rohit,
As you point out, 2011-14 was a great time to pick up great companies cheap. Now the valuation comfort is not there. But still sometimes we do come across some situations where markets do exaggerate their reactions to a quarter or a couple of quarters of bad results in a great company. That sometimes offers good chance to enter.
In current markets where valuations are not so alluring one has to relax the valuation threshold. Sitting on cash for prolonged periods is something which I have to learn to adjust with.
Another concept me and some friends have is what we call “Parking space” where in absence of a better idea we tend to buy stalwart stocks with limited downsides even though upsides might be limited. This has worked to our advantage in case of Page Inds nearer to 7000, hdfc bank nearer to 800-850 levels and so on. And whenever a favorable switch is on offer one can think about it.
There will be different stalwarts available at different time periods which fulfill the parking space criteria.