Vedhika has turned 3!

It’s true!!!

Vedhika has turned THREE yesterday (08-Dec-2008). The days are running. As we had in the past two years this year also we had a great grand birthday party in Solihull Golf Centre on 6th of Dec 2008 (Vedhika’s Star Birthday). Almost everyone attended the party whom we have invited except a few due to unavoidable circumstances.

The hall was ready at 6.00pm decorated by Ramesh and Raj with the help of Subbu. This time we decided to go with the butterfly themed party. So right from the door curtain to the backdrop banner for cake cutting Veebha took time and managed to buy everything with butterfly on it. The food arrived almost at the same time (served by Jimmy Spices restaurant). I will explain about the menu later with some photographs.

Veebha gorgeously dressed in her saree and Vedhika in her beautiful birthday frock have reached the party hall at 6.30pm with Nelapatla family (Murali, Radhika and Shreya). Siva, Lavanya and Trisa were already with me to receive them. I took a quick break to get myself dressed with my new pyjama and kurti (Veebha said it suited me well). The added advantage to the hall is the audio and speaker system. We have managed to play some Tamil songs in the background. Lavanya and Siva managed to bring some cds to play on last minute request.

People started coming in at around 7.00pm. Yes I would definitely want to list everyone who have come and graced the occasion and in no particular order.

Madhu, Siva, Lavanya, Ramesh, Jayashree, Jayashree’s Mom and Dad, Sibi, Sangeetha, Radhika, Murali, Ashok, Preethi, Ashok’s Mom and Dad, Giri, Raj, Bhavani Prasad, Chandra Sekhar, Srinivas Tati, Madhavan, Viji, Prabhakar, Pradha, Rukmani, Guru, Manju, Subbu and Yogi.

On the kids front
Trisa, Prahalad, Aravind, Sahas, Nithilan, Guru’s Son, Shreya, Vishal and Nitin Aarya.

Vedhika was excited for the cake cut and the three butterfly shaped candles on the pineapple flavoured cake were blown out by Vedhika at around 7.45pm. We were able to feel that Vedhika was enjoying the party when every one sung Happy Birthday song. When the guests were enjoying their piece of cake with chips, myself and Veebha managed to take snaps with everyone except some who attended the party.

There should be some dance performance when Veebha and Lavanya are in a party. They managed to gather everyone (mostly ladies) in the middle for some good dance. As a couple Subbu and Yogi gave their special performance to add some extra fun. Everyone had a gala time.

We managed to start the dinner at around 8.15pm. Here comes the menu

Onion Pakora , Dahi Balle, Cucumber and Carrot Salad, Nan, Dal Makhani, Aalo Gobi, Vegetable Biriyani, Chocolate Brownie, Carrot Halwa and Vanilla Ice-Cream.

The birthday girl Vedhika was enjoying the whole evening with ice-cream and was busy opening all her birthday gifts on the spot.

We would like to thank each and everyone who made us remember the day. The fun filled evening came to an end at around 10.30pm.

I know the 4th Birthday Party of Vedhika is just 364 days away…….

Veebha's Golu 2008

It is really tough to achieve something in a place where you have very less amount of resource. Yes...One of those tough tasks in UK is to get good traditional dolls (gollu bommai) for Navartri (Dussera).

But Veebha has wisely managed to get these dolls from India to have a nice traditional Navaratri from last year (2007). This year it is really great and well organized. Hope the snap will explain the traditionalism of the Golu in our house. Veebha has made us proud by organizing such a special Navaratri.

Almost everyone visited our house,praising Veebha for such a special effort.

Of course yes… 9 different sundals (dish made out of lentils) for 9 days.

Veebha…Keep Going… Keep Up the Great Work

One special mention here about our little princess Vedhika who helped Veebha a lot to maintain the show going for the entire 9 days without any disturbance. Thanks Vedhika

WOW!! What a final to watch

Nadal Vs Federer, the final of the wimbledon gentleman singles final (6-4 6-4 7-6 7-6 9-7). After two interruptions due to rain the match ended in favor of Nadal. What a tough fight between the No1 seed(Federer) and the No2 seed(Nadal). I was expecting Federer to win the match for 6 in a row. But the macho man did not want to loose the change and finally he took the cup back home to Spain.

Champions Cup Final

After a long time watched a football match yesterday(21-May-2008) between two tough teams ManU and Chelsea . Champions club final held in Moscow. After a tough fight the full time score was 1:1. Extra time did not fetch them any goals and no result. So on the penalty shootout ManU lifted the trophy 6:5. A match to watch.

Our Own Website

Atlast the time has come for a new website for my family. I am working the development of the website which will be launched shortly. Will update the website URL once it is up.

C U Soon...

BSE30 Index Calculation

Couple of days before I read an article in rediff.com about the calculation of the BSE30 index figure. Just want to share with all who are interested in the share market.

For the premier Bombay Stock Exchange that pioneered the stock broking activity in India, 128 years of experience seems to be a proud milestone. A lot has changed since 1875 when 318 persons became members of what today is called The Stock Exchange, Mumbai by paying a princely amount of Re 1.
Since then, the country's capital markets have passed through both good and bad periods. The journey in the 20th century has not been an easy one. Till the decade of eighties, there was no scale to measure the ups and downs in the Indian stock market. The Stock Exchange, Mumbai in 1986 came out with a stock index that subsequently became the barometer of the Indian stock market.
Sensex is not only scientifically designed but also based on globally accepted construction and review methodology. First compiled in 1986, Sensex is a basket of 30 constituent stocks representing a sample of large, liquid and representative companies. The base year of Sensex is 1978-79 and the base value is 100. The index is widely reported in both domestic and international markets through print as well as electronic media.
The Index was initially calculated based on the "Full Market Capitalization" methodology but was shifted to the free-float methodology with effect from September 1, 2003. The "Free-float Market Capitalization" methodology of index construction is regarded as an industry best practice globally. All major index providers like MSCI, FTSE, STOXX, S&P and Dow Jones use the Free-float methodology. (See below: Explanation with an example)
Due to is wide acceptance amongst the Indian investors; Sensex is regarded to be the pulse of the Indian stock market. As the oldest index in the country, it provides the time series data over a fairly long period of time (From 1979 onwards). Small wonder, the Sensex has over the years become one of the most prominent brands in the country.
The growth of equity markets in India has been phenomenal in the decade gone by. Right from early nineties the stock market witnessed heightened activity in terms of various bull and bear runs. The Sensex captured all these events in the most judicial manner. One can identify the booms and busts of the Indian stock market through Sensex.Sensex Calculation Methodology
Sensex is calculated using the "Free-float Market Capitalization" methodology. As per this methodology, the level of index at any point of time reflects the Free-float market value of 30 component stocks relative to a base period. The market capitalization of a company is determined by multiplying the price of its stock by the number of shares issued by the company. This market capitalization is further multiplied by the free-float factor to determine the free-float market capitalization.
The base period of Sensex is 1978-79 and the base value is 100 index points. This is often indicated by the notation 1978-79=100. The calculation of Sensex involves dividing the Free-float market capitalization of 30 companies in the Index by a number called the Index Divisor. The Divisor is the only link to the original base period value of the Sensex. It keeps the Index comparable over time and is the adjustment point for all Index adjustments arising out of corporate actions, replacement of scrips etc. During market hours, prices of the index scrips, at which latest trades are executed, are used by the trading system to calculate Sensex every 15 seconds and disseminated in real time.
Dollex-30
BSE also calculates a dollar-linked version of Sensex and historical values of this index are available since its inception.
Understanding Free-float Methodology
Free-float Methodology refers to an index construction methodology that takes into consideration only the free-float market capitalisation of a company for the purpose of index calculation and assigning weight to stocks in Index. Free-float market capitalization is defined as that proportion of total shares issued by the company that are readily available for trading in the market.
It generally excludes promoters' holding, government holding, strategic holding and other locked-in shares that will not come to the market for trading in the normal course. In other words, the market capitalization of each company in a Free-float index is reduced to the extent of its readily available shares in the market.
In India, BSE pioneered the concept of Free-float by launching BSE TECk in July 2001 and Bankex in June 2003. While BSE TECk Index is a TMT benchmark, Bankex is positioned as a benchmark for the banking sector stocks. Sensex becomes the third index in India to be based on the globally accepted Free-float Methodology.

Example (provided by rediff.com reader Munish Oberoi):
Suppose the Index consists of only 2 stocks: Stock A and Stock B.Suppose company A has 1,000 shares in total, of which 200 are held by the promoters, so that only 800 shares are available for trading to the general public. These 800 shares are the so-called 'free-floating' shares.Similarly, company B has 2,000 shares in total, of which 1,000 are held by the promoters and the rest 1,000 are free-floating.Now suppose the current market price of stock A is Rs 120. Thus, the 'total' market capitalisation of company A is Rs 120,000 (1,000 x 120), but its free-float market capitalisation is Rs 96,000 (800 x 120).Similarly, suppose the current market price of stock B is Rs 200. The total market capitalisation of company B will thus be Rs 400,000 (2,000 x 200), but its free-float market cap is only Rs 200,000 (1,000 x 200).So as of today the market capitalisation of the index (i.e. stocks A and B) is Rs 520,000 (Rs 120,000 + Rs 400,000); while the free-float market capitalisation of the index is Rs 296,000. (Rs 96,000 + Rs 200,000).The year 1978-79 is considered the base year of the index with a value set to 100. What this means is that suppose at that time the market capitalisation of the stocks that comprised the index then was, say, 60,000 (remember at that time there may have been some other stocks in the index, not A and B, but that does not matter), then we assume that an index market cap of 60,000 is equal to an index-value of 100.Thus the value of the index today is = 296,000 x 100/60,000 = 493.33This is how the Sensex is calculated.The factor 100/60000 is called index divisor.

The 30 Sensex stocks are:ACC, Ambuja Cements, Bajaj Auto [Get Quote], BHEL, Bharti Airtel [Get Quote], Cipla, DLF, Grasim Industries [Get Quote], HDFC [Get Quote], HDFC Bank, Hindalco Industries [Get Quote], Hindustan Lever [Get Quote], ICICI Bank [Get Quote], Infosys [Get Quote], ITC, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Udyog [Get Quote], NTPC, ONGC [Get Quote], Ranbaxy Laboratories [Get Quote], Reliance Communications [Get Quote], Reliance Energy [Get Quote], Reliance Industries [Get Quote], Satyam Computer Services [Get Quote], State Bank of India [Get Quote], Tata Consultancy Services [Get Quote], Tata Motors [Get Quote], Tata Steel [Get Quote], and Wipro [Get Quote].

In layman's terms:
Suppose Sensex consists of only 2 stocks: A and B
Total number of shares of the company A = 1000
Number of shares of company A held by its promoters = 200
Number of "free-floating" shares of company A = 1000 - 200 = 800
Current market price of stock A = Rs. 120
Current Total Market Capitalization of company A = 1000 * 120 = Rs. 120,000Current "Free-float" Market Capitalization of company A = 800 * 120 = Rs. 96,000

Total number of shares of the company B = 2000
Number of shares of company B held by its promoters = 1000
Number of "free-floating" shares of company B = 2000 - 1000 = 1000
Current market price of stock B = Rs. 200
Current Total Market Capitalization of company B = 2000 * 200 = Rs. 400,000Current "Free-float" Market Capitalization of company B = 1000 * 200 = Rs. 200,000
Current Total Market Capitalization of Index = Rs. 120,000 Rs. 400,000 = Rs. 520,000Current "Free-float" Market Capitalization of Index = Rs. 96,000 Rs. 200,000 = Rs. 296,000

Suppose in the year 1978-79 (base year of sensex) the Market Capitalization of Index = Rs. 60,000 So at a market cap of 60,000 of the index, the value of the index = 100
therefore, at the current market cap of Rs. 296,000 of the index, the value of the index = 296,000 * 100 / 60,000 = 493.33