How old is the "concept of India as a country"?

 Possibly a couple of millennia old. And on a much stronger ground compared to most other countries as it is strongly tied to the religion.

Recently I was teaching my 5 year old daughter the basic geography of India. I began with the rivers of the land — Ganga, Yamuna, Kaveri etc. Before I could finish, she immediately caught on as she was taught an ancient mantra from age 1:

गङ्गे च यमुने चैव गोदावरि सरस्वति ।
नर्मदे सिन्धु कावेरि जलेऽस्मिन् संनिधिं कुरु ॥

O Holy Rivers Ganga and Yamuna, and also Godavari and Saraswati,
O Holy Rivers Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri; Please be Present in this Water (and make it Holy).

The geography lesson of what are the largest rivers and biggest mountains became easy as it was ingrained as part of our daily religious worship. Unlike in other major religions and major countries, in India the religion, culture and our identity as a country are deeply intertwined.

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Countries can be defined in terms of politics or through religion/culture and it is latter that last much longer. The Jews could get back to their land after 2000 years as their concept of country transcended politics and etched in religion.

While India is an exonym and doesn’t appear prominently in our local texts, the alternate term “Bharat” appears very prominently in ancient texts. This is an official name of the country used in the Constitution. In our local languages such as Hindi, “Bharat” is the predominant term used for the country.

And the boundaries of Bharat are quite well defined over the millennia that is consistent to this day. Here are the key sites of the country as defined in the ancient epic of Mahabharata.

Every morning across the country the temples begin their prayers worshipping the waters with 7 rivers that defined the land of India to the present day [with just one replacement of Saraswati with Brahmaputra for modern day border adjustment]. Dharmic people in the south include Ganga and Kashi in their prayers while Dharmic people in the north pray to rivers such as Narmada, Kaveri and temples such as Rameswaram.

The largest epic of the country [possibly the longest epic in the world] is the Mahabharata — the story of Bharat. The epic battle in that epic involves kings across the present borders of India.

1400 years ago the great Hindu saint Shankara deeply strengthened the religion and for this he established the key borders. Look at the present borders of India [in Saffron] and how the ancient saint setup his key monasteries.

It is these cultural boundaries and religion that was more relevant for an ordinary person’s life as opposed to what king or landlord to whom you paid taxes to. These were mere administrative entities and not defining your identity. Thus, Dharmic people paid taxes to local kings, Turkic origin Mughals, English company etc at various points of time, but none of those entities really impacted their identity.

While Shankara scaled the Himalayan peaks, he never even attempted to cross the river Sindhu [Indus] or take the boat to nearby Sri Lanka. These were geographically more accessible than the Himalayan peaks, but not culturally relevant for him.

When Shiva worshippers pray to the holiest forms of Shiva, they refer to the 12 key sites that once again define the cultural boundaries of India.

Some zealous Hindus to to the extent of claiming every land near as part of our political geography and this is misguided. The lands to the west or north of present India had very little religious significance for the religion in a long time.

CONCEPT OF EMOTIONLESS INVESTING TOWARDS CREATING EPIC WEALTH

 Live example: Reliance Power a bankrupt company has rallied by 69% in one month.

Retail investors will get lured toward this stock.

Why should a retail investor not think that this bankrupt stock can continue to rally and even rally by another 50% in just the next 15 days?

Such thinking has 0 logic and 0 basis attached to it but it can still happen.

So what should any sensible retail investor do when they see such bankrupt companies rallying magically?

You should do the same BORING, REPETITIVE stuff which giant investors do.

IGNORE such stocks completely.

Continue to buy stocks like TCS, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Pidilite Industries, Page Industries, Bajaj Finance, and Nestle India and continue to secure your future by ensuring that you lose no money either by getting into bankrupt stocks or through overtrading.

All you need to do is to:-

1. Shortlist 8 to 10 sunlight sectors.
2. Sectors like FMCG, IT, Chemicals, and Paints are some Sunlight Sectors.
3. Completely avoid Sunset sectors. Sectors like Airlines, Infra, PSU Banks, Power etc.,
4. Give up on the thrill of penny stocks like Reliance Power, Vodafone Idea, IOB etc.,
5. Then invest with composure in the shortlisted sunlight sectors.
6. Focus on remaining diversified by never putting all your money on just one stock.
7. Focus on creating a long-term eternal portfolio.
8. A portfolio which can happily compound by 15–17% annually for 25 years.
9. This ends all doubts for you. For clues, some stocks are discussed below.
10. Stocks like TCS, Asian Paints, Pidilite, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement etc.,

Finally, one last crucial concept that you need to remember during your investment journey is to never sell in a crash. Never panic, also during the normal investing and holding days focus on reducing your transaction costs. This simply means avoiding selling your good stocks frequently. So, stocks like TCS, Asian Paints, and Bajaj Finance are life shares. They do not deserve to be sold and purchased daily.

BUT

What to do if a good stock crashes by 50% on sudden news?

Be calm. Read. Understand the core issue involved. Then if it genuinely looks ominous leave the stock on every rise. This is a rare possibility. Still, you need to be prepared. If you look at the history and the fundamentals of stocks like TCS, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Pidilite, and Nestle India you will realize that these companies are more than 30 years old. That is why such declines are rare in good stocks but still, one should be prepared.

Let me also assure you that if you select 18 to 20 good stocks and invest in them then you are bound to make money and 1 or 2 stocks not performing well even after all your hard work, diligence and research in portfolio building is a normal thing and a part and parcel of investing. So getting it 100% correct is tough. So, I hope this write-up constructively helps you. I wish you well in your investment journey.

Disclaimers: Views shared are personal. The stocks discussed by me are all a part of my portfolio. Please consult your financial adviser before taking any investment decisions. Take my write-ups for informational and educational purposes only.

ಟೈಮ್‌ ಟ್ರಾವೆಲ್‌ ಮಾಡಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯಾನಾ?

 ಟೈಮ್ ಟ್ರಾವೆಲ್ ಎಂಬುದು ಕಾಲದ ಯಾನವನ್ನು ಸೂಚಿಸುವ ಒಂದು ಕಲ್ಪನೆಯಾಗಿದೆ.

ಪ್ರಾಚೀನ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಗ್ರಂಥಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಲದ ಯಾನದ ವಿವಿಧ ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಗಳಿವೆ, ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ ಮಹಾಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ರೇವತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಬಲರಾಮನ ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಲದ ಸಾಪೇಕ್ಷತೆಯ ವಿವರಣೆಯಿದೆ.

ಆಧುನಿಕ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನದಲ್ಲಿ, ಸಾಪೇಕ್ಷತಾ ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತ ಮತ್ತು ಕ್ವಾಂಟಮ್ ಮೆಕಾನಿಕ್ಸ್ ನಂತಹ ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತಗಳು ಕಾಲದ ಯಾನದ ಸಾಧ್ಯತೆಗಳನ್ನು ತೆರೆದಿಡುತ್ತವೆ, ಆದರೆ ಇದು ಇನ್ನೂ ಸಾಕಾರಗೊಳ್ಳದ ಕನಸಾಗಿದೆ.

ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ಕಾಲದ ಯಾನವನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸಲು ಅನೇಕ ಪ್ರಯೋಗಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ, ಆದರೆ ಅದು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುವ ತನಕ ಅದು ಕೇವಲ ಕಲ್ಪನೆಯಾಗಿಯೇ ಉಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ.

ನಾವು ಕಾಲದ ಯಾನದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಕಲ್ಪನೆ ಮಾಡುವಾಗ, ಅದು ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಯ ಹೊಸ ಹಂತಗಳನ್ನು ತೆರೆಯಬಹುದು ಮತ್ತು ನಮ್ಮ ಜ್ಞಾನದ ಗಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ವಿಸ್ತರಿಸಬಹುದು.