Anupam- The Dreamer

If you have carefully noticed, there is a peculiar thing about the science of water bubble formation. That it is very hard to create a small water bubble because it requires just the right conditions for its formation. But once it forms, it is very easy to grow in size in no time. All it takes is just a little blow of air and zooooop, the bubble outgrows itself pretty soon. And one more thing is sure about the bubble, that it will burst sooner or later. No power on earth can stop a bubble from bursting.

We live in a world surrounded by a lot of bubbles, in every sphere of life. The technological and economic advancements have accelerated the pace of bubble formation and bursting. But, before this story, let me take you to a bubble story that happened with me in 2002, when I was in 6^th standard in a school situated in the small town of Shahjahanpur, UP. That was one hell of an excellent school in such a small town. But, every yin has its yang. So did our school. Our yang was the founder of our school, Anchal Sir, who was otherwise a very shrewd fellow, yet he decided to organize a school fete. Apparently, this was done in order to showcase the hidden talent of the students and to boost his own image of how legendary he was. Nevertheless, all the students were invited to put up different stalls in the fete. The more enterprising and senior students of the school made huge investments to put up food stalls like aloo chat, pastries, books etc. Me and my few friends very running short on funds, so we decided to organize a game stall, wherein the dice throw would decide the fate of 6 cars in a race, on which the players would have to place their bet. It was such a game, that irrespective of whoover wins, I was always in profit! It seems all fair and rosy, isn’t it? But here was the catch! Remember, I told you that the founder was an uber shrewd person. So, he decided that before the start of fete, there would be a system of coupons of Rs. 10/-, 20/-, 50/- etc. So, every customer had to first convert the cash into coupons and only coupons could be used at any stall. And as the plan would have it, after the end of fete, the profits earned by the students in the form of coupons could be encashed.

So, the fete started and we all were really having a gala time. About 3 hours later, I had made huge profits of about Rs. 1000/- (with virtually zero investment) and we were looking forward to encashing the coupons and pocket a handsome amount. But, here came the disaster news!!!!

We had some close seniors who came from the same school bus as we did. Just when there was 1 hour left for the fete to end, one of the seniors came to me and whispered into my ear “Bro, I have got a secret information that Anchal Sir is not going to encash any coupon! So, go on and spend all your earnings”. BANG!!!! The floor beneath my feet swept away and I couldn’t believe his words for a while. But, knowing the past record of Anchal Sir, I recollected myself from the setback and quickly made a plan. I asked my friends to wound up our stall immediately. We distributed the earnings equally among ourselves and off we went to enjoy our earnings at the peril of other students, who didn’t know that the coupons they have earned are nothing but a worthless piece of paper. We enjoyed a lot, ate pastry, cold drink, patty etc. I bought an electric book which gave an electric shock when it was opened, basically a fun thing to surprise others. I bought 3-4 more things and exhausted all my coupons. When the fete ended, I was happy that I was left with no coupons.

Now, consider this. Anchal Sir started a huge bubble, a bubble of worthless paper coupons which had no intrinsic value. And he robbed the coupons of their “supposed” value. When this thing became clear after a few hours, everyone was shocked. Some students had invested thousands into their stalls, and their happiness turned into agony when they learnt that no coupons will be encashed back. They fell prey to this ‘bubble’ of coupon game. I was very fortunate to have been told about the ill design of this bubble, so could get out before the bubble burst.

Now, consider this. The stock market around us is also a bubble. Anytime, anything happens in international arena, this bubble can burst. And it has burst in the past, it forms again and burst again. The valuation of any company can be in billions, it can shoot to even trillions and again back to nullity in a short time. Because this money and the profits is all virtual. There is no real money associated with this directly. And we are happy when this bubble is growing, because we think that the bubble will reap us gains. But, as in my story, there is no harm in riding on a bubble, only if you can get out of bubble before it bursts, then you are fine and lucky. But, if the bubble bursts before you can get out, then you are gone! The tricky thing behind the science of the bubble is that you cannot predict how big a bubble can get before it bursts, it is just sheer luck game.

So, the moral of the story is this- Bubbles are meant to be burst! Be mindful of the numerous ones around you 🙂

Footnotes

You see we live in a world of bubbles around us everywhere in recent times. 

Earlier there used to be a real estate bubble in the US, which enticed people to buy homes on mortgages. Eventually this bubble burst into a full blown Global Financial Crisis of 2008. 

Then, there was stock market bubble which led to buying spree by the people. It also burst. Basically it forms and bursts time and again.

Then people were lured by Cryptocurrency bubble, whose valuation soared by 10-100 times in few years. People thought that this bubble will never burst. Now, the same people can’t believe their eyes and are left with “cipher” currency with no takers.

There was a startup bubble also. They hired people at frantic pace and promised fat paychecks. Their valuation soared until the bubble burst with failed IPOs and massive layoff of young workforce thrown on road to fend for themselves.

Now, ChatGPT is also a big bubble. Some firms will hop on to this technology without due diligence only to discover that this was also a bubble. AI can never replace humans and they they will be proved wrong. Just wait and watch!!!!

A bubble is meant to give illusion of magnificence to onlookers. And it forms fast. And it has rainbow  colours which looks very enticing. And people love more bubbles. But they must not forget bubbles are not meant to last forever. They are very short lived. And faster it grows sooner it will burst. So, don’t bet for long on bubble, just use it for momentary happiness.