Simhavalokana 2024: What Mr. Market Taught

Step into the shoes of an investor to understand the thrills (and surprises) a roaring bull market churns out

- Swanand Kelkar

The Sanskrit language has a fascinating lexicon. It may not match up to English in the size of vocabulary but more than makes up for it by morphing the same word into different context-dependent meanings. Unraveling the common thread between these seemingly different meanings is like solving a crossword. In Sanskrit, the word for a tooth, a bird, and a Brahmin is the same: Dwij. Literally translated, it means ‘twice-born.’ Milk teeth give way to permanent teeth; a bird is born as an egg before it is born in its avian form and Brahmin is believed to be spiritually reborn after the thread ceremony.

Or take the word simhavalokana. As a lion walks in the jungle, he periodically stops and looks back at the path he traversed. This retrospective glance is called simhavalokana but at an abstract level, it means reviewing elapsed time. As an investor, this is my simhavalokana for the year, or for the listicle-minded, ten (10) things that Mr. Market taught me in 2024.