bull...bull...everywhere!


just a few days back i met my wife's distant relative in a social function. we generally talked about things and also about share market. of course, it is the most common topic of discussion these days, in the cirlces that i interact with. just before he left the place, he came to me as if he wanted to share a secret. very secretively, he told me "buy reliance infra and sahara housing. the profit is yours and the loss is mine."
i was kinda amused by the way he so confidently told me what he did. in that one passing statement he made to me, he also unknowingly announced to me that 'i am yet another bull in this already bullish market'.
for the uninitiated, the stock market in india is at an all time high. its been on an unstoppable upward march for the past 2+ years. with every new milestone that the market reaches, there is anxiety and also a scare on the thought of when will the fall come.
the silly...really silly part of this mad bull run is that every lay man on the street has a tip or two to give you. and mind you, we are not just talking about any tips that will give you healthy returns of 20-30%. we're talking about tips that will give you unimaginable returns of 200-300% atleast!
the thing that's been scaring me off late is that these tips are actually coming true. now the one who gave the tip must have got it from someone else who also must have got it from some lay person and so on. the bad part of this mad bull run is that everyone is ready to bet much more their fortunes on the market. they see stellar returns with a stock or two, get totally excited and invest even more than they earned in another stock.
a lot of these small time investors (ranging from big businessmen to employeed folks to students in college) are completely sidelining their main profession and are making this 'baseless betting' their bread and butter. they are spending most of their times talking to people, collecting tips, creating demat accounts and filling up forms for ipo's. i have to confess that folks in my family are a part of this mad race too. i hear more and more people telling me these days that they've made stock market their primary source of income.
though we're all loving it right now, do we really have a plan b? probably not! you know, i would always tell myself when i went to vegas - no matter what, in the end, the casino always wins! the way things are going in india right now, it almost makes me fear that the casino might just end up winning in the end. it will be a pity if the common man would have to be on the losing side.

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