Ameya's Blogs.: July 2020

Something different to write upon starting with an easy yet fun topic, Opportunity Cost. So what’s it?

Let’s say you are a neutral football fan and someone asks you to choose between Messi and Ronaldo, and you choose Ronaldo thinking he has a good physique. Good, but since you had one option and you choose Ronaldo, you lost the chance to choose Messi at that place. This loss in terms of Economics is called as Opportunity Cost, just like the popular dialogue - ‘I won, but at what cost?’, that cost is a concept called Opportunity Cost.

In terms of definitions, it is the loss of other alternatives, when one alternative is chosen. You can say it is a concept of deciding the best choice among all the alternatives present. It is a matter of benefits and sacrifice among the choices.

Another example by the view of Economics- Say you have a degree from some B- School and also have some savings with you. You will have two choices, one you can do a job and have fixed income coming every month, two you can set up your business with your savings as the initial capital and have a source of income coming from it. So if you choose the later, you directly miss the opportunity to earn fixed income every month from that job. That ‘miss’ is the opportunity cost as it’s a loss.

Just like every resource i.e land, money, time can have an alternative use out of it, every action, decision and method can have an associated opportunity cost to it. Opportunity Cost comes under the Microeconomics part which deals with the interests of individuals but an individual’s decision(s) can have a big effect on the whole system as well, Eg. A CEO taking a big merger decision which could affect the whole system/company (hypothetical one). This is the easy concept of Opportunity Cost and it’s existence in Practicality.

Well this is a very easy topic though, I said too much about it above as I love this concept 😁, maybe something complex next time. Cheers!

Thank You all for reading the previous parts and I hope you like this part!

So after visiting Udaipur, next was 'The Golden City', Jaisalmer. After leaving Udaipur in the morning, on the way we visited SriNathji Temple, home to Lord Krishna in Gujrathi culture. The belief, those chants simply showed the unconditional love for God. Coming out, down there was a stall selling Thandai and Bhang so me and my brother just went there to try it in that intense heat only to know Bhaang being overrated. Later in the night we reached Sam(सैम), the place where actual Sand Dunes or Desert is found. On the way it was so lonely with no lights, no vehicles, nothing just dunes on the both sides and the best thing, Open Sky! With not many lights around, the night sky was clear and beautiful with stars shining to their best. We were going to stay in a Tent House situated in the dunes itself. After freshening up and having dinner, just around 11 PM I went out to see how the surrounding was, just to see actual 'Pin Drop' silence with no one awake around except those Camels. The next morning we had Camel Safari planned with two lovely Camels waiting there. The Sand Dunes were equally beautiful with the cold winds hitting all around. Sam is also the last place allowed for tourists in the state as some far west starts the India-Pakistan Border. Then we left back to Jaisalmer City which is highly recognised for the Jain Temples situated there. The best thing there was the height and the colour of the Fort. The yellowish sandstone was shining bright and was just as big as it looked from the outside. At the top, one could see the whole city easily and even could see the remote ways to reach the Dunes. The Fort even had shops on the way to the top. There was an antique shop there which had many amazing things on sale and some extraordinary things to show just not for sale, which included some rare stones and pieces. The best view from there was that of the Jain Temple Tops which were very different than the normal Hindu Temple Tops. Well all this was good enough but the best thing I loved about Jaisalmer was the Food. As Jaisalmer was done sooner than expected, we went back to Sam just to see the Dunes again, like when could we see those Camels and Dunes again. There we tried the Jeep Safari which would take us to the center of the desert. The Jeep Safari was undoubtedly the best thing to do there, so good that I can't tell it in words. It took us to the center of the desert and the popular 'Thar Desert'. And it wasn't as remote and isloated it looked as the scenes there were totally different. Camels were having a race there, tourists in high numbers and even food stalls there. Well we stopped there just to click some photos and the guide telling unending names of movies which were shot here. Well being in the centre of a desert and not having 'Chai' would be a crime for me (if you know, you know well). So all done well and then waving a goodbye to those lovely Camels, the next day we visited the Jaisalmer War Museum which had information about the 1971 Indo-Pak War fought in Loungewala, around 10 kms from the Dunes. The Museum was in the memory of the brave soldiers who fought in the 1971 War. Tanks, Weapons, War Maps and many other things were kept here which keeps you sticked reading the facts. It was all done having a big tour of the War Memorial and a goodbye to Jaisalmer only for time being to visit again. According to local people, Jaisalmer is the most visited tourist place in the State and surely it should be! This was my view on Jaisalmer and Sam. Some of the photos I clicked are attached below. Cheers!