It's black, it's white

"2 bhk flat " available for sale , this was the board I saw this morning, on a new building in a prominent location in my city. Thought of enquiring the builder about it and gave him a call.

Me: I saw your building and  the ad. on it........need details please.

Other person :  Yes sir , only one 2 bhk available ,that too on the third floor ( top most floor).

Me: Area .?

Other person: 1400 sqft , sir.

Me: Price .?

Other person: we offer an all inclusive price of 14,000 per / sqft and only 80 Lakhs would be accepted in "white".Rest of 1.1 crores need to be paid in cash ( unaccounted).

Me: Thank you so much. ( call ends).


Just two questions came to my mind  after the enquiry.

1. Would any person earning legitimate money and paying taxes honestly be able to afford this deal..?
2. Why is our  IT department missing out such low hanging fruits and 'milking' the salaried class to the maximum?

There are no  answers to these "black and white " questions:-)

Whats all about RGESS?- Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme:.

Of late, there has been a lot of fuss about RGESS. All fund houses have jumped into launching RGESS schemes. This tax saving investment tool is applicable only to a class of investors as of now. ( Budget 2013 may  change something regarding this ~if we have to go by our FM's statement of  the need to increase " equity culture". Lets have our fingers crossed to see if there are any changes to RGESS.).

Following is a snapshot of the RGESS: ( courtesy Business Standard)

Please check the link for the full story.

RGESS FAQ  Doubts on taxation what is RGESS

Book Review: RIP by Mukul Deva

Looking at the cover (Syringe and a bullet) and the word "RIP" (which in normal parlance is "Rest in peace") you tend to think that there is going to be someone who's going to be killed and rested in peace.

It turns out to be true in one sense that it is about the Resurgent Indian Patriots, who put to rest the endless scams and scandals that seem to rock the entire nation.

The novel is fast paced and it starts bang on with action as a few ex-military members join hands (The K-Team_) to literally "Kill" corruption in the country.  As the K-team gets a heads up in their mission, they send in their demands anonymously (calling themselves as Resurgent Indian Patriots) which is aimed at getting a corruption free government.

The K- team threatens to kill some possible targets within a short span of time, if their demands are not met. To figure out RIP and get the nation back to normalcy, the home minister gets into action. He issues orders to get hold of RIP through two routes viz a viz the CBI route and he also establishes a rogue force to get rid of the RIP in his own interests. The race between K-team, the CBI and the rogue force form the rest of the story.

The way each of them proceeds with their goals unfolds interestingly and one of them finally evolves as the winner of this race.

There is also a subtle romance track that runs along the "bloody" story line. The author ensures that romance track doesn’t take away the reader's attention from the main theme. In unfolding the story line, the author brings about his military background very lucidly. This turns out to be the USP of the author.

(The author is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military academy. He has served the army for fifteen years- including a decade of combat operations in India and abroad)

This novel is a riveting read and a page turner if you do the reading akin watching a masala bollywood movie or reading a Robin Hood story. (But if you get into discussion as to whether RIP is morally right or wrong, then you may get different answers.)

One thing that is a bit filmy about the novel is that the RIP team gets lucky and successful most of the time , whereas the rivals including the cops are shown as less luckier and  " lesser intelligent". Leaving that as the creative right of the author, there is one more thing that irked me.  Throughout the read, I didn’t feel that I was reading a work of fiction as there is an uncanny resemblance of the real life characters to the characters in the novel. (The author apart from providing a "Disclaimer" also begins the author note stating that the book is a complete work of fiction- But still this feeling got over me multiple times during the read)

Overall a good read. Since this is the first novel of the author for me, it creates an interest to look into his previous books.

This review is a part of the Indian Bloggers Book Reviews Program. Participate now to get free books!

See who is funding the ailing maharajah!

EPFO money ( PF money of organised private sector employees) and investments :-) in LIC by prudent investors is going to keep at least a part of AI flying!



LIC, EPFO to pick up AI's Rs 7,400 cr bond issue at 9.08%: The NCD issue is part of the revival plan of the debt-laden national carrier

Shelf life of a techie!

This is an interesting point of view on shelf life of techies.It makes it all the more important ( for techies) to keep up with times.



http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/whats-the-shelf-life-of-a-techie-just-15-years/articleshow/17251620.cms