tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23659739468150451272024-03-19T08:13:18.127+05:30Life and MoneyMy journey in search of financial nirvana, the Tortoise way. No get rich quick schemes here.desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-17616917061540282442016-02-11T01:07:00.000+05:302018-09-28T17:19:51.404+05:30Drug price increase: Good intentions wrong impact<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>As per the latest </b>notification from the Central Board of Excise and Customs the import duty exemption to 74 drugs have been removed and now to import these drugs import duty will have to be paid.<br />
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Let us look at the logic of the government for the same<br />
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<b>The main line of reasoning by government of India is that this has been done to promote Indian Pharmaceutical Industry and this will help in the long run.</b><br />
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The drugs impacted are used in treatment of disorders and diseases like<br />
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<li>Kidney Stone</li>
<li>Cancer</li>
<li>Pancreas</li>
<li>Diabetes</li>
<li>Arthritis</li>
<li>Hepatitis B</li>
<li>Lupus</li>
<li>Glaucoma </li>
<li>Leukemia</li>
<li>HIV </li>
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and many other, serious illness, so basically drugs across spectrum will now cost more. </div>
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Now who suffers the most ? Normally these are the drugs that are either not made in India thus we need to import them as the amount of these drugs made in India is not sufficient to meet the demand.</div>
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So almost everybody will feel the impact of costlier drugs. The bigger challenge is that looking at the price increase the domestic pharma companies may also increase the prices of other medicines that do not come under DPCO or Drug Price Control Order. </div>
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Now let us examine the government's argument that this will help the local pharmaceutical industry to compete better. But I am unable to buy this argument because the domestic pharmaceutical industry is one of the original strong industry from India even before the IT boom came. </div>
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<b>You are within your right t</b>o question how do I know the same. Well for one my first, job was in a pharmaceutical company based in Baroda, in Gujarat the original hot spot of pharmaceutical giants like Sarabhai, Alembic, Torrent, Sun Pharma etc. Later the action shifted to Hyderabad with many a Hyderabad based companies taking lead like - Dr. Reddy's , Matrix Lab, and many other. The only notable exception was Ranbaxy that was Delhi based before it was sold to Japanese giant Daiichi Sankyo and later to Sun Pharma, thus bringing it back home to India.</div>
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Now Indian pharma companies may not be the biggest in the globe but they are not the smallest one either, infact in some of the specific fields like Contract Manufacturing, contract research, clinical trial and research Indian Pharmaceutical companies are some of the biggest in the world and also export to not only third world countries in Africa, Asia and South America but also to developed nations like USA, UK, France, Australia etc.</div>
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So for all practical purpose the Indian Pharmaceutical companies are capable of competing with global giants on global scale so I do not buy the reasoning that they need support to compete with global companies on home turf.</div>
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<b>For a second even if I </b>buy the argument, then also should we worry too much about the pharma companies or about the poor patients ? I think you will be with me and say that we should be more worried about patients and less about the companies. </div>
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So I will request our government to relook at the policy and work on reducing the price of all the essential drugs by not only lowering the duties but also the local taxes like Sales Tax, etc. on essential medicines being sold in the country. </div>
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<b>Do share your inputs about the same.</b></div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-49670582739538106792016-01-19T13:36:00.002+05:302016-01-19T13:36:54.332+05:30Why Mobile Apps are a good thing for country<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><b>Mobile Apps let us think beyond convenience </b></h3>
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<b>Some time back I wrote a post about some <a href="http://moneyandus.blogspot.in/2011/02/budget-wishlist-part-2.html" target="_blank">wishlist to the finance minister for budget</a> one of my wish was</b> that we should discourage use of cash.</div>
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I have a few problems with cash. Mind you these problems are not with money but with form of money which we call CASH</div>
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So here is the list of problems with cash</div>
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1. It can be stolen</div>
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2. It is bulky </div>
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3. Not always you will have right denomination or change to tender cash leading to unnecessary hassles and time delays.</div>
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4. But my biggest problem with cash is that it leads to illegal money or black money in the system which is unaccountable for. As cash can be easily hidden and transactions can be hidden from the tax man.</div>
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<b>So my suggestion was that</b> we use check / online transaction for our our financial needs. Now with penetration of mobile phones this has become very easy. Evey a subzi wala carries a phone and if you make sure everybody is accepting the money via say mobile payment or e-payment gateway then it all becomes a transaction that comes into the system and is easily tracked to the source.</div>
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Now what you are doing by using a payment system via an app is that you are bringing the masses of people in to the banking system and you are eliminating the cash transactions.</div>
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It may begin with small amount but look at it this way</div>
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You pay 190 Rs to your Subzi Wala.</div>
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His daily sale is say 5000 Rs.</div>
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Then next day he pays 5000 Rs to the wholesaler</div>
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<b>Now the wholesaler </b>( where typically the big black money transaction happens ) has no option but to further make payments via banking system. As the wholesaler is dealing in Lakhs and crores of rupees suddenly you eliminate a big chunk of black money from the system. Once the GST tax is is implemented in the country you are eliminating a complete chain of black money in the system. </div>
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This will lead to increase in the tax collection and it all started with the 190 Rs you paid to the Subzi Wala.</div>
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<b>Thus I am in big favor of using mobile apps for making payments as it is not only convenient but in the long run it will help the country also.</b></div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-57170418781475732082013-12-20T18:51:00.000+05:302013-12-20T19:05:38.966+05:30Cactus Wale Papa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>The Thorny Issue: Cactus Wale Papa</b><br />
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One of the biggest joys of parenthood is to play with your kids.<br />
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I just love playing with my daughter some of the games we play are full of action like hide and seek while others are board games like Ludo, Snakes and Ladder, Scrabble etc. Some times we will laugh and some time we will fight on claims of cheating by the other party. Once after we have completed a game and were smiling, my wife said let me take a picture of both of you. So we posed and I hugged the kiddo, brushing my cheek against her. The kiddo sighed in pain and said. " <b>Papa your thorns on face hurt me, you have cactus coming out of your face</b>." </div>
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I was a bit surprised as I shave daily, but apparently due to daily shaving the face skin has become hard and rough. </div>
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I was wondering what to do when the kiddo suggested " <i><b>Papa why don't you use Dove just like me and mama and your skin will also become soft like us".</b></i></div>
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I just laughed at her suggestion, that men don't use Dove. I had no idea that soon I will get to use Dove, you see I was reluctant to use my wife's soap but then I saw a contest on Indiblogger where they were offering free samples of Dove soap to test and see for yourself how it works.</div>
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I just smiled and applied for the same. I was pretty sure I will not receive anything as I thought the contest will be only for women bloggers. So I totally forgot about it but about 2 weeks ago I received my samples of 2 pearly white Dove Soaps. I felt rich, I did not have to ask Missus to share her soap with me, I have never cared with which soap I took batch, and at times shampoo, and at times even used hand-wash for taking a bath.</div>
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<a href="http://www.indiblogger.in/images/indivine/campaigns/dove4/mainbanner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://www.indiblogger.in/images/indivine/campaigns/dove4/mainbanner.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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But now I had my own bars of Dove that boasts of giving you soft glowing. Though the contest as well the ad of the soap say try it on one side and then see the difference in softness. I had my own softness meter in form or my daughter. So I used the soap on my face for a week or so, and was feeling a bit of difference from day 2 itself. But the softness test was still pending, one day when my daughter came to ask a question to me I answered her and then casually said " So do Papa gets a hug?" She hugged me and I casually brushed the cheek to her. And lo on a normal day the kiddo would have moved away saying " Papa your thorns hurt" and moved away. Well moved away she did but only with a smile on her face, she touched my face once again and said " Papa what happened to your thorns, your skin is soft like mine"</div>
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I smiled back and looked at Missus and said" Well now Papa will have soft skin only as I also now use Dove"</div>
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Well to hell with all those who are saying that I am using a girly soap. If Dove is helping me get closer to my daughter, I will use it :). Good by hand-wash and all those manly soaps, welcome the new Metrosexual man, who uses Dove. </div>
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You never know there could be a big market for the same, and if you see Dove ad in future where a man is advertising it remember you first read it here.</div>
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This is my entry for the Guessing game with my friend <a href="http://www.dove.in/en/Products/Bar-Body-Wash/Bar/Cream-Beauty-Bathing-Bar.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dove Face Test</a> contest organized by <a href="http://www.indiblogger.in/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Indiblogger</a>. Follow this contest on twitter using: #DoveFaceTest</div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-24987086014242682462013-11-06T18:37:00.001+05:302019-01-23T18:54:29.548+05:307 Steps for a speedy court system<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Implementing My Delhi Manifesto</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A few days ago I wrote <a href="http://moneyandus.blogspot.in/2013/10/my-delhi-manifesto.html" target="_blank">My Delhi Manifesto</a>, where my suggestion was to have a speedy justice system to ensure compliance with the law. There are many reasons I believe we need to revamp our justice system. Who has not heard the saying:<i style="font-weight: bold;"> "Justice delayed is justice denied." </i>We in India have taken it to the next level of incompetence. We have more cases pending in court than most countries have people. But talk is cheap and action is invaluable. I still remember reading the thought of the day outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral, New Delhi: "<b><i>The smallest good deed is bigger than the grandest great thought</i></b>".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So writing a blog is one thing implementing the suggestion is another. But here are a few steps we can take to speed up our justice system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Courts on Vacation:</b> We got independence in 1947 but some of the traditions of the Raj continue with the courts going on vacation during summer. WHY? I want to ask, with lakhs or court cases pending can we afford this Jurassic tradition from colonial masters? No other government department gets vacation then why courts? This should add productivity of 2 months to the system, that is hundreds of solved cases.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Automation of all records: </b>In this IT age we still use all kind of papers etc. and typically files vanish whenever there is a controversial case like the coal scam. WHY? We need so much paper trail when everything can be automated. We should straight away work in that direction, this will ensure far greater transparency and speedy justice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Service Level Agreement and TAT: </b>The government collects taxes from people and has a legal and moral responsibility to provide service in return. So why not have a clear Service level agreement and Turn Around Time for every case that comes to court. This is more relevant for small cases which clog up the maximum time in courts. Once everybody will be working against a target things will automatically speed up. Once courts start delivering speedy justice people will have a healthy respect for law and they will think twice before breaking a law. Which automatically will reduce the burden on the courts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">4. <b>ESMA: </b>Our firemen, policemen, railways, hospital staff they all come under ESMA, i.e. Essential Services Maintenance Act and need to work even when they are protesting. But not our lawyers and courts. WHY? I want to ask, is justice not a basic right of the citizen. Do you think it is OK to let a case linger for years and lose productivity when it can be solved in weeks if not in days? A speedy justice means a more productive workforce. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">5. <b>Consolidation of Cases: </b>A lot of related cases are handled in different courts. e.g. in one case, I know of divorce there were 4 cases going simultaneously in different courts in Delhi. One for domestic violence from wife, second for dowry, 3rd for divorce and 4th for trespassing all involving the same couple but in 3 different courts in Delhi. WHY? I want to ask, why can't related cases be consolidated in one case or at-least transferred to a single case to make matters simple. After all, if they are with the same parties they must be related and can be heard together in sequence. Why clog 3 different courts for related cases.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">6. <b>Frivolous Cases should attract severe penalty: </b>It is not uncommon for vested interest to do court cases against celebrities, movies, books, and rival politicians. Sue all you want but if your case is found to be of malicious intent or frivolous then the court should impose a heavy penalty to deter such cases in the future. The courts are a system to impart justice not to settle scores and get your 15 minutes of fame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">7. <b>Inter-department Court Cases: </b>India must be the only country where one department of government sues another department, one state sues another state. Not very long ago <a href="http://www.sebi.gov.in/sebiweb/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SEBI</a> and <a href="http://www.irda.gov.in/Defaulthome.aspx?page=H1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">IRDA</a> ( Securities and Exchange Board of India and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) two regulators from the government of India were involved in a fierce battle over there jurisdiction. WHY? I want to ask, these are not rival corporations but government bodies, why do they need to go to court to settle matters. Why can't they solve matters by talking and negotiations? I think all such interdepartmental cases should be settled at an out of court manner without clogging the bandwidth of the courts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think these 7 steps can really help in unclogging our court system and help common man get speedy justice. Once the people, bureaucrats, and politicians of this country will know that courts will quickly take a decision on their cases other malaise from our public like like corruption, bribery, vote bank policies, the crime against women and minorities will automatically start coming down. As we know only our courts have been able to bring the mightiest of politicians behind the bar, just imagine if we also free their bandwidth and speed up the system how much more efficiently our courts will work. What do you say? Please feel free to give your suggestions besides the 7 points I have mentioned to speed up our court system.</span><br />
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-47199316562535986582013-10-19T18:43:00.000+05:302013-11-06T18:37:57.990+05:30My Delhi Manifesto<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-US">My Delhi Manifesto</span></h3>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>Delhi has been the</b> seat of power no matter how
back in time you go. From the mythological Indrapastha built on the ashes of the
Khandav Van to the Lutyens dream built in sandstone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Every attempt to take the capital away has
failed and the Mughals came back to Delhi, so did the Raj after a short lived
fling with Kolkata. Even today Tughlaq
is mocked for his attempt to take the capital to Daulatabad, as he thought that
the fledgling sultanate he was trying to protect would be safer there. But the fears of Tughlaq were not wrong for
soon Tamerlane came with his hordes and ransacked the city for eight days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>But Delhi survived</b>, and continues to grow and
has outlived Tamerlane and the later looter Nadir Shah and it was in Delhi where the sunset for Raj
began on 15<sup>th</sup> August 1947. Today Delhi has grown bigger than most
cities in world it boasts of one of the best <a href="http://desitraveler.com/hyderabad-metro-rail/" target="_blank">Metro rail </a>in the world but
somewhere its cries to save the city are being ignored. The citizens of Delhi
are busy adding another floor to their vertical towers from Rohini to
Rajokri. The city of gardens has gone to
become the city of ghettos and plunderers. Unfortunately these
plunderers are not coming from the trans Himalayan Grasslands but are our own
citizens. They come in all shapes and sizes the pot bellied politicians
claiming to represent the hungry masses to the auto rickshaw drivers who leave
the meter home, and then we have every car owner whose claim to fame is direct
access to nothing less than 10 Janpath, totally bypassing 7 RCR like every body else.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><b><i>The city of Delhi cries daily under its crumbling
</i></b>infrastructure and growing pile of daily refuge that we simply through out of
our home, and then claim the city is dirty. We have sucked the water table dry
and converted Yamuna one of the holiest rivers in the country to world’s
largest open sewer, whose stench competes with the stink the dirty deals in the
corridors of that temple of democracy called parliament emits. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But are the citizens of Delhi totally apathetic
towards the plight of their city? I guess not as the large number of youngsters
who came out of their homes to face the water cannons and <i><b>lathicharge</b> </i>by the very policemen who are paid to
protect citizens like Nirbhaya. Yes Nirbhaya united our collective consciousness
from the gated heavens of Gurgaon to the ghettos celebrating Gandhi
family across Delhi came out on roads to demand <b>JUSTICE.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>I think
that is what I want in my Delhi Manifesto</i>.<b><u> Justice.</u></b> <b><u>Yes plain simple Justice. </u></b>For one of the
biggest reason for all the malaise prevalent in our society is because in our
country Justice is not only delayed it is also justice denied. The fast track
court in Nirbhaya’s case has shown that if there is a public and political will
Justice can be delivered at a pace that the SMS generation is used to. I think
we need to have a retirement age for politicians, after which they should not
be able to hold any position of power. This will force them to live like a
common man without the blanket of black cats, whose sole purpose seems to be to
protect the black deeds of the Men in White. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b><i>It was George Bernard Shaw who said “ It is not
the severity of punishment, it is the surety of punishment that makes people
comply with law”. </i></b>Here in India we have neither surety nor severity of punishment,
thus making everybody bold enough to say “ Dekh lenge”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Once we have multiple courts who deliver
justice at a speed then suddenly there will be a mass movement to report the
bribes, as the law abiding citizen will know that he will not have to go to
courts for next 20 years. The biggest
flaw in our justice system is no sense of urgency or closure. Every case should
have a timeline by which it should be decided. E.g if it is a murder case say 1
year, if it is a case of traffic violation it should be settled in 2 hearing
max. Also cases involving Politicians and bureaucrats should be given priority
and they should be stripped of their power while the case is sub-judice. Once the surety of punishment comes into the
mind suddenly we will see an increased compliance with the law of the land.
That illegal building will be bulldozed before it add another floor, that red
light that we jump will gain respect as the constable will think many times
before pocketing that crumbled Gandhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b><i>So this is my manifesto a fast track, SLA and
time line based Justice and court system, which will not only make Delhi a
better city but also its residents better citizens. </i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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This is <a href="http://www.delhimanifesto.com/" target="_blank" title="My Delhi Manifesto">My Delhi Manifesto</a> in association with <a href="http://www.blogadda.com/" target="_blank" title="The Favorite community of Indian Bloggers">BlogAdda.com</a>.
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-71762660432606172662013-10-01T20:10:00.000+05:302013-10-01T22:17:02.380+05:30Remembering Bapu Gandhi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Remember Bapu Gandhi :Whom we forgot long ago</div>
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Tomorrow it is 2nd October or the birth anniversary of <a href="http://desitraveler.com/beach-road-pondicherry/" target="_blank">Mahatma Gandhi</a>. We all remember him as father of Nation, the man who led the nation and drove the British out of nation. India's Independence opened the flood gate and slowly but steadily the British packed their bags and left most countries in India and later in Africa also.</div>
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<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/37103_394520137309218_438963679_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/37103_394520137309218_438963679_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Surprisingly Gandhi jee never won a Nobel prize, though he was nominated 5 times. But I am personally happy that he never won the Nobel as I think Gandhi is much bigger than all the prizes combined in this world.</div>
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Gandhi jee was also called Bapu or father by scores of Indians but today that word has been corrupted by the likes of Asaram Bapu who have misused the word " Bapu" and made it something to be detested.</div>
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Every single Indian city has a M G Road or Mahatma Gandhi Road but most of us have forgotten what M G stands for, in our rat race and shortage of time Mahatma Gandhi has been reduced to just M G.</div>
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I think the only place we still love and remember Gandhi is on the currency notes. What an irony the man who shed his clothes to live in a loin cloth just like millions of Indians now his picture is the face of currency of the country. We remember the Gandhi on notes but forget the Gandhi and the ideals he stood for. </div>
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No wonder the more we forget about Gandhi in true sense the more the Rupee is falling, for a country without a strong moral can not have a strong currency. Though I wonder for how long we will have Gandhi even on currency notes who knows just like all the airports, flyovers, schemes and scams where the real Gandhi is missing, Bapu may silently vanish from our currency notes also. That would be a black day for this country though Bapu would be happy that he no longer has to be the poster child of currency notes.</div>
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What do you think? </div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-9699452243742042922013-08-27T17:06:00.000+05:302013-08-29T19:54:07.969+05:30Dear Mr. Banker Please Pay Me To Talk To Me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Now Pay To Speak To A Human At Standard Chartered Bank</h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">I received an SMS a few days ago from one of the banks I have a relationship with in this case Standard Chartered Bank, whose credit card I have been using for more than a decade.</span></h3>
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Here is the message typed as it is without any changes</span></h3>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><u>"From 1st Oct'13, calls at Phonebanking serviced on IVR will be free. Agent handled calls up to 2 per month are free. 3rd call onwards there will be a charge of INR 50 per call. For more details, visit www.standardchartered.co.in -StanChart"</u></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">If you read the message it begins as if it is good news for me, and I do not have to pay to call to bank, then it clarifies only if you solve the problem through IVR the call is free. If you wish to speak to a Human being i.e. Homo sapiens you have to pay. Here too the bank is kind enough to offer a FULL two calls FREE that is no charges at all. The moment I want to speak to a human being for a third time vow I need to pay INR 50 per call. Yes you read it right, if I call to Standard Chartered Bank with which I have a 10 year+ old relationship I need to pay INR 50 per call from third call onward.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Now I am not sure why the bank thinks that I am desperate to speak to their phone banking officers and will be willing to pay them INR 50 per call.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Last I heard only phone sex services charged for inbound call. I am not sure if they are still around; I never had enough money or need to pay for phone sex. I wonder what makes the smart guys at Stan Chart believe, that I would pay to speak to a banker. May be they just want people to stop calling them and use just email or IVR. May be I don't know, I have been calling them for free only for 10 or so years. You I save all my money to go to a Shriek by calling those bankers at Standard Chartered. Here are some of the cases when I call them</span></h3>
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<ul>
<li>When my boss Screams at Me</li>
<li>When I have fight with my wife</li>
<li>When some body overtakes my car on highway on the wrong side</li>
<li>When some body parks in my parking and I can not find a place to park my car</li>
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A few more reasons but you get the gist. Oh yes I also call them when my credit card statement has a mistake, when a merchant has charged me twice, or when I get an SMS that my new card has been dispatched but I did not receive it. </div>
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As you can see I don't have much work to do, but to call them, and now I will be sooo happy to call them and pay for the calls.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Or it is an excuse to continue to fiddle with IVR like I have been doing for last some time by the time I have listened to music worth a few hundred rupees I get frustrated and keep the phone. Note in t his case also I never get to speak to a human though I am still paying to my telecom company to listen to music played by my bank.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Any ways those super smart Harvard educated bankers at Standard Chartered bank are free to have their own policies regarding how badly they want my rapidly falling rupee. I am sure this was what they were taught at Harvard Business School; after all they have forgotten more than I have ever learned about customers.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Here is my policy on dealing with them and my open invitation letter to Standard Chartered Bank on my policy to take calls from them:</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Dear Standard Chartered Telemarketer: Next time you call me please make sure you transfer 500 RS per call in my account per call. No I will not give you any free calls or IVR luxury; I will not beat around the bush. You want to speak to Prasad the customer of 10 years and sell that new Magnatium or Krptonium world card please pay upfront and then we will be talking.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">I think that is fair enough, you charge me to call you, I charge you to call me.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Oh you are worried I will charge you 10 times what you are charging me. Well good point but you see you have valued your time, and I have valued my time. I am actually giving you a steep discount considering the value of my time IMO.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Game? Good call me, but make sure you have given me credit of INR 500 in my credit card account.</span></h3>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-40963671551708386022013-08-18T18:34:00.001+05:302013-08-27T17:07:58.610+05:30Do you know you pay for customer support<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Price of calling your Insurance Company and Bank</h3>
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Do you know when you call your insurance company or bank you may actually be paying to call them?</div>
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What you are not aware of the same?</div>
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Well check the contact us page of your bank or insurance company and read the fine print.</div>
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In most of the developed economies call center numbers are toll free 1800 numbers. But in India even the 1800 numbers ( they can actually be 18 or 16 series in India) are also paid numbers.</div>
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So every time you call your insurance company or the bank you are actually paying for the call. What is the worst part is that these are premium number and you actually pay more than the normal calls. I suspect ( though I do not have a proof), that the telecom company and the Bank/Insurance company are sharing the revenue from the call.</div>
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I called my insurance company and tried to find out the details, but they asked me to find out from the telecom company. I asked the lady on the phone to give me the name and contact of the telecom company they use, but she had no answer for the same.</div>
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I think this is a serious matter, if I am suppose to pay for a call to my bank or insurance company, don't you think I should know how much that call is going to cost me?</div>
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Are <a href="http://www.irda.gov.in/Defaulthome.aspx?page=H1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">IRDA</a> and <a href="http://www.trai.gov.in/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TRAI</a>, and <a href="http://www.rbi.org.in/home.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RBI </a>listening? or are they busy fighting each other like it happened some time back?</div>
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I think this is one area where the consumer is being taken for a ride and some transparency is needed from the financial institutions as well as the telecom companies.</div>
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This revenue or cost if any is minuscule for any Bank or Insurance company but they are not being transparent in informing the consumer that some of these numbers that the customer is calling are very expensive to call. I don't see a reason why the amount that will be charged to consumer can not be displayed or announced when the call is connected?</div>
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What do you say?</div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-49257294600455623852013-08-09T17:26:00.000+05:302013-08-18T18:07:10.933+05:30ECS for Insurance Policy payment with ICICI Prulife<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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ECS Story with ICICI Prulife </h3>
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<b><i>A few years ago</i></b> I bought some insurance policies from ICICI Prulife, one of the new age insurance companies. Now I like to make my insurance premiums online using my credit card, to make some points on my credit card that I use sometime, though mostly they go wast as I am not very smart in keeping a track of the same.</div>
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<b><i>A few days after</i></b> buying policies I started getting calls from ICICI Prulife to set up ECS for the policies so that money will be debited online from my credit card monthly for the premium payment and I need not worry about remembering the same every month. So on great persuasion of ICICI pruflife tele caller and their website and SMS pestering by them, I finally set up standing instructions to deduct my monthly insurance payment from the credit card every month. </div>
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<i><b>I<u>t was convenient to sign up for the service, a few click, fill my credit card details like</u></b></i></div>
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CC Number</div>
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Date of expiry</div>
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CVV number and we were done, though I had to repeat the process for each policy manually. But I was able to finish setting up instructions for the policy in 10 minutes for all the 4 policies, and life was good for next 12 months. Then something happened, something that happens every 3 years at same time every year. My credit card expired and the credit card company sent me a fresh card with new number and new CVV etc. Now this is when the nightmare started.</div>
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<b><i>Logically when my</i></b> <a href="http://moneyandus.blogspot.in/2013/07/missuse-of-kyc-norms-by-banks.html" target="_blank">credit card expires</a> that is in the system of ICICI Prulife, they should discard the card automatically,but no all the pro-activeness of ICICI Prulife was only at the time or receiving money. I started getting SMSes that my payment has been declined by bank. So I went to ICICI prulife to change my credit card details to the new one. But it won't let me do that, for some reason the new card would not work on ICICI site, while it continued to work on other sites. There was no option to cancel the credit card on ICICI Prulife websit to cancel the credit card ECS standing instructions.</div>
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<i>So I looked for the </i>call center number, which clearly mentioned that charges apply to call this number. So I called this number and listened to music for about 4 minutes ( A very costly music I must say), then after punching what looked like a hundred authentication means a girl came on phone.</div>
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For 5 minutes she did not understood the problem, and then on clearly mentioning that my card has expired and I need to change it manually as system is not allowing me to do it , she wanted me to visit an ICICI branch to give an application to cancel the ECS. I was not happywith this, so she said why don't you fax or send a scanned copy of my credit card to ICICI prulife and it will take 15 days to process it. I was still not happy with this, so finally she negotiated that I should send an email to lifeline@iciciprulife.com with the credit card and policy details to cancel the instructions for the expired card.</div>
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<b><i>Now I was not very happy with it, when ICICI prulife needs money from my credit card I can set up the insttuctions in 2 minutes,but when I want to cancel it they want me to visit a branch or send an email with scanned and signed copy of my credit card. </i></b></div>
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<b><i>I think this is nothing </i></b>but delaying tactic so that ICICI continues to get payment on time and a policy does not lapses. What I failed to understand was if it takes 3 steps to set up payment instructions why it takes a visit to a branch to cancel the payment and that to on an expired card? The poor girl had no answer and fumbled to reply.</div>
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<b><i>I asked for the</i></b> email ID that an elite customer like me can send my complain ( ICICI has given me Elite status I did not asked for it), she had no idea about the same, I had to remind her to check her manual and see if there is an email Id for elite customers, and boom an email emerged and was shared with me.</div>
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<b><i>So I have se</i></b>nt an email to the Elite customer exclusive email box and let us see what they say. I have sent the details of my policies for which I want to cancel the standing instructions for payment from my credit card. Let us see how things move. Will keep you posted. In the meantime I am making manual payments to my insurance policies, to ensure that my life cover does not lapses. </div>
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What is your experience with an ECS instruction that has expired and what steps you took to restore it. Are you in favor of ECS or against it. Why? Please leave your inputs in comments below. Thanks</div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-72986799690702168212013-07-18T14:00:00.000+05:302013-07-18T15:04:47.357+05:30A Call To My Bank- How KYC is actually used<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u>Calling Mr. Banker</u></b></h3>
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<b>A few days ago I </b>got an SMS from one of the NEW AGE banks, I have a credit card.</div>
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" We have upgraded your credit card, you will get the new one in a few days at your billing address"</div>
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<b>Now my billing address</b> is my parents home, while I live in a different city. I was not planning to go to my parents home for some time. So I called the bank's call center, whose number is given is <span style="font-size: xx-small;">font about half this size, </span>behind the credit card and I needed find my magnifying glass from my school days to read it.</div>
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<b>In these days of paid </b>caller tune the Bank was kind enough to make me listen to free music and lyrics, albeit singing Hosannas about how wonderful the bank and its products are. I was lost in the melodious lullaby and had almost fallen asleep when somebody woke me up to ask for my problem. I explained that would it be possible to deliver the card to my local address. </div>
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<b><i>"NO",</i></b> I was told bluntly, as we need to follow RBI guidelines for KYC and if you need a change in address you need to visit our nearest branch, fill a form and give an application.</div>
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Well OK, I thought who wants to take <i><b>Panga</b></i> with RBI, not me a struggling blogger, I thought, and would just call my parents to courier the card to me once received.</div>
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As I was about to keep the phone, the young man asked me if I am looking for any investments? I said yes I do have plans for investing for my future but not sure where considering my limited knowledge on all financial matters.</div>
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<b><i>Suddenly the tone </i></b>of the young man on the phone changed.</div>
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" Nothing to worry sir, I will send our Investment manager to your address and he will help you"</div>
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" But my address is of another town, would you send him here or to my parents home?" I wanted to know.</div>
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Any where in country sir, wherever you say, we can send him to your office, or home as per your convenience.</div>
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" But will RBI not have a problem sending your consultant to my local address while my address in your records is for another city?"</div>
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"Nothing to worry Sir, our Manager will help you with all the formalities"</div>
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" But what about KYC?"</div>
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" Sir my Investment Manager will take care of that"</div>
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" OK, let me think about it, I said and hung up".</div>
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Since then I have received many calls from the Investment Manager seeking an appointment. It is clear that the poor call center chap and the Investment manager have a target to sell and their bosses ignore RBI norms as long as the money keeps on coming. Remember <a href="http://desitraveler.com/the-bankster-book-review-by-desi-traveler/" target="_blank">The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian</a> ?</div>
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So here are a few questions I want to ask the new age modern banks, some of them who were recently slapped by RBI for not following the <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-07-16/news/40591048_1_indian-overseas-bank-cobrapost-com-punjab-national-bank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KYC Norms</a>. </div>
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<b>What is clear is the</b> moment somebody wants to invest money though a bank all the KYC norms are thrown out of window and the bankers are willing to bend to adjust customers with funds. For all other cases RBI is used as the <b>Gabbar Singh.</b></div>
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I am all for following RBI norms, but both in letter and spirit, I wonder when our banks will follow the same.</div>
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What has been your experience with your bank? Let us hear it in comments.</div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com6India20.593684 78.962880000000041-8.5815185000000014 37.654286000000042 49.7688865 120.27147400000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-26641590513901459732013-06-14T20:48:00.000+05:302013-06-14T20:52:42.165+05:30India Telegraph To Close<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />End of an Era - India Telegraph Services to Close</h3>
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After serving the nation for almost 160 years the Indian Telegraph service will be closed from July 15th 2013. This is surely a sign of the communication revolution that happened in the country in the late nineties and last decade.</div>
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When I was growing up phones were not a necessity, they were not even a luxury, they were a symbol of power. Only who's who of the country had phones in their homes, and that to in major cities. For the hinterland and remote areas the postcard was the only means of communications which could take days or even weeks to arrive. </div>
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<a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1847064/report-curtains-down-for-160-year-old-telegram-service-in-india" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The telegram</a> was the messenger of bad news, only to be used when some body in the family was not well or worse still no more. A knock on the door by the postman to deliver a telegram was enough to make the women of the family cry. Not only the telegram was the messenger of bad news, it was also prohibitively costly for the common man to use it, with the charges being per letter typed. This lead to creation of a whole series of Telegram jokes, much before Santa Banta Jokes became all the rage. </div>
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When was the last time you read or heard a telegram joke? If you find one please send it to me.</div>
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I guess no body will miss that knock from the postman in this age of Facebook updates and instant SMS.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So good bye dear telegram, rest in peace. May you become a distant memory of times gone by.</div>
<br /></div>
desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-68917865968561016002012-10-20T16:45:00.001+05:302012-10-20T17:38:44.119+05:30Test post<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-89619435895722220962012-10-07T21:10:00.001+05:302012-10-07T21:10:50.301+05:30Desi Traveler: How and Why to Travel without Ticket on Trains<a href="http://www.desitraveler.com/2012/10/Train-Travel-india.html#.UHGiJJgQeSo">Desi Traveler: How and Why to Travel without Ticket on Trains</a><br />
<br />
A post about why you should travel without ticket in train ( you still have to buy the ticket).<br />
Read more for details... :)desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-77256142211226042482012-09-17T14:16:00.000+05:302013-02-23T14:21:36.653+05:30FDI in Retail- Part IV<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>So once again</b> the debate on FDI is on... <a href="http://moneyandus.blogspot.in/2011/12/fdi-in-retail-part-iii.html" target="_blank">I wrote earlier about the same here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At that point of time the MMS and company chickened out and decided to roll back the same. This time it looks they are willing to fight it out with Ms Banherjee and others who believe 1977-78 was the best period in India's economic history.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Let us look</i> at the basic argument most people have against investment in retail.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. It will impact the livelihood of millions of Kiryana shop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My question is what about the millions and millions of farmers who will benefit and the consumers who will get better price goods? Do we really want to keep the interest of Kiryana shop owners above our farmers and consumers?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>I don't think</b></i> any body would like to do that. So why is Ms. Banherjee et. all opposing it. Well she has a history to oppose things she even opposed Nano in Singur. Guess what Singur is the loser and Gujrat won and today the area around Nano factory in Gujrat is more prosperous. I don't think Ms. Banherjee has stopped liking her role as main opposition in WB, she still continues to be the leader of opposition without realizing that now she is the CM of the state that has elected her with a lot of hope.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyways coming back to the Kiryana shop...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A lot of them are guilty of following ( please not I am saying a lot not all</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Not paying all their taxes like Sales tax, Income tax etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Employing underage kids</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3.Not paying minimum wages to the employees</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4.Selling goods that are spurious to make some extra money.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>I am pretty</i></b> sure no MNC will actively get involved in point no 1 to 3, the 4th is more of our national problem and needs a different debate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes I understand that the MNC are not coming to India for the love of the land but they do bring some good things like better infrastructe, better wages etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just imagine if 15-20 years ago we have said that oh we have Infosys and Wipro and TCS and hundreds of small IT company in country so we should not allow Microsoft, IBM, Accenture etc in the country. I think if we had done the same we would have been a have been in IT and BPO also and not the world power that we are today in IT and BPO. And the best part is both Infosys and IBM have benefited from the competition and today IBM has more employees in India than in most other countries. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why not repeat the same in Retail and make it a win win situation. </span><br />
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<br /></div>
desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-27938366336405776082012-07-26T12:26:00.000+05:302012-07-26T12:26:14.294+05:30Income Tax Return<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well this is that time of year once again when you need to file your income tax return. The good thing is that the process is very simple now. Just a layman' take on it. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your income is only from salary and upto 5Lakh only you need not file return, but as always there are fine prints in it and you need to read them carefully <b><a href="https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/index.do" target="_blank">check here for the same.</a></b></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are salaried you can check the status of your TDS by checking your form <b><a href="https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/form26ASInfo.do" target="_blank">26AS</a>,</b> this will give all the money that has been deducted by your employer and deposited in government of India's account. This should match your form 16, you will need a user ID password for the Income tax departments portal for the same. You can also see this form through the net banking portal of major banks like ICICI, Axis, etc, as they give link on their website for the same based on your PAN number.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your income is more than 10Lakhs per year then it has been made mandatory to file return electronically. A lot of websites like Taxsmile.com, Taxspanner.com, myitreturn.com, taxshax.com etc. Most of them have similar features, but only some of them offer 100% efiling e.g. Taxsmile.com</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Technically you can file your return even after 31st of July, but then you will not be able to carry forward losses incurred in stocks or mutual funds transaction. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So if you have carried forward or current years capital losses please ensure that you file the return before or on the due date.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember ( this is not a sermon) Tax return filing is mandatory even if all your taxes has been deducted by your emploer ( unless you have income of less than 5 Lakh per annum).</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In order to speed up thing you should be ready with your form 16( salaried people), bank statements, records of any dividend etc., papers for any home loan taken, rent paid/received by you, any capital gains or losses made in stocks, mutual funds or any other financial transaction. Income of a minor kid etc.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Happy Filing.... let us be proud tax payers and hope our government does not use the money for stupid things but uses it for welfare of the nation.</span></li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading. Here is the <b><a href="http://moneyandus.blogspot.com/2011/06/income-tax-return-efiling.html" target="_blank">link of an earlier post in this series</a></b></span></div>
</div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-2284549818317526062012-06-30T17:44:00.000+05:302012-06-30T17:44:36.132+05:30Color Of Money<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>Since we have been</b></i> talking about Grandmothers let me talk about another grandmother, this time of a friend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He is from a business family and we were enjoying the <b><i>sangeet</i></b> ceremony before his marriage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His granny an old lady with snowhite hair was full of energy and very happy for the marriage of her youngest grandson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>Soon she became</i></b> the center of attraction of everybody and she started talking about her experiences about life. Although the marriage was in Delhi and her complete flock had moved to Delhi she continued to live in the ancestral property surrounded by mango grooves in a small village near Agra.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>During the course</i></b> of our conversation I asked here why she has not moved to Delhi with the rest of the family. She responded with her toothless smile</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" Beta hamen to dilli kee baten samajh nahi aatee, yahan to har cheez he ajab hai"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" Doodh main malai nahin aatee, subzee main swad nahi hai...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" Or to or yahan to dhan bhee kala hai"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was puzzled what is this Kala Dhan?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So she explained </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" Hame to maloom nahi, yeh mere bete or potey log har do teen mahniey main gaon atey hain or humse kaagzon par angootha lagwate hain....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or jub main poochtee hoon yeh sub kya hai to bolten hai.. Amma dilli main bahut kala dhan hai.. tum angootha laga do tumhare haath main bahut partap hai... isse kala dhan gora ho jayega...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>You should </i></b>have seen the expressions on the face of some of her sons in the room.. at that time we just ignored it and laughed it. But come think of it an innocent old lady was being used by her sons to launder money..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think she was right Dilli main kaala dhan bahut hai... even if nobody agrees all our Netas and babus will agree.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Life-and-Money/131565106915555" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like our Facebook page here</span></a><br />
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<br /></div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-44072230502522762082012-06-28T22:16:00.000+05:302012-06-28T22:16:26.720+05:30Theory Of Relativity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I read about Einstein's theory on relativity pretty late in my life. But I was made aware of the same much earlier in life. How? Well please read on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My grandmother told me a very simple story when I was a kid...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">......<i><b> Once there was</b></i> a young boy who used to live in a village. His family was very poor...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> One day a toy seller came to village and he was selling small elephants made of wood... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The poor kid wanted one of them, so he ran to his mother and asked</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maa mujhe hathee lena hai...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Maa ne pucha... beta hathee kitne kaa hai?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beta bola... maa hathee 2 paise ka hai.!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maa bolee... nahin beta hathee bahut mehnga hai....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The poor kid could not muster the courage to argue further and silently cried in a corner....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well time passed and the kid became a handsome young man, worked very hard and one day became a very rich man...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>On a lazy Sunday</b></i> afternoon he heard the voice of a man who was selling elephant<br />( a real one )....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The boy still had memories of his child hood and how badly he wanted the elephant as a kid...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So after talking to the Elephant seller he went back home running to his mother and asked...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maa mujhe Hathee lena hai...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ma bolee " <span style="background-color: white;">beta hathee kitne kaa hai?"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beta bola " Maa hathee sawa lakh ka hai" ( 125000)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" Theek hai beta ja le le"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The son was very happy and bought the elephant after paying Sawa Lakh....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So how does it taught me about relativity.... well ... it turned out it taught me at early stage how one can spend is a function of how much one has. When the boy was poor he could not spend even 2 paise on the elephant, but when they became rich he bought an elephant worth 1.25 lakhs ( It was not a white elephant by the way)....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well this lesson helped me a lot of time in my life when i had to decide if I can or should buy some thing or not as well as relative to my other needs how important this purchase is relative to other needs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But most of all you need to spend only once you have earned... a bit tough to explain to credit card flashing folks today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading.</span><br />
<br /></div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-6726422843913598582012-05-30T21:30:00.000+05:302012-05-30T21:30:06.116+05:30IPL Is Over! Long Live IPL<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>Now that IPL fever</b></i> is subsidizing
let me start this post with a simple disclaimer:<br /><b><i>“I do not believe in a religion
called Cricket”</i></b><br />Now that most Indians who are
reading this will consider me an anomaly, I will agree with them. If I have to
quote a real sports man.:<br /><b><i>“How can you party till 2 am and
then play a match for 5 hours and consider the activity sports?”</i></b><br />So I have never been able to
understand all this <i><u>hulla gulla</u></i> about IPL and various teams in it and never
bothered to worry who has won and who has lost. Till some time back...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I was
checking <b><i>Facebook</i></b> and saw comments about the current champions that were
not so flattering by somebody who obviously was a fan of a losing team. In my
absolute ignorance about passions that religions like Cricket can invoke I
wrote a comment that supported the celebrations by the winning team.<br /><b><i>And all hell broke loose... even people who were not part of original discussion joined with passion that has to be seen to believed...</i></b><br />Soon there were people from both
sides willing to kill each other on the Facebook publicly. Your bloggers intelligence was questioned
multiple times, which I also started doubting considering I was now in a debate
that had nothing to do with cricket, or cricket fans but soon became a very
vicious personal attack.<br />Any ways long story short the
marketing men behind IPL have been able to create strong loyalty in the mind of
people for their respective city teams. What this means for future?<br />From a nation where we are divided
on the lines of religion, region, caste, political affiliation etc., now we
have one more reason to bay for each other’s blood... that is IPL teams.<br />And are people confused... what
is somebody like me who is from Delhi but lives in Hyderabad suppose to do? Do I support Delhi my home town or Hyderabad
now my home? Think about the dilemma of a <b><i>Benarsi babu</i></b> living in Mumbai in
fear of Raj and his dreams of Raj on Mumbai? But he wants to support Mumbai
team... or let us imagine the God of cricket Sachin is sold to another team
next season ( purely hypothetical question please don’t give a <b><i>supari
</i></b>on my name ...) What will the average <i><b>Mumbaikar</b></i> do then? Cheer for
Mumbai or the team Sachin will be playing (hopefully that day will never come).
Or what am I suppose to do once my team is out of tournament which team do I
support now? Or do I shut down my TV till next season?<br />So how the loyalties and
royalties of cricket will evolve in next few years remains to be seen, but if
things are any indication we have one more reason to hate each other. It seems
we all have this mantra now <br /><i><b>“I love my India...but I hate my fellow Indians who do not support my team”</b></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But always an optimist I would
like to see the positive side, just look at SRK, who delhi considers its own, but made
it big in Mumbai and now owns a team in Kolkota. Or </span><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shilpa </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sambhar</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Shetty</span></b></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b> </b> married to a </span><b><i><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Panjoo Parantha</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> owning a team in </span><i><b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Daal Batee Choorma</span> </b></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rajasthan</span></i></b>, Or <b>Subroto</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b><i>"</i><i>Pehle Aap</i><i>"</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b> Rai</b> from Lucknow having a stake in Pune pie. May be this
will instil a strong sense of cross pollination and people will cheer for teams
that play better and not because they belong to a city we identify with. Why only owners each team has players from different part of the country and they work very hard to ensure that the team they are playing for wins ( match fixing scandals are another story!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What will happen only time will
tell, but passionate fans till that date will keep on spending money on buying merchandise and tickets, and the marketing men of IPL will be merrily marching towards bank.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Thanks for reading.</span></div>
</div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-14852766097418767962012-04-29T17:22:00.001+05:302019-01-23T18:50:06.189+05:30A Money Savvy Model<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><i><b>We city dwellers</b> </i>always think that we are the smartest bunch around, only to be humbled by simple folks around us time and again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Some time back I visited the Nallamala forest near the Srisailam temple. It is a very sparsely populated area and most of the folks living are farmers and some tribals. Education levels are very poor, and for a city-bred guy like me it is difficult to understand the folksy wisdom passed down from one generation to another in our villages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><i><b>While coming </b></i>back we stopped in a village <b><i>haat </i></b>to buy some locally grown fruits, whose taste is 1000 times better than anything you get in a supermarket. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><b><i>An elderly</i></b> tribal woman in all her finery was selling some mangoes, and the price she quoted for the heap that I liked was 20 Rs. I had a 50 Rs note and she had only 10 Rs with her. So I offered her a simple solution that I will give her another 10 Rs if she will let me take her picture. She smiled and readily posed, I am sure she is used to moonlighting as a model as there was no hesitation in her eyes to pose for my phone. Now before my dear reader, you brand me as an exploiter of the poor tribal women in name of clicking her picture please read the complete post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0F-lMCACiw9ap-9893evzpbdlLaqnNFnA9oESvyDAA4Y5TS_jS4kNC9zlCvoJ1cryekbRLVgPgZRUjJbmJ7Vk-OLaYXo4Bc8JSOb0bOUMSLyrVih2ce7GEf858fKyuUXYH45sdEj87CkN/s1600/30042011(013).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0F-lMCACiw9ap-9893evzpbdlLaqnNFnA9oESvyDAA4Y5TS_jS4kNC9zlCvoJ1cryekbRLVgPgZRUjJbmJ7Vk-OLaYXo4Bc8JSOb0bOUMSLyrVih2ce7GEf858fKyuUXYH45sdEj87CkN/s320/30042011(013).jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i><u style="background-color: white;">The Money Savvy Tribal Lady With All Her Jewellery</u></i></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><i><b>Not satisfied</b></i> with the one picture I took, I clicked another one to pick the best of two for my blog. The lady immediately reminded me that the deal was for 10 Rs per picture and since I have clicked 2 pictures I now owned her 20 Rs, I was all smiles on her logic and clicked another one so that she can keep the full fifty with her. (20 for Mangoes and 30 for 3 pics) Now only if some of our models in big cities were this money savvy, we would not be reading about them hitting the drugs induced downfall when the work starts diminishing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><i>As for the </i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">mangoes, well they were delicious with a little bit of tangy taste minus any extra sweetness that some of the </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">varieties</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> you get in </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Hyderabad</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">. T</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">The picture also came out OK, considering it was taken from a cell phone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: white;">Thanks for reading.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com2Nallamala Forest, Andhra Pradesh, India15.5857901 78.747620814.6069676 77.4841933 16.5646126 80.011048300000013tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-7721579843176206642012-03-09T18:55:00.001+05:302012-03-09T18:55:20.722+05:304 Surprising Secrets About Bottled Water<a href="http://health.yahoo.net/preview/experts-5092#.T1oEcbeYKJM.blogger"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4 Surprising Secrets About Bottled Water</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do read how bottled water companies are making a fool of consumers in USA. I am not sure what the findings would be about water in India. But still it is worth giving a thought.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks</span>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-28831886769730006562012-03-05T21:48:00.005+05:302012-03-05T22:08:06.538+05:30Budget Wish and Signature Campaign For 2012 Budget<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Since everybody</b> is talking about only 2 things now a days- one is UP election and the other is the coming budget let me also poke my neck out and write a post about the same.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>First</b> about UP election: Who will win? It does not matter which party comes to power as UP will remain a hotbed of caste politics and corruption. Why I am so pessimistic? Because none of the party is committed to development politics and will do anything and everything to grab power, be it fielding corrupt criminals or using every trick in the horse trading book and a few out of it to come to power. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The so called</b> new age <i><b>netajis</b></i> and <i><b>baba log</b></i> will be asked to sit on the sidelines by the real deal makers once the results are out tomorrow so that new alliances can be formed to share power. Those who don't want to see each other today will be finding new ways to give multiple orgasms to each other tomorrow. By the way I hope we all remember that UP is not the only state that has gone to polls? Quickly name the other 2 or is it 3 states that have gone to polls in February 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that I have given my gloomy prediction on the UP election results let me give my simple one item budget list as a salaried person to the FM this year. <a href="http://moneyandus.blogspot.in/2011/02/budget-wishlist.html" target="_blank">(Not that he paid any heed to my wish list in the past</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Every successive</b> finance minister has been increasing the indirect taxes every year with the plea that direct tax collection is not increasing and there is a lot of tax evasion by citizens. Well this is not true for the salaried employees like yours truly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since tax for people like me is deducted at source so there is no scope for tax evasion by salaried class for most of their income. The exception would be small reimbursable expenses and income like interest income etc. But in most cases those are too insignificant to be worried about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hence the salaried class has been bearing the double burden of paying the increasing service and other indirect taxes they have not received any benefit in the form of any reduction in direct taxes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hence my appeal to the Finance minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to give some relief to the salaried class in form of zero Income Tax till an income to 5 lakh per annum from the current level.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He may or may not do it for the self employed or business class because a lot of expenses like driver, car, telephones, visit to relatives for marriage in another town, dining out etc. are passed on as business expenses thus reducing the total taxable income. For a salaried person no such respite is available and all the expenses are done from post tax income.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Please don’t </b>get me wrong I am not claiming that non salaried people are tax cheats all I am saying is that they have legal loopholes available to reduce their taxable income, while the salaried class has got none except for the 1 Lakh Rs exemption. Every single paisa that we spend is after honestly paying our taxes, and if the FM has been increasing indirect taxes because some people are not paying their taxes then the honest tax payers should be rewarded in some form. What could be easier than to exempt their income till INR 5Lakh per year. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just imagine the amount of paperwork that the government will save on account of the same. As there is no additional tax benefit the government is getting by making salaried people file their returns. There is a rule that exempt people making upto 5 Lakh per year, but it has so many ifs and buts that no body can take advantage of the same.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So my friend if you are a salaried employee please forward this blog post to as many people as possible, like it on facebook, +1 it on google+ and continue to do it till it reaches Pranab da. Let it be our signature campaign to reduce the direct Income tax on the salaried class.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">After all what have we got to loose, except for our taxes </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">J</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Thanks for reading, do forward the same.</b></span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-90599152162127682552012-02-13T23:59:00.002+05:302012-02-14T11:53:12.818+05:30Valentines Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />The V day is coming and that brings my annual agony to forefront once again. I have never been able to understand what the fuss is all about both to celebrate it as well as to oppose it. It is definitely not an Indian festival or for that matter even a festival, it is a 100% marketing noise created by card and candy companies. But if people are willing to spend money to claim their love for somebody then why do some political parties have objection to it? They should first teach a few lessons on morality to their <b><i>Mantris </i></b>caught on camera watching porn while the state assembly was in session.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But that is not such a big deal as the <b><i>bholey</i></b> mantris<b><i> </i></b>were just doing research on rave parties, is it there fault if some porn site opens? No absolutely not. But I digress, my agony is about what to do on the V day and what to gift to the missus on the Valentines day?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC0WaFJVAR7u0J0el2aUebn5qcV_4qO6i0lK-D1rsheIZmcoQZe6G8CcEqmtcIJdMxoAzvYkdaWG3LrXvi8NRceWxRpX-COKjSmG-K88zBmiOfNB1uO8rYRbnce6WDOzofF6GWZ_DyM30g/s1600/24-red-roses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC0WaFJVAR7u0J0el2aUebn5qcV_4qO6i0lK-D1rsheIZmcoQZe6G8CcEqmtcIJdMxoAzvYkdaWG3LrXvi8NRceWxRpX-COKjSmG-K88zBmiOfNB1uO8rYRbnce6WDOzofF6GWZ_DyM30g/s320/24-red-roses.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Till a few years ago I use to buy some flowers for her but the she said that they fade within a day so there is no point in getting the flowers. She used to feel great pain at throwing something that I had given her and also at the fleeting nature of beauty that reminded her of our own mortality.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I said ok and brought a Video game player for her next year that I saw her looking lovingly in the mall a few days ago. What a mistake! the video game player was treated as toxic waste and I was branded a heartless soul who brought a toy for himself in the guise of a V day gift for the Missus. On quizzing that she has been eyeing it in the mall she responded that " I wanted to buy it for my moron husband, and here he brought it for me! have you ever seen women playing with a video game player?" How was I suppose to know? I don't even know what my own wife wants leave aside other women.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next year I brought ear rings for her, she was happy but could not resist the comments that I am just trying to push the share price of the company I own stocks in and the earrings have been bought from the dividends received. I guess diamonds don't mix well with the display of emotions when you own stocks in the company that makes jewelry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My attempt to write poetry one of the years was greeted with laughter that would put clowns in circus to shame. Alas I am not somebody who can write romantic poetry or even a decent blog post if I go by opinion of some of my friends.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But last year I hit the jackpot, in a rare flash of creative genius I took some of her and our kid’s photographs and created a photo collage and gifted the same to her. For the first time in many years I could see real satisfaction on her face on receiving a gift from me. This opened the eyes of the financially savvy but romantically retard in me that it is not the price of the gift but the thought behind the same that actually counts.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any ways the picture occupies a prominent place in our living room and is a conversation topic every time somebody visits our home. Which brings me to this year I am again not sure what to get for her this year again?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But wait a minute... I think I know what I am going to do, I am dedicating this blog post to my wife and the mother of my kids and want to tell her that I don’t care about V-day because I love her and only her on every single day of the year and don't want to restrict the celebration of our love for a single day of year.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Though this post is being published on V Day but it was written a few days ago and I am sure the best gift we have given to each other is that our bond is getting stronger with every passing V Day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I mean the bond of our love not the infrastructure ones I bought for tax savings (though they are also a very good to save tax if you have exhausted all other means to save tax). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There goes the smile on her face ..... it has become another finance post though was meant to be my V Day gift for her. :) :( :)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God please save this poor blogger for messing up another V Day :( :( :(</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div></div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-49376735590948615822012-02-06T04:30:00.000+05:302012-02-06T04:30:01.725+05:30Yoga And Meditation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />My grandmother used to say <b><i>“ Pehla Sukh Nirogee Kaya”</i></b> or the first joy you want to have is a healthy body. I never really understood what she meant till I understood the meaning of mortality. Over a period of time whenever I will get in <b><i>josh </i></b>to start taking care of my health the solution that typically came to my mind was to go out and spend some money. So over a period of time I accumulated a Tread mill, best sports shoes credit cards can buy, gym membership, all kind of health foods from Olive oil to Muesli and a false sense of satisfaction on spending the money. Little did I realised that one actually need to use these equipment to reap the benefits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Missus has been trying to peddle yoga classes to me as part of her project to keep me fit. I always laughed at the suggestion objecting that I cannot see myself in those contorted poses that you see on the television by yoga gurus.</span></div>
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<a href="http://kidsandcar.blogspot.in/2012/02/yoga-and-meditation.html">Read more about the same by clicking here</a><br />
: http://kidsandcar.blogspot.in/2012/02/yoga-and-meditation.html<br />
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</div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-67522543939031740052012-01-27T23:28:00.000+05:302012-01-27T23:28:10.782+05:30Coorg, Cab, Cheat and GPS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We decided to go and welcome 2012 in <a href="http://kidsandcar.blogspot.com/2012/01/wild-elephants.html" style="color: #6ca3ce; text-decoration: none;">Coorg in Karnataka</a>. I wrote about the same in my earlier posts. This post is less about the trip and more about how we almost got cheated by the cab driver.</div>
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Since we live in Hyderabad and Coorg is much closer to Bangalore, I requested a dear friend Vibhor to help me with cab booking, so that the cab can take us to Coorg and stay with us for the rest of trip and drop us back to the airport after 4 days.</div>
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Vibhor was kind enough to book a cab for us through the regular vendor his company uses and informed the cab company that I will pay directly to the driver as it was a personal visit.</div>
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To read the rest please click here: </div>
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<a href="http://kidsandcar.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-gps-saved-us-from-cheating.html">http://kidsandcar.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-gps-saved-us-from-cheating.html</a>
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</div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365973946815045127.post-80430082474852513652012-01-25T09:24:00.001+05:302012-01-25T09:24:33.472+05:30Low Tolerance Airlines<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As if charging 200 Rs for a stale sandwich is not enough, the so called low cost airlines have now stooped to level of throwing full fare paying passengers from plane for not giving way to the pilot.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes I am talking about the incident that happened on Indigo airlines last week </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Pilot-offloads-passenger-for-saying-get-lost/articleshow/11609050.cms"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Pilot-offloads-passenger-for-saying-get-lost/articleshow/11609050.cms</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is this not strange the passenger was not drunk, did not threatened anybody, did not possessed any weapons or banned substances and even offered an apology to the Pilot on discovering that the pilot is upset because he was not given the right of way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So are our pilots the new <b><i>netas</i></b>; with flashing red lights and no regards for the lesser mortals? This seems to be the case in this particular incident.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think part of this is the simple demand supply equation pilots are in short supply and passengers seem to be available a dime a dozen. But what the Indigo management and pilot have forgotten is that the passengers have a choice and that choice is not just restricted to other airlines but also to railways and other means of transport.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also let us not forget today Indigo may be flush with cash but soon they can go the Kingfisher way. This same airline would be laying out the red carpet for the very passengers who are today considered to be dispensable. If history has taught us anything it is that all airlines at some stage will be in financial trouble and then only the loyal customers will come to rescue not the stake holding <b><i>netas</i></b> who keep on changing policies to suit their passive investment, nor the dons from desert lands investing behind the mask of FDI in the aviation sector.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading.</span></div></div>desi Travelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13647875898224836782noreply@blogger.com0