And they all fell down...

After a brief lull, I'm back to blogging! The week just whizzed by, and here I am on a Saturday afternoon chained to my desk at work, working on the technical paper submission deadline! (Well, the chained to the desk part was exaggerated :D) But while I was busy trying to get everything done before the deadline, the world outside was witnessing a huge turmoil. The week began with the frontpage news on Monday crying out that Lehman Brothers is filing for bankruptcy. That too the biggest Chapter 11 bankruptcy claim filing in US history! This was followed by news of AIG looking out for buyers, and doubts being expressed about other banks like Morgan Stanley as well. Suddenly, the who's-who in the world of investment banking were on their knees, begging for government largesse. While Lehman filed for bankruptcy, the US government attempted to bail out AIG with an infusion of US$ 85 billion. Here is a post on the mess that the big banks find themselves in. The numbers are staggering - 4 trillion dollars down the drain! The next few days carried the grim news of the aftermath, with the effects being felt in India as well. Almost all of 2500 employees in Lehman's India operations would be losing their jobs. And when the banking and financial sector was facing such a tough time, the impact was bound to felt on the IT industry, with BFSI (Banking, Financials and Insurance Services) being a major part of product/services offerings of some of the top players. So news of lay-offs and pink-slips in organizations world-wide was not unexpected, though the sheer numbers were shattering. HP announced cuts up to 25000 people, while Satyam announced it was 'right-sizing' about 4500-odd people. And suddenly, IT professionals became aware of the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head. The stock markets, too, reacted to this turmoil, and several millions of rupees of investor wealth was wiped out. (Though they did bounce back on Friday, and gave investors something to cheer about as the week ended.) What will happen in the weeks ahead? No one knows how deep the rot brought on by the sub-prime crisis has set in. After all, when a Bank that had never posted a loss in any single quarter in its 158-year old history goes bust, you really do not know what to expect...