MSE

It is more than 20-yrs now, memories little vague. Not sure if it was in October or early November I joined Business Line. When the initiation process was all over and I walked into office Viji, late R.Vijayaraghavan my boss asked about who all I know at the Madras Stock Exchange. I gave half a dozen names of brokerages I knew and was about to leave for the exchange, setting foot inside the exchange for the first time. Viji in his typical, casual way told me you can go and meet my friend an ex-citibanker turned broker, they have their office above that Irani cafe next to the exchange. With that info in hand, I set out to Second Line Beach. 

All those familiar with Chennai would know how chaotic the area is and MSE was no better. Dusty, dull MSE building's only sign was life and cheer was the trading floor. Entry to trading floor was prohibited for non-members and traders. The floor had not seen a journalist and only connection it had with media was a small cubicle that housed the staff of PTI who used to run the real time price ticker of MSE. Over time I made friends with the PTI staff so that I could walk past the board which had some price/volume details, auction list etc., But, I made sure that it was not everyday that I did it. Because, the ever vigilant officials could throw me out. 

The president of the stock exchange was by custom an elected memer from the list of brokers. So during the course of coverage one president's term expired and another one who was not so out of bounds took over. Dealing with the first one was also made tricky because one fine day I saw him in our office building and figured out he was also a civil contractor working with our company. 

The chairman was a darpok Tambhrahm who would quickly crawl back into his cabin the moment he noticed me in the office. The secretary was a paavam character who took pity on me and sometimes gave me an audience. However, he got into trouble once because in a copy I filed I tried to hide my source calling whoever who gave me the news as a MSE source which was changed by the desk to "official". Desk was right in getting the sourcing fixed, but that also sealed my fate. The chairman and secretary were the only two "officials" who can speak to media and if I said "source" it could be anyone from president to governing council members. Chairman called up and fired the secretary because he thought if it was an "official" then it should be only the secretary. Both of them stopped talking to me after that.

I used to spend an-hour or two there trying my luck to speak to the brokers, and also waiting for long to get the official Bhav copy. There was one cyclostyle machine and never did it function without a hiccup. The ink would run over, the machine would get stuck and I had to walk back and forth to see if they were ready. Because, there was no other source of information then. By that time I had to also go through the board and take down the corporate announcements most of which were board meetings to announce bonus, rights etc., 

This also got me into trouble with the strict academician the reserach editor was - he one day asked me how can you report that is convening a meeting to announce bonus, what if the board decided they will not give bonus. I haven't found answer to that riddle till date. 

It was a boring affair except for a few interesting episodes in between. One harmless copy I wrote about the stock exchange (and its pathetic systems) brought a legal notice from a very well known Advocate in the city and the editor handing it over to me just laughed  - my dad (a lawyer) did the same when I told him about that. Nothing serious, forget it was the advice. 

Then came the story which would create ripples at the exchange and become famous as the "chicken and eggs story". A marwari member, a notorious one at that had not delivered what was "rights" of MS Shoes. The rights issue was well over and his position had not been closed. Exchanges have the habit of auctioning these positions where the brokers who failed to deliver have to compulsorily buy the shares through the auction and deliver. MS Shoes came up for auction and this guy went to court. When I asked him about that he furiously said "I had sold only eggs. The eggs have all hatched and become chicken now. How can they ask me to deliver eggs now, and I obviously can't give chicken in place of eggs". The story went into print with this quote. 

For next few days, I just couldn't walk around MSE because everyone would make fun of "chicken and eggs" story and laugh. 

Then slowly the exchange got used to seeing journalists as others started covering it too - remember my first competitor Srikala from FE, followed by M R Venkatesh from ET. Rajasimhan TE who was yet to join BL later joined the group of journos covering MSE. 

Just a year of daily excursion to second line beach, and once in a while would treat myself to a samosa and lassi Ramakrishna Lunch Home, or the Irani tea next to MSE or the Gujju thali, I don't even remember the joint in Sowcarpet now. 

MSE would closedown. But a few memories stay. Like the days when one listened to the end of the stock quotes on AIR - AV Thomas, Aban Lloyd, Bannari Amman, MRF, LMW, Thiruarooran, T.Stanes, Ucal Fuel and so on...Lakme and Brooke Bond used to be listed on MSE too before they merged with Hindustan Lever. Really wish there is some recorded history that one can access from their bhav copies to list of office bearers. I don't know what happened to Maconochie & Co., but Paterson & Co was still there and I don't know if it still exists as a member after it passed onto the hands of Hindujas. One has also not kept track of Kothari & Sons who used to good sources at one point. Madras has become Chennai and has lot a lot of its colonial heritage and if MSE shuts down, it would add to that list. Maybe S.Muthiah or V.Sriram would write an appropriate requiem for it. 

Grammar, tense, spellings all might be out of order here, kindly excuse. Just wrote it while waiting for my copy to be edited - it has been five years since I moved on from the financial markets to cover oil & gas. I miss covering stock markets, but it lost its charm when the trading floors made way to online terminals and further diminished with derivatives overtaking cash markets and unkown P-note investors dictate it.