If you are ready to listen to a teenager talk about stock markets, here is ‘Graham, Buffett & Me’ by Aryaman Dalmia (www.tgb.indiatimes.com). “It is difficult to believe that a 13-year-old student could write a book of this kind… It shows what passion and abiding faith in oneself can produce,” reads a snatch from P. Chidambaram’s message at the start of the book.
Opening with an insightful quote of Benjamin Graham – that when you are shopping for common stocks, you must choose them the way you would buy groceries, not the way you would buy perfume – Dalmia sums up a few thoughts of Graham, as gleaned from ‘The Intelligent Investor.’ Such as, that the underlying principles of sound investment should not alter from decade to decade, though the application of these principles must be adapted to significant changes in the financial mechanisms and climate.
To Dalmia, Warren Buffett symbolises drive, temperament and simplicity. “Buffett has a unique ability to simplify complex issues and focus on their most important parts. This is what enables him to make superior decisions – the ones that may not be the most fashionable but stand the test of time.”
The concluding chapter acknowledges that the traits of the iconic investment gurus may be easy to understand at a theoretical level but difficult to practise in the real world. Reminiscing a Mahabharata story heard from his grandfather, Dalmia narrates the episode in which the teacher Drona is agitated at the young prince Yudhishthira for not having learnt a simple lesson that one should speak the truth under all circumstances. “When questioned, Yudhishthira replied that while he had understood the message, he had not really learnt it, for he had not had the opportunity to test it in the real world.”
Interesting attempt.
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