Devina Mehra

Founder & CMD. First Global.Cutting edge PMS & Global funds/portfolios. Bestselling book:Money Myths and Mantras. Fortune Top 50 Most Powerful Women. Gold🥇IIMA

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

Geopolitical conflict is all over the screens - from the small to the big ones

What is likely to happen?
What is likely to be Iran's strategy?
And since 'सबको अपनी ही किसी बात पर रोना आया" what is likely to happen to stock markets and oil?

My perspective based on data and history... Including what we did in our global portfolios recently and what to do now

Want proper guidance for your Indian and global portfolios? Send a DM to @firstglobalsec

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

@MediaSumit One more thing about the song: it was written by kaifi azmi who was a card carrying member of the communist party

The eulogy in the parliament was by Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Nehru Ji was held in highest esteem even by his political rivals

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

It is the weekend and what are you reading?

This is my currently active stash!
Normally have about 3 to 4 books being read actively (meaning at least once in 2 days) together - pick up according to the mood of the moment 😊

And yes the bookmarks are all my own work

#books 📚

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

@MediaSumit This has the actual footage of Nehru Ji's funeral

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

@SriniKay Always loved her Sunday mid Day columns

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

सोने पर सुहागा है नौशाद साहब की ज़ुबान और उनका लहज़ा, जिसमें लखनऊ की लज्ज़त बरकरार है।

एक और मजेदार किस्सा है नौशाद साहब का ही। संगीत के जुनून में वह घर से भाग कर बंबई आ गए थे। उन दिनों मौसिकी को कोई इज्ज़तदार काम नहीं समझा जाता था।

इसलिए जब उनकी शादी हुई तो घर वालों ने यह बात छुपा ली की लड़का संगीतकार है। यह कहा गया कि लड़का दर्जी है

तब तक नौशाद साहब की 'रतन' सुपरहिट हो चुकी थी। वह कहते हैं: मेरी बारात में बैंड मेरी ही धुनें बजा रहा था और यहां मैं दर्जी बना बैठा था 😀

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

@aegismktintel Please see my old column that I reposted this week on bubbles and Newton

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

Yesterday's Nasdaq move was a little foretaste... Of course it is not as if the bubble bursts tomorrow but it is certainly in the investor beware category

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

India is not doing well because it does not have an AI or innovation story... this much is obvious at least if you go by what the chattering heads are saying

But is it the truth or just an easy, lazy narrative?

If the only thing working in the world markets is #AI how come so many old economy companies and small cap companies are doing so well globally?

Even with AI the story is no longer with the Magnificent Seven who are just spending stupendous amounts of money in order to remain in the game

It is the suppliers for the huge capex that are booming for now: #semiconductors, networking, hardware your name it

But don't forget these are highly cyclical industries and AI capex may not remain at these stratospheric levels forever

Then there is the question of whether all this spending will ever make economic returns on capital 🤔

The music is still playing but don't forget what happened to all those who are dancing to the mortgage music up until 2008

My Oped in The Economic Times today on the AI story: Myth, reality and outlook

@EconomicTimes
@firstglobalsec
@fghumsmallcase

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

सोने पर सुहागा है नौशाद साहब की ज़ुबान और उनका लहज़ा, जिसमें लखनऊ की लज्ज़त बरकरार है।

एक और मजेदार किस्सा है नौशाद साहब का ही। संगीत के जुनून में वह घर से भाग कर बंबई आ गए थे। उन दिनों मौसिकी को कोई इज्ज़तदार काम नहीं समझा जाता था।

इसलिए जब उनकी शादी हुई तो घर वालों ने यह बात छुपा ली की लड़का संगीतकार है। यह कहा गया कि लड़का दर्जी है

तब तक नौशाद साहब की 'रतन' सुपरहिट हो चुकी थी। वह कहते हैं: मेरी बारात में बैंड मेरी ही धुनें बजा रहा था और यहां मैं दर्जी बना बैठा था 😀

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

Lovely and very famous anecdote about that immortal scene of Mughal e Azam as narrated by Naushad Sahab

https://t.co/m9A6qHKVQy

How Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was persuaded to sing... And how the recording actually happened

[꧁༺ 𝓐𝓛𝓑𝓤𝓢 𝓑𝓡𝓘𝓐𝓝 𝓓𝓤𝓜𝓑𝓛𝓔𝓓𝓞𝓡𝓔 ༻꧂ @PenduProfessor]

❤️
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this song is that Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab hardly sang for films at all. Yet Mughal e Azam managed to bring him into its world.

You can hear the difference immediately. This does not feel like a playback singer rendering a tune. It feels like classical music briefly visiting cinema and leaving behind a moment of magic.
https://t.co/ATEOmmhcVs

[SnigdhaKhatawkarMahendra @SnigdhaMahendra]

@devinamehra I recently met a lady around 70 yrs old. Did her Masters in Physics. And then her BEd. But her husband never allowed her to work. Had to take care of his siblings and her kids. We were sitting in a temple and she was crying. She said that her husband had stifled her life.

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

What is the market waiting for and what will India do without an AI story

On @BloombergTV yesterday - this was before the RBI policy announcements

https://t.co/IqQZgMqrZ3

Want some hand-holding? DM @firstglobalsec or @fghumsmallcase

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

@PenduProfessor 🙏🙏

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

Did people always have the same aspirations but we simply did not hear about it?

This was a story I heard 10 days ago but it has not left my head

I was sitting with the son of one of the all time legends in the Hindi film industry and he told me that years after his father's death, when his mother was pushing 80 she had a range of health problems which could not be properly diagnosed.

Then he had taken her to a homeopath. A homeopath talks about your whole life and personality before prescribing medicines, as the principle is to treat the person not the symptoms

While talking to the homeopath, suddenly this lady started crying bitterly and saying things like, "Us aadami ne to Meri zindagi barbad kar di'

Her son said, "I could not figure out who she was talking about because my father fulfilled her every wish: nice home, second home, car, jewellery whatever."

Then slowly the story came out.
When this legendary man was struggling to find a foothold in the industry, he had left his wife and kid at her father's place in Lucknow. She was a trained and skilled seamstress (Her sewing diploma certificate was lovingly framed and displayed in their home).

To maintain her dignity she started sewing clothes and making her own money. Her own earnings were a great source of pride to her.

Then her husband made it big and called the family to what was then Bombay. Did not allow her to work. "I am earning so much, why do you need to work?"

She sewed clothes for her children but could never make money again out of her skill. Even though the man never said no, she had to ask for money for anything she needed.

Her husband thought he was being a great provider but it hurt her self respect and dignity.

Imagine this was a woman born in the early 1930s, never completed school but this was the big sorrow of her life even decades later. Equally important, even her children were not aware of this till it came out as a catharsis in a medical setting.

We think feminism is some new-fangled, made up thing, and that our mothers and grandmothers were greatly happy in the patriarchal setup. It is just that we never came to know their personalities or their dreams. They may have sacrificed it all for their families but it does not mean that it did not hurt them.

We can understand why a man would not want to ask for money as an adult but we somehow think it is the natural state for a woman.

I also think of Ashapurna Devi who was born 115 years ago, was the first woman recipient of the Gyanpeeth award and her books which are among my favourite books of all time: the Pratham Pratishruti (The First Echo) trilogy which show that the same thoughts actually distressed our grandmothers and great grandmothers.

My own mother told me that when she was doing her MA Economics (this was 70 years ago) after marriage she would sometimes miss the rollcall in class because the new surname was unfamiliar...and she would feel a little bad that her very name had changed.

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

In this regard l. let me tell you a story I heard just today

This is a guy who grew up in fairly strained circumstances. He said when he was growing up his father would hand over his entire (tiny) salary to his mother, just keeping some little pocket money for himself

The mother would manage the house in that small amount of money

Then his father got a promotion. The two kids started working. So literally in a matter of a couple of years, the household income went up almost 10 times

THAT is when the father decided that he needed to manage the household finances

Now when his parents are in their late 70's, his mother still resents the fact that she was supposed to run the house with practically no money and when the money became abundant, the reins but taken away from her.

[Vkunjresident @vkunjresident]

@devinamehra At the other end of the spectrum are men….men who happen to be eldest child in the family. Big family with limited resources,forces these men to start earning in their teens. They kill their dreams and desires. They swallow loneliness/sorrow…shedding tears is forbidden. Men …

[Swati Chaturvedi @bainjal]

@devinamehra What a wonderful story D, & so so true

[MANISH JAIN @MANISHJAIN53783]

@firstglobalsec @devinamehra Very inspired 👍👍🙏

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

Sad to read this

Had read and posted on Persepolis earlier in the year

https://t.co/LJxa4TDD9m
RIP 🙏🙏

[Vincent Alexander @NonsenseIsland]

RIP Marjane Satrapi, the great cartoonist and film director, best known for PERSEPOLIS. She was only 56. A great talent. She will be missed.

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

The first four chapters of my book 'Money Myths and Mantras' include one on what asset allocation is and another on what asset allocation is not.

The Asset allocation you were sold as just a split between Indian asset classes was plain and simple wrong!

Thinking that the US markets represents the Global investing is similarly wrong!

Send a DM to @firstglobalsec which has been doing Global investing for over 27 years to understand what Global truly means.

[First Global @firstglobalsec]

One market crash in the late 90s completely changed the way @DevinaMehra looked at investing.

While most investors stayed focused on India… she started thinking GLOBAL.

But what exactly made her take that decision so early?

Watch the full video, link in the thread below.

@SampadaVaze

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

I completely lucked it out with my parents - total birth lottery

I have such an extraordinary mother that it actually took time for me to realise that my father was extraordinary too

And of course even 60+ years back he wanted a daughter as his first born. Then my twin brothers were born... Persuaded my mother to try once more 😊

[Devina Mehra @devinamehra]

Much as I admire Satya Nadella - IMO, the best current CEO of a major company, being the son of a senior IAS and an academic and going to one of the best schools in Hyderabad was a place of extreme privilege, NOT a 'challenged' life!

I consider myself privileged to be the daughter of two academics growing up with highly educated parents in a house full of books, going to a good school and being able to holiday for a month or two in the hills most years

The family of an IAS officer has even more facilities!

Sure, by contemporary standards, all of us look 'challenged'.

After all I did not take my first flight till I started working; the norm for almost every IIMA student was to go home in ordinary non AC 3 tier train; almost everyone came to school or University on bicycles (even scooters were a luxury) and so on.

But that sure did not make us under privileged!

[NDTV News feed @ndtvfeed]

Satya Nadella On Growing Up Middle-Class In India: "Sometimes Challenging" https://t.co/9J0Gb38Ryy