Man Anand Anand Chhayo.....

Super song from Vijeta.....

RSK

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MySnaps : While Trekking near Pune....

Homeless Home Minister

success sans ethics   By S Gurumurthy, New Indian Express, 14th June 2012   The flight from Delhi to Chennai was about to take off. After a central minister, on the other side of the aisle, and I had just wished each other, he suddenly pointed to the passenger in the window seat next to mine and asked whether I knew him. He introduced him to me, went into reading his book. The gentleman was a Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, known for high integrity. As we began discussing, we could recollect having met long back. Our talk inevitably ended on how the main state actors — politicians and civil servants — had steeply declined in morals. Finally, I asked him a straight question: “Can you point at when exactly did the decline start?” He was equally straight. Political morality, he said, crashed with the “advent” of Indira Gandhi, and business, he added, became buccaneering with the “rise” of Dhirubhai Ambani. That was exactly my view too. A simple comparison of the standards of political morality before and after Indira Gandhi’s advent and the norms of business before after Ambani’s emergence would prove what he had said. Here is that comparison which turns into a truthful, even merciless, recall and introspection. Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi’s father, lived by democratic values to guide the fledgeling Indian democracy. His other failings notwithstanding, Nehru’s political morality was unquestionable. More than Nehru, as Indira Gandhi’s immediate predecessor, Lal Bahadur Shastri is more relevant. Morally Shastri stood well above Nehru. The aristocrat Nehru never faced financial stress. Shastri, a poor man with a large family, was ever-stressed. Yet, born poor, he lived and died as one, despite being Union home minister and prime minister. Known as the ‘homeless home minister’ of India, he had rented a house in Lucknow and lived in a government house in Delhi. Shastri occupied just two small rooms of 10’x20’ in the government accommodation, both opening into a backyard porch with a huge mango tree under which only his sons got married. When Shastri resigned as Union railway minister owning ‘moral responsibility’ for accidents, he forthwith surrendered his official car, stood in a queue in a bus stand for a bus to his home. After he had resigned under the Kamaraj Plan, Ramnath Goenka saw him waiting for a bus again and drove him home. Goenka used to recall Shastri tearfully as the decline had started after him. An illustrious Shastri had kept his personal life and political office of the prime minister he had held, clean, investing both with the highest moral authority. Such was the high moral stature of the office that Indira Gandhi inherited from Shastri after he mysteriously died in 1966. While the ruling paradigm was political morality, Indira Gandhi soon substituted political power for political morality. She blatantly used political power and discarded political morality by engineering the defeat of the party candidate for presidency and ensuring the victory of the opposition candidate. Raw power became her weapon to subdue her own party and government and ultimately the country itself. She deliberately split the party, trivialised all senior leaders — including the illustrious K Kamaraj, who made her prime minister — as ‘Syndicate’, threw them out of the party, allied with all enemies of the Congress, won the elections with their support, but forthwith turned her back on them too. She amended the constitution to acquire more power to the ruling party (read herself). In the words of Nani Palkhivala, she “defaced” and “defiled” the Constitution. She made political success, not political morality, as the ultimate test. It was during her time that the office of the prime minster, always beyond reproach, lost its moral stature, faced charges of corruption (Maruti affair) and was even suspected of other crimes (Nagarwala scam). It was in her time that thick-skinned politics evolved, shamelessness replaced shyness in public life. Finally, she imposed Emergency in 1975 and threw all political leaders, including dissenters in her own party, into jail. Thinking that the nation was dead and her government alone was alive, she ordered elections in which the people threw out her regime. Jayaprakash Narayan wrote to her from jail saying that she had inherited great institutions and values, but, she was leaving behind “a miserable wreck of all that”. Thanks to “wrecked” values, hard politics replaced the soft, and ‘moral responsibility’ disappeared from polity. Politicians charged with corruption and other offences began shamelessly seeking protection under rules of criminal law like criminals do — namely proof beyond reasonable doubt in courts. The nation is still in drift and decline, despite isolated attempts to restore political morality like when L K Advani, facing the Hawala prosecution, voluntarily resigned from Parliament and vowed not to contest elections till he was cleared of all charges. In competitive politics, however, his own party is unable to live up to such high morality. Yes, the politics centred on success that Indira Gandhi pursued has changed the grammar of polity and substituted political power for political morality. This paradigm shift has disconnected the India of Indira from India of Gandhi, Nehru and Shastri, yielding the India of Sonia Gandhi at present. Now about Ambani. He became invincible by co-opting the rule-makers to make sub-rules comfortable for him comply with, thus making the breaking of rules unnecessary. Partnering the state and non-state actors and sharing with them the illicit fortunes of his business, Ambani vaulted over Tatas, Birlas, Mahindras, Bajajs and the rest. If a J R D Tata was the symbol of business ethics, Ambani became the model of business success. The media not only mocked at a Tata’s ‘failure’ to succeed like Ambani but glorified Ambani’s success sans ethics. Ambani applied Bhishma’s advice in Shanti Parva in the Mahabharata — that a great general should win a war without a battle — to his business model. So, Ambani never fought the bureaucracy or media like Indira Gandhi did. He bought them instead. He measured everyone’s worth in cash. It was only when his money proved impotent against Ramnath Goenka, that he had to face a war. He forged a letter and deflected that war away and on to Rajiv Gandhi. Ambani shifted the paradigm, transformed business into buccaneering. Today’s scams of billions of dollars or cash-for-news have their origin in the Ambani model of partnering the main state and non-state actors and sharing the spoils with them. Then, is everything lost? No. Still there are good men and women in politics and business, battling the corrupt atmosphere. Ordinary people still retain their simple and non-corrupt lifestyle. They all await a Shastri-like leader to emerge. S Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues.   E-mail: comment@gurumurthy.net

Baroda .....

Nice and inclusive compilation of Vadodara... Now it will be even more beautiful with expanding road network.. Thanks to VMC..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d4XTiUXfdQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Lord Ganesh Museum in Thailand

Lord Ganesha is a widely revered God in Thailand, particularly  by those who are in arts- related careers..  In Chiang Mai's Doi Lor sub-district, some 41 kilometers from the city, one can find a private museum dedicated to Lord Ganesha. The museum, which is called Ganesha Museum, is owned by Banthorn Teerakanont, who is one of Thailand's leading devotees of Lord Ganesha.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSMUH2H4BbY

FERRARI ki Sawari .....

We fail when we FEAR failure

The TV anchor and cricket commentator writes about his life, struggles and the reality of learning and perseverance.........

After so many years in the profession it might seem unusual to say so -- but I should never have been in television. I didn't have what it took and for a better part of my career I was defined by who I wasn't rather than by who I was! I wasn't a test cricketer, I didn't look like a suiting model (far from it!), I had no sense of fashion or colours. I wore large glasses, I had gaps in my teeth and I spoke too fast. It has been suggested that I had a face for radio and after the first programme of a new series for ESPN, the producer said (though I must admit, not at the time) that there was everything wrong with it, including the anchor.
Worse still I had no one to look up to. Live television was very young in India and Doordarshan was the only channel. I guess you could say that, as a result, I knew what not to do but didn't always know what was right. And so I had no choice but to learn by making mistakes. 
I did what I thought was right and if it was wrong, I tried not to do it again. 

Big blunders
I made many mistakes. I once ended a presentation ceremony at the end of a high profile tournament halfway through because I thought the director was telling me to move on when in reality he was telling someone else. I had very little idea of how to use the ear-piece through which the presenter gets instructions from the director. 
So when he said, "After this we will go to an interview" I assumed he was talking only to me and not to the crew so after that particular award had been given, I turned to camera and said "That's it from the presentation". When I turned there were a million eyes boring holes into me. I crept up to where the producer was, feeling as terrible as anyone could, and said, "Sorry Rik, I promise it will never happen again". He put me at ease but I knew I had committed a blunder.

Making mistakes isn't a crime, repeating them is!
Indeed the year before that, I was first asked to present the telecast and I said, "Yes", without having a clue about what it meant. So before leaving for Chennai, my wife and I went to buy a couple of jackets. We only knew one store so we went to the Raymond shop and as it turned out they only had double breasted jackets so those were what we bought! 
One of those was a black and white striped jacket, the kind you should never wear on television because the picture jitters.
But I learnt one thing about mistakes and about failure. It is not a crime to commit them, but it is criminal not to learn from them and ensure they are not repeated. If you make one mistake it tends to be pardoned but if you keep making it, no one is interested in you anymore.

Look, failure is a necessity
And you know, little failures are like potholes on a road. After a while you know where not to drive. Also, you learn what not to do and it was thus that I learnt what I did about television. So if you fail, don't think it is the end of the world. Ask yourself why you failed and promise yourself that you will never do it again. You will actually emerge tougher. 
In a programme my wife and I did some years ago, an Australian sports psychologist told us that when they put together elite squadrons in Australia, they don't pick you if you've never failed because if you have never been face-to-face with failure you may not know what to do when confronted by it. 
If, however, you have looked failure in the eye, vanquished it and returned stronger, you are considered a better candidate.
The one thing we should all try to do in life is to convert a problem into an advantage, into an opportunity. Because I didn't have much to start with, I tried much harder than anyone else, I was never afraid of learning. I learnt to be professional from the cameramen and the editors on the crew, I learnt what colours are good for television from Navjot Sidhu, I learnt how to knot a tie from my friend whose camera I had to look into, I learnt how to iron a jacket from someone else.
Unfortunately in India we condemn failure too strongly, we attach a social status to it and clothe failures with a stigma. Stay away from such people or better still, try harder to prove them wrong. Failure can sometimes drive you towards getting even better than you would have if you hadn't failed.

We fail when we fear failure
But remember, failure can be a friend only if you learn from it and never repeat it. There are hundreds of stories around you of what the human spirit can do. Failure is not an enemy, failure is not fatal so don't fear it because the more you fear it, the more you attract it. 
I found that the day I stopped being afraid of failing, I grew much more relaxed. I told myself, 'what is the worst thing that will happen?'. I would have had to apologise on air, in front of all those viewers but I would only be apologising for a mistake, I wouldn't be committing a crime. 
Very often we fail because we are afraid of failing, because we fear the aftermath of failure. I didn't do well at all in my first term at IIM Ahmedabad because I spent more time fearing a D or an F than actually studying -- which would have saved me in the first place. So relax, if you fear failure, it will encircle you.

If failure, if mistakes, could ruin people, then I would never be in television. 

Lady Commandoes from India

MySnap : Trees and Sun

Some Bird , This !

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nbrTOcUnjNY

360 Degree View of Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is Beautiful...

Please click on the link given below...

Get a 360 Degree View of the Taj Mahal.

   

http://www.airpano.ru/files/Taj-Mahal-India/2-3

King of Indian Mangoes : Alphonso/Hapus

On the trail of the King of Mangoes in Ratnagiri

A visit to Alphonso mango farms on the western coast of India confirms that a mango is never just a mango

By Anuradha Sengupta 22 May, 2012

Seasonal bestseller: The mango and cream bowl made with Alphonso mango at Mumbai's Haji Ali Juice Centre.

"Have you come about mangoes?” asks a man before I am fully out of my car. It’s uncanny how everyone in this town seems to anticipate that my presence has something to do with the fruit.

I am in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, home to the Alphonso mango -- also known as the King of Indian mangoes.

From March to July, India produces more than 1,000 varieties of mango. But none of them are as desirable as the Alphonso. Loyalists swear by its rich creaminess. The flesh is saffron-colored and without a hint of fiber. The taste is exquisitely sweet, with none of the tartness or coyness of its cousins.

Every summer, before the monsoon season, India goes mad for the Alphonso. The national obsession is on par with Bollywood and cricket. Hot afternoons are punctuated by cries of "Haaapuuus!" floating through open windows. "Hapus," pronounced with a silent "h," is how the mango is locally known.

Mothers send cartons of hapus to their married daughters’ homes to sweeten up the in-laws. Couriers, like DHL, start a special "Mango Express" service to deliver Alphonsos. Newspapers begin a series of anxiety-ridden articles about the health of the crop.

Such mango mania serves to make the Alphonso one of the most expensive mangoes. During peak season in Mumbai, people think nothing of forking out as much as Rs 1,000 (US$18) for a dozen.

People used to call us sabziwalas. Now we have status.

Amar Desai, Alphonso mango exporter

The mango bubble recently burst when prices crashed to as low as Rs 1000 for four dozen. There's never been a better time to eat Alphonso.

I made sure my pockets were amply lined before embarking on a trip to the fruit's home, the narrow strip of land on the Konkan coast that can accurately claim to produce genuine Alphonsos.

The Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Raigad districts of Maharashtra together have around 130,000 hectares dedicated to Alphonso cultivation. Almost everyone I spoke with in the region claims to have at least one Alphonso tree in their backyard or some family involved in the business of cultivating mangoes.

Mangoes grown in Ratnagiri district, the largest producer, carry thegeographical indication (GI) tag and are the official mangoes given as state gifts to visiting VIPs.

Amar Desai with his mango grafts. The Alphonso is named after Afonso de Albuquerque who established Portuguese India. The Portuguese introduced grafting on mango trees to produce extraordinary varieties such as the Alphonso.

Threat of power plants

From Mumbai, I drive a rented car to the sleepy village of Pawas, 30 minutes from Ratnagiri town and home to the Desai brothers Amar and Anand. They are among the larger exporters of Alphonsos in the region.

“We are fifth-generation farmers," says Amar Desai, the elder of the two brothers. "Our grandfather started it all. He used to take crates of mangoes to Karachi to sell in the markets there. 

“In those days, people called us sabziwalas (fruit and vegetable sellers). Now we have some status.”

With their BlackBerries, sleek cars and suave manners, the Desai brothers look more ready for the corporate boardroom than the farm.

Amar tells me how his father (probably fed up of being called a sabziwala), had considered a potentially disastrous detour towards a career in commerce. But luckily he stayed with mangoes.

Today, the Desai brothers own 240 hectares of orchard sprawling over the Ratnagiri hills, with 10,000 trees churning out truckloads of Alphonso each year.

Their mangoes are exported to Japan, the United States, Singapore and Australia after a long process of decontamination. Hearing Amar throw around words like gamma irradiation, quarantine officers and vapor heat treatment, I have to remind myself that we are still talking about just a fruit. 

On their 75-year-old farm, workers are picking mangoes and packing them into crates. Elsewhere, rows of just-planted mango grafts are being readied for the next season. Everything seems to be going smoothly.

But Amar points to a structure atop a cliff. It is one of the thermal and nuclear power plants that are coming up in the region.

“If these power plants go through, the balance of the climate here will change and our orchards will be destroyed,” he says.

Mango farmers and villagers have staged several protests against the construction of the power plants and taken the matter to court. But construction plans are still chugging ahead.

Mango harvest on the Desai farm. Ratnagri’s hills and proximity to the coast assure good soil drainage, which is ideal for mango cultivation. As well, the pollution-free air, laterite-rich soil and the pH quality of the dew all play important parts in creating the perfect Alphonso.

Fit for a queen

I leave the next day for Nate village along a road that has dramatic views of the sea on both sides. My destination is an organic mango farm run by Ashok Ranade.

A sturdy man with a booming voice and a passion for producing the finest Ratnagiri Alphonsos, Ranade will not put up with haters.

“People [who don't like Alphonso mangoes] have never tasted a real Ratnagiri hapus,” says Ranade. “Lesser Alphonsos grown in Valsad, Belgaum and other places are being sold in our name. They spoil the reputation of Ratnagiri mangoes.

“Our mangoes have been sampled by Queen Victoria."

Ashok Ranade with his life's passion.

Ranade advises me to pick an Alphonso that gives a bit when squeezed, but doesn't bruise. Color doesn't indicate ripeness and some Alphonsos are green even when ripe.

As we trek around his orchard, Ranade talks almost reverently about how his mangoes ripen naturally, without any chemicals, nourished by organic fertilizers and pesticides that are made from his own cows' urine. It is mixed with extracts of different plants and herbs to add that extra punch of health.

On the way back to Mumbai, I come across several women on the road with sacks full of Alphonsos. They are looking for a ride to Ratnagiri town.

One of them -- Rushali Paradkar -– says these are scavenged fruits, all fallen from trees. She bought them for Rs 25 a kilo. The mangoes are not very ripe so she makes pickle and sells it in the market at Rs 40 for half a kilo. I ask her if she thinks people will ever get tired of the Ratnagiri hapus.

No, says Paradkar, with a firm shake of her head. I don’t argue with her, she has just told me that she has a “PhD in palmistry” and clearly has insider information on the future. 

My last stop is a cart selling Alphonso mangoes on Gokhale Naka in Ratnagiri town. It belongs to a beaming Ashwini Patil. After some healthy bargaining banter, I ask for a taste. Whipping out her knife, she pauses before slicing her precious Alphonso.

“If you don’t like it you still have to pay for it,” she says. There’s obviously no such thing as a free hapus in Ratnagiri.

All through my journey, the only free taste of Alphonso offered was the small bowl of aam ras at the Desais'. This mango is like a treasure fiercely guarded by locals.

Pockets considerably lighter, I set off for Mumbai with my Alphonsos, consoling myself with Ranade’s parting admonition: “A lot of hard work goes into an Alphonso. So next time you buy one, don’t say it costs too much.”

At Crawford Market, Mumbai, Babban Dagdu Gundal picks up a mango and slices it up like a flower. Gundal is known as "the mango prophet." One touch and he knows if the mango is good or bad.  

Cricket : Team A repeats the dismal performance of the Seniors

Amidst all the high-voltage attention that IPL attracted, a few worrying matters continue to dog Indian Cricket .....  one hasn't heard about the recommendations made by a group constituted by BCCI to analyse the poor performance in England Australia......the Indian A Team, currently touring Windies , has performed quite poorly....in 6 innings ( of three tests), it did not cross 300 even once and barring Pujara,most other batters failed ....despite gaining an early advantage by winning the first test, the team lost the next two to post a 1-2 result.... Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, A Mukund, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan : they all failed and could not handle fast bowling ..... not a very happy situation, I guess ....

And what do we hear in the media ? How good Gautam will be as a Test Captain  !!......the guy can't handle rising deliveries and has missed more tests in the last 2 years than he has played due to physical unfitness.....

MySnap : Old Man

What happens to PPF account after maturity?

Do you know what are the rules for withdrawing your money from your PPF account if you extend it for a block of 5 yrs after it’s initial maturity of 15 yrs? A lot of people think that once the PPF maturity is over, they get a licence to withdraw the money at any point of time in what ever way they want, in the case of extension of PPF. Today let me highlight some important points that you should be clear about PPF withdrawal rule in case of extension. To start with lets answer what Kailash Chandra asked me sometime back on his PPF

I had opened PPF account on 05.05.1995 and extended for 5 years. Now the balance is Rs.651000/- as on 30.04.2012 and want to withdrawal partly. What amount can I draw please intimate. (link)

Whats the answer? 

Its 60% Surprised!… lets move on

Before we move forward, let me clear that PPF is a life time account. One can extend it for next 5 yrs for infinite times, this means you can keep on extending it for another 5 yrs after the maturity is over. That would in a way makes it look like a 5 yrs closed fixed deposit earning you applicable interest rate with tax benefits and without any taxation involved, even having a partial withdrawal benefit   That’s one reason why you want to open your PPF account right now even if you don’t need it at the moment, so that the maturity is 15 yrs away from now. See it as a milestone!

1. PPF extended without any further contribution

The first situation is when you want to continue your PPF account, but do not want to put any further money in it . In this case all you want to do is just leave your PPF account as it is and let it earn the interest on the account accumulated. Note that if you dont take any action for 1 yr after your PPF matures, this option is default and automatically activates. Note that once its considered as “extended without any further contribution”, then later you cant put any further subscription in it. Now you can only withdraw from the PPF account, but cannot invest any fresh money in it. Note that in this case, you can withdraw any amount from your PPF account, there is no limit. You can withdraw 10%, 50% or 90% as there is no limit. The balance amount will keep on earning the interest further. However you can withdraw only once a year, not more than once. (Learn how PPF account interest is calculated)

Interesting Fact : Now as you know this,  can you see an interesting point here, this way PPF can be acting as a great Pension tool, where you can withdraw the interest part yearly once and then utilize it for full year. For example if a PPF account has 1 crore into it, and lets say the interest is 8% (just an example). You can withdraw 5 lacs out of the PPF account and the remaining 95 lacs will earn 8% interest, which will be 7.4 lacs. This 7.4 lacs will be added back to 95 lacs and the total next year would be 102.4 lacs. This way one can keep on withdrawing some amount from it and let it grow too.

2. PPF extended with further contribution

In another option, you can choose to invest in your PPF account on regular basis even after extension. But this has to be done within 1 yr of maturity (before the completion of 16 yrs in PPF). Note that in this case, you can only withdraw maximum 60% of your PPF amount in total within the entire 5 yrs block. Each year you can withdraw maximum once.

For example if your  PPF balance at maturity is Rs 1 crore. Then you can withdraw a total of maximum 60 lacs in entire 5 yr block. You can withdraw 20 lacs in first year, then 10 lacs in 2nd year and then 30 lacs in 4th year. But Once 60% is consumed , you cant touch any money further for the current block. Only when the 5 yrs are completed and new block of 5 yrs start, then your balance will be 40 lacs and then again the same rule applies. However note that at the start of a new 5 yr block, you can choose whether to continue the regular contribution or stop the contribution, like we discussed in point 1.

Important : If at the time of PPF maturity , you will have the potential to invest more in your PPF account in coming years, then better invest more and more and only when its time to retire or when you cant contribute more, extend the PPF with “no further subscription” option.

Bank/Post Office Officials have no idea about PPF Rules in detail

A lot of banks (SBI) and Post office officials have no idea about PPF rules in such a detail. They will tell you that it can be extended only 2 times and hence insist on closing the PPF account once the maturity + 2 extensions are done. Tell them that you know what are the rules and also teach them.

Manage Your Affairs Properly ......

Take time to read the below email fully, Please. A friend’s friend lost her husband in a car accident and she has written a blog on the trauma she faced, not from the accident and the loss of her husband but the aftermath for sorting her life, financially, in spite of being a CA.... It is an eyeopener and request that you read this blog which is written for us so that our loved ones don't face trouble once we are gone. Regards Her blog...  Few things I learned after Mithun:(my husband) We always believe we will live forever. Bad things always happen to others. Only when things hit us bang on your head you realise... Life is so unpredictable.... My husband was an IT guy…all techie…And I am a chartered accountant…Awesome combination you may think… Techie guy so everything is on his laptop…his to do list… his e-bill and his bank statements in his email… … He even maintained a folder which said IMPWDS…wherein he stored all login id and passwords for all his online accounts…And even his laptop had a password… Techie guy so all the passwords were alpha-numeric with a special character not an easy one to crack…Office policy said passwords needed to be changed every 30 days…So every time I accessed his laptop I would realise it’s a new password again… I would simply opt for asking him ‘What’s the latest password’ instead of taking the strain to memorise it. You may think me being a Chartered Accountant would means everything is documented and filed properly… Alas many of my chartered accountant friends would agree that the precision we follow with our office documents and papers do not flow in to day to day home life… At office you have be epitome of Reliability / Competent / Diligent etc but… at home front there is always a tomorrow… One fine morning my hubby expired in a bike accident on his way home from office…. He was just 33…His laptop with all his data crashed…everything on his hard disk wiped off…No folder of IMPWDS to refer back to…His mobile with all the numbers on it was smashed…But that was just the beginning… I realised I had lot to learn… 9 years married to one of the best human beings…with no kids…just the two of us to fall back on….but now I stood all alone and lost… Being chartered accountant helped in more ways than one but it was not enough… I needed help…His saving bank accounts, his salary bank accounts had no nominee…On his insurance his mom was the nominee and it was almost 2 years back she had expired… but this was just a start…. I didn’t know the password to his email account where all his e-bill came…I didn’t know which expenses he paid by standing instructions… His office front too was not easy… His department had changed recently…I didn't know his reporting boss name to start with…when had he last claimed his shift allowance…his mobile reimbursement… The house we bought with all the excitement…on a loan…thought with our joint salary we could afford the EMI…when the home loans guys suggested insurance on the loan…we decided the instead of paying the premium the difference in the EMI on account of the insurance could be used pay towards prepayment of the loan and get the tenure down…We never thought what we would do if we have to live on a single salary…So now there was huge EMI to look into … I realised I was in for a long haul… Road accident case… so everywhere I needed a Death certificate, FIR report, Post Mortem report… For everything there were forms running into pages…indemnity bonds…notary…surety to stand up for you…No objections certificates from your co-heirs.. I learnt other than your house, your land … your car, your bike are also your property... So what if you are the joint owner of the flat…you don’t become the owner just because your hubby is no more… So what if your hubby expired in the bike accident…and you are the nominee but if the bike is in a repairable condition …you have to get the bike transferred in your name to claim the insurance…And that was again not easy… the bike or car cannot be transferred in your name without going through a set of legal documents… Getting a Succession Certificate is another battle all together… Then came the time you realise now you have to start changing all the bills, assets in your name…Your gas connection, electricity meter, your own house, your car, your investments and all sundries… And then change all the nominations where your own investments are concerned…And again a start of a new set of paperwork… To say I was shaken…my whole life had just turned upside down was an understatement…You realise you don’t have time to morn and grieve for the person with whom you spend the best years of your life… because you are busy sorting all the paper work… I realised then how much I took life for granted…I thought being a chartered accountant I am undergoing so many difficulties…what would have happened to someone who was house maker who wouldn’t understand this legal hotchpotch… A sweet friend then told me dear this was not an end…you have no kids…your assets will be for all who stand to claim…after my hubby’s sudden death…I realised it was time I took life more seriously… I now needed to make a Will… I would have laughed if a few months back if he had asked me to make one…But now life had taken a twist… Lessons learnt this hard way were meant to be shared…After all why should the people whom we love the most suffer after we are no more…Sorting some paperwork before we go will at least ease some of their grief… 1.      Check all your nominations... It’s a usual practice to put a name (i.e in the first place if you have mentioned it) and royally forget about it. Most of us have named our parent as a nominee for investments, bank accounts opened before marriage. We have not changed the same even years after they are no longer there with us. Even your salary account usually has no nomination…. Kindly check all your Nominations… -        Bank Accounts -        Fixed Deposits, NSC -        Bank Lockers -        Demat Accounts -        Insurance (Life, Bike or Car or Property) -        Investments -        PF & Pension Forms 2.      Passwords…. We have passwords for practically everything… Email accounts, Bank accounts, even for the laptop you use… What happens when your next in kin cannot access any of these simply because they do not know your password... Put it down on a paper… 3.      Investments… Every year for tax purpose we do investments… Do we maintain a excel sheet about it… If so is it on the same laptop of which the password you had not shared… Where are those physical investments hard copy… 4.      Will… Make a Will…I know you will smile even I would…had I not gone through all what I did…It would have made my life lot easier…a lot less paperwork…I wouldn’t had to provide an indemnity bond, get it notarised, ask surety to stand up, no objections certificates from others... 5.      Liabilities… When you take a loan say for your house or car…Check out on all the what ifs…what if I am not there tomorrow…what if I loose my job…Will the EMI still be within my range…If not get an insurance on the loan…The people left behind will not have to worry on something as basic as their own house… My battles has just begun...But let us at least try and make few changes so that our loved ones would not suffer after we go…We do not know        

Strange Correlations .....

At least two big American life insurers waive medical exams for some prospective customers partly because marketing data suggest that they have healthy lifestyles, says Tim Hill of Milliman, a consultancy that advises insurers on data-mining software systems.

A software picks up clues that are unavailable in medical records......some examples :

•  Recklessness in one part of someone’s life is a pretty good signal of risk appetite in others, for example. 
• A prospective policyholder with numerous speeding tickets is more likely than a safer driver to end up with a sports injury. 
• The software also detects obscure correlations. People who frequent ATMs so they can make cash payments tend to live longer than those who prefer writing cheques or paying with credit cards, it turns out.
•  People with long commutes tend to die younger. 

Why this should be is not clear: some speculate that ATM users tend to be more spontaneous types, who like to have cash in their pocket and whose lifestyle may be more active; others hypothesise that sedentary commutes mean less time to do something healthy in the evening.

( from the Economist)

Security Cameras

Coca Cola put together a clip with videos from security cameras; good fun !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auNSrt-QOhw&feature=youtu.be

Cheers

RSK

Why do People Lie?

A tissue of lies

A social psychologist looks at why people lie and cheat and what it means for business

Jun 9th 2012 | from the print  the Economist

CONTRACT disputes seldom produce courtroom drama. But the battle between BSkyB, a broadcaster, and Electronic Data Services (EDS), a software firm, was an exception. Mark Howard, Sky’s barrister, cross-examined Joe Galloway, an EDS executive, about his MBA from Concordia College in the US Virgin Islands. Mr Galloway recalled his student days in loving detail, from the college buildings to the hours he had spent sweating over his books. A few days later Mr Howard presented the court with an MBA certificate that his pet schnauzer had earned from the very same diploma mill. The clever schnauzer had even earned a higher mark than the EDS executive.

People have always lied and cheated. And businesspeople may have lied and cheated more than most: in a survey of American graduate students, 56% of those pursuing an MBA admitted to having cheated in the previous year, compared with 47% of other students. Cynics will not be surprised that people in ties sometimes tell lies—remember Enron? Plenty of executives have overstated their educational qualifications: Scott Thompson recently lost his job as boss of Yahoo! for it.

However, the punishment for dishonesty is growing harsher. America’s 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law makes chief executives and chief financial officers criminally liable for misstating financial results. The number of groups that seek to hold companies liable for their misdemeanours, from shareholder activists to NGOs, is multiplying. The internet makes a permanent record of people’s peccadilloes (try ungoogling yourself). And more and more people distrust business thanks to scandals and broken promises. Even small acts of dishonesty can cost a firm dearly: the judge cited Mr Gallagher’s “astounding ability to be dishonest”; BSkyB was later awarded $320m in damages.Lies (and the lying liars who tell them)

Yet businesspeople have given little serious thought to managing dishonesty. Managers tend to make two hoary contradictory assumptions. First, that there is a sharp line between good and bad apples, and that a manager’s job is to toss out the bad. Second, that everybody cheats if they have the right incentives and the wrong oversight, so managers must ensure that punishment is sure and swift.

A new book by Dan Ariely, “The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty”, may reinvigorate the discussion. Mr Ariely is a social psychologist who has spent years studying cheating. He also teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He has no time for the usual, lazy assumptions. He contends that the vast majority of people are prone to cheating. He also thinks they are more willing to cheat on other people’s behalf than their own. People routinely struggle with two opposing emotions. They view themselves as honourable. But they also want to enjoy the benefits of a little cheating, especially if it reinforces their belief that they are a bit more intelligent or popular than they really are. They reconcile these two emotions by fudging—adding a few points to a self-administered IQ test, for example, or forgetting to put a few coins in an honesty box.

The amount of fudging that goes on depends on the circumstances. People are more likely to lie or cheat if others are lying or cheating, or if a member of another social group (such as a student wearing a sweatshirt from a rival university) visibly flouts the rules. They are more likely to lie and cheat if they are in a foreign country rather than at home. Or if they are using digital rather than real money. Or even if they are knowingly wearing fake rather than real Gucci sunglasses. They are more likely to lie and cheat if they have been stiffed by the victim of their misbehaviour—companies that keep customers in voicemail hell are frequent victims. And people are more likely to break their own rules if they have spent the day resisting temptation: dieters often slip after a day of self-denial, for example.

Mr Ariely observes that good sales reps understand a lot of this without attending his lectures. Customers like to think well of themselves; but they also like small bribes. The key is to convince them that an inducement is not really a bribe. So drug reps make doctors feel beholden by inviting them to give lectures in golf resorts or by offering to fund their terribly important research. Doctors naturally think their later decisions are taken entirely with their patients’ best interests in mind; in fact they may be kidding themselves and cheating their patients. Sales reps also take receptionists out for fancy dinners, since these faithful gatekeepers decide which calls get put through to the boss.

What can be done about dishonesty? Harsh punishments are ineffective, since the cheat must first be caught. The trick is to nudge people to police themselves, by making it harder for them to rationalise their sins. For example, Mr Ariely finds that people are less likely to cheat if they read the Ten Commandments before doing a test, or if they have to sign a declaration of honesty before submitting their tax return. Another technique is to encourage customers to police suppliers: eBay, an online marketplace, hugely reduced cheating by getting buyers to rank sellers.

Let’s hope these wheezes work. But human beings have a remarkable talent for getting around rules—including the rules they try to impose upon themselves. And new technologies introduce new opportunities for cheating; just look at the e-mail that slipped through your spam filter. Moreover, the line between succeeding by cheating and succeeding by serving customers is not always clear: the industrial giants of the 19th century were not called “robber barons” for nothing. Great entrepreneurs succeed by breaking the old rules and pursuing crazy visions. Great salesmen invariably stretch the truth. Mr Ariely and his students will have no shortage of material for follow-up books.

Why Talk First?

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi2435187481

Why did the river Saraswati vanish?

An Ancient Civilization, Upended by Climate Change

By RACHEL NUWER  ( New York Times)

Peter CliftAn arid mud flat in the Indus delta where geologists and archaeologists studied ancient climatic conditions.

The Vedas, a collection of texts composed over 3,000 years ago in India, speak of a mythical sacred river called the Sarasvati from which the Hindu goddess of science and learning emerged. Hers was a river “surpassing in majesty and might all other waters.” But around 4,000 years ago, all was lost when climate change kicked in.

That is the conclusion of a group of geologists, geomorphologists, archaeologists and mathematicians who joined forces to answer a question that has dogged scholars for centuries: what became of the Indus civilization?

This colossal civilization rose about 4,500 years ago, flourished for 600 years and then began a steady and relentless decline. Previous scholars hypothesized that regional strife or a foreign invasion led to its unraveling, while others suggested that environmental factors may have been to blame. The researchers who took part in the new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, had a hunch that the latter theory was correct.

“What we thought was missing was how to link climate to people,” said Liviu Giosan, a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and the lead author of the study. “The answer came when we looked at the wide-scale morphology.”

Using satellite photos and topographical data, the researchers prepared digital maps of the Indus River landscape. They collected field samples to determine the age of sediments in the region and whether their structure was shaped by rivers or the wind. The information was then overlaid across prior archaeological findings, yielding a compelling new chronology of 10,000 years of human history and landscape changes, and what drove them.

The story goes something like this:

Wild, untamed rivers once slashed through the heart of the Indus plains. They were so unpredictable and dangerous that no city could take root on their banks. As the centuries passed, however, the monsoons became less frequent and the floods less intense, creating stable conditions for agriculture and settlement.

Sprawling across what is now Pakistan, northwestern India and eastern Afghanistan, the Indus civilization encompassed more than 625,000 square miles, rivaling ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in its accomplishments. In its bustling hubs, there was indoor plumbing, gridded streets and a rich intellectual life.

Unlike the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, who used irrigation systems to support crops, the Harappans relied on a gentle, dependable cycle of monsoons that fed local rivers and keyed seasonal floods.

But as later generations would discover, it was what the researchers call a “Goldilocks civilization.” After about 2,000 years, the window for agricultural stability closed again.

As time passed, the monsoons continued to weaken until the rivers no longer flooded, and the crops failed. The surplus agriculture was longer there to support traders, artists, craftsmen and scholars . The Harappans’ distinct writing system, which still has not been deciphered, fell into disuse.

People began abandoning the cities and moved eastward toward the Ganges basin, where rains were more dependable (though not dependable enough to sustain urban metropolises). The civilization dispersed, fracturing into small villages and towns.

“The cities became peripheral — they didn’t abruptly disappear,” Dr. Giosan said. “But in the end, those cities were only a place for squatters.”

The researchers found the dusty geologic remnants of the long-lost Sarasvati River in the sprawling desert surrounding the modern-day Ghaggar-Hakra valley. Rather than being fed by Himalayan runoff, as many scholars had assumed, the researchers uncovered evidence that her liquid sustenance came only from monsoons. As the climate became more arid, the weak rains could no longer sustain the river, it retreated into myth.

Dr. Giosan suggests that the Harrapans’ fate offers lessons for today. “We think about tomorrow — we think of the lives of our children or maybe grandchildren,” he said. “But these accumulating effects of climate that are so slow, they don’t really enter our vocabulary or thinking.”

Modern-day cultures and policy makers need to pay attention to “deep time,” or the very slow changes that accompany the deterioration of climatic conditions and resources, for the benefit of third, fourth or fifth generations, Dr. Giosan said. But in some cases, he adds, the changes are not so slow — for instance, the depletion of fossil fuels.

“Just as the Indus civilization did, we’re depending on a resource that came and went,” Dr. Giosan said. “That resource is oil.”