Vantage point




Friday, September 12, 2003

HOW TO MAKE A GREAT CAREER IN FINANCE?

This happened last week during endterms. All my elective exams got over before my other friends since I didn't have a single finance subject. So the morning of the toughest Fin exam of the term - "Investment Management"(IM), I ambled into the mess for a luxurious breakfast. there I met Kanishka, a hardcore Fin guy, and Ashish, whose electives I wasn't very sure of. The following dialogue ensued -
(Disclaimer - This was just a frivolous leg-pulling session and does not reflect my true views on finance electives or what it takes to make it big in the stock market.)

Me: So Kanishka, ready for IM?
Kanishka: (nodding) Still studying.
Me: And you, Ashish?
Ashish: No, no, I don't have IM. I am a hardcore marketing guy.
Kanishka: (derisively) Ashish and IM? Hahh.
A: Hey, anyway, those finance subjects are useless.

Now he had touched upon my favourite source of breakfast-table humour, and I launched into a monologue

Me: Yeah, what use are these fin subjects? Investment management and all that bullshit! This may be applicable in the American markets and all.....that too is doubtful nowadays. This is all just theory. In India what matters is whether you know when the next artificially induced bull-run is going to be. You need to know someone like Harshad Mehta or Ketan Parekh on a speed-dial basis. That is all that will help you make it big in the Indian financial world. Contacts with biggies like them is the only factor.

Ashish was nodding and smiling while Kanishka had a very disapproving look on his face. This firther spurred me on...

Me: In fact you Kanishka, instead of those 10 electives that the Finance Department here offers, we should have only 1 elective, cos only that elective will be useful in the fin world.
K: And what would that fin elective be?
Me: Gujarati! :-P

Even the usually stony faced Kanishka started laughing.