[Any book that promises a journey spanning 300 years is bound to focus on events that / people who made the maximum impact for the development of option pricing formula. If one were to pause and think about the option pricing formula, one would come up with questions like Pretty naïve question to start with, Why is there a need for options, in the first place? How were the traded historically?

Via Business Line : An average trade on the National Stock Exchange, the country’s premier stock exchange, was worth a little over Rs 30,000 in 2007-08. That is now down to Rs 20,000, a drop of around 30 per cent in a little over three-and-a-half years. The trade value has been declining consistently with the calendar year 2011 registering a 15 per cent fall compared with 2010. While some of this decline may be explained by a fall in stock prices, a section of the stock market attributes it also to the increased use of automated or ‘algorithmic' trading by investors**.

Had a chance to watch a very interesting play called ”Let’s Unpack”, conceived and directed by Meenal Kapoor. Firstly the play is script less. So, in one sense each show is an original and can never be seen again in its entirety. It is delight to watch things shaping impromptu on a stage. What’s the play about ? A group of 6 people attend a workshop in which they are bound to stay together for 15 days in complete isolation from the outside world.

** Why the worry , I’d rather wonder** http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

Recently, I saw a play called “Baghdad Wedding” by Hassan Abdulrazzak and liked it a LOT. The play is about three characters, Salim, Luma and Marwan. The play begins in a setting at Imperial College London where the three meet each other at a party. Hailing from a common place Baghdad , they become best buddies. Luma is a post-modern girl and holds values that are nowhere close to a conservative Baghdad girl.