Last chance to prosperity

As the election dates for mumbai is nearing up, more and more people will be coming to house to ask for your vote. One should think that why do they come to your house from their cars, bungalows and from many luxuries they have got? The answer lies in power of your one vote! Your one vote is answer to all these questions and a pathway to your prosperity. And tomorrow is the last chance for the next 5 years, you have got to prove that you are not fool and ignorant about rights you have. You have got enough guts to notice who is working for the development of your area and who is playing shear politics. All you need to do it Vote!!

Here are some of the resources, which can help in deciding the most deserving candidate for your vote. It will give list of all the candidates that you will see on your electric voting machine tomorrow with their detailed profile for the best judgment. At the end, I will suggest only one thing, do not vote based on the party, look for the ability to work for janta in the candidate and then use your power.

List of candidates, party, criminal cases, education, age, assets

To check your name in election voting list - jaagore.com

To check your name in election list - Maharashtra state

To check your name in election list - Mumbai 

Affidavites made by candidate's- Maharashtra

Locate a polling booth near your house - look for cities covered in right panel 

Financial common sense

I have noticed that many people including some of my friends do not think much about the money they have in their bank account. A large amount whenever remains parked (I call it idle) in savings account, gets you the standard savings interest rate i.e. 3.5-4% p.a. in India. You are free to withdraw that money. But on the other way if you keep the same amount in fixed deposits (FD's), you earn 8-10%. Generally people avoid putting money into FD's because of several reasons. Few of them are hassles of creating/breaking/en-cashing FD's, ignorance, laziness etc.

In this article, I am explaining how you can use these FDs for earning better interest rates, at the same time with the flexibility to withdraw.

Interest rates in India are quite high when you compare it with the foreign countries. But at the same time cost of living is also going up compare to other countries. So actually, we do not get the advantage of high interest rates. It becomes necessary for us to survive our savings in terms of wealth. Every year our wealth changes due to Inflation (The increase in cost of living) and Interest rate of our savings; Because in India, the inflation is around 8-10% and the interest rate we get is 4%, so our actual wealth out of savings declines by 4-6% every year. In simple words, the purchasing power of the money (currency) reduces. Consider this example; in 2008 year, with 10,000 INR if you could have purchased 10 jeans than this year with the same amount you will be able to purchase only 9 jeans. So apparently you lose money equivalent to one jean in one year.

So, how do you avoid inflation getting onto your head? The simple answer is, do not invest into savings account. Invest in fixed deposits. The bank gives higher rate of interest on fixed deposits compare to normal savings account. It's around 9-10.5% p.a. But in that, how do you get freedom to withdraw your money, any time, anywhere you want? Yes, there is a solution available for that. You can have both high interest rate of FD's and ATM facility of savings account. The instrument providing that is called as Over Draft (OD's). It's been favourite of businessmen, but rarely used from investment perspective.

So the approach that I use is, create fixed deposits for small durations like one - two years. And pledge those fixed deposits for an OD in your savings account. Every bank gives a reasonable high rate of interest on fixed deposits and at the same time charges 2-3% over and above interest on OD's. They also give 80-95% limits on pledged securities (FD) which gets majority of your FD amount free for withdrawal. So the interest you have to pay to the bank for using the OD reduces to 2-3% if you subtract FD interest you get from bank. At the end of the year, if you have used the OD fully for the entire year, then also you earn interest of 7- 8%. Isn't it interesting to earn more interest??

NB: Inflation affects everyone, so investments in fixed deposits are insufficient to beat inflation rate. It's certainly not the best way to put your money, but at least better than savings bank account. The data and calculations shown are my personal view. The idea is derived from books by Robert Kiyosaki. Comments welcome. Thank you.

Click to get details: Fixed Deposit, Overdraft, Inflation, Purchasing power, Fixed Deposit rates in Indian banks

A small story..

A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The girl had some sweets with her. The boy told the girl that he will give her all his marbles in exchange for her sweets. The girl agreed. The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised. That night, the girl slept peacefully. But the boy couldn't sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marble.

Moral of the story: If you don't give your hundred percent in whatever you do, you'll always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent.. This is applicable for any relationship like employer-employee, love etc.,

So give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully

Taglines and more

Some lines are so funny that you can not stop your laughs looking at them. They are created innocently but somehow unknowingly turn in a laughter shower. I have collected various emails and sources with such stuff that are just too good. Here is the top 10 of my collection. Happy laughing!

At the Spencer's in Pacific Mall, Kaushambi, noticed a perfume:
Cool Girl
For Women
The men are still alive. Mostly single. And desperate.

At Akshardham Temple, New Delhi, a month ago, on a tourist bus:
Jain Travels
So? So do I. And the Sharmas, Talwars, Singhs, Mallyas, Agrawals etc. etc.

On the paper towel dispenser in the restroom at the British Council:
Pull
Here
While pulling out a tissue, I vaguely happened to glance at it, and my brain registered the words with the last two alphabets of both the words transposed. What I read was:
Pure
Hell
Does put things in perspective.

On a wall in East Patel Nagar, New Delhi:
Yahaan par peshaab karna aur poster chhipkaana manaa hai.
Interesting to note that the two have become synonymous. Peeing in front of the walls is as much an advertisement of our culture/sensibilities as putting up awful posters in senseless places is defecating on the walls.

On a hilly road to Shimla:
Please be gentle on my curves.

On a trek in the Gharwhal region. It was a small refreshment shack in the middle of nowhere, and it said:

Lunch and dinner served here at all times.

Somewhere in Lansdowne, UP:

Perphection Tailors
Further superlative to perfection.

Read this in a bus on my way to Joshi Math (Uttaranchal):
Frust Aid box gaadi me hai.

Read one on a forlorn forsaken wall in Kanpur on my way to Rave:
Peshaab Karna mana hai.
Kaha bhaiya? Kidhar? Is peeing completely banned now? Hail Behen Mayawati!

On a banner during Block level elections in Kanpur.

Luxmi sabko pyaari hai, chunnav chinh almaari hai.

Read it Really, Luxmi sabko pyaari hai and it is understandable why the chunaav chinh is almaari. That's where it goes. For Luxmi, whether it's the money or the girl, the benefit of the almaari is that koi bhi aaye, to use almaari mein chhupa lo!