The Economic Times

In this world, gold is the ultimate bubble because apart from the cost of actually digging it out of the ground it has almost no real fundamentals other than price itself. Investors have been buying it precisely because the price has been going up and is expected to carry on rising. Rising prices have created their own demand. It is the ultimately reflexive investment.

Rising gold prices have encouraged investors to add gold to their portfolios and central banks to reverse a long-standing drift towards eliminating the low-yielding asset from their reserves and start adding it instead.

In a research note, Deutsche Bank argues that “the gold market is still some way from displaying the characteristics of a bubble”. But using the Soros idea of a bubble as a process, rather than simply a frothy end-state, gold has been a bubble for some time as an ever larger group of investors has climbed aboard, propelling prices higher.

In an implicit acknowledgement of the role self-validating forces have played driving gold prices higher, one gold analyst recently pointed out that gold still has the most compelling “narrative” of any investment. Mr Soros was right to identify it back in February as the ultimate bubble.

NEW DELHI: A day after the Allahabad high court gave its verdict on the Babri dispute, the on Friday termed it as a joke on the minority community. Addressing thousands of Muslims, who had gathered at the 17th century mosque for Friday prayers, said that the judges had neglected the faith of the minority community to keep the majority happy. "Hamein ye faisla manzoor nahin hai (we do not accept this judgment)," he thundered, evoking a resounding consensus from the assembled Muslims.

Bukhari said: "Babri Masjid stood at the disputed site for over 400 years but the idols of Ram were forcibly placed there in 1949.

When the court accepts that there was no temple at the disputed site, how can it claim that there were remains of a temple. This is a unique example of court judgment based on faith as against evidence and testimonies. We feel insecure and cheated by the judiciary and are not hopeful for support from the Supreme Court either." He called for a large congregation of Muslims from across the country at RamlilaMaidan in the capital to decide the course of action.

The Shahi Imam also took on political parties and Muslim leaders. He said that the Congress, which has ruled the country for more than 50 years, has betrayed the minority community. "But we will not let the sacrifices of our people who died fighting for the noble cause of getting full ownership of the Babri land go waste like this. What will we tell their mothers?" he asked the crowd. He added that the there were many traitors from within the community who had toed to the line of major political parties for personal gains. Bukhari refused to name anyone.

there were many people who believed that the Imam was exaggerating the problem and trying to create unrest. "The Imam should limit himself to matters of religion and not do politics. We may not be happy with the decision but do no want any violence either. The matter should be solved peacefully," said Shadab Ali Khan, a local trader.

The dilemma within the community was voiced by SyedYahyaBukhari, the president of and the younger brother of the ShahiImam of Jama Masjid. He said that majority of Indian Muslims want peace. "If the majority of Muslims vote in favour of approaching the Supreme Court, we should respect the verdict. However, if they are happy with one-third of the land to build a mosque, I think we should respect that opinion too," said Yahya.

Like in case of most romantic comedies, the basic problem with is that in the first ten minutes of the film you can predict the last ten minutes. So when the first scene of the film opens with two strangers, a boy and a girl, attempting suicide individually by jumping off a bridge, you are pretty much sure that the last scene of the film will have the same boy and same girl meeting each other at the same bridge and confess love to each other. The charm of the romantic comedy lies in the path traversed by the screenplay between those two scenes. Unfortunately, while Anjaana Anjaani has an eventful screenplay, the story is too shallow.

Cinematographer Ravi K Chandran captures the American highlands with flawless finesse. Vishal-Shekhar’s musical score is breezy but too many songs mar the flow of the film. Manish Malhotra and Mamta Anand’s styling of the lead characters is hepand happening.

Both Ranbir and Priyanka look stunning and play their sketchy parts effortlessly. But beyond that there’s nothing in the film – no other characters, no other chronicle, no great conflicts.