Just sharing my thoughts...

Trip to Madurai:

2010-09-09T13:47:00.003+05:30

It’s been 2 years since Cogzidel was born. Hence, I planned a trip to my Madurai Branch for three days from 8th to 10th of September 2010. Since my JP miles were about to expire, I redeemed the available points for the airline tickets to and fro Madurai (but was charged the airport taxes).

08.09.2010

Many interesting incidents / surprises / tensional stuff happened.

Normally, I don’t blog these kinds of experiences, mainly for lack of interest and time. But today something made to feel blogging my travel experience (may be, the impact of my good friend Anand Nataraj who is a regular blogger).

Please do not ask me whether my travel experience will be useful to you (I’m just sharing it as I thought of doing so). If you really think you learnt something from this, I would be happy.

Here it goes:

- Yesterday, I booked a car with Fastrack Call Taxi service for the airport drop (pick up time 5:15 am) today. To my surprise, Fastrack guy came an hour in advance, but irritated me saying he would switch on the Meter. After blasting and explaining him that it was he who came early and hence, charging me for the same is unfair, it was resolved.

- When I came down from my apartment, I noticed that they had sent me an Innova (instead of Indica I asked for). Also, was told that I’d be charged Innova rates only, while it was their mistake. They simply quote that they don’t have any other vehicle and hence had sent this vehicle. I appreciate that they have arranged some other vehicle, but insisting for Innova rates for a single-person-travel is a non-sense. Again shouted and got it resolved.

- Driver drove rashly and was about to hit a motor-cyclist, but escaped narrowly.

- Reached Airport about an hour before departure, but thrilled to see the passenger crowd there.

- Took 15 minutes for baggage screening, 15 minutes on the queue for Boarding pass

- Heard some Jet Airways Airport officer telling some passenger that the departure gate would be closed in a short while for Madurai passengers

- With a little tension, approached him and told that I’m a Jet Privilege Member and whether he can help to get the boarding pass quickly. He acted really fast, took me to a counter, insisted the counter staff to issue me a Boarding pass immediately

- Then came another shock, the queue for the Security Check was very long and thought that I would definitely be late as it was just 20 minutes before departure

- Airport personnel suggested me to have the security check done at the first floor (as there won’t be much crowd like Ground floor) and asked me to come down after the check

- I went and stood up in the queue in First Floor. Then realised that if there was a calling (by the airport managers who orally call the passengers for boarding) for the Madurai passengers to board the flight, I might miss it as I was in the first floor.

- Hence, came down and stood in the queue on Ground Floor

- Noticed that celebrities like GK Vasan, Karthik Chidambaram, T. Rajender and Vairamuthu were given permission for special entrance to Security Check as the flight was about to depart

- I insisted the security personnel that I should also be permitted as my flight was about to be take off

- Notably, the special permission queue is also long and it took about 10 minutes there.

- Finally, boarded the flight at about 5 minutes before the departure

- I don’t normally get tensed for these kinds of matters as I have travelled a lot and have faced many situations like this before. Since I wanted to stick to my travel plan, I was a little nervous.

Inside the aircraft:

Normally flight attendants used to check whether seat belts are fastened and seats are set straight by the passengers. Today, it didn’t happen. No idea, why.

No free meal on board, hence ordered a sandwich and bottle of water, the hostess charged me 170 bucks. Expensive. Hardly very few on the aircraft ordered something to eat.

All passengers were given a scratch card which contained an array of products like Music System, watch, camera, sunglass etc. with pricing. We were informed that we can scratch the card and claim the product mentioned in it for free. Only the handling charges of Rs. 599 would be collected. Since each product was rated above Rs. 2,000, passengers felt like it is a nice offer. Like many others, I scratched the card, and found that I was the lucky winner of Sunglasses.

After landing at Madurai Airport, went to the AVA counter and saw all products being displayed. Without showing him the scratch card, I pointed at the Sunglass and asked him how much that costs, he said “Just 600 rupees, Sir”. Then I realised that all the products listed over there cost 600 rupees each, but as a matter of marketing tactic, they made such trick of quoting the high price on the scratch card and offering it the passengers as free but collecting the sale money in the name of handling charges. Wah, what a brilliant idea ?

Behaviour of people inside the aircraft:

a) Mobile usage: People (especially businessmen) keep on talking over phone loudly (in spite of the fact that the hostess repeatedly requesting them to switch off their mobile)

b) Handling hand baggages: Many passengers (who want to keep their hand baggage in to the loft) handle the baggage already kept inside in a bad manner in order to create space for keeping their bags. I have seen many who keep their heavy bags over the laptop bags of other passengers, without knowing that it might cause damage.

c) Fastening the seat belt: Many people feel that fastening the seat belt is for a formality. They don’t understand the need. The moment flight lands in to the airport, we can hear the sounds of all people unfastening their seat belts.

d) Likewise, immediately after landing, you can see almost everyone switching on the mobile as if they can’t wait for few more minutes

e) Also, many have the habit of standing up immediately after the plane lands as if the doors will be opened specially for them. They all should understand that the crowd should move out in the same order of their row seating. This avoids dashing with each other indecently.

Madurai Airport:

Madurai Airport is a funny one. You won’t feel it like an Airport at all. Tiny and not crowded. You can see the aerodrome from the entry gate itself.

In about 10 minutes after we all landed, the airport was empty. When I was waiting for my colleague to pick me up, I noticed that after morning flight, the next flight is in the after noon. The Airport was completely empty except few staff who where chit-chatting and playing. A guy was switching off the fans and lights. The security person asked me when could I leave and when I asked why, said “We will have to lock the Airport till the noon, Sir” – first time for me to hear like that. But he was generous to let me wait till my colleague arrived.

Headed straight to my Madurai Branch and continued my usual swimming in the work pool.

Friend's Resort in Yercaud

2010-08-05T16:05:00.003+05:30

One of my good-old friends has set up a resort in his home town - Yercaud.

Happened to talk to him after a long time (thanks to facebook) and came to know about his new business.

Brochure is attached, herewith. Those who are interested can contact the numbers mentioned and refer my name (arnoldbala).

Offering thanks to true hearts who wished me for birthday

2010-07-29T00:22:00.009+05:30

It is common for people to wish others for important occasions like birthdays, wedding anniversary, promotions etc. Though it is usual & normal, when looked at from the perspective of the recipient, it gives a kind of nice feelings.

Being my birthday yesterday (28th July), I got wishes from people through telephone calls, mails, social networking messages, IM wishes etc. My entrepreneurial life has been very busy and has become mechanical. But this day really made me to feel a bit relaxed and joyful as I happened to talk to many old buddies who showered me their wishes.

I feel that these wishes should be registered on record and also wanted to express my thanks through this way back to my well-wishers. Hence, this blog just lists down the wishes that I received from all those people.

----------------------

"Happy b'day dear!!!:)"

Sathya Priya

----------------------

Bala,

Many more happy returns of the day.

Anand Nataraj

----------------------

Dear Sir,

Wishing you a very happy birthday to you!! May all your dreams come true J.

Thank you,

With Best Regards

Balakrishnan

----------------------

Dear Bala,

Wishing you, "MANY MORE HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY"

Regards

Ramanan

----------------------

Hi Bala,

Wish all your (our) dreams come true !!! Many More happy returns of the day.

Thanks

Kannan.

----------------------

Dear Bala,

Many more happy returns of the day.

With regards,

M.Major Karthik

----------------------

Dear Sir,

Wish you many more happy returns of the day.

Best Regards,

Sathick

----------------------

Hello Sir!!!

Today is your day, and you're wished the best,

I hope you celebrate it, with a lot of zest.

For today though you are a year older,

Store away your many wishes, until you feel bolder.

So let the drums roll and horns toot,

Now make a wish for a lot of loot.

Happy Birthday

Regards,

Cogzidel HR Team

----------------------

Dear Bala,

Wish You “MANY MORE HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY”

With Regards,

Malaisamy.R

----------------------

Hello Sir,

Many more happy returns. All your dream come true this year.

Patrick Rayon

----------------------

Dear Sir,

Wish You Many More Happy Returns of The Day.

With Best Regards,

Nagaraja W

----------------------

Dear Bala,

Wish you many more happy returns of the day!!!

Best Regards

Jegan

----------------------

"hi bala,

Happy birthday"

Mahesh Ranka

----------------------

"Hi Wish U Many More Happy Returns Of The Day."

Deva Santhanam

----------------------

"hey dude... wish ur happy B'day....."

Manoj Ridimahaliyadda

----------------------

"hey mate...

wishin u a very hapy bday ...

all the very best for the yr ahead...

wishes from everyone @ Cricinfo Lanka"

Pradeep Balaji

----------------------

"Happy Birthday Bala!"

Premdeep Gangadharan

----------------------

"Balaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!"

Deenadayalan

----------------------

"Hi Bala,

as per section 31, sub-section 3(c) of India friendship act, wishing you a very happy birthday! :-)"

Partha Sarathi Banerjee

----------------------

"Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!"

Vimal George

----------------------

"Dey! Have a blast Bala sir! Many happy returns of the day!"

Ganesh Virudhagiri

----------------------

"Happy Birthday Bala... have a great day!"

Srijata Bhatnagar

----------------------

"Many more happy returns of the day Bala"

Shukdev Lahiri

----------------------

"Happy Birthday Bala.."

Balasubramaniyam

----------------------

"wish you many more happy returns of the day bala."

Sriram Manoharan

----------------------

Many more happy returns of the day .. Bala

Thiaghu Radhakrishnan

----------------------

Happy bday BALA...have a wonderful n CHEERSful day..

Manish Kulshresth

----------------------

I wish you many more happy returns of the day.

Boopathi

----------------------

Wish you a happy birthday.

Vimala

----------------------

May your special day be filled with memories, flowers, friendship and happy hours.

Happy Birthday !!

Sayantan Dasgupta

----------------------

Many happy returns of the day.

Jayaraman

----------------------

"Happy Birth Day"

Vamaraju Anantha Surya

----------------------

"Happy Birthday Dear"

Rajdeep Pawar

----------------------

"Happy Birthday Dude"

Manikandan Parthasarathy

----------------------

"Happy Birthday to u Dear"

CMA MAHESH SINGH

----------------------

"Happy Birthday!"

CMA. Prabhakar BV

----------------------

Many more happy returns of the day, Bala ji !!

Prasad

----------------------

Happiest Birthday to you, Bala.

Sudhakar

----------------------

Hello arnoldbala,

We at CiteHR Human Resource Management would like to wish you a happy birthday today!

CiteHR

----------------------

Dear Bala Murugan V,

A Very Happy Birthday!!

On this special day, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund wishes you a year full of joy and happiness. May you enjoy every moment of it.

Have a great and wonderful year ahead.

DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund.

----------------------

Hi Bala,

Here's wishing you a very Happy Birthday from all of us at BIGFlix.

We wish you a happy cinematic birthday having a great day ahead with lots of surprises.

Happy Viewing!

The BIGFlix Team

----------------------

Hello Mr. Bala Murugan,

Birthday Greetings from Vodafone ! Have a great year ahead.

Vodafone

----------------------

Have a wonderful birthday, Mr. Bala.

Royal Bank of Scotland

----------------------

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday and a wonderful year ahead.

HSBC

----------------------

Dear Mr. Bala Murugan,

Birla Sun Life Insurance Wishes you a very happy birthday and hope you have a safe and secure year ahead.

---------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------

Tour with family to Tanjore:

2010-07-18T19:23:00.004+05:30

It is common in many Hindu families that they promise the God to offer a special pooja if the marriage is fixed for the boy/girl in the family. For my marriage, my Parents & Parents-in-law had (still have) many such promises and have been carrying out one after another.

Priya’s parents had one such due which was to the famous Anjaneya Temple in Thittai (in Tanjore/Thanjavur). It looks, after they visited this temple last year, the marriage got fixed and hence, they wanted to thank the God by a special pooja.

After confirming my availability they booked the tickets in Rockfort Express for the onward journey on 14^th July 2010 and for the return on 16^th July 2010.

We were supposed to board the train at 10.30 p.m. We scheduled to be at in-law house for dinner at 6.30 p.m. But it was difficult for both me and Priya to get off the busy work schedule. She picked me up at my office at 7 pm. We went home and got the luggage packed in a hurry-burry and headed to in-law house at 8.30.

Had a quick dinner and were waiting for the Fastrack Call Taxi, but found out at the last minute that they don’t have a Van and hence could not serve us. With a little tension, we walked down to the main road and to our surprise, couldn’t find any auto. After waiting for a while, got the auto and reached the railway station at 10:00 p.m.

I never get sleep during night travel and this time it was the case. Reached Tanjore and booked a room in Hotel Oriental Towers near the station road. The rooms are neat and clean, but food was horrible.

Booked a car for local travel there. After bath and breakfast, went to Thittai Anjaneya Temple which is about 15 kilo metres from the city. The age of the temple goes beyond 300 years and it was good to visit such ancient temple. After the pooja, we then visited the famous Guru Temple in the same locality. It was well crowded but fast moving.

Then we proceeded to Garbarakshambigai temple which is located at about 20 Kilometres South-West of Kumbakonam and took about 30 minutes to reach. This temple is also one of the ancient temples.

After having dharshan, we headed back to Tanjore for lunch at Hotel Gnanam. The food was sumptuous. Back to room for rest till evening.

In the evening, we went to the famous Pragadeeswarar Temple. I have been to this temple many times earlier, and every time I see this temple, I fall for its wonderful architectural workmanship. Proud to have such temples in Tamil Nadu.

Return journey, again, was a tension mounting one as our tickets were not confirmed and also the fact that the boarding station was Kumbakonam but we wanted to board at Tanjore as all dharshans were over in the evening itself and we didn’t want to travel about 75 kms just to board the train at Kumbokonam.

We reached the station well in advance, met the TTR when the train arrived and explained our situation. We got birth seats allotted for all of us. You can easily guess how we made it and hence, I leave it to your assumption J

Again a sleepless journey for me. Once I reach home in the morning, I was very much tired and slept for long hours.

In all, it was quite a pleasant journey and the memories will be constant for sure.

Note: We didn’t take any snap during our journey as none of us are interested. Perhaps, from next time onwards, should concentrate on photographing the same.

An evening-out with wife:

2010-07-11T14:56:00.002+05:30

It’s a general complaint of women that men always concentrate on work and do not spend time with family. I’m no exception. I can’t always use the excuse that I’m an entrepreneur who needs to spend more time on business.

Yesterday being Saturday, my wife wanted to go out somewhere with me. I’m a home-bird and not much interested in roaming unless needed. But when it comes to family, I will have to change myself sometimes. Their expectations are different.

Though initially I was hesitant to go out, I was not against the plan. So, we decided to go to the beach (which is just about 15 minutes drive from my home).

This is my first visit after the re-modelling done by Corporation of Chennai at the entrance of the beach. I should appreciate the way it is designed as it is spacious and comfortable for people to sit and spend time.

We didn’t eat anything as all eatables sold there are fatty. After my marriage, we have been out of control on our food habits. So, these days we have been on diet whenever possible.

The beach was so airy and wonderful to see all sorts of people – families, lovers, friends, cute kids and so on.

While we were enjoying the situation, we noticed that some girl (who was sitting with her friends aside us) left her wallet. It was left open near us. Since we didn’t want it to land at wrong hands and also the fact that we wanted to help her, we grabbed it and looked for some contact number in it. It contained many things like photo, driving license, credit card, some cash etc, but no contact number.

I had the confidence that we could find her out in orkut, facebook or something. Also thought that we could wait for some more time, so that the girl might turn back looking for her wallet.

As expected, she came back in about 20 minutes and collected the wallet by offering many thanks to us.

Another incident, while crossing the road near the Gandhi statue, I was stopped by the traffic police on duty. He asked me “Are you Bala?”. I was surprised and said “Yes”. Then he reminded me that he was my school mate whom I’m seeing after 16 years. I couldn’t realise him but he noticed me in just a fraction of second while he was on duty. Couldn’t spend much time as it was a heavy crowd who were about to cross the road and he needed to operate the signalling device. He then said he got my number through some other friend and would call me sometime. Good to be in touch with old friends.

Then we headed to New Woodlands Restaurant in R.K. Salai. It was too huge in size, but was full. We waited for 20 minutes and then got a table for us. Food was good. But,

- Service was poor and too slow (thought the order-taker was very active and seems to be busy)

- They used a dirty cloth to wipe off the table which was stinking till we finished our dinner

- The sugar bowl contained couple of hairs

- There were no supervisor and hence, we couldn’t complain to anyone

End of everything, my wife was happy that she could spend some time with me.

My new Hyundai i10:

2010-07-07T12:16:00.003+05:30

Soon after I joined Cricinfo (which was my first employment), I wanted to buy a car and it happened to be Santro. I bought it in 2002 using my savings as down payment and the balance on loan.

I didn’t even check about the range of vehicles in the market then. Attracted to the looks of Santro, I was desperate to own it. I think of my immature behaviour that I didn’t even check up its features, mileage, dealer discounts etc. I went to the showroom with my family, paid the down-payment and booked the car.

Only after I bought it, all questions came in my mind about the comfort, mileage, maintenance etc. To my surprise, it proved that it was the best choice.

Though the mileage was about 10 kmpl (when compared with Maruti / Tata vehicles which give more than 15 kmpl), I enjoyed using my Santro as the journey was always pleasant and comfortable.

Believe me, I used the car for 8 years. Only during the later stages, it made me to shell out lots of money towards replacement of parts and maintenance (I always used to service it with the Hyundai Service Centre as I don’t trust the service quality of outside mechanics).

One fine day, the car was almost seized and it alerted me to spend more than 65k. But I thought it would be senseless to spend so much for an aged car and hence planned to sell my car after discussing with family. It was a hard decision though.

Couldn’t believe that I sold the car in few days for a better price. The moment after I gave the keys to the buyer, the car disappears from my sight. To be honest, it was not easy for me to admit it, as the car was is so close to my heart and was with me for 8 years.

Then comes the problem of choosing my new car. Let me tell you, it is one of the toughest tasks to choose a car which suits your preference, comfort, features and importantly budget.

I did a survey among friends and relatives and was suggested to go for Maruti (considering the mileage, maintenance, availability of spare parts etc). I went to the show room and checked up the range of vehicles. I liked Wagon R (‘Blue boy’ with new K series engine). But the room size is not comfortable (seriously saying, all in my family have to put off our weight). Still I was willing to buy it convincing myself that my family members don’t travel together always.

Somehow I was not willing to check other small segment cars like Ford Figo, Chevrolet Spark etc.

Suddenly, it sparkled an idea to check Hyundai product and I was attracted to Hyundai i10. It fits all my requirements like looks, colour, price, mileage, room size etc. Hence, there was a sudden change in my plan and I decided to go for i10.

Unlike last time, I wanted to do a detailed comparison study. I did the same and found that my decision is reasonably ok to go for i10. I negotiated with the Hyundai dealer for a better price and offer.

Here’s what I got as the offer:

- Insurance charges of Rs. 15,000 waived

- 3^rd year extended warranty charges of Rs. 2,500 waived

- Sun-control film

- Sony Mp3 player with 4 speakers

- Car seat cover

- Car Cover

- Steering Grip

- Perfume

- Reverse horn

- Remote lock

- Mat kit (floor mat, mudguard flap)

Do you ever know that LPG gas cylinder has an expiry date....?

2010-04-23T15:21:00.003+05:30

Expired Cylinders are not safe for use and may cause accidents. In this regard, please be cautious at the time of accepting any LPG cylinder from the vendor.

Here is how we can check the expiry of LPG cylinders:

On one of three side stems of the cylinder, the expiry date is coded alpha numerically as follows A or B or C or D and some two digit number following this e.g. D06.

The alphabets stand for quarters -
1. A for March (First Qtr),
2. B for June (Second Qtr),
3. C for Sept (Third Qtr),
4. D for December (Fourth Qtr).

The digits stand for the year till it is valid. Hence D06 would mean December qtr of 2006.

Please Return Back the Cylinder that you get with a Expiry Date, they are prone to Leak and other Hazardous accidents ...

Kindly pass this to every one and create awareness !!

Business Network International (BNI)

2010-04-12T12:14:00.003+05:30

Dear Friend,

If you are in to business, then this messages is specially for you.

As a business man, I understand that the word-of-mouth referral really helps me to grow my business.

I have attended many social network meetings, but they seem to be unstructured and informal.

'Business Network International' (shortly referred as BNI) is a network organisation which attracts me very much. It is very much structured, regularly conducted, conceptual and helpful.

Being a BNI member, I get more referrals for my business through the members of BNI.

I strongly suggest that every business man should be part of BNI.

You can attend a weekly meeting as a visitor by paying the entry fee (which is for your food). If it attracts you, then you could consider taking membership (I'm sure, you will).

Pls contact me in case you want to try by attending one meeting and I shall be proud to send you an invitation.

If you are not in to business, then pls pass this on to the people who are in to business and are desperate to grow.

Pls check http://www.bni-india.com for more details.

Regards

Bala

Silicon India Startup City – Bangalore – 29 & 30th May 2010:

2010-04-02T14:16:00.002+05:30

Here’s an invitation for the Silicon India Startup City to be held in Bangalore on 29th & 30th May 2010. Unlike last year, this time it happens for 2 days.

Cogzidel participated last time for the following:

- stage presentation seeking funding for Technologies Division and

- had a stall for promoting services of Consulting Division.

It was quite an encouraging one as we happened to publicise ourself with more than 1,500 people. Had a very good network of business mass. Got few deals closed through.

Those who are interested in trying, can go through the following mail and contact the person-in-charge whose details are also shared here below:

Mail from Silicon India:

Hello Bala,

How are your doing?

After the phenomenal success of four-editions of siliconindia Startup City, we are back in Bangalore.

SiliconIndia Startup City will be held in Bangalore on May 29 & 30, 2010 at Nimhans Convention Center.

Going by the past success of the Startup City, the event will get oversubscribed within couple of days. In our previous Startup City events, we had to turn down several startups who were keen to exhibit and present. So ACT now!

This is a great opportunity for you to find investors, technology partners, resellers, mentors and potential customers. It's an ideal platform to build your brand and raise the profile of your company.

Please find attached the details of the Startup City. The cost of attending siliconindia Startup City is very reasonable. The value you’ll get for your investment is exceptional.

Early Bird Offer:

Rs 15000 before April 9

Rs 20000 if you signup between April 10 to April 30

Rs 25000 after May 1st

BENEFITS:

1) Booth: 2.5 x1.5 mtr

2) Two Minutes Elevator pitch/company presentation time

3) One invitation for round table lunch with investors and leaders of tech giants

4) One invite for the CEO Conclave

5) Visibility on the website for 2 months

6) Meet the VCs: VCs will have dedicated meeting rooms. Only presenting companies can avail the opportunity to meet the VCs.

7) All PR and Marketing activities related to event promotions will carry your Company name

8) Meet the Mentors: SiliconIndia will line up experts who have been there and done that. Presenting companies can seek guidance and counsel in areas related to any stage of the startup building.

Additional Benefits you get if you sign up before April 9

1) One page in Show Guide which will be distributed to all the visitors

2) Preference to choose the booth location at the venue.

This offer is made to only selected Startups. Our review team has shortlisted your company to be invited for this edition of Startup City. To ensure that we deliver value, we accept limited startup exhibitors and company presentations.

This is undoubtedly the biggest event for startups. If you can confirm now, we can start to promote your company on the event website. This you would agree will be a great publicity for the next two months as we roll out our marketing campaign. We will receive thousands of pre-registrations for the show via the website every week. Provided you confirm early, you will be able to benefit from all the branding exercise that we undertake.

Looking forward to hear from you,

Thanks

Suman

________________________________

SUMAN RAMMURTHY

Events Director

siliconindia/ The Smart Techie

Ph: 91.80. 43402058

C: 9986728828

________________________________

SiliconIndia is 12-year old media firm. We publish two technology & business magazines—one in the U.S and the other in India. Over the last one decade, SiliconIndia.com has emerged as the most trusted source for news and information for professionals. The portal has a global ranking of No.4 in the IT News & Media category. With over 3 million registered users, SiliconIndia.com is the fastest growing portal and is ranked among the top 100 websites most trafficked from India.

My Wedding snaps !!

2010-03-24T12:05:00.003+05:30

Here're some of my snaps of reception and wedding..

Complaint about INOX online booking :

2010-01-16T21:25:00.002+05:30

I don’t watch movies at theatres regularly, but many times I try to. I prefer to book the tickets in advance through online.

Sathyam and INOX are couple of good cine theatres that we have in Chennai.

While I am comfortable in booking the tickets online with Sathyam (www.thecinema.in), I have never been successful with INOX booking (www.inoxmovies.com).

I tried SMS booking also, that also doesn't work. I’m completely disappointed with INOX booking.

No idea whether it’s only me facing this problem. But I wanted to bring the issues to the notice of INOX management and was able to obtain their e-mail id (contact@inox.co.in) from their website.

Here’s the mail which I sent them today.

“Hi,

I write this mail after completely disappointed with the online ticket booking for INOX (Chennai).

At many occasions, I tried several times to book the tickets online, but i was never successful. To be honestly saying, your web site wastes my time by asking many inputs in the first screen and when I click "submit" button, in the next page i am informed that the tickets are not available.

When the tickets are not available, it could have been informed in advance instead of wasting time like this.

I tried to book the tickets at your site via SMS also. And that also didn't work.

The navigation on your site it pathetic and confusing.

I'm absolutely disappointed with your site. Your site sucks.

Pls check www.thecinema.in --> this site is awesome and user-friendly. You should adopt a system like this.

Regards

Bala”

Visit to Thiruvannamalai Temple:

2010-01-02T16:20:00.005+05:30

Recent times have been so hectic on work and I was thinking of relaxing a bit on New Year’s day. But to my surprise my ex-colleagues called up on 31st Dec and checked whether we could visit Thiruvannamalai temple on 1st January, as the day being auspicious.

As ever, last-minute plan always works. We immediately planned the trip. ‘We’ includes myself, Shukdev Lahiri (who works for ICICI Bank), Hari (entrepreneur), Deena (works for cricinfo.com) and Deva (an architect).

Shukdev picked me up from my home in T.Nagar at 5.30 in the morning, then proceeded to pick up Deena and Deva. And, Hari joined us in Tambaram.

Hari has been the best-planner in our team. As per his plan, we first proceeded to Kubera Lakshmi temple (off Vandalur-Kelambakkam Main road). Also visited couple of adjoining temples.

Then, stopped at Hotel Highway in Maduranthagam for break-fast. Those who pass by that road, pls don’t miss this hotel, they provide sumptuous unlimited break-fast buffet for Rs. 60 per head.

Thereafter, continued driving to Thiruvannamalai. The temple was flooded with people for many reasons like – new year day, Arudra Dharshan day, Girivalam etc. We were able to join the special-ticket counter.

There were thousands of people waiting, but the queuing system was not proper. The temple assistants open up a ‘special’ gate in the mid-way through, for those who pay them money. Even that was not done properly and it led to stampede. Women, children and aged people were hurt. Surprised to see that people, who look decent and educated, were the major reason for this mess-up.

That’s when I think of the systems being followed in Shirdi and Puttabarti temples. Our people also visit those temples, but follow a strict disciplinary system over there. So, it means that the problem is not with the people, but with the system. Hence, the management trustees of the temples should ensure that proper queuing system is implemented.

Also, the roads in and around the temple are not cleanly maintained. The roads are scattered with lots of stones and garbage, which disturb the people who walk barefooted. Even we walked barefooted as were able to park the car in a quite remote road (as the entire area near the temple was jammed already).

After the Dharshan, we visited Ramanasramam (which is just about 15 minutes drive from the temple) and then started driving back to Chennai. Had our late-lunch at the same hotel at about 4.30.

Reached home at 7.00 p.m. Thought of taking a nap as I felt sleepy (since I slept for just an hour during the new year’s night). Went to bed, but was able to get up only the next day. Slept for about 15 hours , non-stop.

In all, spent a good day with my friends, after a long period of time. It was suddenly planned, and good that all were able to make up on short-notice.

Happy New Year to all of you !!

Tamil Nadu Labour Welfare Fund

2009-12-21T18:16:00.001+05:30

Hello People,

Here's a good article which talks about Tamil Nadu Labour Welfare Fund.

Click here to read it

Never judge things without analysing !!

2009-12-11T18:07:00.001+05:30

An old man was sitting with his 25 years old son in the train. Train is about to leave the station. All passengers were settling down. As the train started, the young son was filled with lots of joy and curiosity. He was sitting near the window. He puts his hand out and feeling the passing air.

He shouted joyfully, "Papa, see all trees are going behind". The Old man smiled and admired his sons feelings.

Sitting beside the young man was a couple and listening to the conversion between father and son. They felt a little awkward at the attitude of 25 years old son behaving like a small child.

Suddenly the young son again shouted, "Papa see the pond and animals. The Clouds are moving with train". The Couple was watching the young son embarrassingly. Its starts to rain and some of drops touches the young man’s hand. He is filled with joy and he closed the eyes. He shouted again," Papa it's raining, see papa".

Couple couldn't help themselves and asked the old man. Why don't you visit the Doctor and get your son treated?

Old man said,"Yes, We are coming from hospital only. It's today that my son got the gift of vision.

Moral: Don't draw conclusions until you analyse the facts.

2009-12-08T14:25:00.014+05:30

Cogzidel Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd

Cogzidel is a Business Process Consulting & Management company. It renders the following services:

- Accounting Services (including Internal Audit)
- Payroll Processing
- Company Incorporation
- LLP Registration
- Registration of society / trust / partnership firm
- Employee-friendly Tax planning
- Filing IT returns
- Obtaining PAN / TAN
- Statutory compliances – PF / ESI / Sales Tax / Service Tax / STPI etc
- Trademark / Patent Registration
- Business Incubation Services
- Bootstrapping

Contact details:

Person In-charge: Bala Murugan
E-mail Id : bala@cogzidel.com
Address : 6/32, Vasudevapuran Street, Rangarajapuram, West Mambalam, Chennai – 600 033.
Telephone : +91.44.64990102
Website : http://www.cogzidel.in

2009-11-12T15:49:00.002+05:30

Inspiring !!

For over ten years now, Khushroo Poacha has stood by the sole belief that to do good work you don't need money. Poacha runs indianblooddonors. com (IBD), a site that lets blood donors and patients in need of blood connect with each other almost instantaneously. He also does not accept cash donations.

The site has been live for almost ten years and with over 50,000 donors in its database, IBD is perhaps a classic example of what the Internet is truly capable of. But more importantly, it is a reflection of a single human being's desire to make a difference to this world.

It all started in the mid-'90s when Khushroo Poacha, an employee with the Indian Railways in Nagpur saw a doctor being beaten up because he couldn't save a patient's life. No one in the mob seemed to understand that it was the lack of blood that caused the death.

"A few years later, I witnessed the death of a welder because he couldn't get blood. The two incidents really shook me up," Poacha says, "And that was when I expressed to my wife my desire of doing something."

Poacha, however, had no clue about how he could make a difference until one day, sitting in a cyber cafe with a 56 kbps connection, the idea came to him.

"I did not know head or toe of the Internet, let alone about domain names, but I knew this would be the tool that would make a difference," he says, explaining the dotcom extension to the site.

Over the next few months, Poacha liquidated practically all his savings, purchased a domain name and started up indianblooddonors. com.

"During the time, there were no companies booking or hosting web domains in India . I was paying USD 300 every three months to keep the site live and running. Meanwhile, I had spent almost Rs 40,000 in developing the site and had gone practically bankrupt," he says.

Poacha says he even went to a local newspaper to place an ad. "I needed visibility and that was the only way I thought I could reach out to the people. The day the ad appeared, I was expecting a flood of registrations," he recollects. "No one registered."

The silver lining to the dark cloud came when someone from the outskirts of his hometown Nagpur contacted him, expressing interest. "It was a saving grace," Poacha says.

Meanwhile, the dotcom bubble had burst and Poacha was being told what a fool he had been. And then there were household expenses to be taken care of too.

"There were many occasions when unpaid phone bills would be lying in the house and there would be no money to pay them off," Poacha recollects, adding that "things always have a way of sorting themselves out. And mysteriously during such times, a cheque would make its way into the mailbox."

Poacha admits that his wife was quite apprehensive about his endeavour. "But she believed in me," he says, "And that has made all the difference."

Visibility, however, was still an issue. No publication was willing to write about him. No major hospital or blood bank was interested in taking his calls.

And then the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake happened. As visuals of the devastation flashed before his eyes on television, Poacha realised yet again he had to do something.

Only this time he knew just what.

"I called up (television channel) Zee News [ Get Quote ] and requested them to flash the site's name on the ticker and they agreed."

Five minutes later, the ticker was live. Ten minutes later, the site crashed.

"I spoke to the people who were hosting the site (by now website hosting had started off in India ) and explained to them the situation. They immediately put me on a fresh server and over the next three days or so I received some 3,500 odd registrations," Poacha recollects.

Realising the difference he had made, the 42-year-old started working on getting visibility again.

Over the next few months, Poacha had contacted every major magazine and sure enough, a few responded. "Outlook (magazine) wrote about me, then (British newspaper) The Guardian followed suit and then came the BBC," he says.

Along the way, IBD had also gone mobile. All you had to do was type out a message and send it to a short code and you'd have a list of blood donors in your inbox.

As luck would have it, the service became far too popular for Poacha's pocket. "By then I had stopped taking cash donations and had to discontinue it," he says.

Interestingly, IBD is not yet registered as an NGO. "We function as individuals. We don't take donations and only accept bumper stickers (of IBD) and postage stamps to send out those stickers and create awareness," he says, "I was asked to deliver a lecture at IIM during a social entrepreneurship seminar and was asked what my sustenance model was. I replied I didn't have one. And I have been doing this for the last ten years."

Today, the database of IBD is growing at the rate of 10-15 users every day and the requests have grown from 25 to 40 per day.

Poacha says he eats, drinks and breathes IBD. "The zeal I had ten years ago has not diminished and the site continuously sees innovation." The latest, Poacha tells us, is the option of being an exclusive donor to one patient.

"During my journey, I realised there were some patients who required blood every month. So if you want, we can put you onto them so you can continue making a sustained difference to one person's life."

IBD is currently on an auto pilot mode and Poacha continues to keep his day job. He says, "Initially I would take the calls and personally connect the donor with the patient's relative. But I know only three languages and I'd get calls from all over India ," he laughs.

Poacha recounts an incident that never left him: "A man from Chandigarh called me and told me he was desperately seeking A-ive blood for his 2-year-old. About five minutes after the call, he got the (difficult to find) blood group he needed. Soon after the surgery he called me up crying, thanking me for saving his child's life. For me, it was just another day at work. But his whole world was at stake that day. I can never forget that call."

Last year Poacha was invited to the Asian Social Entrepreneurs Summit 2008 in South Korea where venture capitalists argued that it wasn't possible to sustain an endeavour without money. He says, "I pointed out that Mother Teresa who had no revenue model when she started the Missionaries of Charity. If you want to do good work, you simply do it."

For someone who has sustained his enterprise for a decade with just a few bumper stickers and postage stamps, Khushroo Poacha knows best.

2009-10-04T14:46:00.002+05:30

Does management know there staff ?

On walking into the factory, the Managing Director of the Company noticed a young guy leaning against the wall and doing nothing.

He approached the young man and calmly said to him, "How much do you earn?"

The young man was quite amazed that he was asked such A personal question, he replied, nonetheless, "I earn $2000 a month, Sir. Why?"

Without answering, the MD took out his wallet and removed $6,000.00 cash and gave it to the young man and said,

"Around here I pay people for working, not for standing around looking pretty. Here is your 3 months’ salary, now GET OUT and don't come back".

The young man turned around and was quickly out of sight.

Noticing a few onlookers, the MD said in a very upset manner,

"And that applies to everybody in this company".

He approached one of the onlookers and asked him, "Who's the young man I just fired?"

To which an amazing reply came - "He was the pizza delivery guy, Sir!"

Morale of the story: "Decision making has to be appropriate"

2009-08-21T13:53:00.001+05:30

General Motors and Vanilla Ice Cream – a Crazy but unbelievable customer complaint:

This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its customer-care executive.

A complaint was received by General Motors:

“This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies, so every night, after we've eaten the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it.

It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine.

I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds. What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinnertime, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And towards this end he began to take notes, he jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth etc. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why?

The answer was in the layout of the store.

Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the engineer was, why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Once time became the problem and not the vanilla ice-cream, the engineer quickly came up with the answer: "Vapor lock". It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Remember: Even crazy-looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution with a cool thinking.

Moral: Don't just say its "IMPOSSIBLE" without putting in sincere efforts.

2009-08-18T13:22:00.001+05:30

MIND GAME:

2% or 98% ??

This is strange...can you figure it out?

Are you the 2% or 98% of the population?

Follow the instructions! NO PEEKING AHEAD!

* Do the following exercise, guaranteed to raise an eyebrow.

* There's no trick or surprise.

* Just follow these instructions, and answer the questions one at a time and as quickly as you can!

* Again, as quickly as you can but don't advance until you are done each of them really.

- Think of a number from 1 to 10

- Multiply that number by 9

- If the number is a 2-digit number, add the digits together

- Now subtract 5

- Determine which letter in the alphabet corresponds to the number you ended up with

(example: 1=a, 2=B, 3=c, 4=d etc.)

- Think of a country that starts with that letter

- Remember the last letter of the name of that country

- Think of the name of an animal that starts with that letter

- Remember the last letter in the name of that animal

Think of the name of a fruit that starts with that letter

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

! Are you thinking of a Kangaroo in Denmark eating an Orange ? !

I told you this was FREAKY!! If not, you're among the 2% of the population whose minds are different enough to think of something else. 98% of people will answer with kangaroos in Denmark when given this exercise.

2009-08-10T17:19:00.000+05:30

Success is from 99% Failure:

When I first walked, I fell

When I spoke, I stuttered

When I wrote ‘d’, it looked like ‘b’

When I wrote ‘b’, it looked like a ‘d’

When I sprinted, I puked

When I rode a bike, I crashed

When I played football, I fumbled

When I was a student, I failed more classes than I passed

My first three girlfriends either dumped me or were nuts

When I ran for political office I lost. Thank God!

When I started a dot com in 1997, I worked 90 hours a week for two years and never made a dollar

When I drove a truck, I dumped 2,000 gallons of paint (by accident) in a parking lot and created an environmental hazard (we cleaned it up)

When I first drove, I totaled 4 cars

When I first used Windows 95, I trashed the entire file system

When I first administered data, I deleted an entire customer database without a backup and I lived to talk about it.

That's just a few of my failures. Believe me, I have a lot more. My failures used to haunt me. They used to inhibit me from trying again.

But today I believe in myself.

The day you quit trying and surrender to your demons is the day your soul dies.

DON'T EVER QUIT. YOU ARE NOT A QUITTER. YOU CAN NEVER BE A LOSER.

2009-08-03T15:36:00.002+05:30

Offer to fly US for free:

I got this e-mail from a stranger. Sure, it’s a spam. Since I receive this kind of mail for the first time, thought of blogging and here it is:
----------------------------

Dear friend,

I am Miss Rita Richmond, a staff of WORLD HUMAN RIGHT ORGANIZATION (W.H.R.O) Washington D.C, U.S.A. and a member of the international Red Cross. We are organizing a global combined conference against RACISM and HUMAN TRAFFICKING in U.S.A and DAKAR SENEGAL WEST AFRICA. It is my pleasure to invite you to participate in this global combined international conference, taking place from 17th to 20th August 2009 at Washington D.C in the United States of America and in Dakar- Senegal Africa from 24th to 27th August 2009.

In our request to invite people from various countries around the world, I went in search of e-mails on the Google web site as a means of contacting people and organizations As a result; I picked your e-mail from an N.G.Os website. If you are interested to participate as an individual or want to represent your country or your organization, you may contact the conference secretariat genera of the organizing committee for details and information’s regarding registration for the international conference.

Inform them that you were invited to participate by a friend of yours (Miss Rita Richmond) who is a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a staff of WORLD HUMAN RIGHT ORGANIZATION (W.H.R.O).

I believe that we may have the opportunity to meet if you may be willing to participate in this event. The benevolent donors from across the world and the Organizing Committee will provide air round trip tickets, accommodation and visa processing for all registered participants for the period of Staying in the U.S, If you are a holder of passport that may require visa to enter into the United States you may inform the conference secretariat at the time of registration, as the organizing committee is responsible for all visa arrangements and travel assistance.

Below is the contact address of the conference secretariat.

By email: whro.secretary@gmail.com

You can also contact me on my private e-mail:

rita.richmo@gmail.com

Yours secretly,

Miss Rita Richmond.

2009-07-28T14:40:00.003+05:30

Let us make the City Green !!

28th July 2009

Dear all,

The Isha Foundation is spearheading an ambitious campaign to plant and care for One Lakh trees in Chennai city before the end of 2009, with the active involvement of different members of the community.

The below-mentioned write-up from the Isha Foundation gives you more details.

This is our chance to help balance the Earth's environment in a small way. Let us make the best use of it!

-------------------------------------

Project GreenHands – Green Your Own Street Campaign

This is an opportunity for every individual to actually do something significant to reverse the damage to the Earth’s environment. ‘Green Your Own Street’ is an ambitious tree planting campaign under Project GreenHands of Isha Foundation, to plant and care for One Lakh trees in Chennai by December 31, 2009, with the help of company employees & their families. This could also be targeted and done on a single day to create more awareness.

Objectives

1. To get all corporate employees and their families sensitised about the environment.

2. Greening Chennai in one shot by getting at least 1 lakh trees planted.

3. Get the whole population of Chennai sensitised by staging such a dramatic event.

Methodology

- Chiefs of companies in & around Chennai are approached to get their company enrolled in the campaign. It is important that the program is not just supported but even pushed strongly by the top management to ensure that employees take the necessary efforts to participate meaningfully.

- Each employee is sent information (through email) as to why every individual needs to act to save our environment by planting and nurturing at least one tree. The mail will also carry instructions on how to select a suitable planting site, how to plant and care for a tree.

- Just 20 minutes from each employee could green the entire city of Chennai. All he or she does is:

1. Walk along the road where they stay, to identify one suitable planting location in their own street or neighbourhood & provide this information to their company & Isha by filling in a form on-line.

2. Each employee would sponsor a seedling (@Rs.25) and ensure its planting in the identified location.

3. It would then be cared for either by the employee or one of his neighbours, who agrees to water the seedling regularly. The house or shop in front of the tree would be the best suited to plant and care for it.

4. If required, to ensure safety of the tree, the employee also needs to locate a sponsor for a tree guard, which may cost about Rs.750 to buy and install. Any bank or shop or office in the area could oblige and their name could be put on the tree guard. Most trees planted within Chennai, however, may not require a tree guard, as stray cows/ goats are no longer prevalent.

- Isha would provide the following support:

a. Consolidate the seedling requirements from various companies and obtain the statutory permissions wherever necessary from Chennai Corporation for planting in the identified sites

b. Raise seedlings in Isha’s nurseries in order to create the necessary varieties of seedlings at very low cost. Tree varieties suitable for Chennai would be grown which can be planted in narrow spaces such as compounds and street sides without damaging walls and which need very little water to grow.

c. Supply the required number of seedlings to the employees at their workplace at cost (Rs. 20 per seedling + transport, totalling about Rs. 25 per seedling).

d. Organise for getting tree guards made and transported to the employee’s workplace. However these would be paid for by the employees or the sponsors identified by them.

- This whole event would need to be given wide visibility to spread this awareness to the entire population of Chennai and create a Chennai that remains green forever.

Timelines: To ensure planting in December, 09, the nursery has to be started by end-August. So the enrolment of companies needs to happen by mid-August and registration of employees by end-August.

Contact: To enlist your company, pls contact Mr. Vinod Hari at hari_vinod@hotmail.com or +91 98410 48949.

2009-07-20T17:06:00.001+05:30

The Life Saving Question

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question was: "What do women really want?"

Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men, and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer. But the price would be high as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.. The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table, and Arthur's closest friend!

Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life. He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden, but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.

Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus: "What a woman really wants," she said, "is to be in charge of her own life." Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared.

And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen, lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened. The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.

"Which would you prefer? she asked him. "Beautiful during the day or at night?"

Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day he could have a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch! Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous, intimate moments with?

(If you are a man reading this ...) What would YOUR choice be?

(If you are a woman reading this ..) What would YOUR MAN'S choice be?

What Lancelot chose is below.

BUT ... make YOUR choice before you see below. OKAY?

Noble Lancelot, knowing the answer the witch gave Arthur to his question, said that he would let HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

2009-07-18T23:11:00.003+05:30

My speech about impact of Union Budget (2009-10) on Personal Finance:

Kizhakku Pathipagam, in association with Fundsindia.com, conducts a weekly workshop on Personal Finance. Topic for the last session was about impact of Union Budget on Personal Finance.

Earlier, when I read the news on the blog of Mr. Badri Seshadri (founder of Kizhakku Pathipagam), I was thinking of attending the session as a participant (if time permits).

But to my surprise, I was honoured to receive an invitation from him to deliver a speech to the participants and to have an inter-active session for clarifying their doubts.

Immediately after he blogged announcing my speech for the forthcoming session, I started receiving congrats-calls from many readers whom we both know in common.

I should mention that the program went really fine and the inter-active session was very energetic. Pls check Badri's after-session blog post here.

Here’s the link where you could find the audio file of entire recording. Pls listen the audio link and correct me if I was wrong on any of the points discussed.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN THE AUDIO FILE

Mr. Badri Seshadri complemented me a book which is the tamil version (published by Kizhakku Pathipagam) of a popular book written by Jeffrey Archer titled "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less".

2009-07-18T12:54:00.000+05:30

Believe what you feel

On this day, Morrie says that he has an exercise for us to try. We are to stand, facing away from our classmates, and fall backward, relying on another student to catch us.

Most of us are uncomfortable with this, and we cannot let go for more than a few inches before stopping ourselves. We laugh in embarrassment.

Finally, one student, a thin, quiet, dark-haired girl whom I notice almost always wears bulky, white fisherman sweaters, crosses her arms over her chest, closes her eyes, leans back, and does not flinch.

For a moment, I am sure she is going to thump on the floor. At the last instant, her assigned partner grabs her head and shoulders and pull her up harshly.

“Whoa!” several students yell. Some clap. Morrie finally smiles.

“You see”, he says to the girl, “you closed your eye, and that was the difference.

Sometimes you cannot believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel.

And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too – even when you're in the dark, even when you're falling".

2009-07-14T13:01:00.002+05:30

The Mouse Trap :

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said "Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said "I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house - like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember: when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another. Each of us is a vital thread in another person's tapestry.

2009-07-13T17:03:00.000+05:30

Life Equations

OFFICE ARITHMETIC
Smart boss + smart employee = profit
Smart boss + dumb employee = production
Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion
Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime

SHOPPING MATHS
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need.

GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

ROMANCE MATHEMATICS
Smart man + smart woman = romance
Smart man + dumb woman = affair
Dumb man + smart woman = marriage
Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy

HAPPINESS
To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little.
To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.

LONGEVITY
Married men live longer than single men do, but married men are a lot more willing to die.

PROPENSITY TO CHANGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, and she does.

DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE
A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

HOW TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BUGGING YOU ABOUT GETTING MARRIED
Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, "You're next. “They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.

2009-07-12T23:22:00.001+05:30

Budget Implications Analysed (FY 2009-10)

This year's union budget FY 2009-10 (AY10-11) did not bring many expected reliefs and cheers for the common taxpayers and has provided some marginal reliefs. Here is a brief perspective of various income tax changes in budget:

Basic Exemption Limit:

• Rs.2.40lacs for Senior citizens (earlier Rs.2.25 lacs). This will provide a tax relief of about Rs.1545.
• Rs.1.90lacs for Women/ Females (earlier Rs.1.80lacs). This will provide a tax relief of about Rs.1030.
• Rs.1.60lacs for All other category of Individual tax payers (earlier Rs.1.50lacs). This will provide a tax relief of about Rs.1030.

Surcharge Scrapped:

• Surcharge on Income tax has been scrapped. Individuals having taxable invomce over Rs.10 lacs will benefit more from this as their tax incidence at the highest slab has declined to 30.09% from 33.99% (savings of about 3.9%)

FBT Scrapped (Plus & Minus):

• FBT has been scrapped for companies. This could result in tax on many employee benefit perks to be shifted to employees. The list of perks is yet to be released, but major perks affected could be ESOP (employee stock options) and contributions to super-annuation funds etc.

Deductions:

• Deductions u/s 80DD in respect of maintenance, including medical treatment, of a dependent who is a person with severe disability has been increased to Rs.1 lac from the present limit of Rs.75,000
• Deductions u/s 80E in respect of interest on loans taken for pursuing higher education in specified fields of study has been extended to cover all fields of study, including vocational studies, pursued after completion of schooling

Gift Income:

• Non-cash gifts will be taxed. As per the new proposal, any non cash gift (e.g. property, shares and securities, jewellery, archeological collections, paintings and gold etc.) received from a non-relative where the value is in excess of Rs 50,000 in a particular year will be considered as income in the hands of the recipient. However, the proposal provides for some exclusion, which includes receipts on occasion of a marriage or by will or inheritance or from certain specified authorities (educational or medical institutions among others)

Other Important Highlights:

• If you don’t have a permanent account number (PAN), your tax deducted at source (TDS) could be higher. The penal rate will be a minimum 20%.
• Saral-2 is likely to re-introduced soon

2009-07-03T13:57:00.003+05:30

Budget expectations

As the countdown commences for the presentation of the Union Budget, the first of the reelected United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on 6th July 2009, the stock market expectations remain high. The capital market is of the view that the government can stimulate the economy, reinforce fiscal prudence and yet enhance social welfare programmes. We are less optimistic and though we believe the government would announce some stimulus packages for the economy, fiscal deficit constraints would limit the efficacy of such proposals.

On excise duty

In order to bring about a spurt in the economy, the government brought down the general excise duty rate from 14% to 8% since December 2008 through couple of stimulus packages. Post excise duty cut the two wheeler segment and compact car segment has seen revival in sales volume. We expect the government would not like to tinker with sales volume recovery in these segments and therefore maintain "status quo" on the existing excise duty rates. However if the government decides otherwise and plans for partial/complete roll-back on the excise cuts, in that case it would be negative for the two wheeler and small car players.

The large car manufacturers are hoping for lowering down of excise duty in line with excise duty rates on small cars. We do not expect the excise duty rates on large cars would be changed because the customers of such cars are less sensitive to price changes and therefore bringing down the excise duty rate may not necessarily increase demand for large cars.

On depreciation

Due to slowdown in the economy, the commercial vehicles sector was the worst hit during FY09. In order to provide a demand push, the government through its second stimulus package announced accelerated depreciationof 50% on commercial vehicles purchased between Januray-March2009. Players in CV segments are expecting that the accelerated depreciation benefit be extended beyond 31st March2009. Due to continuing economic slowdown the CV sales continue to remain under pressure, and we therefore expect that the benefit of accelerated depreciation would be extended beyond 31st March2009.

Overall, we believe that the budget would be neutral for the auto sector as we do not foresee any direct measures (except for CV) would be announced in the budget that benefits the auto sector. Indirectly, the sector can benefitfrom additional farm loan waiver and improved financing scenario.

Banking:

Increase in foreign direct investments in insurance sector from present 26% to 49%:

We expect the Finance Minister to increase FDI limit in domestic insurance sector to 49% to facilitate much needed fund infusion for future growth.

Expectation of 50-75 bps reduction in government small saving interest rates:

We expect the FM to reduce small saving interest rates to provide room to commercial banks to further cut their deposit and lending rates.

Permission to infrastructure sector lenders to issue tax free bonds:

We expect FM to permit infrastructure lenders likes (PFC, IDFC etc.) to issue tax free bonds to increase their resources base; if permitted infrastructure lenders would benefit but the commercial banks would be at slight disadvantage.

Increase in limit of tax deduction on interest payment on housing loans:

We expect that the budget may propose to increase limit of tax deduction on interest payment on housing loans from present level of Rs 0.15 mn to make housing loans more attractive.

Overall, we expect that the budget to be positive for the banking industry at large. Considering the sharp run-up in stock prices, we are negatively biased on Indian banking sector.

Cement:

Restoration of excise duty from current 8% to 12%

Government has reduced the excise duty from 12% to 8% during the year to stimulate the cement demand. But cement industry has increased the cement price driven by strong demand. We believe the excise duty would be restored at 12% which has negative impact for the industry.

Abatement on excise duty

Currently excise duty on cement is based on MRP and industry gets abatement whenever excise duty is based on MRP. However we don't expect the abatement on excise duty would be given in this budget.

Abolition of import duty on pet-coke and coal

Coal is the major fuel for the production of cement. Currently there is 5% import duty on coal and pet coke. We expect the import duty on pet coke would be abolished from 5% to nil. The abolition of import duty would reduce the operational cost for the cement industry.

Subsidy on freight cost on export of cement and clinker

Most plants are in the hinterland which makes the export unviable due to higher freight cost. We believe the industry would be in capacity surplus in H2FY10. Hence the government may provide the freight subsidy to make export viable.

We expect primarily the budget would be negative for the sector. However indirectly it would benefit through increase in allocation for various infrastructure schemes.

Construction:

Increased allocation under various infrastructures schemes:

Clarification on section 80IA benefit

There is varying interpretation of section 80IA to claim the benefit (Currently allowed to developers of project). We believe section 80IA benefit would be clarified and construction companies would be included under the purview.

Re-introduction of tax benefit u/s 10 (23G)

The income of the companies engaged in infrastructure projects by way of debt or equity was exempted from tax under Section 10(23G) which was removed. We believe the exemption would be re-introduced which will bring down the interest cost of the funds for the infrastructure companies as the lending institutions may pass on the benefit or otherwise improve the interest in funding for infra projects.

We expect the budget to be positive for the sector.

Fertiliser:

1. The Government may announce incentives for green field expansion for urea capacities.
2. The government may also announce assured feedstock supply and minimum assured returns on new urea capacities.
3. Currently, the government disburse subsidy in cash as well as in bonds. In budget 2009-10, the Government may introduce full cash payment of subsidies.

We expect the budget to be Positive for the sector.

Infrastructure:

Higher budgetary allocation in Infrastructure development schemes

Road development to get a new face with higher allocation

Steps to ease out infrastructure funding

Setup monitoring units

Social Infrastructure focus to continue

Multiplex:

Rationalization of Entertainment Tax

Removal of service tax on rentals paid on immovable property

Real Estate:

Resume tax exemption under section 80 IB (10) to promote mass housing

Increase the tenure of tax holiday to hotels under section 80ID

Increase the exemption limit of home loan interest payable under section 24 (b)

This section deals with exemption on interest payable by home loan buyers for self-occupied houses. Currently, the exemption stands to the extent of Rs 150,000. We expect that the government could extend this to at least Rs 300,000. This will not only help the middle class home buyers in payment of their existing home loans but also encourage first time home buyers.

Service tax provisions relating to real estate

It has been clarified that no service tax should be levied in case pre-construction sale of residential complex where the seller and the buyer enter into an 'agreement to sell'. We expect that a similar clarification can be issued for pre-construction sale of commercial complexes as well.

Lower and uniform stamp duty rates

2009-06-30T14:52:00.003+05:30

50 PROMISES FOR MARRIAGE

No experience for me on this yet, but you can let me know whether it is 'Yes' or 'No' in your case.

1. Start each day with a kiss.
2. Wear your wedding ring at all times.
3. Date once a week.
4. Accept differences.
5. Be polite.
6. Be gentle.
7. Give gifts.
8. Smile often.
9. Touch.
10. Talk about dreams.
11. Select a song that can be "our song".
12. Give back rubs.
13. Laugh together.
14. Send a card for no reason.
15. Do what the other person wants before he or she asks.
16. Listen.
17. Encourage.
18. Do it his or her way.
19. Know his or her needs.
20. Fix the other person's breakfast.
21. Compliment twice a day.
22. Call during the day.
23. Slow down.
24. Hold hands.
25. Cuddle.
26. Ask for each other's opinion.
27. Show respect.
28. Welcome the other person home.
29. Look your best.
30. Wink at each other.
31. Celebrate birthdays in a big way.
32. Apologize.
33. Forgive.
34. Set up a romantic getaway.
35. Ask, "What can I do to make you happier?".
36. Be positive.
37. Be kind.
38. Be vulnerable.
39. Respond quickly to the other person's request.
40. Talk about your love.
41. Reminisce about your favorite times together.
42. Treat each other's friends and relatives with courtesy.
43. Send flowers every Valentine's day and anniversary.
44. Admit when wrong.
45. Be sensitive to each other's sexual desires.
46. Pray for each other daily.
47. Watch sunsets together.
48. Say "I love you" frequently.
49. End the day with a hug.
50. Seek outside help when needed.

2009-06-29T16:11:00.002+05:30

How to Win Friends and Influence People?

This is a summary of a book written by Dale Carnegie.

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six ways to make people like you

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

Win people to your way of thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment ?

A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

2009-06-26T17:32:00.001+05:30

10 Most Stupid Questions and Funny Answers

People usually ask obvious situations and some funny answers:

At the movies: When you meet acquaintances/friends...
Stupid Question: Hey, what are you doing here?
Answer: Don't u know, I sell tickets in black over here.

In the bus: A heavy lady wearing pointed high-heeled shoes steps on your feet...
Stupid Question: Sorry, did that hurt?
Answer: No, not at all, I'm on local anesthesia. Why don't you try again?

At a funeral: One of the teary eyed people ask...
Stupid Question: Why, why him, of all people.
Answer: Why? Would it rather have been you?

At a restaurant: When you ask the waiter
Stupid Question: Is the "Paneer Butter Masala" dish good?
Answer: No, it's terrible and made of adulterated cement. We occasionally also spit on it.

At a family get-together: When some distant aunt meets you after years.
Stupid Question: Munna, Chickoo, you've become so big.
Answer: Well you haven't particularly shrunk yourself.

When a friend announces her wedding, and you ask...
Stupid Question: Is the guy you're marrying well?
Answer: No, he's a miserable wife beating, insensitive lout...it's just the money.

When you get woken up at midnight by a phone call...
Stupid Question: Sorry. Were you sleeping?
Answer: No. I was doing research on whether the Zulu tribes in Africa marry or not. And you thought I was sleeping.... You dumb witted moron.

When you see a friend/colleague with evidently shorter hair...
Stupid Question: Hey have you had a haircut?
Answer: No, its autumn and I'm shedding.

At the dentist when he's sticking pointed objects in your mouth...
Stupid Question: Tell me if it hurts?
Answer: No it won't. It will just bleed.

You are smoking a cigarette and a cute woman asks...
Stupid Question: Oh, so you smoke.
Answer: Gosh, it's a miracle... it was a piece of chalk and now it's in flames!

2009-06-23T23:27:00.000+05:30

Love Feelings !!

When one stone, and one mirror
they bang and does not break - it means love
one word, and lot of silence
if they converse - it means love

when you get love in your eyes,
does tears accompany you all the way

another name for arrogance is you
i died everyday bcoz of you
but i forgot to forget you

i know that you are a fire
but still i dare to touch and play
knowingly i enjoy burning myself in you
those wounds do not matter me anything.

Even when one swallows a strongest poison
life goes only after few seconds or minutes
but life goes as soon as you fall in love
does love means torture?

i wake up by seeing your face
i co-relate and recognise your voice
i accompany you like a shadow

i live on your smile
what will i do when you go away
where will i go my love

those magic words hidden in ur lips, if they fall
my life will begin after that
If they are buried in silence
my life will be a silent death !!

2009-06-19T15:10:00.001+05:30

Warren Buffet advices on financial planning:

We begin with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism. Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations. Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health. They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess.

I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

Hard work: All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. [At least make your investments get you second earning]

Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need.

Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving.

Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave.

Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

Auditing: Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship.

Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet. [Have an alternate plan ready]

Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I'm certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I'm equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life !!

2009-06-18T11:32:00.001+05:30

JAR OF LIFE - EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT

One day, an old leader-manager with great reputation for building businesses, was invited to lecture on the topic of "Effective Management" in front of a group of senior executives representing the largest and most successful companies.

Standing in front of this group of elite managers, who were willing to eagerly listen to his every word. The old leader manager slowly met eyes with each manager, one by one, and finally said, "we are going to conduct a simple experiment".

From under the table that stood between him and the listeners, he pulled out a big glass jar and gently placed it in front of him. Next, he pulled out from under the table a bag of stones, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the stones one by one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone in the jar.

Lifting his gaze to the managers, the leader asked, "Is the jar full?" The managers replied, "Yes".

The leader paused for a moment, and replied, "Really?" Once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a bag full of pebbles.

Carefully, the leader poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they settled at the bottom.

Again, he lifted his gaze to his audience and asked, "Is the jar full?" At this point, the managers began to understand his intentions.

One replied, "No!" "Correct", replied the old leader, now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, he poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the stones and the pebbles. Yet again, the leader r asked, "Is the jar full?" Without hesitation, the entire group of students replied in unison, "NO!" "Correct", replied the leader.

And as was expected by the managers, the leader reached for the pitcher of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was absolutely full. The leader now lifted his gaze once again and asked, "What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?" With his thoughts on the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, "We learn that we can look at the jar as half full or half empty. Your attitude matters."" "NO", replied the leader.

Another manager quickly replied, "We learn that as full as our schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possible to add more meetings and tasks." "NO", replied the leader.

He smiled and said,” The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is: If we don't put all the larger stones in the jar first, we will never be able to fit all of them later." The auditorium fell silent, as every manager processed the significance of the leader’s words in their entirety.

The old leader continued, "What are the large stones in your job? Is your company? Is your environment? Are you putting the large stones first or wasting time on small things?. What we must remember is that it is most important to move the larger stones first.

Get the larger issues right, because if we don't do so, we are likely to make very little progress. If we give priority to the smaller things in life (pebbles & sand), our lives will be filled up with less important things, leaving little or no time for the things in our lives that are most important to us.

Because of this, never forget to ask yourself, 'What are the Large Stones in your Life?' And once you identify them, be sure to put them first in your 'Jar of Life'".

With a warm wave of his hand, the leader bid farewell to the managers, and slowly walked out of the room.

2009-06-09T14:11:00.005+05:30

Love and Marriage:

A student asks a teacher, "What is love?"

The teacher said, "in order to answer your question, go to the wheat field and choose the biggest wheat and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick."

The student goes to the field, go thru first row, he saw one big wheat, but he wonders, may be there is a bigger one later.

Then he saw another bigger one, but may be there is an even bigger one waiting for him.

Later, when he finished more than half of the wheat field, he realized that the wheat is not as big as the previous one he saw, he know he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted.

So, he ended up went back to the teacher with empty hand.

The teacher told him,

"This is love... you keep looking for a better one, but when later you realize, you have already missed the person...."

*"What is marriage then?" the student asked.

The teacher said,

"in order to answer your question, go to the corn field and choose the biggest corn and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick."

The student went to the corn field, this time he is careful not to repeat the previous mistake, when he reach the middle of the field, he has picked one medium corn that he feel satisfy, and come back to the teacher.

The teacher told him,

"This time you bring back a corn, you look for one that is just nice, and you have faith and believe this is the best one you get. This is Marriage."

2009-06-08T11:02:00.004+05:30

What Happens in Heaven?

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels.

My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received." I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then, we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed "How is it that? There's no work going on here?" I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.”How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" I asked. "Simple," the angel answered. "Just say, "Thank you, God." "What blessings should they acknowledge?” I asked.

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world.”

"If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.”

Also.....

"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.”

"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.”

"If you can attend a prayer meeting without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.”

"If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare.”

“If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the normal, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.”

"Ok, what now? How can I start? If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are !!

2009-06-05T09:58:00.003+05:30

God's Timing is Right !!

Whatever that happens in life, happens for good. So, stop worrying about the future and forget the past.

After Sept. 11th, one company invited the remaining members of other companies who had been decimated by the attack on the Twin Towers to share their available office space. At a morning meeting, the head of security told stories of why these people were alive and all the stories were just the 'L I T L E' things.

As you might know, the head of the company survived that day because his son started kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.

One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time.

One of them missed his bus. One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.

One's car wouldn't start.

One went back to answer the telephone.

One had a child that dawdled and didn't get ready as soon as he should have.

One couldn't get a taxi.

The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.

Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone….all the little things that annoy me. I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.

Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow getting dressed, you can't seem to find the car keys, you hit every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated.

God is at work watching over you.

Pass this on to someone else, if you'd like. There is NO LUCK attached.

If you ignore this, it's okay: "God's Love Is Not Dependent On E-Mail forwarding / message-sharing."

2009-05-05T23:02:00.003+05:30

Diseases that can be cured by Honey and Cinnamon:

It is found that mixture of Honey and Cinnamon cures most of the diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world. Ayurvedic as well as Yunani medicine have been using honey as a vital medicine for centuries. Scientists of today also accept honey as a Ram Ban (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.

Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients also. A famous magazine named Weekly World News published in Canada dated 17 January, 95 has given a list of diseases that can be cured by Honey and Cinnamon as researched by western scientists.

1. ARTHRITIS:

Take one part honey to two parts of luke warm water and add a small teaspoon of cinnamon powder, make a paste and massage it on the itching part of the body slowly. It is noticed that the pain recedes within a minute or two. Or arthritis patients may daily, morning and night take one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If drunk regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research done at the Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon cinnamon powder before breakfast. They found that within a week out of the 200 people so treated practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain and within a month. Mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.

2. HAIR LOSS:

Those suffering from hair loss or baldness, may apply a paste of hot olive oil, one tablespoon of honey, one teaspoon of cinnamon powder before bath and keep it for approx. 15 min. and then wash the hair. It was found very effective if kept for 5 mins. also.

3. BLADDER INFECTIONS:

Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of luke warm water and drink it. It destroys the germs of the bladder.

4. CHOLESTEROL:

Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, if given to a cholesterol patient, it reduces the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10% within 2 hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken 3 times a day any chronic cholesterol is cured. As per the information received in the said journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complains of cholesterol.

5. COLDS:

Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon luke warm honey with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder daily for 3 days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold and clear the sinuses.

6. INFERTILITY:

Yunani and Ayurvedic have been using honey for years in medicine to strengthen the semen of men. If impotent men regularly take two tablespoon of honey before sleeping, their problem will be solved. In China, Japan and Far-East countries, women who do not conceive and to strengthen the uterus have been taking cinnamon powder for centuries. Women who cannot conceive may take a pinch of cinnamon powder in half teaspoon of honey and apply it on the gums frequently throughout the day, so that it slowly mixes with the saliva and enters the body. A couple in Maryland, America had no children for 14 years and had left hope of having a child of their own. When told about this process husband and wife started taking honey and cinnamon as stated above, the wife conceived after a few months and had twins at full term.

7. UPSET STOMACH:

Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomachache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.

8. GAS:

According to the studies done in India & Japan, it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.

9. HEART DISEASES:

Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread or chappati instead of jelly and jam and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also those who have already had an attack, if they do this process daily, are kept miles away from the next attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heartbeat. In America and Canada, various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that due to the increasing age the arteries and veins, which lose their flexibility and get clogged, are revitalized.

10. IMMUNE SYSTEM:

Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.

11. INDIGESTION:

Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food, relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals.

12. INFLUENZA

A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural ingredient, which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

13. LONGEVITY:

Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly arrests the ravages of old age. Take 4 spoons of honey, 1spoon of cinnamon powder and 3 cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, 3 to 4 times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life span also increases and even if a person is 100 years old, starts performing the chores of a 20 year old.

14. PIMPLES:

Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root.

15. SKIN INFECTIONS:

Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections.

16. WEIGHT LOSS:

Daily in the morning, 1/2 hour before breakfast on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup water. If taken regularly it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also drinking of this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

17. CANCER:

Recent research in Japan and Australia has reveled that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month 3 times a day.

18. FATIGUE:

Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful than detrimental to the body strength. Senior citizens who take honey and cinnamon power in equal parts are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton who has done research says that half tablespoon honey taken in one glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3.00 p.m. when the vitality of the body starts decreasing, increases the vitality of the body within a week.

19. BAD BREATH:

People of South America, first thing in the morning gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water. So their breath stays fresh throughout the day.

20. SINUS & HEADACHES:

Drink mix up with honey & lemon juice helps sinus headaches.

21. TOOTHACHE:

Make a paste of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and five teaspoons of honey and apply on the aching tooth. This may be done 3 times a day daily till such time that the tooth has stopped aching.

2009-05-04T12:26:00.002+05:30

Investing important cash:

During the entire first year of my college period, I used to travel by bus. In the second year, I wanted to buy a two wheeler since I had my ACS classes everyday at 6 A.M. Though I didn’t (don’t) want my parents to spend cash for me, but still I thought a two-wheeler would be comfortable to attend my classes in the early morning.

When I told my father, he didn’t have adequate cash but he borrowed money from someone and bought me a bike the next day. Years ran by, I used it for about 13 years and treated it like my friend (people used to comment that they can walk more faster than my driving :-). I used to drive very slowly / carefully, keep it clean and service it once in 3 months – all because that I liked it a lot.

Since it became aged and also the fact that I use my car, I could not use it regularly and hence, did not want to spoil its life. I sold it off to someone for 8k in 2008.

While carrying this cash, I was thinking how to spend it. Definitely for investments, but where? Being a finance professional, my investment portfolio is across almost all investments.

I understood that my father bought it during critical time and also that I liked my bike a lot. Hence, I want that money to be invested in guaranteed instrument and also want to have it for longer period of time.

Suddenly I remembered that I haven’t contributed to Public Provident Fund (PPF) for about a year, and thought investing this money on that would be wiser. It’s a guaranteed investment portfolio and also would stay for 14 more years (2 years are already over).

I was able to do it last March and feel happy about it.

Guys / Gals: If you want to invest your money in guaranteed instrument, for a longer term and with reasonable return of 8%, I would strongly advice PPF.

Forgot to mention that my bike never carried any gal in the pillion and perhaps, that’s the reason for it being so memorable :-)

2009-04-23T14:21:00.005+05:30

Message from siliconindia.com about the event for startups:

Hi,

After the phenomenal success of the siliconindia Startup City 2008, wherein there were 4000 attendees and 50 Startups, it is back again!

Siliconindia Startup City 2009 is a technology showcase event wherein Startups' can demo the cool products you are building. This is a great opportunity for them to find investors, technology partners, resellers and potential customers.

BENEFITS:

1) Booth: 3x2 mtr

2) One page company profile in the Show Guide

3) 10 Minutes company presentation time (VCs, Corporate Investors and senior management of various technology companies will be present)

4) One invitation for round table breakfast and lunch with investors and leaders of technology giants.

5) One Special invite for the CEO Roundtable discussion

6) Visibility on the website for one month

7) Opportunity to meet 40 investors

8) All PR and Marketing activities related to event promotions will carry your Company name

CONFIRMED VCs: Accel Partners, Artiman Ventures, Axon Ventures, Battery Ventures, Bluerun Ventures, Canaan Partners, DFJ, Epiphany Ventures, Greylock, Helion Ventures, IDG, Indian Angel Network , Intel Capital, Inventus Capital, Jafco Asia Ventures, Lightspeed, Mercatus Capital, Mumbai Angels, NEA-Indo US Ventures, Nexus India Capital, Ojas Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Reliance Capital, Seeed Fund, Sequioa Capital, Singularity Ventures, UTI Ventures, Venture East, Walden International

CEO CONCLAVE: This is a close-door CEO discussion, which will be attended by CEOs and Managing Directors of over 500 startups. The roundtable will facilitate an informal discussion amongst the senior management about the best practices of building a technology company in India, what works, what doesn’t work, potential pitfalls and other challenges.

PARTNERSHIP: Leaders of technology companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo!, Honeywell, Alcatel-Lucent, Philips, Siemens, SAP, Nokia, Adobe and many other will be present at the venue. You can explore opportunities of technology partnerships.

BRANDING: Siliconindia has put in place a brand campaign plan, which ensures greater visibility.

ATTENDEES: Last year we had 4000 qualified professionals. This year we will have close to 5000. The profile of attendees include:

1) Senior Management of multinational companies & established Indian companies

2) Senior management of Indian Startups

3) Senior management of US based startups with R&D center in India

4) Distributors & Resellers

5) Angel Investors

6) Venture Capitalists

7) Corporate Investors

8) To-be Entrepreneurs

9) Qualified technology professionals with product bent of mind.

For details & Participation enquiries please email to Suman Rammurthy [suman@siliconindia.com].

2009-04-19T00:16:00.003+05:30

Tough experience with Bajaj Auto Finance:

Attracted to the advertisement about the 4 days’ Electronics exhibition being conducted by Vasanth & Co, I visited Rani Meyyammai Hall to buy an Air Conditioner for my sister as her marriage gift. The place was heavily crowded for three reasons –

- interesting cost-saving offers
- hall-entry is free
- it was the last day of the event

I swam in to the crowd and took a complete visit of the hall. Was able to enquire about the split air conditioner for 8 brands. I came out, then analysed the features and costs involved, had a con-call with my family members, then finally decided to buy Samsung air conditioner.

Again swam inside and landed at the Samsung stall. The person over there was happy to receive me again and after negotiating for few minutes, gave me a discount of INR 1,500. The price was fixed at 26,000 with free stabilizer and installation. All went fine till this moment.

He then offered me interest-free financing option. Being a finance professional, I felt that I should not ignore it. He introduced me to a useless staff of Bajaj Auto Finance. That guy did the calculation at a fast pace (I should mention that he was fast, only in calculation and rest were all dead slow). He insisted for the advance payment of two months’ EMI and certain documents like ID proof, address proof, couple of cheques and photocopy of the bill. He promised that the product will be delivered in two day’s time.

After making advance payment and furnishing the documents, I waited for two days and since I didn’t hear anything from them, I called him to know the status. He told that there were thousands of applications received during the exhibition and they were processing one by one, and hence my application was in queue. He repeated the same story whenever I called him. One fine day, he told me that my application was missing and they were searching for.

After a week’s time, he completely stopped attending my calls. I was a little bit irritated and tried to reach the top management guys online. When I searched online, I found that there are many complaints like this against Bajaj Auto Finance. Pls check www.consumercomplaints.in (this is a web site where people express the problems they face in buying/availing products/services - a must-check web site).

I spoke to the Branch Manager and he agreed that there are many internal problems. It looks like there are several complaints like this where customer pays advance but couldn’t get the products delivered because of the internal confusions in Bajaj Auto Finance and that’s the reason they don’t attend the customer calls. I thought of cancelling my order, but was informed that it will again take a long time for refund. Meanwhile, I got my credit card statement where I was charged the advance amount of 2 month’s EMI, but the product was not delivered yet.

Finally, I got someone from Bajaj who put his personal efforts to help me. It works like - only after the financier passes the order, the shop will deliver the product. Then, I also spoke to the person who processed my application, the shop keeper, the delivery-in-charge – all to ensure that the delivery happens at least before the summer season ends.

I got the machine delivered after 15 days of booking. But received another surprise that the installation needs to be done by Samsung guys and they were all busy. Then, I took care of it myself by talking to the concerned person and insisted to install it immediately.

You could understand that a customer’s job is over after he pays the advance money and submits the relevant documents. The financier / vendor should take care of the rest. But, the response from them gave mental agony and involved lots of our efforts to have the product delivered.

2009-03-26T15:15:00.003+05:30

RBS - Cogzidel's first product launched

RBS – Cogzidel’s first product was launched on late hours of 25th March, 2009 at 23.45 IST. It is a proud and exciting moment for the entire Cogzidel team. I take this opportunity to thank Senthil Guru who started the project and Sathick Basha who took over from Senthil and completed the mission. I must also thank Pandi who assisted Sathick, Saravanan for CSS work, Major Karthik for his design, Bala Subramaniyam for managing and getting the product out successfully, last but not least it is our Bala Krishnan for his commitment and passion he contributed a lot encouraging the team and he acted as System Analyst for the project.

RBS is an abbreviation for Reverse Bidding System, it is a bidding system which is developed by taking inspiration from scriptlance.com. We have more features in mind to make the product unique and we will be evolving the product in a phased manner by releasing update at frequent intervals which will be bundled with new features and patches.

Product is launched under Creative Common license and is offered for free. This must be a bonanza for webmasters. We are offering the project for free to create more entrepreneurs & webmasters. You can think why we are offering it for free, let me explain it with an example,

“A has one rupee and B has one rupee… Both exchange that rupee… They go home with one rupee each!

But if A has one idea and B has one idea… Both exchange that idea… They go home with two ideas.”

Same way when we offer something for free lots of people will try it and it will create an eco-system where it will create lots of opportunity for many people and ideas will be flowing. So, we want to create such a eco-system and that is why we are offering the product for free.

In coming days, I think there will be lots of success stories and I wish it happens soon.

2009-03-25T20:48:00.002+05:30

Prayers to God:

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agree that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and! he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, there was a woman who swam to his side of the
land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"
"My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything."

"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"

"He prayed that all your prayers be answered."

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.

This is too good not to share...

My prayer for you today is that all your prayers are answered. Be blessed.

"What you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself"

This was shared with me by a friend; I hope you will share with your friends!
----------------------
LETS PRAY FOR EACH OTHER.

Sometimes a kind word at the right moment can change a life forever.

2009-03-24T16:34:00.000+05:30

RESOURCE UTILIZATION - Thought Provoking

Buddha, one day, was on deep thought about the worldly activities and the ways of instilling goodness in human. The following is the text of conversation between him and his disciple.

One of his disciples approached him and said humbly " Oh my teacher ! While you are so much concerned about the world and others, why don't you look in to the welfare and needs of your own disciples also."

Buddha: "OK.. Tell me how I can help you"

Disciple: "Master! My attire is worn out and is beyond the decency to wear the same. Can I get a new one, please?"

Buddha found the robe indeed was in a bad condition which needed replacement. He asked the store keeper to give the disciple a new robe to wear on. The disciple thanked Buddha and retired to his room.

Though he met his disciple's requirement, Buddha was not all that contended on his decision.

He realized he missed out some point. A while after, he realized what he should have asked the disciple. He went to his disciple's place and asked him "Is your new attire comfortable? Do you need anything more?"

Disciple: "Thank you my Master. The attire is indeed very comfortable. I need nothing more"

Buddha: "Having got the new one, what did you do with your old attire?"

Disciple: "I am using it as my bed spread"

Buddha: "Then, hope you have disposed off your old bed spread"

Disciple: " No.. no, master. I am using my old bedspread as my window curtain"

Buddha: “What about your old Curtain?"

Disciple "Being used to handle hot utensils in the kitchen"

Buddha: "Oh.. I see.. Can you tell me what did they do with the old cloth they used in Kitchen"

Disciple: "They are being used to wash the floor."

Buddha: “Then, the old rug being used to wash the floor...?”

Disciple: “Master, since they were torn off so much, we could not find any better use, but to use as a twig in the oil lamp, which is right now lit in your study room...."

BUDDHA SMILED IN CONTENTMENT AND LEFT FOR HIS ROOM.,
=====================
If not to this degree of utilization, can we at least attempt to find the best use of all our resources - at home and at office .. ??

It becomes imperative in the critical times of Recession....

Treat the earth well.....it was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children. We did not inherit the earth from our ANCESTORS; we borrowed it from our children.

2009-03-09T13:05:00.002+05:30

Would be great if every CEO thinks like this....

2009-03-09T12:56:00.003+05:30

Global Depository Receipts (GDR) / American Depository Receipts (ADR)

Companies in India which have the eligibility to issue shares to person resident outside India, under the Foreign Direct Investment scheme, are generally allowed to raise equity capital in the international market by issuing.....

..... click here to read more .....

2009-02-15T15:49:00.002+05:30

Taxing Times:

Being a taxing time, I’m sure you would have already got the first call from your accounts department detailing your tax liability and telling you how much you should invest in order to save taxes.

Like everyone, you will also be questioning as to why we should taxes be paid at such higher rates. Well, though this question can be answered, you will not accept whatever way it is convincing. Hence, it’s advisable to focus on how to save tax wherever possible.

“The best place to start is where you are with what you have.”

Regarding the tax benefits, there are many queries being raised in the minds of people. Notably, not all employers clarify the same for many reasons like inadequate time, lack of knowledge etc.

Click here to read more..........

2009-02-02T23:08:00.003+05:30

Roles and Responsibilities of key members:

Here is a brief note on roles and responsibilities of some of the key persons in an organisation. The insights have been picked from various sources, but the content proves to be reflecting the fact and hence we thought sharing the same would benefit the readers.

Index:

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Chief marketing officer (CMO)
Chairman

Click here to read more..........

2008-12-29T15:50:00.003+05:30

Procedures for foreign investments in India on certain sectors

Here's my write up about this subject published in www.cogzidel.in

Investments in Small Scale Industrial (SSI) units

SSI is an undertaking in which the investment in fixed assets in plant and machinery whether held on ownership terms on lease or on hire purchase does not exceed Rs 10 million.

A company which is a SSI unit and which is not engaged in any activity under the prohibited category may issue equity / preference shares or fully convertible debentures to a foreign investor, to the extent of .....click here to read through.....

2008-12-29T15:40:00.002+05:30

Even God has a Sense of Humour

God was in the process of creating the Universe. And he was explaining to his subordinates "Look everything should be in balance. For example, after every 10 deer there should be a lion"

Look here my fellow angels, here is the country of the United States.
I have blessed them with prosperity and money.
But at the same time I have given them insecurity and tension....

And here is Africa . I have given them beautiful nature.
But at the same time, I have given them climatic extremes.

And here is South America . I have given them lots of forests.
But at the same time, I have given them lesser land so that they would
have to cut off the forests...

So you see fellows, everything should be in balance.

One of the angels asked...

"God, what is this extremely beautiful country here?"

God said....... "Ahah...that is the crown piece of all. " INDIA ", My most precious creation. It has understanding and friendly People. Sparkling streams and serene mountains.

A culture which speaks of the great tradition that they live. Technologically brilliant and with a heart of gold.....

The angel was quite surprised:

"But god you said everything should be in balance."

God replied --

"Look at the neighbours I gave them."

2008-12-26T13:33:00.003+05:30

Govt to raise threshold limit for appointing Company Secretary to Rs 5 Cr

Considering the shortage of company secretaries, the government is planning to relax rules for corporates on employing a full time company secretary but their apex body ICSI is opposing the move.

At present, companies with a paid-up capital of Rs 2 crore are required to hire a full time company secretary. The government is planning to amend the Companies Act and raise the threshold limit on equity capital from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore for employing a full time secretary.

Once the proposal is approved, companies with less than Rs 5 crore paid-up capital need not employ a full time company secretary and instead they can hire one on temporary basis, the officials in the know of the matter said.

The proposal is aimed at addressing the problem of shortage of company secretary in the country.

There are 31,705 companies with a paid-up capital of Rs two crore plus, whereas there are only around 15,000 qualified company secretary, making it difficult for many companies to appoint a whole-time company secretary, the officials said.

The government is planning to amend the Companies Act, 1956, which lays down the criterion for employing a whole-time company secretary, in this regard.

According to Section 383 (A) of the Companies Act, 1956, "every company having paid up capital of Rs 2 crore shall have whole-time secretaries and where the Board of directors of any such company comprises only two directors, either of them shall be the secretary of the company".

However, there is a huge gap between the availability of company secretary and their demand by companies. As per the officials, there are 19,582 qualified members of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), of which not even 50 per cent are in employment.

The officials said, "the companies above Rs 5 crore threshold are only 15,000 so it would be prudent to fill the demand-supply mismatch like this".

The move is going to benefit around 16,000 companies as they are not required to employ a whole-time company secretary, which would save cost for them.

However, ICSI President opines differently. "We don't want the limit to be enhanced right now. Large companies are properly governed, it is the small and medium size companies which need good governance," ICSI President Keyoor Bakshi said.

"We will write to the government requesting them not to raise the limit right now. With the economic slowdown, it may not be a right time for such a decision," Bakshi said.

He said as far as the shortage of company secretaries is concerned, the institute has seen an increase in the number of applications this year, with enrolment increasing by 50 per cent this year. Over a period of two years, the gap will be filled, Bakshi said.

This year, 35,000 students enrolled for the course of company secretaries as a result of various awareness campaign organised by the institute. Also, the ICSI is planning to increase its office count from 70 to around 150, which will promote the course, Bakshi said.

Courtesy: 'The Hindu'

2008-12-19T17:02:00.004+05:30

Duties and Liabilities of Directors:

Here's my content published on www.cogzidel.in.....

Normally, people think that directors of companies are simply drawing fat salaries and enjoy their life on vacations / partying and so on. But, is it true in the real life scenario? The answer is .....click here to read through.....

2008-12-19T16:42:00.003+05:30

Company Vs Partnership:

My recent article on www.cogzidel.in.....

Many proposed start-ups find it difficult to decide whether to incorporate a company or a partnership concern. Understanding the differences between the two would solve this problem .....click here to read more.....

2008-12-19T16:13:00.004+05:30

Private Company Vs Public Company

My recent blog on www.cogzidel.in is presented herebelow....

There has been a general confusion among corporate managers about whether to have the status of their company as private or public. Well, it basically depends on the requirement it needs to be. Notably, many companies prefer it to be private considering ..........click here to read more.........

2008-12-19T15:53:00.006+05:30

Difference between Success and Failure !!

In a temple, the Idol of the Lord and the Stepping Stone were conversing.

Stepping Stone: "What a good fate you have. We both were the same lump of rock for millions of years. The sculptor carved an idol out of you and every one is worshipping you. And look at me, I am a stepping stone and every one stands on me and stamps on. What kind of life is this?"

The Idol replied: "But do you remember that when the sculptor set out to carve an idol, it was you he chose first. You were so impatient. In one strike, you broke in to two. But when he tried on me, I grinned and bore all the hammers and chisel strikes with PATIENCE. And that's the reason for me being an Idol and you being the stepping stone."

The differences between success and failure are patience and persistence.

2008-12-07T12:46:00.002+05:30

Nice thought !!

Once a boy went to a shop with his mother. The shop keeper looked at the small cute child and showed him a bottle-full of sweets and said 'Dear Child, you can take the sweets...'

But the child didn't take. The shop keeper was surprised. Such a small child he is and why is he not taking the sweets from the bottle. Again he said 'take the sweets....'

Now the mother also heard that and said.. 'take the sweets dear', but still he didnt take. The shopkeeper seeing the child not taking the sweets... he himself took the sweets and gave to the child. The child was happy to get two hands full of sweets.

While returning home the mother asked the child... 'Why didnt you take the sweets, when the shop keeper told you to take?'

Can you guess the response ?:

Child replies... "Mom! my hands are very small and if i take the sweets i can only take few.. but now you see when uncle gave with his big hands, how many more sweets i got!

Morale: When we take we may get a little, but when God gives us, we get more beyond our expectations and more than what we can hold..!!

2008-11-30T13:21:00.000+05:30

HOW TO RECRUIT THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB?

Put about 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an Open window.

Then send 2 or 3 candidates in the room and close the door.

Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours and then analyze the situation.

- If they are counting the bricks, put them in the accounts department

- If they are recounting them, put them in auditing

- If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in engineering

- If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in planning

- If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in operations

- If they are sleeping, put them in security

- If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in information technology

- If they are sitting idle, put them in human resources

- If they say they have tried different combinations but yet not a brick has been moved, put them in sales

- If they have already left for the day, put them in marketing

- If they are staring out of the window, put them on strategic planning

- And then last but not least, If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved, “Congratulate and put them in top management”

2008-11-25T18:52:00.000+05:30

Strange mail from Axis Bank !!

I received the following mail from Axis Bank saying someone has tried to access my Axis personal account and that's why I'm alerted. The mail looks original but the point is that I'm no way connected to Axis Bank.....

"Security Alert!: Transaction Activity in Your Account!

Attention! Your Axis Online Banking Account has been violated!

Someone with IP Address 81.102.72.19 tried to access your personal account!

In accordance with Axis Online Banking User Agreement and to ensure that
your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited.

Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved."

2008-11-23T16:04:00.002+05:30

Provident Fund - Procedures, Problems and Solutions

During my tenure as an HR person all these years, I have been approached by many people to clarify their queries on Provident Fund. Invariably, everyone has something to be clarified in this topic, but all are must-ask queries and significant. Many people are not even aware that they contribute some amount every month through their salary and it can be withdrawn / be transferred after they quit their services.

In order to explain what is Provident Fund, it's applicability, percentage to be deducted, the procedures, the problems faced by people while withdrawing / transferring and how to overcome those problems, I have come up with an article and I'm sure it would be useful for the readers.

Click here to read the article

2008-11-23T15:50:00.001+05:30

Launch of Cogzidel Templates

We are glad to announce the launch of Cogzidel Templates (www.cogzideltemplates.com) - a bank for ready-made templates, themes and skins at unbelievable low costs.

Undoubtedly, it can be adopted;

- for famous open source scripts like Oscommerce, Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal etc and
- for social networking like Twitter, Orkut, Myspace etc

We offer our products at lesser prices, in order to convert every viewer as our customer, and at the same time, to make our products affordable for the interested mass.

We thank Major Karthik, the person behind this concept and Senthil Guru & Balasubramanian who help to convert the concept into reality.

Products are qualitative and prices are very reasonable, so what are you waiting for ? It’s time to download,,,,, go on and enjoy !!

Pls check: www.cogzideltemplates.com

2008-11-23T15:42:00.001+05:30

Minimum Authorised Share Capital required for Companies in India

There are many important points to be noted before fixing up the authorised share capital of the companies in India. Here is my article that discusses this topic in detail.

click here to read.....it's interesting, don't skip

2008-11-23T15:38:00.000+05:30

Rules about investments in trading companies in India

A trading company incorporated in India may issue shares or convertible debentures to the extent of 51% of its capital under the Automatic route to non-residents subject to the condition that remittance of dividend to the shareholders outside India is made only after the company has secured registration as an export / trading / star trading / super trading house from the Director General of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce.

click here for more.....

2008-11-23T15:34:00.000+05:30

Foreign Direct Investments in India

Investment under sector specific guidelines

Investments by a person resident outside India can be made under the Automatic route if the investment falls within the sector specific investment guidelines. FIPB permission is required for investments beyond the sector specific investment guidelines, or where specific approval is required.

click here to know more.....

2008-11-23T15:29:00.000+05:30

Foreign Investments in India

The Central Government’s liberalization and economic reforms programme aims at rapid and substantial growth and integration with the global economy in a harmonised manner. Industrial policy reforms have reduced industrial licensing requirements, removed restrictions on investments and expansion and facilitated easy access to foreign technology and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

click here to read more.....

2008-11-23T15:21:00.001+05:30

India - An Attractive Investment Location

There are several good reasons for investing in India:

- One of the largest economies in the world with a stable democratic environment throughout 60 years of independence

- Large market size with middle class population of 250-350 million, along with increasing purchasing power reflected by remarkable increase in purchase of consumer durables in recent years

2008-11-23T15:12:00.001+05:30

Business and Investment Climate in India

ECONOMIC FACTORS

The Indian economy rapidly integrates with the world economy. A foreign investor who is interested to undertake business in India will find tremendous opportunities. The Industrial Policy of India offers a great deal of freedom to business houses and entrepreneurs to make their own investment decisions.

India has seriously gone through more than a decade of economic reforms. Continuity in the economic / global liberalisation process and the political consensus that economic change necessitates has placed India on a growth path.....

read more....

2008-11-23T14:56:00.002+05:30

Business Incubation and Bootstrapping Services - a solution for Startup Challenges

A nice article by my dear friend - Anand Nataraj. A must-read content...

Click here to read

2008-11-23T13:58:00.002+05:30

Post-incorporation Procedures

What are the procedures to be followed after incorporating / floating / registering a company ?

Click Here for knowing the procedures

2008-11-23T13:37:00.002+05:30

How to form a company in India?

It's been a dream for most of us to be an entrepreneur. Those who want to incorporate a company in India can go through my article to have a clear understanding of the procedures.

Click here to read the article

2008-11-11T12:04:00.000+05:30

Tax Structure in India

1) Qus. : What are you doing?
Ans.: Business.
Tax: PAY PROFESSION TAX!

2) Qus. : What are you doing in Business?
Ans.: Selling the Goods.
Tax: PAY SALES TAX!!

3) Qus. : From where are you getting Goods?
Ans.: From other State/Abroad
Tax: PAY CENTRAL SALES TAX, CUSTOM DUTY & OCTROI!

4) Qus. : What are you getting in Selling Goods?
Ans.: Profit.
Tax: PAY INCOME TAX!

5) Qus. : Where are you Manufacturing the Goods?
Ans.: Factory.
Tax: PAY EXCISE DUTY!

6) Qus. : Do you have Office / Warehouse/ Factory?
Ans.: Yes
Tax: PAY MUNICIPAL TAX!

7) Qus. : Do you have Staff?
Ans.: Yes
Tax: PAY STAFF PROFESSION TAX!

8) Qus. : Doing business in Millions?
Ans.: Yes
Tax: PAY TURNOVER TAX!

9) Qus. : Are you taking out over 25,000 Cash from Bank?
Ans.: Yes, for Salary.
Tax: PAY CASH HANDLING TAX!

10) Qus. : Where are you taking your client for Lunch & Dinner?
Ans.: Hotel
Tax: PAY FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT TAX!

11) Qus. : Are you going Out of Station for Business?
Ans.: Yes
Tax: PAY FRINGE BENEFIT TAX!

12) Qus. : Have you taken or given any Service/s?
Ans.: Yes
Tax : PAY SERVICE TAX!

13) Qus. : How come you got such a Big Amount?
Ans.: Gift on birthday.
Tax: PAY GIFT TAX!

14) Qus. : Do you have any Wealth?
Ans.: Yes
Tax: PAY WEALTH TAX!

15) Qus. : To reduce Tension, for entertainment, where are you going?
Ans.: Cinema or Resort.
Tax: PAY ENTERTAINMENT TAX!

16) Qus. : Have you purchased House?
Ans.: Yes
Tax : PAY STAMP DUTY & REGISTRATION FEE !

17) Qus. : How you Travel?
Ans.: Bus
Tax: PAY SURCHARGE!

18) Qus. : Any Additional Tax?
Ans.: Yes
Tax: PAY EDUCATIONAL, ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL & SURCHARGE ON ALL THE CENTRAL GOVT.'s TAX !!!

19) Qus. : Delayed any time Paying Any Tax?
Ans.: Yes
Tax: PAY INTEREST & PENALTY

2008-10-28T15:32:00.001+05:30

Nice One !!

Received a forwarded funny message from one of my colleagues and thought I could share it with you !!

If you have difficulty in understanding the current world financial situation, the following should help...

Once upon a time in a village in India, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts. The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.'

The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!

"Welcome to WALL STREET"

2008-10-25T19:20:00.002+05:30

Rain is a Pain ??

Yesterday, the 24th day of October 2008, I had a terrific experience while returning back to home in the evening. I got a call from home saying that it was still raining, the area where I reside is completely flooded with waters and no vehicle can enter the road. Though I imagined the situation, I thought I could manage.

Scene 1: Raining heavily

Scene 2: With heavy laptop on hand, I was standing inside a crowd where everyone was looking to catch an auto.

Scene 3: No auto-driver was ready to carry us because of rains, water stagnation and traffic jam.

Scene 4: I won at my tenth attempt, a driver came for rescue, but said he would charge 100 bucks (you know, normally it takes 30, but they know that when demand increases, prices also increase).

Scene 5: Thought problem solved, but not really.

Scene 6: Water peeped inside the auto and struck off at one place midway through. He did some magic and got it ready.

Scene 7: Again stopped in few minutes for lack of fuel. Long queue on the nearby petrol bunk, waited for 25 minutes to get the filling.

Scene 8: Since we couldn’t take the direct route considering the road conditions, he showed me the city for 100 bucks and finally reached North Boag Road from where my home is about few minutes drive.

Scene 9: Held up in traffic and couldn’t move a little bit….it was still raining, vehicles were completely mess-up, two staff buses were facing each other blocking the entire road…

Scene 10: After waiting for 20 minutes in auto, paid him the cash and needed to walk down.

Here comes the catch,,,

- water levels on the ground were above my knee levels,
- no space to move here or there
- grounds were already in digged condition for some piping work, hence not sure which way to walk
- Few electrical wires were hanging from transformer boxes
- Many cars were struck on the roads, and couldn’t move back

Though it looks silly, the situation made me to feel whether some thing wrong will happen.

After confirming that my insurance policies are alive currently, I walked in the middle of the road on the drainage-mixed rain waters. Finally, reached home safely though my Franco Leone shoes (worth 2k INR) have lost its life.

2008-10-19T19:38:00.004+05:30

Fixed Maturity Plan : Favour of the Season

We have many FMPs from different Asset Management Companies from time to time. It is a very good instrument and offers few benefits which are unique if compared to other debt instruments. I’m pleased to share a detailed product note on this subject to refresh the memory of all.

About FMPs:

FMPs are closed ended funds with a fixed maturity period which could be as little as 15 days or as long as five years. Objective of this investment is to protect the investors against market volatility and generate steady returns.

Working of FMPs:

FMPs are managed as a passive scheme and the fund manager looks to invest money in instruments with maturities corresponding to the maturity of the plan. For example – a 90 day FMP will invest in instruments that mature within this period. The fund manager locks the investments at a certain yield at the time of inception itself which protects the principal and fights against volatility.

They invest primarily in fixed return investments like Government bonds and money market instruments (very short-term fixed return investments) which are almost risk-free investments.

Investment Pattern:

FMP predominantly invests in debt instruments or some high quality corporate papers with a rating, Government Securities, bonds etc.

Advantages of investment in FMP are

a) Fights interest rate risk
b) Fights market volatility
c) Capital Protection

Tax Calculation:

Returns generated by FMPs come under the purview of Capital Gains.

For Short-term: less than a year

If an investor puts money in a FMP of less than one year tenure, then the entire capital gains is combined with the income and is taxed according to the tax bracket the investor falls into. If the investor falls in the tax bracket of 30%, then the returns are taxed at 33.99% (including surcharge and education cess).

For Long-term: One year or more than one year

If an investor invests in a 12 months or more than 12 months series, then he would be taxed at :

10% without indexation
20% with indexation

Who should invest in ?

For investors who are risk-averse and do not want to play with their savings, this is the option. Even those investors who have some money and want to invest for a very short period of time then this is the best option. Investors can also avail tax benefits by investing in a one year plus FMPs which offers indexation benefits, especially in the month of March.

2008-10-09T13:41:00.001+05:30

E-mail communications can be considered as vaild evidence:

The new company law which is being drafted by the government is likely to recognise e-mails as a valid piece of evidence. With corporates relying on e-mails for bulk of their communication, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is planning to recognise electronic communication by corporates as evidence during company law prosecutions.

Regulatory changes in this regard would clear the air on the evidentiary value of electronic communication including emails. With the present law on the subject yet to gain clarity, it is felt that the move would tighten the noose around companies, who often bank upon regulatory loopholes to save themselves.

Officials say that the new company law, expected to be placed in Parliament soon, would provide for necessary changes to this effect. The changes are likely to provide prosecuting agencies a strong hand in their crackdown on matters of infringement of company law provisions.

Under the present law, there is no specific recognition of e-mails as evidence. Officials point out that this lack of clarity has often been exploited by companies facing prosecution. The officials also point out that the basic ground work towards the move is almost ready with the inception of the ministry's e-governance project. The project named MCA-21 has enabled computerisation of documents and records filed by companies.

The new company law has laid substantial importance to both means to check corporate frauds as well as ways to crack them. The government feels that companies should not be let off due to lack of evidence.

It is also learnt that the government at various levels is trying to harmonise related legislation's like Information Technology Act and Evidence Act on the subject, so as to avoid regulatory overlaps.

Even as the company law awaits amendments to this effect, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) feels corporate e-mails could be crucial evidence in cartel investigations. The CCI recommends enterprises to maintain a check on electronic correspondence of its marketing personnel and distributing agents to ensure that they do not engage themselves in anti-competitive activities.

2008-10-03T17:36:00.000+05:30

Great Methods of Marketing:

1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to

her and say: "I am very rich, Marry me!"

- That's Direct Marketing... "
________________________________________

2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see

a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her

and pointing at you says: "He's very rich, Marry him."

-That's Advertising. .."
________________________________________

3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her

and get her telephone number. The next day, you call and

say: "Hi, I'm very rich, Marry me

- That's Telemarketing. .."
________________________________________

4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up

and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour

her a drink, you open the door (of the car)"Marry Me?"

- That's Public Relations... "
________________________________________

5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks

up to you and says: "You are very rich!

"Can you marry ! me?"

- That's Brand Recognition. .."
________________________________________

6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to

her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you

a nice hard slap on your face.

- "That's Customer Feedback..."
________________________________________

7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to

her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she

introduces you to her husband.

- "That's demand and supply gap..."
________________________________________

8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to

her and before you say anything, another person come

and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she

goes with him

- "That's competition eating into your market share..."
________________________________________

9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to

her and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" your wife arrives.

- "That's restriction for entering new markets..."

2008-08-15T12:18:00.002+05:30

The CFO’s first hundred days

McKinsey Global Survey about Chief financial officers around the world describes their first hundred days on the job as a time when most received guidance, but many had difficulty devoting enough time to their top priorities.

New chief financial officers may not be spending their time where it’s most needed, according to the survey.

Finance chiefs, globally and across industries, report spending most of the first hundred days on budgeting, management reporting, and financial reporting. By contrast, they think that the most crucial activities during that time are understanding the drivers of the business, providing input into corporate strategy, and building the finance team.

Why are there such differences between what they do and what they regard as important?

There is no simple answer to this. One cannot put the clock back. Every day the situation changes, and the responses and actions will have to be tuned to the situation. CFO must be able to assess the business needs and act.

Fortunately for new CFOs, as they respond to their fluid situations most have strong support from the CEO. More than three-quarters of the respondents say that they received explicit guidance from the CEO in the first hundred days on the job, and 46 percent say that the CEO was a mentor. CFOs also are more likely to name the CEO than anyone else as having been helpful in making big decisions early on.

Almost twice as many CFOs credit the CEO with playing that role as credit their finance staff. A majority of CEOs strongly support the CFO’s involvement in strategy; more than half of our CFOs say that the CEO expects them to challenge the company’s strategy, though CEOs see other activities as more important. Nearly 90 percent of CEOs encourage the CFO to be an active member of the senior-management team. This is good news for CFOs, given the ongoing evolution of their role, the increasing visibility of their statutory responsibilities, and their considerable interest in corporate-wide strategic initiatives.

Indeed, nearly three-quarters of the CFOs reported that they would like to be involved in strategy, and those who wished they had spent more time with the CEO say that they wanted to talk about strategy more than anything else.

Finally, relatively few CFOs say that the finance staff would explicitly articulate its expectations to a new CFO. However, when staff members did provide explicit guidance, the CFOs say, their priorities differed from those of CFOs and CEOs. This makes a CFO’s communications with the finance team all the more crucial. A CFO is likelier to communicate with the team ad hoc and in person than in any other way.

Alignment of expectations, nearly four-fifths of the CFOs report that the CEO provided explicit guidance about expectations of the new CFO; CFOs at private companies were significantly more likely to report getting such guidance than those at public ones.

CFOs overall say that the activities the CEO most often describes as important are being an active member of the senior-management team, contributing to the company’s performance, and ensuring that the finance organization is efficient.

Furthermore, more than two-thirds of CFOs say that the CEO expected them to improve the quality of the finance organization, and more than half that the CEO expected them to challenge the company’s strategy.

CFOs overall showed little propensity to make fundamental staffing changes during the first hundred days, though CFOs of private companies were more likely to do so than their counterparts at public ones.

CFOs who planned fundamental changes in financial accounting and reporting or financial planning, budgeting, and analysis (FP&A) were significantly more likely than not to have had formal plans to do so. Overall, FP&A and accounting are two out of the three areas that demand most of a new CFO’s time, as well as the areas where CFOs made the most fundamental changes.

CFOs hired during or after a turnaround are more likely to report that redesigning the finance organization was crucial. Building relationships, most CFOs tell us they communicated widely during the first hundred days, holding regular in-person meetings with the core finance team and the broader finance staff and (in many cases) making themselves available for ad hoc discussions as well.

Interestingly, CFOs who report being satisfied with their performance during the first hundred days are far more likely than those who are not satisfied to report having held in-person meetings with both the core finance team and the broader finance staff.

They also report having more communications overall. CFOs at large companies tend to report communicating across every channel (except broadcast e-mail) more than CFOs at smaller companies do.

CFOs hired at companies during or just after a turnaround are much more likely to report having used ad hoc communications - probably a result of the fast pace and high uncertainty common in such situations. These CFOs are also more likely to have held in-person meetings with the finance staff.

Relatively few CFOs—just over a quarter—report not having enough resources and support to make the transition a success. However, that figure rises to a third among CFOs of public companies.

CFOs who wanted more help most often said they would have liked three things:
- better access to internal information,
- more time with the CEO or the board, and
- the ability to bring new people into the finance organization.

Also, more than 60 percent of CFOs overall report that they would have liked to spend more time with business unit heads. Of the two-thirds of respondents who were external candidates for the CFO role, a majority report that the major challenges during the first hundred days were building credibility and understanding processes.

2008-08-13T13:15:00.000+05:30

Letter from a man who married a CA (imaginary one)

SHOULD U MARRY A CA...??

When I told my mom that I wanted a professional woman as my wife, she got me one – “a Chartered Accountant” and I started facing the following problems.

She uses LIFO method while taking out the refrigerated food for cooking. She thinks I am no good at figure work. Fine with me, for now she handles the budget of the house.

Initially she used to send me a bill at the month end, but when I told her that I am not her client but her husband, she asks for the money in advance. The expenses had been rising steadily over the months, so one day I snooped into the papers maintained in a current file. No wonder! She was charging conveyance and overtime to the house budget.

She is crazy, I tell her but she corrects me. "No my darling, I am the auditor." I fail to see the light.

Every scrap of the paper in our house is filed. She tells me as per some Ordinance she must keep a copy of every thing for at least ten years before destroying it. I am worried.

The other day we had an hour-long fight. Later, I got to know that she had charged that hour to a client of hers, in the time sheet. My time was put down as unoccupied.

She says that she loves me and I tell her that I love her too. However, she never believes me. She says that there is susceptibility of it being a misstatement. Duh! She wants my representation on this & opinion of some Expert!

Not a long time back my brother's wedding was to be solemnized. Wedding cards had been sent. After some time I started receiving a steady trickle of letters. I was puzzled until my wife explained that external evidence was more reliable. She had called for confirmations from all those to whom cards were sent.

When she cooks, my wife at times does not go by recipe. Where the recipe says add half-teaspoon vinegar, one tsp black salt or one teacup of water, she ignores them. She says that they are not material when taken in context of whole meal being prepared.

She is crazy, I tell you. Surprisingly everybody calls her an auditor, instead. I checked the dictionary and it did not state that auditor is a synonym for crazy. The dictionary must be outdated.

When we got married, she had given me an Engagement Letter and I had said how cute-how sweet. Now she gives it to me every year saying that her standards state that it must be sent anew if there is any indication that I have misunderstood the objective and scope of engagement. Huh!

Apart from sending me the engagement letter once again, she says I can't get rid off her just like that. She says that she has the right of being heard before I appoint some one else. It seems I must keep reading one local and another English newspaper published and circulated in the vicinity of our house for more details.

Phew! For a minute, I thought that we had jeopardized our going concern status. Duh! Dare I say so?? I am told by one of my female colleagues who is married to a CA that the scenario is even worse when the guy is a CA.

Apparently he capitalised the wedding expenses as preliminary expenses and is writing it off every year.

Also the time he spent dating his wife before marrying her is still under consideration for valuation under AS-26...valuation of intangible assets.
So guys please think twice....should u really marry a CA? And yes please discount it by the appropriate rate to arrive at the present value of the risk of doing so !!!

2008-07-25T17:00:00.000+05:30

Is it possible to follow this ???

2008-07-17T16:51:00.000+05:30

India India India !!! (Believe it or not)

Do you know that India is the richest country in the world!

Right now, India is the richest country in the world! Wondering how?

It's really amazing.

It's due to Mr. G Vaidyaraj, who donated all his wealth, about which he actually did not know. He is a descendent of Raja Krishnadev Raya from Mysore district.

For the last 300 years or so, three stones were worshipped in his house. But nobody tried to see what it was, except this person, who is a lawyer by profession. One day, when there was nobody in his house, he took the stone out to see what it was that they worship.

Due to the dust deposited on it, from many many years, it looked only like a simple stone. But when he touched it, some portion of the stone was cleansed. And he saw a bright ray of light. He saw something which attracted his attention. And he was amazed when he cleaned all of them. The whole room was filled with light.

He discovered they were diamonds of about 4600 carats each.

He informed the Govt. of India and the news is censored with its security. It's now deposited in a Swiss Bank.

The cost of single diamond exceeds the GDP of USA + UK .

India can buy virtually 7 developing nations.

Even World Bank does not have enough money to buy it.

One diamond costs thrice the debt of World Bank over India .

One such diamond can buy 10 Bill Gates to you.

And the World Bank has proposed the Indian Govt. that it can pay India in Installment if it wishes to do so.

India 's GDP is 34.25 billion dollars.

Bill Gates property is 95 billion dollars approximate so that is the way 'nature changes'.

Our Prime Minister has refused to sell it. He said it will be sold or mortgaged for credit when we need it.

Otherwise right now we have no problems.

You can go through Times of India with a small column on it a week ago.

Star TV presented a 115 min documentary on it about 15 days ago.

The Hindu with its half page article in it.

After that it was censored as classified.
============================
Another good news is that in the Desert of Thar, a deposit of Oil and Natural gas have been found. This stores what Kuwait has in its stomach..

India can go with this ONGC energy reserve with another 30 years.

And moreover it can export it to other counties.

It's incredible!! But true.
============================
An Indian boy in his 12th standard has disproved Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity'.
Shocked? Read on...

Sudarshan Reddy has theoretically proven the existence of a sub-atomic particle, which can travel at speed greater than that of light, thereby challenging one of the fundamental postulates of the 'Theory of Relativity'.

In his recent research paper submitted to the Institute of Advanced Physics (IAP) at Trieste ( Italy ), Sudarshan has proved the existence of a class of sub-atomic particles called leptons', which can travel faster than light. The international physics community is shocked by this discovery.

Dr.Massimo Martelli, President of the IAP has this to say about the paper submitted by Sudarshan. 'After long, careful and critical analysis, I can confidently say that Sudarshan's re search papers show tremendous leap in our understanding of physics. His investigation mounts up on 'leptons'. His work builds substantially on the work of Einstein and others in the field of relativity.'

When physicists from Princeton University tried to measure Sudarshan's IQ with an IQ-meter (at the American Embassy in Delhi ), the meter broke down.

Sudarshan, incidentally, is the brother of Madhu Reddy, the Indian whiz kid who developed an operating system superior to Microsoft Windows.

We should all be very proud of these boys !!

2008-07-16T14:30:00.000+05:30

It's better to file physical returns, as online mode is complicated and doubles your work

Salaried individuals these days can pay most bills online. But what about income tax returns?

Salaried individuals and Hindu undivided families (HUFs) can file their tax returns online (also called e-filing). However, it is not compulsory for them to do so. In many cases, it may not even be desirable.

Reason: it can be troublesome.

Consider: Without a digital signature, you still have to go the tax office to submit your forms. It thus doubles your work. Getting a digital signature costs you upwards of Rs.1,000, and even that will work only for one year or two. You have to keep paying for renewing your digital signature.

Two, the government has not bothered to update certain tax changes in the online forms. Thus you may claim mediclaim deductions of Rs15,000, but the site will only allow you Rs10,000.

Three, e-filing is supposed to do away with paperwork. But some provisions in the Income Tax Act have been left unchanged, and thus the taxman may still insist that you submit tax proof (like form 16 given by employers).

Four, even after you have finished filling in the e-form, it may take three or four time to upload it.

To file taxes online, individuals have to log on to https:www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. But don't expect this to be a smooth affair.

After logging onto the website, the right Indian Income Tax Return (ITRs) form has to be chosen. There are eight ITRs from which you will have to choose the one that applies to you.

For most salaried individuals, ITR-1 will do as long as they don't have any capital gains or income from house property. For those who do, ITR-2 is the form to fill up.

Once the relevant form has been identified, it has to be downloaded from the following link https:incometaxindiaefiling.gov.inportalindividual_huf.do. This form is an excel file.

There are certain glitches in the ITR 2 excel form. For the financial year 2007-08 (or assessment year 2008-09), the maximum deduction allowed for paying mediclaim premiums under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act was Rs15,000, and Rs20,000, in case of senior citizens. This form it seems hasn't been updated.

"The column for mentioning deduction under section 80 (D) pertaining to mediclaim deductions doesn't accept an amount above Rs10,000, in spite of the fact that the deduction limit was increased during Budget 2007 to Rs15,000 for individuals and Rs20,000 for senior citizens," says Paras Savla, a chartered accountant who runs Paras Savla & Associates.

It allows a deduction of Rs10,000 and Rs15,000 for senior citizens, as was the norm for financial year 2006-07 (or assessment year 2007-08). Therefore, if you are a senior citizen paying a mediclaim premium of more than Rs15,000, the maximum deduction this form will allow you is Rs15,000.

The form needs to be filled up with the help of Form 16 (given by your employer). Once the form has been filled up, it needs to be saved as an XML file. You don't need to be an expert for this. The form has a "generate -XML" button in-built into it. After this you need to create a user ID and password. The user ID is actually your income tax permanent account number (PAN).

After logging in using the user ID and password, you will have to click on the submit return link on the home page of https:www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. While uploading the file, you need to encrypt the file using a digital signature. A digital signature ensures that no one else files your return.

After you have encrypted the file, you need to upload it. A digital signature is essentially a file which needs to be installed on your computer. When e-filing the return, portions of this file need to be pasted at specified places in the form.

There are various intermediaries in the market who issue this signature. Some of the intermediaries are MTNL CA, TCS, etc. Depending on which intermediary you approach, the digital signature can be obtained for a period of one or two years and usually costs above Rs.1,000.

This makes the entire process of filing income tax returns online relatively more expensive.

Fees for physical filing of tax returns differ from one chartered accountant (CA) to another. The fees range anywhere between Rs.300 and Rs.2,500 for ITR1 and ITR2 depending on the complexity of return filing. So if you just have salaried income, e-filing really doesn't make sense.

If you don't have a digital signature, you can still file an e-return, but you have to submit a hard copy of the completed return to your tax office within 15 days after that.

Once the file is uploaded, the ITR-V form is generated and this is the proof of you having filed your return.

Without a digital signature, you need to print out two ITR-V forms. One has to be submitted to the tax office and the receiving clerk or officer will stamp and return the other one for your records.

This is where the entire process of filing a return online weakens. If a visit to the income tax department is necessary, then one might as well fill up the entire form manually.

Nevertheless, it does help in case of individuals who have bulky tax returns. "We save a lot of paper, while filing returns electronically. Earlier, for assessees whose TDS (tax deducted at source) was high, we had to take prints of at least 20-24 pages, sometimes even 100 pages.

But with the e-filing, only two copies of a one-page return are enough," says Sumanlal Lodaya, chartered accountant who runs SS Lodaya & Associates. There are other issues also with e-filing. "Sometimes you have to submit the returns three-four times for it to be accepted. In my area there is load-shedding for three-four working hours. So, though one can file returns post-working hours as well, in CA offices the staff is not available later on to file returns online," says Salva.

If one has to follow the Income Tax Act in its true letter and spirit, e-filing is a 'defective' way of filing returns. The explanation accompanying Section 139(9) of the Income Tax Act clearly states that any return that is not accompanied by annexures, TDS certificates, etc, is 'defective.' "Using this loophole in the Act, the taxman can insist on physical documents for verification after you have e-filed your return," says a CA who was unwilling to be named.

Given these reasons, it is best to physically file your income tax return rather than go the e-way.

2008-07-16T14:22:00.000+05:30

Filing tax? Take your documents along

IT officers may ask for the same while filing.

Nearing July 31 and it is time to file the income tax return (ITR).

By this time, you may have received Form No 16 and be ready with your tax calculations in order to file the annual income tax return.

Even though the ITR forms have instructions, which clearly state that there is no need to submit any supporting document, it is in the interest of the assessee to carry the documents along.

DNA Money had earlier reported that income tax offices in Mumbai have not been accepting ITR forms unless these are accompanied by the relevant documents.

This is contrary to the existing regulations.

Instructions from the finance ministry state, "No document (including TDS certificate) should be attached to the form. Officials receiving the return have been instructed to detach all the documents enclosed with this form and return the same to the assessees.

This has been applicable in the assessment year 2007-08 and will now be applicable in the current assessment year of 2008-09 as well.

But, the tax officers are finding it difficult to process the information without the documents, especially tax deduction at source certificates.

It has been learnt that the IT department has been in touch with those who had filed returns last year without the supporting documents.

While going to file the ITR at the designated income tax office, make sure you have the TDS certificates, house rent receipts and investment proof for both the current financial year and previous ones ready at hand.

Those who have plans to discard old documents must make sure the old pile doesn't contain the TDS certificate on 2007 fixed deposits. Also, if you are planning not to collect the TDS certificate, education expense receipt, house rent receipts or agreement just because you no longer have to submit them, think again.

May be the tax officer in your city will accept the ITR forms without documents, but only to knock your door the next day. In effect, the IT department has shelved its burden of document storage on the tax assessee.

2008-06-05T13:22:00.000+05:30

Good Lesson:

One of my colleagues recently lost his wallet while driving. He immediately called me up to check what needs to be done. I asked him to block his Debit and Credit Cards quickly and to request for the issue of new cards. He did the same without any delay. Also, I contacted ICICI Lombard to issue duplicate mediclaim card for him. And when he came to office, he applied for a duplicate PAN card by paying the appropriate fees online.

After 4 days, he got a call in the early morning from someone who claims to be the finder of his wallet. It seems that gentlemen tried to reach my colleague several times, but the latter did not pick those calls thinking that they were marketing calls from banks for loans / credit cards etc. This is because he has been getting annoying calls from various banks and hence, he doesn’t pick the calls from unknown numbers.

Though he got his wallet back, he ends up paying charges to all his bankers for issue of duplicate debit and credit cards, processing fees for duplicate PAN card, apart from facing mental stress and disturbances.

The lesson what we all can learn from this incident is that we should pick all incoming calls (for few days at least) if the wallet is lost. Who knows it might be from the finder of your wallet ?

The thing to note is that the gentleman who found my colleague’s wallet was ready to meet him and hand over it. How surprising it is that someone who finds your wallet tries many times to reach you, and when he gets you, he asks where should he come and hand it over ? In this fast-moving world with everyone having there own busy schedule of activities, it’s very difficult to find someone with helping tendency like this. Isn’t it ?? We should be like this, in case we find someone’s missing stuff.

Another thing, needless to say, is that the incoming marketing calls from banks are increasing day by day. The “Do Not Disturb” Registry is also not effective to a large extent. These marketing people simply say that they found our number on their data base and disturb us a lot. And that too, some times we get repeated calls from the same office and they are answerless if we question it. Quite painful !!

2008-05-21T13:33:00.000+05:30

Few interesting facts:

The word budget's root word is the French word BOUGETTE, a little bag, once used for pills and medication.

Tight security: Almost 30 employees of the Finance Ministry press stay inside the ministry building for a week ahead of the Budget presentation. They're not allowed to communicate with the outside world. This is done to ensure that information from the Budget is not leaked out.

Morarji Desai was the only Indian Finance Minister to have presented two budgets on his birthday, February 29, in 1964 and 1968.

The world's first documented imprisonment for tax evasionwas in 306 A.D. by Emperor Constantine of the Holy Roman Empire.

The world's first income tax was levied in 1404 A.D. in England (it was so hated that Parliament later had all records of it burned).

2008-04-18T12:42:00.000+05:30

A young man went overseas to study for quite a long time. When he returned, he asked his parents to find him a religious scholar or any expert who could answer his 3 Questions.

Finally, his parents were able to find a scholar.

Young man: Who are you? Can you answer my questions?

Scholar: I am one of God willing, I will be able to answer your questions.

Young man: Are you sure? A lot of Professors and experts were not able to answer my questions.

Scholar: I will try my best, with the help of God .

Young Man: I have 3 questions:

1. Does God exist? If so, show me his shape.

2. What is fate?

3. If Devil was created from the fire, why at the end he will be thrown to hell that is also created from fire. It certainly will not hurt him at all, since Devil and the hell were created from fire. Did God not think of it this far?

Suddenly, the Scholar slapped the young man's face very hard.

Young Man(feeling pain): Why do you get angry at me?

Scholar: I am not angry. The slap is my answer to your three questions.

Young Man: I really don't understand.

Scholar: How do you feel after I slapped you?

Young Man: Of course, I felt the pain.

Scholar: So do you believe that pain exists?

Young Man: Yes.

Scholar: Show me the shape of the pain!

Young Man: I cannot.

Scholar: That is my first answer. All of us feel God's existence without being able to see His shape... Last night, did you dream that you will be slapped by me?

Young Man: No.

Scholar: Did you ever think that you will get a slap from me, today?

Young Man: No.

Scholar: That is fate my second answer...... .. My hand that I used to slap you, what is it created from?

Young Man: It is created from flesh.

Scholar: How about your face, what is it created from?

Young Man: Flesh.

Scholar: How do you feel after I slapped you?

Young Man: In pain.

Scholar: That's it... This is my third answer, Even though Devil and also the hell were created from the fire, if God wants, the hell will become a very painful place for devil.

God said: "If you are ashamed of me, I will be Ashamed of you." If you are not ashamed, pass this message on...only if you believe.

Isn’t it smart ????

2008-04-18T12:33:00.000+05:30

'A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure'

(Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum, Philadelphia, March 22, 2008)

Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order.

My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself.

He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today."

I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team.

The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.

2008-02-14T13:15:00.000+05:30

Trip to Vellore:

I was invited for the marriage of one my ex-colleagues' brother, which was scheduled to be held in Vellore on 10th of Feb 2008. Since I wanted to attend the marriage and also to visit the Vellore Golden Temple , I decided along with other friends that we could make it.

After thorough and repeated checks, finally it was clear that me, Hari and Deena can go from Chennai. Sai and Raju directly from Bangalore. The plan was confirmed only on the previous day of marriage and hence, we didn’t have any choice except to take a bus to Vellore (in fact, the headcount was less otherwise we could have taken a cab).

We planned to be at Koyambedu Bus Station at 7 p.m. Thanks to the traffic condition in Chennai (being a ‘Muhurtham’ day), I was able to reach at 7.05, Deena at 8.00 and finally, Hari at 9.00. Good thing happened was that, since I didn’t want to waste my time waiting for friends, I got the book “The monk who sold his ferrari” from a book shop over there and was able to complete about 30 pages before Deena reached.

We took a bus to Vellore at about 9.10 p.m. We couldn’t get together-seats to sit. Also, we were jam-packed by passengers who surrounded us by standing, by sitting and by laying on the floor very next to us and scratching purposelessly. So, the journey was that ‘pleasant’ :-).

Reached Vellore at 12.30 and got an auto to reach the Hotel. Surprised to see that Sai was waiting to receive us. And, in fact he helped to wipe off our hungry by offering a biscuit packet which served as a dinner. We slept at about 2.30.

Since weekends are nightmares for visitors, we decided to visit the temple in the early morning itself. So, we got up at 4 a.m. and left at 4.30 a.m. to temple. But surprised to note that the temple gate opens only by 8 a.m. We waited till then enjoying the hilarious conversation with Sai.

To talk about temple, Wow, it is awesome. I could say that the founder “Sakthivel” has really done a wonderful thing which is highly impossible for a normal man. Tonnes and tonnes of shining Gold, amazing workmanship, highly decorated and neatly maintained gardens,,,, ooof, we should be proud to tell the world that we got something like this….marvelous… Everyone must visit this temple once in a life time.

We then attended the marriage. Met CEO of ‘Arusuvai.com’ Babu and few of his friends. We caught the bus at 2 p.m back to Chennai.

Quite a short and memorable trip…..

2008-01-30T15:43:00.000+05:30

FACTS TO MAKE EVERY INDIAN PROUD:
----------------
Q. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
A. Vinod Khosla
----------------
Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm
----------------
Q. Who is the third richest man on the world?
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Lakshmi Mittal.
----------------
Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia
----------------
Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli
----------------
Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta
----------------
Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika
----------------
Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.
----------------
Q. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.
There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population) . YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

----------------
Some of the following facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.

1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.

2. India invented the Number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

3. The world's first University was established in. M Takshila in 700BCore than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.

5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.

6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth.

7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.

8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6 th Century which is long before the European mathematicians.

9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11 th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 10 53.

10. According to the Gemmological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.

11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.

12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

13. Chess was invented in India.

14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India.

15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilisation).

16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
----------------

Quotes about India:

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made - Albert Einstein.

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition - Mark Twain.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India - French scholar Romain Rolland.

India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border – Hu Shih (former Chinese ambassador to USA).

2008-01-21T15:06:00.000+05:30

The 10 biggest falls in the Indian stock market history:

May 18, 2006: The Sensex registered a fall of 826 points (6.76 per cent) to close at 11,391, it's biggest ever, following heavy selling by FIIs, retail investors and a weakness in global markets.

April 28, 1992: The Sensex registered a fall of 570 points (12.77 per cent) to close at 3,870, it's second-largest, following the coming to light of the Harshad Mehta securities scam.

May 17, 2004: Another Monday. Sensex dropped by 565 points, its third biggest fall ever, to close at 4,505. With the NDA out of power and the Left parties, part of the UPA coalition government, flexing their muscle, the Sensex witnessed its second-biggest intra-day fall of 842 points, twice attracting suspension of trading. At close, however, it regained some of its lost ground.

May 15, 2006: The market fell by 463 points to 11,822 points.

May 22, 2006: Sensex slumped by 457 points to 10,482.

May 19, 2006: Sensex slumped by 453 points to 10,939.

April 4, 2000: Sensex slumped by 361 points to 4,691.

May 12, 1992: Indian stock markets plunged 334 points to fall to 3,086.

May 14, 2004: Sensex lost 330 points to fall to 5,070.

May 6, 1992: Losing 327 points, the Sensex fell to 3,561 points

2008-01-07T18:29:00.000+05:30

Came across this news through my friend and as usual, just thought of sharing with you.

ESOPs benefits not taxable at source: SC

The Supreme Court has ruled that the benefit given to the staff of a company under the employees' stock option scheme cannot be considered as taxable income and the company was not obliged to deduct tax at source.

The court thus dismissed the appeal of the Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore against the judgment of the Karnataka high court which had ruled in favour of Infosys Technologies.

The company had created Technologies Employees Welfare Trust and allotted 7.5 lakh (750,000) warrants at Rs 1 each. Such warrants could be used after a five-year lock-in period to obtain shares. The plan was floated because of buy-back problems where employees left their jobs for one reason or the other. The stock exchange was informed that the shares were non-transferable.

The tax authorities, however, determined that the total amount paid by the employees while exercising their option was Rs 6.64 crore (Rs 66.4 million) whereas the market value of those shares was Rs 171 crore (Rs 1.71 billion). The difference was treated as 'perquisite value' on which TDS was charged at 30 per cent.

The company was treated as a defaulter for not deducting the perquisite value of Rs 165 crore (Rs 1.65 billion). The tax tribunal and the high court, however, held in favour of Infosys [Get Quote] when it moved the courts.

Dismissing the appeal of the tax authorities, the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice S H Kapadia ruled that the company was not bound to deduct tax on the amount earned by its employees from exercise of stock option granted to them through the trust.

"Warrant is a right without obligation to buy. Therefore, perquisite cannot be said to accrue at the time when the warrants were granted," the judgment explained.
The employee could resign, and there was no certainty that his option would be exercised after the lock-in period. "The benefit if any which arose on the date when the option stood exercised was only a notional benefit whose value was unascertainable."

The change in law introduced in the Finance Act in 2000 was not retrospective, the court asserted. The benefit was prospective and unless a benefit was in the nature of income it was not taxable. There was no legislative support to consider the benefit given in this case to the employees as income chargeable under the head 'salaries', the judgment concluded.

2008-01-07T16:00:00.000+05:30

Bill Gates says:

"People are often curious about which applications and technology I use, and if there are features in the new version of Office that have changed the way I work. Without a doubt, Office 2007 enables me to get my work done more easily and quickly than before.

If you visit my office, you will probably notice right away that I have three large flat screen displays that sit together and are synchronized so they work like a single very wide display. The large display area enables me to work very efficiently. I keep my Outlook 2007 Inbox open on the screen to the left so I can see new messages as they come in. I usually have the message or document that I'm currently reading or writing in the center screen. The screen on the right is where I have room to open up a browser or look at a document that someone has sent me in e-mail.

I spend the majority of my time communicating with colleagues, customers, and partners. As a result, Outlook is the application that I use the most. I receive about 100 e-mail messages per day from Microsoft employees, and many more from customers and partners.

It's very important that I hear what people think about our products and our company. Yet I need to balance that against the very real risk of information overload from all the e-mail that I receive. The advances we made in Outlook 2007 for filtering, rules, and search folders have made it much easier to manage my e-mail than before, especially because so much happens automatically once I've set everything up.

A great thing is that all my voice mail, faxes, and even instant messages are sent to my Outlook Inbox using our unified communications technology. Another important feature of unified communications that we have integrated into Office applications is presence and identity. That means I can always tell at a glance whether the person I need to get in touch with is available or not.

One change to Outlook that I appreciate is tasks are now integrated with how I view my calendar. Before Office 2007, I never used the Outlook task feature, but now that tasks are automatically added to my calendar, it makes it much easier to stay on top of the important things I need to do.

Working with other people efficiently and effectively is more important than ever, not just for Microsoft but for any organization. I find that SharePoint, a software program that enables people to easily create internal Web sites so they can collaborate on projects, has become indispensable.

For example, each year I do something called ThinkWeek where anybody in the company can submit a paper about an idea they have to change the way our company works or to pursue a new development project. We used to rely primarily on printed documents, but now it's simple for us to create a Web site to manage the entire process. This year, more than 350 papers were submitted. Not only did I read and comment on many of them, but other technical leaders from across the company were able to go up to the ThinkWeek Web site and add their thoughts. This has led to many lively discussions and started numerous new projects, something that was much harder to do when everything was on paper.

This release of SharePoint also has many social networking features that I find enormously helpful. In addition to searching any corporate intranet site for documents, SharePoint now enables me to search for specific people based on their expertise, job title, or the department they work in. Also, employees can easily create personal Web sites where they can post photos and list their experiences and interests. SharePoint even automatically associates every document with its author, and explains his relationship to other employees on the same team and in his department. So SharePoint makes it far easier to quickly identify the two or three people who are experts in parallel computing, for example, even though there are more than 80,000 employees at Microsoft now.

Of course, collaborating often means meeting with my colleagues in person or remotely over the Internet via Office LiveMeeting. I always take a lot of notes about ideas to think about or things to follow up on. I try to bring my Tablet PC to meetings as often as possible so that I can use OneNote 2007 to write notes in ink that can later be searched or converted to text. Even if I forget my Tablet, I can scan a document or piece of paper and add that image to OneNote. One of the nice new features in OneNote 2007 is that it automatically recognizes the text in those scanned documents, so that it's easy to search for them later.

Then there are times when I really want to drill down into an industry or market trend. The new business intelligence and data visualization tools in Excel 2007 and SharePoint are fantastic for accessing the kind of data that used to be hard to find because it was stored in back-end databases, and then dig through that data to gain some real insights into what is going on. Now I can easily take a look at how a change to something like our assumptions about customer demand might affect the market for a certain product.

Taken together, the improvements in Office 2007 have certainly had a large impact on the way I work. I seem to discover a new feature or a better way of doing something almost every day, and I am hopeful that many of you will find the new Office to be as useful as I do".

About the author

William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008, Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects.

Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $7.1 billion on research and development in the 2007 fiscal year.

2008-01-07T15:56:00.000+05:30

I came across this article and thought that I should share it with you…….It’s about the mistakes that the employees of Microsoft commit…….

Even Microsoft employees are not immune from the everyday pitfalls and mistakes that everyone is bound to make at work. Read Philip Su's hilarious take on how some of us Office "experts" make the same mistakes our customers do ... over and over again.

A question I frequently get from all my readers (yes, both of you!) is, "What's it like working at Microsoft?" Most people imagine that life at The Big One must be like working in a Geekalicious Nirvana. Everyone wears 3D goggles ("It's a Unix system! I know this!") and goes by handles like Crash Override and Acid Burn. Specifications are written in I33t. DeLoreans equipped with Mr. Fusions are the cars of choice. That sort of thing.

When I tell strangers that I work at Microsoft, I see the gears turning in their heads as they contemplate their next question. Inevitably, they ask one of the following:

"Have you been in Bill's house?" Usually, it's the 12-year-old in the bunch that asks this. No, I have not, but I have been on his lawn. Yes, all interns were invited; no, I did not talk with him; yes, I gorged myself on free food. None of this is half is interesting to the stranger, however, as the story of the intern who was forced out of Bill's house in handcuffs after running in during a "bathroom break" to make a phone call to his mom. "Hi mom! You'll never guess where I'm at right...ow! OUCH!" But I digress.

"Wow — can I drive your Ferrari?" This is a perennial favorite with the provisional driver's license crowd. They quickly lose interest once I fondly mention my '98 Honda Accord (V6! Too fast! Too furious!).

"Hey, my Outlook's not working…" "I don't understand the thing in Excel where you [verb] the [noun] with your [relative/neighbor] using [ctrl/alt/shift][F7/Enter/NumLock]..." It's a veritable MadLib of questions of the pattern, "In [Microsoft product of choice], how do I [some important thing that should be easy to do but isn't at all obvious]?"

The last type of question is by far the most common, especially with the airport crowd. But these strangers base their questions on a critically-flawed premise: They assume that Microsoft employees actually know how to use Microsoft products.

So without further ado, and to show you that we struggle with technology just like everyone else, here are the Top 7 Microsoft Employee Bungles using Microsoft Office that I've witnessed.

Top 7 employee bungles using Office

1. Opening dangerous attachments. Viruses like Melissa ("I love you!") were a huge problem at Microsoft. The kicker about it is that everyone acted flabbergasted and incredulous. "What sort of idiot clicks on these things?!" It's like Hootie and the Blowfish: the best-selling debut album of all time has no fans. Have you ever met a single person who admitted to owning Cracked Rear View? Same with Melissa.

2. Forgetting to include attachments. This is the evil twin of #1: in addition to clicking on harmful attachments, we forget to include useful attachments. So when you see an email with the subject "Foolproof Plan for World Peace — Part Deux," don't get too excited. As awesome as the plan probably is, it's almost definitely not attached to the email.

3. Replying-all to huge mailing lists. Any email to a large alias inevitably results in someone (no doubt a proud Hootie CD owner) replying to everyone. The threads are always the same. Something rather mundane or obscure is sent to thousands of people. Then the fan mail starts pouring in:
 "Why am I on this list?"
 "Unsubscribe."
 "Please also remove me!"
 "Please stop replying to everyone — there are thousands of people on this alias."
 "Me too!"
 "SERIOUSLY — STOP REPLYING ALL!"
 "Why are you shouting?"
 "We never talk anymore."

The most famous of these threads at Microsoft started on a mysterious distribution list called "Bedlam DL3." 25,000 employees, 15.5 million e-mails, 195 GB of bandwidth, busted network. T-shirts were printed to commemorate the event.

4. Putting aliases in the "To:" field in order to see who's in them. To see names on an alias, you can put the alias in the "To:" field of an email and double-click it ... if you're a complete idiot. A friend of mine ("Jimmy") almost got fired by an executive for doing this. A product that this executive was in charge of was getting cancelled, but her team didn't yet know it. When Jimmy heard the scoop, he wrote his boss an e-mail that essentially said, "Hey there, so-and-so's team is getting canned. Here are the only three people worth keeping..." He then proceeded to add so-and-so's entire team to the "To:" line in order to find out the names of the "only three people worth keeping." The rest of what happened is left as an exercise to the reader.

5. Projecting a PowerPoint presentation. The amount of time wasted at Microsoft sitting in conference rooms waiting for the presenter to get the slides to work is mind-boggling. Does the projector handle your resolution? Press Fn-F5! Click the little icon in the lower left to resume your slide show. Not that icon! The other one! Oh, the screen saver's kicked in. Your laptop's suspending!

6. Getting instant messages (IMs) during presentations. Once the presentation is going, IM notifications inevitably pop up on the screen. This tends to happen most when you're presenting in front of hundreds of people. "Yo! How did the [blind-date/colonoscopy/armed-robbery] go?" "Hi, [term of endearment]! I can't wait to [verb] your [adjective][noun] [now/tonight/again/forever]!" I'm told that the latest version of Office fixes this. Let's hope so.

NOTE From the Editor: In 2007 Office system, Desktop Alerts for incoming e-mail messages are turned off by default when you run a PowerPoint 2007 presentation. See Turn Desktop Alerts on or off for more info.

7. Using Excel to cover up Unreal Tournament. Well, I've only seen this once, but it's so eponymous that it deserves to be celebrated. A few years ago, one of my team members frantically maximized Excel as I walked into his office. As I began discussing a technical issue with him, sounds of gunfire, grenades, and general human suffering erupted from his speakers. I had a difficult decision to make while recovering from my brief initial confusion: Do I acknowledge what was already mutually embarrassing and awkward, or do I ignore the obvious? I decided to conduct our technical discussion with the idyllic calm of a wartime correspondent. To his credit, I now know that should push come to shove, my team member could calmly discuss a spec during Armageddon without batting an eyelash.

As you can see, Microsoft employees are often just as befuddled as everyone else. It would blow your mind if you could hear how frequently basic Office tips are shared in my hallway at work. Spend a day here, and you'll find it impossible to believe that we're all Office mavens marching lockstep towards a streamlined plan for world dominion.

Then again, Office 2007 is far easier to use. I'm impressed by the many improvements in its user interface. So in a funny way, perhaps we're no longer as harmless as we used to be. World dominion may be within our grasp after all. If we could only remember to attach our plan in email…

About the author

Philip Su is a development manager in Microsoft Search. He has also been a developer in Office, MSN, and Windows. In his copious free time, Philip co-authored Building Tablet PC Applications, taught classes at the University of Washington, and managed to almost get fired twice. For more random wackiness about Philip, see his annually-updated blog.

2007-11-29T20:42:00.000+05:30

Marriage of ex-collegue on 25th Nov 2007 at Guruvayoor:

One of our ex-collegues - Santhosh invited us for his wedding which happened last week in Guruvayoor Temple.

Me, Hari joined them in Chennai Central Station to Thrissur.

Sai and Deena came from Bangalore and got us in Thissur.

Nakul came from Madurai.

Kannan Devendran came from Trivandrum.

We went to Chotanikarai Bagavathy Amman Temple on Saturday, the 24th Nov.
ON 25th, after attending the marriage, we had a good dharshan of Lord Krishna in Guruvayoor. Did shopping and bought many stuffs.

It was a fun-filling trip and we all enjoyed to the maximum core. Hope to have a trip like this again quite soon.

Few photographs:

2007-11-29T20:40:00.000+05:30

History of Accounting:

Bookkeeping and record-keeping methods, created in response to the development of trade and commerce, are preserved from ancient and medieval sources. Double-entry bookkeeping began in the commercial city-states of medieval Italy and was well developed by the time of the earliest preserved double-entry books, from 1340 in Genoa.

The first published accounting work was written in 1494 by the Venetian monk Luca Pacioli. Although it disseminated rather than created knowledge about double-entry bookkeeping, Pacioli's work summarized principles that have remained essentially unchanged. Additional accounting works were published during the 16th century in Italian, German, Dutch, French, and English, and these works included early formulations of the concepts of assets, liabilities, and income.

The Industrial Revolution of the mid-1700s created a need for accounting techniques that would be adequate to handle mechanization, factory-manufacturing operations, and the mass production of goods and services. With the emergence in the mid-19th century of large, publicly owned business corporations, owned by absentee stockholders and administered by professional managers, the role of accounting was further redefined.

Starting in the mid-20th century, machines—particularly computers—performed many of the bookkeeping functions that are vital to accounting systems. The widespread use of computers broadened the scope of bookkeeping, and the term data processing now frequently encompasses bookkeeping.

2007-11-29T20:30:00.000+05:30

Alert on Tax Saving Efforts:

The Govt. of India has signed a contract with IBM for Rs.205 crores to create database of 375 lakhs income tax assessees based in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. IBM was to start this work from Sep 2007.

Further, this year Income Tax dept has not been accepting TDS certificates, donation receipts etc. along with income tax returns. This tends to believe that Indian Income tax dept is coming in position to cross verify all your claims electronically.

An assessee can be issued notice of scrutiny for a period of 6 yrs. If you can't satisfy your ITO about genuineness of your return or payment of taxes, you could be asked to pay addl. tax with interest and the IT dept is empowered to levy 300% penalty.

One needs to engage efficient CA to attend scrutiny. An efficient CA may charge Rs.2,000/= or more per hour for time he devotes for visits to Income tax office and the time he spends in his office for preparation of replies. The CA's bill may come for more than Rs.25,000/=.

This year and last year income tax dept has issued plenty of notices to small income assessees whose capital is big.

Normally, the ITO gives tension to assessees. During scrutiny, he can ask for your passbooks and can verify correctness of your claims and in the process may come across various other issues.

Saving Rs.1,00,000/= in tax is no wise decision looking to the gravity and contract to IBM for creating database.