Prisoner's Dilema...........(The plight of an Investment Banker)

Let me break the norm....usually articles carry disclaimer at the bottom , that too in invisible print, making it unreadable for anyone even with an extra pair of eyes.....however let me start this blog with a disclaimer.

First...Nah...this is not Game theory,........Second this is no where close to Nash Equilibrium (if you understand that)....Third....this is not a story of a Real Prisoner......Fourth....Even though i write all this i love my profession( i writing this statement in my complete senses also this statement is not under coercion or threat to my life)....Fifth...i am not a real prisoner( Ok i give up... i am not sure of this statement)

The actual title should have been "Life of an Investment banker".
Yet , somehow the similarities in our lives is strikingly very close that by listening to just the outline one can easily get fooled that a prisoner is an investment banker (i know prisoners will be offended being called Investment Bankers , offcourse)

"Yet at a philosophical level, a real prisoner is called a prisoner only by outsiders and an investment banker is called a prisoner only by himself and his fellow community" {i should get a statement of the millennium for this}

To start with, what will a prisoner be devoid of in the first place......a lot of thinking into it leaves us back with only 2 important facts.

One is his independence and second is his family. Ask an investment banker he will crib that it is exactly the same two things which has been snatched away from him.

Well one can always debate saying that an investment banker is cash rich. Yes this community is, but what use is of all the cash when you cannot put it to use. The highest he thinks is of the next suit he wants to purchase or the next hi-fi, wi-fi,infra, outfra blackberry or some gadget which will keep him busy even further.

I have read a lot of prisoner diaries and each one states that the first sign of a person imprisoned is , he looses sleep. Thinking of his fate, future and life, he looses sleep.Study says, probably he may sleep for say 4-5 hrs a night.

Ask an investment banker he will actually envy someone who sleeps for 4-5 hours a day.

Due to this lifestyle both of them mostly have a miserable family life. Their health conditions due to improper food (improper timing in case of investment bankers) are very fragile.
One set of prisoners spend majority of time moving heavy bricks from one place to another and another set spend in flights moving from one place to another.
The prisoners live in the fear of being caught and wacked by the Jailer for anything done or not done.Investment Bankers live in the fear of markets collapsing, clients shouting and flights delaying.
On free time the prisoners may sit and probably discuss arbit ideas and past events.
Investment bankers spend majority of their lives time in meetings and discussing arbit strategies and numbers.Both of them end up with majority of their ideas being termed "stupid" or "not feasible under present conditions" by their own fellows.

Both have a love for numbers and counting.Prisoners keep counting the number of days left to be released from the prison.Investment bankers use numbers for everything, logical or illogical.( i know a colleague of mine who says he eats his sandwich in 7mins flat.......how stupid...he keeps a count of these things.......he has said this statement 244 times i have counted.....ha ha how stupid)


Initially a person once in prison will first loose contact with his colleagues, then his friends, then family and finally enemies.
Investment bankers firstly loose all in one go.

The only contact with outside world for a prisoner is the window in his prison cell. And for an investment banker it is the "Windows"in his Dell.

At some point both doubt the existence of God.

Both think that a little more money would get them out of this vicious web.

There is no place for movies,vaccations,festivals, friends marriage, birthdays,etc. in their lives.

Last but not the least....a major chunk of prisoners will vow never ever to enter this maniac world of imprisonment again......however the Investment banker will always have a dilemma here.

I will stop here....got to catch a flight now else will be late for a meeting.