Happy 2008

Wish U 'n Ur Family A Very Happy 'n Prosperous New Year

Personal Finance

Here is a split tip on how to plan our personal finance. Think about using it (yearly basis)...

• 25% - House/Utilities
• 04% - For all relatives/friends
• 01% - Charity
• 33% - Savings
• 05% - Leisure/Travel/Pleasure
• 05% - Unavoidables/Misc/Vehicles
• 08% - Family Purchases & Shopping
• 13% - Medicals/Healths/Emergencies
• 04% - Major Purchases
• Left out is 2%...

And ofcourse, we just need to be ready for short term & long term expenses too.

Thought for the day

"Man is working day & night without taking a day off to make this world a worse place to live in"

- Movie dialog?

Stones

After visiting the "Green" Hanuman at Dundigal, there was no one in the temple too who can clarify the English term for Maragatha. Here is a quick clarification of all 9 stones (Navrathna) - The Tamil & English Names.

• Vaira - Diamond
  
• Maanikka - Ruby
  
• Maragatha - Emerald
  
• Vidruma - Coral
  
• Muthu - Pearl
  
• Neela - Sapphire
  
• Gomedagaa - Garnet
  
• Pushparaaga- Topaz
  
• Vaidurya - Cat's eye

There is some other info available about the stones here.

Coming Around Hyderabad

There are quite some places to be seen in & around Hyderabad...

Carrying History:

• Nizam Museum
• Chow Mallya Palace
• Charminar
• Salar Jung Museum
• Golconda Fort (& light show)
  

Fun:

• Jala Vihar
• Snow World
• Dolaare Dhani
• Ramoji Film City
• Runway 9

Site Seeing:

• Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue
  
• Lumbini Park - Laser Show
• Lumbini Park - Cruise
• NTR Gardens
  
• Nagarjuna Sagar Dam
  

Religious:

• Mecca Mazjid
• Saangi Temple
• Shirdi Sai Baba Temple
  
• Film Nagar Temple
• Birla Mandir
  
• Iskcon
• Secunderabad - Kaanchi Mutt
  
• Chilkur - Venkateshwara
  
• Dundigal - Maragatha Aanjaneya
  
• Srisailam (& dam)
  
• Mantralayam - Raagavendrar
  
• Vijayawada - Kanaka Durga Temple
• Mangalagiri - Paanaga Narasimhar temple
• Amaravati - Shiva
• Dwaraka Thirumala - Venkateshwara (Chinna Thirupati)
  

Shopping/Entertainment:

• Shilparamam
• IMax & Prasadz
• Hyderabad Central & PVR cinemas
• City Center Mall (& many others upcoming malls)
  
• Just drive from Jubilee Hills to Panjagutta, Banjara Hills Road# 1, 2

May be there are many other which I have missed.

Merry XMas

Wish U A Merry Christmas

Thought provoking...

This ad sure is thought provoking and has got attention of quite some "literates" around me.

We all read, study & learn about our rights & responsibilities to our country, but we always look for personal benefits and never complete our duties to our country to full. Just put the following words to a deeper thought...

"If I include CITY, COUNTRY, WORLD as part of me & my family..."

MF This Month

We don't see much changes in the MFs which we need to opt for. Still Infra & opportunities are coming on top of my cut off.

• Infrastructure
  
• Opputunities
  
• Other Equity - Stan Chat Prem, Focus, Comma, RSF, Power

Escalator In India Railway Station

Well... I happened to make a "religious" roam around near Vijayawada. With one of my friends staying there, he had given me pre-notion that the town is not too big and it is just a "small" town. When my train entered Vijayawada station early in the morning like around 4:45AM I could sense busyness all around me. When I got down from the train, I realized that I'm in one of the important junctions (I mean, in Indian railways the term 'junction' itself has a special meaning).

For a fact, the railway station seems to be a true junction with so many lengthy platforms, lengthy & wide overhead bridges, the number of shops, the number of boards giving directions to passengers, the number of plasma TVs, the information displayed getting updated at real time, the entertainment provided in those TVs (which also includes some of those funny YouTube videos, the AFVs, "good" email forwards), the enquiry bench always answering questions over speaker, ... everything seems customer friendly and I'm already questioning my friend's message of 'small town'. The operation of escalator inside an Indian railway station took my surprises to the heights. That is just more than believable.

The customer satisfaction at Vijayawada railway station is sure more because the place stands far ahead compared to any other such junctions in South India. Later when I enquired about it to my friend, he confirmed that Vijayawada is still a town & not a major city but the town is having the busiest railway junction in south. Many of passengers' concerns in such a busy place seems to have been rightly addressed...

Electronic Retailers

Who is making the difference for all the US Electronic retailers? The major set back which surprised me was the closing of CompUSA - For me, it was something that is improbable to happen but it's business & someone has got all businesses out of CompUSA.

The latest news about the third quarter loss from Circuit City is yet another shocker. I don't think Circuit City is losing its business but it is more to do with customer satisfaction and other soft factors which are making people move away. The alternate choice now seems like only Best Buy & we got to wait to watch how Best Buy can thrive against the universal WalMart which is making up all its losses from cheaper electronic items with other market segments & products.

But recently Dell's announcement of putting their brands on Best Buy's showrooms is one different move which changes the core Dell's strategy of marketing & supply chain. Likewise, it is one major boost for Best Buy's recognition in electronic retailer segment.

Grandness

Grand Canyon is a natural beauty & is for sure an art of God. The hugeness, beauty & the grandness is impossible to be captured in eyes, heart, mind but...

Seeing Grand Canyon in the grand IMAX is for sure a pleasure, a gift, the moments to be enjoyed on. I guess I had seen it couple of times before when we do those package trips to Vegas & Canyon. May be when you see the natural beauty and also try to see it in IMAX while being tired & exhausted, the visuals couldn't be appreciated I guess.

But today when I watched Grand Canyon, The Hidden Secrets yet again it was more than a thrill. The visuals were more than involving... Just watch it to realize.

Merging Flights

Why would KingFisher & Air Deccan merge with each other? What are their options right now?

Aren't both of them addressing different market segments? So after this merger will the expensive customers taking KingFisher will slowly move towards Air Deccan?

Will Air Deccan customers get the same benefits which Mallya's passengers are getting now? Probably Air Deccan will never own the flag of budget carrier from now onwards.

It is going to be a bit complex because both of them are bleeding and they are more in debt rather than have surplus. It is not something which the market will welcome.

National Anthem

Such a good one that it is becoming more & more famous - The talk of the town.

Astrology... Believe or not?

I never had any belief in astrology. May be because how astrologers actually give prediction about the events that are going to happen in someone's life - Because I have witnessed quite some events when the astrologers would have predicted the best things to happen & the worst things would end up happening... People who know me know how & what I have undergone. Even one of my friend was convinced by his astrologer that his marriage should happen in couple of months. But what happened is he lost both his mom & dad within a month...

But recently I heard from someone about this Guru Peyarchi (Jupiter transition) & I was advised to just look around me - at people, relatives & at my friends. With nil knowledge about their birth details or their horoscopes, I can't even predict anything - if some good or bad is going to happen. But all I have to do is wait for some news to come.

To my surprise, after this Guru peyarchi I have heard so many news about changes in people's lives. Many good news - Marriages, engagements, new assets & property acquisition, job promotions, awards, new jobs, pregnancy, babies born & what not... I know about some new health problems too which people are facing around me... & there may be other daily problems too but we won't get to hear about all these from everyone.

So, you see, I just don't know if i got to believe astrology or not. At this stage, all I'm doing is see if I can link these happenings to any predictions given. Haven't got much clue yet either from Sun Signs or the Start Signs!!??

Reviving Postal Funds

I had been wondering for quite sometime about the Postal savings because it is very obvious that they are not able to meet the interest rates provided by the banks. Most of last year & this year, the bank deposit interest rates were reaching their peaks which was good for all small time investors but was not good for the postal saving schemes.

With the new set of investment benefits, postal savings are almost on par with that of banks. 5% bonus for 5 year deposit is what is making this new similarity. Also, the additional benefit is these savings can be declared under S80C for tax exemption. Likewise, is the case for PO Senior Citizen SS.

So, can we expect the tax exemption bracket to be increased from INR 110000? Can we expect deposit rates from banks increased or atleast more that .5% increment in the case of Sr. citizens?

MBBS for 6.5 years?

After completion of SSLC or Matric, students just blindly select the top group like Math-Biology to keep their options open for both engineering and medicine. When students make decision about their career especially on completion of their +2, many give a second thought about taking a medical course. From my times till now, I haven't seen much attitude difference in this aspect.

One main criteria or constraint that comes to picture is the length of the course work - 5.5 years and immediately after that too they cannot guarantee a good living. They need to struggle more or probably go for higher studies to make a mark in the medical system. All these will itself make people take a step back initially.

Now with Ramadoss, the union minister proposing one more year increase for the course work will make students just avoid the medical science as a whole. Though the proposal seems to be good that all students should go for an year of practicing in village conditions I think it would be better if the same can be reduced to 6 months and that too to be done in the any semester in last 1.5 years of the current 5.5 years itself. (I'm not too sure about how the course work is actually
framed...)

Hope the minister will see the actual issues via 'Marry me Minister' protests and make a systematic decision...

A Joke?

SantaBanta.com originated this joke - "What is the difference between a Sardar (Sikh) and a donkey? Answer: a tail."

Does the above have any kind of joke sense? The heights of it is this is published by Reliance mobile to its subscribers as joke of the day (One97 is the provider of such jokes). I'm not a sikh & I have read Sardarji jokes just like Blonde jokes. But I don't really see the above as funny at all. In fact it just irks me & makes me uncomfortable.

Businesses directly reaching customers should have all public sense not to affect their sentiments in any way and especially not to touch them religiously or racially...

Things were in order...

India then ... On those days when I have had got passport, we were supposed to be in front of the Passport office very early like 5 AM so that we can have some assurance about our application getting processed that day.

India now... Computers are coming handy and for sure they atleast help many immensely in such governmental offices. All we need to do is fill in our application online, book our appointments online, print it out & submit it with all additional documents. No huge queues, no hassles, no paying of 'additional' fees, no need to take service of others and when paying the amount the application form bar code is cross verified with details in the database. Sweet...

I think they can improve it some more just like how PAN applications or foreign Visa applications are being processed. The customers would have to pay ahead of time so that they won't miss (or mess with) their appointments. Atleast that'll reduce one more small queue & the waiting time for the same...

Did Sudan over react?

So, the Briton primary class teacher is back home. All is happy now.

But to start with, did Sudan government over react? Should this incident have got such a huge attention so that two big governments have to come to talks & make negotiations? Does this incident really deserve such huge public outcry & demonstrations?

For all those Qs, I would say NO. It is just a matter of clarifying with the teacher & making sure that such things won't happen any more. Embassies getting involved are all too much of drama for nothing. Seriously, Sudan could have downplayed this...

Google Ads

Is the strategy behind displaying Google Ads in websites changing? Because the ads are supposed to address things related to the site contents. Isn't it?

Recently I see a lot of 'Stress Management' related Ads here in my blog and I see no relevance from the ads to my contents. I'm just trying to analyze why such ads are placed here. Is it may be because of the mention of the name Sri Ravishankar? Or may be because of the words in my profile... I need to see this for a week or so to conclude.

Recently, there is a sudden surge in the visitors count for this page & there is also quite some clicks happening on the ads. Hmm... Are people clicking on 'Stress Management' related ads?

On a side note, thank you for visiting & clicking on ads.

Chillin' Video

Emergency Numbers

I was reading in one of the dailies about creation of a medical emergency number like 108 in India. This is a surprise because I thought we at India should already be having such numbers or atleast in some cosmos. At the least I'm not comfortable at all calling different emergency numbers at different places inside India after living a "secure" life in USA - 911 the emergency number for universal help - Cops, Fire, Medicals...

Things are sure yet to improve a lot in India by providing one such number for all India, linking all medical facilities at any place etc. The exponential growth in mobile technology & usage should be put into proper use. I have already been a victim of not having such a facility - losing one of my closest ones with no doctors ready to attend at house, no ambulance available immediately etc...

Value Of Money

It can also be called as inflation I should say.

Today I happened to attend a grand celebration organized by one of the electronic retail showrooms here. It is marked 'grand' because of the arrival of the state governor & a cabinet minister. And this function is for selecting one lucky winner - As simple as that. All customers who have bought electronic item from the retail shop during the celebration season of Navrathri & Diwali had the chance of winning.

From Oct 12 to Dec 1, the total sales by this electronic retailer is like around INR 450,000,000. The lucky winner gets INR 25,00,000. That ain't a bad figure but that ain't is going to get a good 2 BHK apartment in today's cosmopolitans. But as it can be seen, that sure is a huge figure if we rewind our time to say 25 years. People were taking their life insurance policies for one lakh or so. As can be seen from Om Shanti Om, film producers were putting up sets for Rs. 40,00,000 and today the figures from Sivaji stands like 85,00,00,000.

25 years down the line, I think INR 50,00, 000 will stand equal to today's INR 10000 or much worse.