"Market ka kya lag raha hai?" — The Eternal Question That Follows Us Like a Shadow

If you’ve spent even a few months as a public markets investor, you already know this question is inescapable. It chases you at dinners, haunts you at weddings, sneaks up on you at cafes, and even ambushes you at shopping malls. It’s the “Vodafone dog” of investor life — wherever you go, this question follows. And of course, people love adding their own intellectual masala to it: “Market ka kya lag raha hai? Lagta hai ab toh giregi — Trump ne phir se tariff laga diye.” “Lagta hai market behenkar giregi — India-Pakistan war hone waali hai.” Let’s cut to the chase.

Here’s my honest, no-jargon answer: I. DON’T. KNOW. Yes, you read that right. I don’t know where the market is headed. And no, that doesn’t mean I’m not doing my job. Because the truth is, I’m not a market soothsayer. I’m not a macroeconomic oracle. I’m not reading GDP tea leaves or watching the VIX like a hawk.

What I am — and what we truly strive to be — are business analysts. Our job is to understand businesses. Deeply. We don’t predict markets. We invest in businesses. We try to assess their long-term trajectory — their competitive moat, capital allocation, unit economics, culture — and buy them when they’re trading below what they’re really worth. The rest? All that noise — daily price swings, headlines, geo-political chaos — we happily leave to Mr. Market’s mood swings.

So, the next time you’re tempted to ask, “Market ka kya lag raha hai?”, just remember: The only thing I do know is that I don’t know. And that’s exactly why I’m doing this right.

PS: In the future, if you feel the urge to ask your investor friend “Market ka kya lag raha hai?”, just ask your astrologer – at least they’ll give you a confident answer.