an year which has reminded us of some age old lessons, an year which has given us some great memories to cherish and above all an year which has presented us with a fantastic opportunity.

Lesson 1: Greed Kills:

Yeah it does, does not matter how big you are or how mighty you are. Ask Lehman Brothers or AIG or Barclays or the average Indian Investor for a confirmation. Everyone be it small or big forgot this simple truth and are now finding themselves in Intensive Care.

Lesson 2: Back offices can't get decoupled:

"Decoupling" a term which was on the lips of every person whom I met, everyone spoke of India as an Insulated Economy conveniently forgetting the fact that India's growth was predominantly driven by the Service and the Manufacturing Industries which catered mainly to the needs of the US n Europe. Now that Europe n US find themselves in a deep recession, India has started to feel the heat. Time to move on and become a world leader and not remain a back office of the world.

Lesson 3: Nothing lasts forever

Be it the Australian Supremacy in Cricket or the Dominance of Federer in the lawns of Wimbledon or the American hegemony in Olympics, nothing lasts forever, everything has got to come to an end.

Lesson 4: Pseudo Secularism Hurts

As the Congress government in India is now finding out. Having taken a soft stand on terrorism to please the minorities, congress is now finding itself in a huge hole getting out of which is not only necessary but mandatory for its survival. Too bad that it has taken so many unfortunate incidents for Congress to realize this.

2008 also gave us some wonderful memories to cherish

Who can ever forget the sight of Micheal Phelps winning his 8th Gold to beat Spitz's record of 7 gold medals. Here was a man who came with a mission and he achieved it in style. Donno when and by whom will this record will be broken but I am pretty sure that it is going to remain unchallenged for a long time to come.

Usain Bolt's stunning runs in the 100 and 200 metres at Beijing. I cannot forget forever the adrenaline rush that i felt when Usain ran his 200 metres. Bolt is now gearing himself for breaking the 400 metres record and I am already looking forward to it.

Spain got the monkey of its back, with a stunning performance to lift Euro 2008. They played like true champions and Torres and Villa became superstars. As i had written before, Euro 2008 was a wonderful spectacle and its end made me really sad.

Rafeal Nadal winning his first Wimbledon title after an epic struggle. Federer or Fading light nothing could deter Nadal from his destination. I was reminded of "Rumble in the Jungle". I had read so much about it and here I was watching a similar contest. A Match for a lifetime.

Now to the Opportunity, well I have said this time and again and now I end with the quotes of 2 of the greatest Investors of of all time, Buffet's "Be Greedy when others are Fearful and Vice Versa" and Sir John Templeton's quote "Before this century is over, the Dow Jones Industrial Average will probably be over one million versus around 10,000 now. So for the long-term, the outlook is tremendously bullish if you buy stocks blindly to keep for a century."

Lets Take the lessons of 2008 and remember dear friends that "People who don't remember the past are bound to get punished in the future". Njoy 2009 and lets hope and strive for a peaceful and hunger free world in 2009.