"Woeful Wails" - My Dad's account of what happened in 1989 at Srinagar, Kashmir

A Shiver, a shudder goes down my spine
To have lost what once was mine
The merciless devils who strode the streets
With guns pointing at us, to stop our beats
Butchers, killers and hardened marauders
Our houses and deities besieged by intruders

Pasted bills on our doors and blared sirens
Threatening us of snuffing our lives
Roaming with evil eyes and sinister designs
Of looting, killing and maiming us
Wresting our women for their lust

O God it was sheer mayhem all around
A valley with suffering and death abound
We left our homes and our native soil
Shocked and traumatized to face the toil
Our riches, comforts and dwellings gone
Young ones crying, no one to look upon
The blistering heat and hot summers
As if got thrown in hot cinders

Snakes around and in makeshift tents
Found our breaths to face the torments
O God what a cauldron of agony?
Stuffed in cramped spaces with so many
Confused, witless did we wander
Tried our hard but failed to ponder
O Lord our supreme you know our woes
How we braced-up and stood on our toes

I bow to Him for all his piety
What if we lost the prime of life?
Our children indeed did us a pride
Thanks to thee O Lord we are alive
Bless us now and return us our smile

                                                         Jan 2010, San Diego CA.

Also published at a leading Indo-US magazine in USA Here

What does it mean to be Long Vega?

The long call and the long put have positive Vega (are long volatility) and the short call and short put positions have a negative Vega (are short volatility).

The terms long and short here refer to the same relationship pattern when speaking of being long or short a stock or an option. That is, if volatility rises and you are short volatility, you will experience losses, and if volatility falls, you will have immediate unrealized gains. Likewise, if you are long volatility when implied volatility rises, you will experience unrealized gains, while if it falls, losses will be the result.

When you own a call or a put (meaning you bought the option) and volatility declines, the price of the option will decline. This is clearly not beneficial and results in a loss for long calls and puts. On the other hand, short call and short put traders would experience a gain from the decline in volatility. 

Volatility will have an immediate impact, and the size of the price decline or gains will depend on the size of Vega. So far we have only spoken of the sign (negative or positive), but the magnitude of Vega will determine the amount of gain and loss. 

Here is a wonderful article below are the highlights from this article.