and technology during times of trouble.

During the course of the session, Prasanth Nair spoke about the various unnerving scenes during the rescue operations. The first anecdote narrated started with a bleeding pregnant woman marooned in the floods with what seemed like no hope for help. Upset and thoroughly dejected, the team had given up hope. However, they woke to the news of the possibility of rescuing the lady, who had managed to survive the night. The operation was successful and the woman and the newborn were both safe and healthy.

While this narrative began in a morose way and ended on a happy note, another incident took the opposite arc. Prasanth Nair’s team had been in constant touch with a man who was stuck in his house with no cause for panic and was hoping to be rescued soon. After a brief loss of communication ended, however,  the team was shocked to discover that the man no longer wanted to be rescued, having just witnessed his wife and children drown in front of him. Through these instances, Prasanth Nair put into perspective the magnitude of the disaster and shone a light on the sheer effort that goes into rescue operations, emphasising the effort made by the rescuers and the emotions involved.

Featured Image: The Photography Club, Manipal

The metaphor ‘paradise’ does not do justice to the beauty that is Kashmir—one of the most popular and scenic tourist destinations in India. There is so much more to this spectacle of nature than its post-card perfect landscapes. Although the state has unfortunately become a tale of tragedies owing to border issues, rising militancy, and mutiny, it still continues to attract tourists from all over the world because of its serenity, beauty, and warmth. Verdant valleys, sylvan landscapes, and snow-clad mountains are truly what makes Kashmir as beautiful as the tales of yore.

View of the mountains from the Dal

Dal

The second largest lake in the state is the highlight Kashmir vacation. Dal Lake is a misnomer as Dal essentially means lake. Though the city boasts of two other water bodies, namely the Jhelum Lake and Nagin Lake, Dal is unmatched in terms of beauty. The lake also provides the tourists to experience the rare opportunity of staying in a houseboat. Other astonishing features of this lake include a Floating market and a Floating Post Office.  The ride in the Shikara, around the lake, left us in a state of calmness and tranquillity.

Shikara ride on the lake is a popular tourist attraction

Gulmarg

Gulmarg, translating to a meadow of flowers, is situated at a height of 14,000 feet above sea level. A three-hour drive away from the state’s summer capital, the tourist hotspot of Kashmir boasts of one of the highest Gondola trolleys in the world, which is at a height of 6000 feet above sea level. The ten-minute ride in the Gondola gives tourists a bird’s eye view of the breathtaking Srinagar valley. Consisting of two levels, the second level gives the tourists a view of the snow-capped mountains and spotless snow around them. While speaking to the manager of our hotel, he told us that in the winters, Gulmarg witnesses torrential snowfall and a deposit of 40 feet of snow in January. Despite this climatic severity, Gulmarg boasts of the highest golf course in the world, situated at an altitude of 2,650m.

The Gondola trolley at Gulmarg is one of the highest in the world

Pahalgam

Pahalgam, which literally means Shepherd’s village, is a quiet little village serving as the base camp for the Amarnath journey. The route to Pahalgam itself is absolutely breathtaking, with lush green open fields and the beautiful river Chenab. There are a lot of places to visit around Pahalgam valley. One of the main destinations is Baisaran, which requires tourists to travel for two hours on horses. It is a lush green patch of grass on top of a hill amidst the woods. The stunning view from the hilltop has earned Pahalgam the title of mini Switzerland. Other places of attraction include Aru Valley, Betaab Valley—named after the Bollywood movie shot here—and Chandanwari, where a glacier melts into a river.

Baisaran – also known as mini Switzerland, Pahalgam

Sonmarg

Roughly translating to ‘meadow of gold’, Sonmarg has snowy mountains against a backdrop of cerulean sky. Surrounded by snow-clad mountains, a river bank, and an endless road vanishing into the mountains, Sonmarg is truly the highlight of one’s trip to Kashmir, purely because of the picture perfect landscape. Sonmarg is metaphorically named as the snow gleams like gold when the sunlight hit the surface. The trek to the vast glacier, though not for the faint-hearted, is an option worth considering. Trekking begins at Chandan wari, goes alongside River Lidder, with the highlight of the trek being the Kalohi Glacier.

Snow-capped mountains at Sonmarg

Mughal Gardens

The Mughal Gardens were built by the Mughals in the 17^th Century in Persian style architecture. Chashme Shahi, Nishat Garden, and Shalimar Bagh, the three famous Mughal Gardens are built in the form of terraces, with mini waterfalls, along with a channel to the Dal lake with beautiful flower beds spread all over the garden. With ancient Chinar trees and flowers so outrageously beautiful and colourful, the gardens are a must visit for every traveller.

Nishat Garden

Of Kashmir, it was rightly said “Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast” or “If there be a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.” From the Mughal emperors to Led Zeppelin, the most turbulent and politically charged state in India is deservedly romanticised and has made its way into popular culture. We, collectively as Indians, pray for a better future—to preserve the sanctity and beauty of this paradise situated in the laps of the Himalayas.