By Shankar Sharma

Dermatologists know many secrets. But the best one is that Botox has long-term effects which are not all good. You are never told that. You are always told to start early and continue for the rest of your life. If this sounds strangely and suspiciously like the “Mutual Fund Sahi Hai” campaign, it is merely a coincidence.

We have been told that mutual funds are right for you by many luminaries, in fact, by the biggest one: Sachin Tendulkar. The fact that he is probably not a registered investment advisor (RIA) to be dispensing out investment advice (lesser mortals are routinely handed out multiple-period bans and penalties for doing precisely this) is just a symptom of the problem—the present or the immediately-previous bull market is the first one which has been driven by social media and aggressive marketing by every interested party. Before 2020, our bull markets were largely incestuous love-fests—professionals transacted with each other and amateurs were excluded.

This time, due to public pressure, amateurs were included. Armed with less perspective than a drunk man at a Sunday sermon, the amateurs have convinced the prize fighters that the pros don’t understand this game. But us, old geezers—our cauliflower ears and smashed noses have muscle memory.

They tell a tale of the stock market being no easy game. It is a brutal bare-knuckle fight, with real blood and teeth on the canvas. The amateurs are now getting a bit of that treatment since 2024. What looked like a Round 3 KO up until 2023 has started looking like Tyson vs Douglas, Tokyo 1990. The numbers don’t lie—in 2025, India has finished in the bottom decile of........

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