Make Smart Money

Deepaks worst experience

2010-02-16T12:26:00.002+05:30

I will let my readers know about my bad experience with one of the tailoring unit Deepaks in Adyar, Chennai. Mainly, during the school vacation, they advertise saying that they offer 10 % discount etc. That is not a matter here. I usually stitch uniform for my daughter at another tailor in the same area. Due to some unsatisfaction, I thought of trying it here. I am frustrated. I stitched 3 sets of dress. Right from the first use, the skirt can be buckled only at the last buckle. The rest are useless, since it is stitched in such a way. After few days I took it to the shop. The old man sitting at the cash counter asked me the problem, and told. His response was quite horrible. He said, "this is not tailor fault". I said I didn't come here to find if this is tailor fault or not. I want to do the adjustment here so that this can be used. You stitched this and not even for 1 term the uniform can't be used. Even you are hesitating to do this for the one which you stitched, then howcome others will do. His reply was, "The tailors are all on leave. You try after 15 days". I asked him are the tailors leave for 15 days. He said "Yes, even after that I am not sure that this can be done, because we don't have that material". I was thinking, without material then how come he will stitch new dress. I am sure, he just want me to get out, and he will never do it. The adjustment was so simple that it can be done in few minutes. I thought of making it at his place, since he has stitched it. While talking to the old man, the owner arrived (the old man seems to be his relative). I told the problem, and his response was also same. I thought this people are only keen on making money and nothing else. If he wants his customers to visit back, he mght not have responded like that. His policy seems to be, one customer, one visit, make money from him. So, I just warn my readers here, not to visit Deepaks in Adyar, as you will also get the same experience.

Pune blast

2010-02-13T20:47:00.000+05:30

News report say that there is a blast at Pune's German Bakery. Atleast 5 people feared dead and more than 20 injured. Blast occured around 7.30pm today (Feb 13, 2010). Initial report say that it is the LPG cylinder blast. Anti terrorist squad has visited the site. Some news report say that the intensity of the blast is so high that the LPG cylinder might not have caused it. Injured people are taken to hospital.

To Let boards are back in Chennai

2009-06-20T11:12:00.001+05:30

Nowadays one can find To Let board in Chennai. Last 2 years the situation went worse with no To Let boards, and the rent sky rocketing. The rate has come down a bit, both rental and sale value. But it seems it needs more correction. Everyone no that the rates had skyrocketed because of the boom in IT, but now the IT people are struggling the worst. There are frequent job cuts, salary cuts, no hike, no onsite opportunity etc. So naturally they can't pay what they paid for last 2 years. The salary has come down but all the expenses went up the highest being the rent.

2006 status

In the beginning of 2006, I was searching for a house in and around Thiruvanmiyur, the rates are between 1500 to 2500 for around 500 sqft house. If it is 2 BHK then the rates will be around 3500 to 5000 Rs. I used to go to each street and ask anybody there like iron-man, security, residents etc. Almost everybody I ask will be a instant broker. I remember one of the resident in Valmiki Nagar asked for my budget, and when I told it was upto 2500 Rs, he told me, "the rates are high here, it is 5500 Rs for 2 BHK". But then they quoted upto 12000 Rs, some even more. But now one can find a house in that area with negotiable rate. I was seeing an ad for a house to rent in Palavakkam in a local weekly classifieds, for about 2 months. There is no taker for 2 months.

Hate Brokers

I hate these brokers and never go to them. They are the one who made the rate to go as hogh as this. If you call them for a house, they ask for your budget then ask you if (your budget price + 2000) is ok for you. Suppose if you say the budget is 6000, then they ask you there is a house for 8000 Rs, is that ok for you. They will speak as if there are so many clients for them, they call you to meet them. Only after you go there they will call other brokers and enquire.

Negotiate and get the deal

If you are the one searching for house in Chennai, then do not go blindly with the rate what they quote, negotiate heavily and get the good deal. 2 months back I went to look for a house in Shastri Nagar, Adyar, the owner quoted 12000 Rs for a 2 BHK in a flat. The size will be around 1000 sqft I hope. The house looked good with nice paintings and the fittings, switch board, cupboard are all good. Usually for rented house there will not be any cupboards, just open shelves, then no electrical fittings, not a even a maintenace will be done. So, that 12000 Rs is high for me. My wife pushed me to call the owner and negotiate, but I didn't feel doing that because I thought the negotiation will be at the maximum 1000 Rs. When I wife got tensed, I called the owner, before me asking for the price he told, it was booked by another person for 10000 Rs per month rent and 6 months advance. I dropped the call and couldn't see the face of my wife.
This is 2 months back. Now there will be more houses looking for tenants. So there is a very good chance of negotiating heavily. All the Best.

Class 10 results 2009

2009-05-22T18:55:00.001+05:30

The SSLC or Class 10 Examination Results are to be declared on
23rd May 2009 at 9.30 AM.

The result can be checked at http://tnresults.nic.in/

All the Best for those who are expecting the result.

CBSE class 12 results

2009-05-22T11:33:00.002+05:30

CBSE has announced the class 12 results for 2009 for the regions Delhi, Allahabad and Guwahati Regions today (May 22, 2009). It has already announced the results for Chennai, Ajmer and Panchkula regions on May 20, 2009. There is no announcement yet by the Central Board of Secondary Education regarding the class 10 results. The results for class 12 can be checked here. All the Best for those who are expecting the result.

5 Infosys employees killed in accident

2009-05-21T17:04:00.000+05:30

Five Infosys employees killed in accident.
Five employees of Infosys Technologies died when their bus overturned in Belgaum. They were from Infosys campus, Pune and undergoing training at Mysore. Sources say that they were all under the age group of 22 to 24. 3 employees were spot dead and other 2 brought dead in hospital. Most of the other employees travelling on the bus was hospitalised.

Lok Sabha Election 2009 result news pieces

2009-05-16T21:29:00.001+05:30

It was announced that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram won the Lok Sabha elections against AIADMK's Raja Kannappan. Due to a dispute in the countng of votes the result was delayed. Time Now TV reports that P Chidambaram won. But there is still no clear picture on it. Some report says that Raja Kannappan and AIADMK didn't accept P Chidambaram's win after recounting.
When Times Now called Venkiah Naidu of BJP and asked about his view on UPA leading, he kept saying that we will see once the results are announced, and will analyse what went wrong. Someone was even questioning him, if the news that Narendra Modi will be the Prime Minister if BJP wins, leads to its failure.
CPI leader A B Bardhan says that there is no deial that Congress has won.
Jaya Prada won in Rampur.

Kanyakumari constituency result

2009-05-16T18:59:00.001+05:30

Kanyakumari constituency
In Kanyakumari constituency J.Helen Davidson of DMK won by a difference of 65584 votes. She got totally 320161 votes. Her opponents were former MP, Bellarmin of CPM, Pon.Radha Krishnan of BJP, S.Austin of DMDK. Pon.Radha Krishnan got 254474 votes.
This constituency was earlier called as Nagercoil constituency. There were 22 contestants contested including Sivagami I.A.S of BSP.

Recounting for Virudhunagar

2009-05-16T15:59:00.002+05:30

There was close battle between number of votes for Vaiko and Congress candidate Manik Thagore for Virudhunagar constituency. It was announced that Manik Thagore won by 15,764 votes. But when it was found that in one of the polling booths there was 25,000 more votes polled than the total number of votes, it was announced that the result was temporarily suspended for Virudhunagar constituency as of now. Nothing is clearly known as if the recounting has started.

Recounting for Sivaganga - Alandur

2009-05-16T15:52:00.000+05:30

There seems to be some problem with Sivaganga constituency result.
Right from the beginning it was said, P Chithambaram was trailing, and it was announced that P Chithambaram lost. Then it was said, there was some problem with Alankuli cote counting and was declared P Chithambaram won by 300 votes. So, Raj Kannappan of AIADMK, the candidate for Sivaganga rejected this and so the recounting of votes at Alandur is going on now.
Different channels and media reporting different status. Some shows P Chithambaram leading, and some shows Raj Kannappan leading. We have to wait and watch the final result.

Parliament election result updates

2009-05-16T12:32:00.004+05:30

Parliament election 2009 result as of 1 pm on May 16, 2009

Madurai constituency result
Azhagiri won by 1,40,985 votes difference.
Azhagiri - 431295
ADMK - 290310

In North Chennai DMK won.
P.Chithambaram lost Sivaganga.

In Kanyakumari DMK won.
In Vellore Indian Union Muslim League won.

Tamilnadu
ADMK leads 14
DMK leads 26

DMK contested in 21 seats
Leads - 13
Won - 3

ADMK contested in 23 seats
Leads - 7
Won - 3

Thangabalu trailing by 27000 votes.

Leading status for Election 2009

2009-05-16T12:30:00.001+05:30

Parliament election leading status as of 12.20 pm

India

1. Congress - 248
2. BJP - 157
3. 3rd Front - 90
4. Others - 33

Tamilnadu

DMK - 19
ADMK - 16

P.Chithambaram, Thangabalu, EVKS Elangovan trails

Maruti Suzuki Ritz

2009-05-15T21:43:00.001+05:30

India's car maker Maruti Suzuki India Limited unveiled its new car RITZ today. It comes in both Petrol and Diesel variant.

Feature Specifications
The features include rear fog lamp, child lock for rear door, body coloured bumbers for all its variants.
Front fog lamps is available on VXi and ZXi variant. This makes it easier to drive on the difficult weather conditions.
It comes with 8 different colours.

Price (Ex-showroom Chennai)

RITZ LDI BS IV - Rs 4.61 lakhs
RITZ VDI (ABS) BS IV - Rs 5.13 lakhs
RITZ VDI BS IV - Rs 4.95 lakhs
RITZ VXI ( ABS) BS IV - Rs 4.4 lakhs
RITZ VXI BS IV - Rs 4.16 lakhs
RITZ LXI BS IV - 3.85 lakhs
RITZ ZXI BS IV - 4.78 lakhs

SMS marketing

2009-05-15T19:29:00.000+05:30

On the day of election on May 13, 2009, there was a different kind of sms making its round. It reads like this, "Vote for DMK, Forward this sms to 30 people and get Rs 1229 balance in your mobile account. This is not a joke. See today's newspaper". What a wonderful marketing technique. There will be so many people forwarding this sms and wasting there time and money. Before forwarding you should ask yourself some questions like, if it is postpaid connection, then how will you receive the money, Will your postpaid bill paid automatically ? How come forwarding 30 sms will earn money ?
This kind of sms was earlier doing the rounds like, if you forward this sms to 10 people, you will get Rs 300 worth talktime free.
Uhhh, what are the techniques they follow to fool poor citizens.

Vote counting for Parliament elections 2009

2009-05-15T10:47:00.000+05:30

Now that the elections are over and we are waiting for the counting to start and the results to be annouced, just one day to go. It was reported that Tamilnadu records, 72.46 per cent polling, highest in 25 years. The results will be announced on May 16, 2009. We will all know, if the candidate of our choice was elected. Also we will come to know which exit polls will hold true as there are different figures from different media's exit poll. We sill see if tehe freebies, offers etc promised by the politicians, candidates, their party members, celebrities etc was beleived y the citizens of India. Tomorrow the citizens of India will be busy watching the TV channels to know the updates on the counting. And the channels will be busy conducting arguments, showing some graphs, making live phone call to the candidates or party leaders etc.

Review of irctc

2009-04-28T10:12:00.002+05:30

IRCTC is the service used to book train tickets online for Indian Railways. You can book the ticket at the convenience of your home. There is a minimal service charge included. But you don't have to go to the counter and stand in the serpentine queue. You can book ticket using credit card or debit card. If you have internet banking with some of the supported banks by irctc, you can book ticket through that account. But there are also negatives in booking ticket at the irctc site.
Many times you will see the message "Service Unavailable". This happens mostly at 8.00 am IST. This is the time the Tatkal bookings starts for the journey date 5 days from this day. And in few minutes the available tickets will be over. Though you pay a high amount for Tatkal quota, you end up booking Waitlisted ticket or get no ticket.

irctc vs railway ticket counter

To book your ticket at railway counter, you may need to queue up at the counter. The queue depends on the place and time. Usually weekends will be more rush. Also if you want to pay using credit card or debit card, then some places there will not be this facility. For Tatkal tickets, if you wait at the computer for booking through irctc site, then sometimes you will see the "Service Unavailable" message. This happened for me today. Till 7.59 am, the site was working good. After that it went down. If you go at the counter, then based on first come first serve basis, your chance of getting a ticket depends.

eticket vs iticket

An eticket is the one which can be booked upto the time of chart preparation, and can be booked for Confirmed, RAC or Waitlisted tickets. After booking the ticket you may take a print out of the same. This is the ticket. You need to take a original photo id card of atleast one passenger wile travelling. Earlier you need to give the details of the same while booking ticket and has to carry the same id card.
iticket is the normal ticket which will be delivered at your doorstep. You need not take print out. But unlike eticket this can only be booked for journey date of atleast 2 - 3 days in advance. Because you need to give sufficient time for the courier to arrive. Also ensure that your city or town is covered by them, because not for all places the ticket will be delivered.
So eticket are the convenient one, because even if you lose the ticket you need not worry, you may login and take another print. Also you need not be in a worry till last minute to track the courier.

Tatkal quota

Tatkal bookings are the one where the ticket can be booked at last minute. Last minute in the sense, the quota opens 5 days prior to the journey date. If the ordinary tickets is not available like waitlisted etc, or if you doubt that the ordinary ticket booked by you will not get confirmed status, you may opt for Tatkal ticket.

Rental life in Chennai

2009-04-26T18:33:00.003+05:30

"Rentals has come down now. Nobody is paying that much rent now". These are the words spoken by the tenants living in rented houses talk. Tenants are trying to reduce the rent for the house which they stay. Or they look for some other place where the rent is less compared to their present rent. In my experience, I could see a dip in the rental amount the landlords quote, and they are even ready to negotiate. Last year when I search for house, almost all the landlords will never negotiate, but this year the situation is changed. Some houses are even kept vacant for atleast 3 weeks or more. I checked the same ad appearing for 4 weeks in one of the local classifieds that gets published on Sundays. Initially the rent they quoted was 11000 Rs, then they quoted 10000 Rs. So there are more houses being vacant, try to negotiate heavily and strike a good deal.

Going for a broker ?

Usually if you go and search for a house in some area, almost every people you enquire will be a broker like the ironing man in that area, security of the flat, petty shops etc. They will charge you a 1 month rent as their commission. Its not like the landlords are their clients. They come to know about the vacancy in a place through other brokers or security of the flat. When people search for the house they show this place, some even ask for a service charge for just showing the house whether you liked it or not.

Terrible to live in rented house

In Chennai as I know people just want money without even spending any, atleast I am speaking about landlords. When the tenant ask for a maintenance in the place, he will try to escape. The rental agreement will be 11 months, so as soon as you complete 11 months, the landlord will request for the increment in the rent, the increment % will be upto 50% of what you pay earlier. Some smartly say, that they need the house or going to dispose the house, so please vacate as soon as possible. This is mostly for giving it for another person for more rent. It will really be a tension and stressfull life to live in rented house. While searching the house you will be tensed by the way these landlords speak. Today when I called a person asking for details about his advertisent, he gave the details, then asked for my name, then he asked are you xxxx (religion). I said, No, I am yyyy (religion). He said, we are looking for only this xxxx religion tenants. I didn't understand his view on this. When he can live in the same area, city, country with other religions, why is finding only his religion as tenants. However the coutry changes, educated, people like this will exist. In a metropolitan city Chennai there are this kind of people. Some request for vegetarian people, but that is ok, that has a meaning because the landlord doesn't want the tenant to cook any non-veg in his house, and it is acceptable. But this person person shocked me by saying this. If he has a business, will he opt for only his religion as his customers ? If he is salaried person, will he work for only his religion boss ? If he is ill, will he go to the doctor of his religion only ? If he needs blood, will he accept only from the donors of his religion only. There are now increasing number of people donating their organs, does they donate with the condition that this should go only to his religion people ? No. Ohh, just for renting his house, he seeks his religion people. I don't understand how these people are educated. I urge the landlords if you are reading this, please don't do this. Its all human beings. You can even check the background of the people before leting out your house, but not like this.

Landlord's words

My landlord showed me the three fuses at a switch board and said that it was 3 phase electricity supply. but really it was not. In fact I asked him about this only after getting into the house. Then when I asked for the rotator switch, to get current from other line if there is power cut in one line, he was bluffing something. But still he was in his point, that he has a 3 phase electricity supply. I even told him that when there was power cut last week in one phase we were left without power, if there is 3 phase then I should get power for any of the part in my house.
If you have any experience with rental life, please post it in Comments section.

SBI Card reward points worth no more

2009-04-17T15:21:00.000+05:30

Credit card reward points are one of the features the card company used to convince people to market the cards. Credit Card reward points are of different types like you get cash back, gift vouchers, fuel coupons, air miles rewards etc. Earlier if you redeem your credit card points, there is no charges involved. For SBI card and Citibank Cash back gold card there is no charges earlier, I am not sure of other cards. Yesterday when I tried to redeem my reward points in my SBI Gold card, the customer care executive said that there will be a charge of Rs 75 + taxes for redeeming reward points. So, each time uf you want to redeem reward points there will be this charge included. They said this was effective from April 01, 2009. This kind of things they will never notify in their site, because by seeing this customers will get alerted. If they had said this earlier in their site, then before April 01, 2009 so many customers might have redeemed their reward points. Anyhow I have no other option but to redeem it. Earlier once, when I tried to redeem the reward points, I selected 2 Adidas voucher for Rs 500, since I had . The points required for each redemption is only around 1200 the website said, but in customer care center they said that around 1950 points is required. So I could only get one 500 Rs voucher. They said their website will be updated later on. Now with charging Rs 75 + taxes, I don't think it is worth to use SBI Csrd. Also their gifts has been reduced, and the power points required has been increased. Compared to few days back, they only have few gifts to choose from. 1 year after they cheated me at balance transfer, I started using this card now, but don't think it is helpful in anyway, or is good from other cards. So my next target is to close this card.

Fund transfer methods in India

2009-04-15T19:45:00.004+05:30

Better ways for transferring funds in India.

Transfer funds from one bank account to another account in India can be done in many ways.
Online transfer is the easy and convenient way for doing fund transfer. Now almost all the banks provide internet banking to their customers. If you don't have online access to your bank account, then you can go for other ways like cheque deposit, demand draft, cash withdraw and deposit etc.

Online Transfer

This method can be used to transfer funds from any account to any account in India at anytime, from anywhere in the world. That is you can do fund transfer from anywhere for your account to any other account. If the transfer is between the same banks (Citibank to Citibank, State Bank group to State Bank group, etc), then the transfer will be immediate irrespective of the time, and at present there is no charge involved for the same. If the transfer is between different banks, then you have to do NEFT or RTGS mode of transfer. The minimum amount for RTGS mode is 1,00,000 Rs, and this is real-time transfer. NEFT transfer request needs to be submitted and it takes place during the next batch of transfers. For more about how the NEFT transaction takes place, and the time at which the transfers takes place, read my post here.
NEFT transaction
Regarding the charges, now some banks charge a flat fee of Rs 5 for NEFT transaction done upto 1,00,000. Earlier RBI has waived this fee till March 31, 2009, and had requested banks to charge amount not exceeding Rs 5 upto 1,00,000 Rs.

Pros
You need not be present at the place of the branch.
Can transfer at anytime.
Outstation cheque collection charge, DD charge or travel to bank is saved.

Cons
Risk of phissing or some fake sites collecting username and password.
Online transfer can be done only to banks which was under core banking.

Cash withdraw and deposit

If you don't have access to online banking for your account, then this is one of the way by which you can transfer funds from one account to another. If the source account and destination account are at different banks, then you need to withdraw cash from ATM, and then deposit it in the bank at which the destination account lies. If both the account are at the same branch, then it is so simple that the transfer can be done at the counter by filling the withdrawal slip with a cheque leaf and a deposit slip.

Pros
The good thing about this method is that the fund will be available immediately once the deposit is done.

Cons
The bank holding destination account needs to be easliy accessible to you. Else if you deposit it at any other branches of the same bank then there will be some charge for that.
This can be done only at the working hours of the bank.

Cheque deposit

If you are not hurry for your transfer, then you can drop a cheque at the destination account branch. In 2 days the amount will get transferred. If the source account is in outer station, then outstation collection charges will be applicable if it is ordinary cheque. Otherwise you need to drop MCC (Multi City Cheque) to avoid charges.

Pros
No hassle of carrying cash to bank.

Cons
It will take upto a maximum of 2 days for the fund to get transferred.

One other way is transferring funds through ATM. For State Bank group ATM cards used at State Bank group ATMs, there will be link called Transfers, If you go there, there will be something called Visa Transfer. It will ask for the destination card accout card number for which the transfer has to be done. I have not done this anytime. But enquired at State Bank customer care and they said that it can be done to only State Bank group cards.

Change blogger template column width

2009-04-14T17:15:00.001+05:30

How to change the width of the blogger template column.
Changing the width of the columns at blogger template is so simple. By changing the width of the column you can make the look of your blog more readable, and the users tend to stay for more time.
Suppose your blog template uses almost 50% of the screen for blog post and the rest for sidebar, you may feel like increasing the blog post width, so that more space is used for post and less space for sidebar.
Here is the simple steps to do this.

1. Login to blogger and go to Dashboard -> Layout -> Edit HTML.
2. Click on the 'Expand Widget Templates'
3. Before making any changes, take a backup of your template by clicking on 'Download Full Template' and saving it to your computer.
4. Find for the code, #outer-wrapper {
change the width of this to 100%
5. Find for the code, #main-wrapper {
make the width of this to say 600px
6. Find the code, #main {
this is the place where your post appears. So, increasing this will increase your post width.
make the width of this to slightly less than #main-wrapper { width.
7. Find the code, #side-wrapper { or #sidebar-wrapper {
change the width of this so that, this size and size of the width of #main-wrapper doesn't exceed the screen size or the width of the #content-wrapper {.
8. Click on Preview to see if it worked as expected.
Change the width of the #main-wrapper {, #main { and #side-wrapper { or #sidebar-wrapper { and preview to check if the page was displaying as you expected.

Privacy Policy

2009-04-13T19:48:00.000+05:30

Privacy Policy for http://sameerbloggs.blogspot.com/

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ATM response code 070

2009-04-09T19:26:00.005+05:30

Did you face this issue - can check for balance available at your account through ATM, but couldn't withdraw money ?
I had a Savings bank account with SBT (State Bank of Travancore). When I tried to withdraw money from State Bank ATM, it said, "Last Trasaction Cancelled" and gave the slip as Response Code 070. Corporation bank ATM gave the Response code as 096. I tried from 5 different ATMs for 1 week, but getting the same issue. But am able to print mini statement and view available balance. I contacted my branch through email as I was 900 kms far from my branch and is in urgent need of money for paying my credit card bill. Since I didn't get any reply for 3 days, I did a CC to General Manager, and requested for an update. I got a reply from ATM helpdesk, saying that my account is in "dormant status" as I didn't do any debit transaction for few months.

Funny reply from helpdesk
Did you see that "debit transaction" ? Yes, they say that. I often deposit money to the account through online mode, and check for balance at ATMs, that works perfectly. It was so surprising and so funny for me to see that email, as they say if any debit transaction doesnot take place for few months, then the account is dormant. And they asked me to do a debit transaction and then try using the ATM card. The due date has approached for the card and I couldn't withdraw money.

Debit money often to keep your account active ?
I replied them asking, if I need to debit money often even if not neede just to keep my account active ?, and why is it considered dormant account though I recently and often deposit money, and is theren't a way where some changes can be done at the branch to rectify this ? I am waiting for the reply and will update here once I receive it from them.

Finally you will get the solution and will be benefited
The reason I wrote this post is, when I searched for the solution for this issue in net, I couldn't find one. So if I get a solution and post it here, someone who searches for solution for the same issue will get benefited. I was so much tensed till now for about 10 days since my credit card company will charge me a heavy interest, if I don't pay the bill on time, and this time I had done heavy purchases, and all the purchases will be charged interest.
I planned well and deposited money then and there for paying my credit card bill once my Insurance premium has been deducted through ECS debit. But everything has turned useless.

Trouble at Chennai beach

2009-04-07T09:56:00.000+05:30

Chennai is famous for its beaches. But it is all made dirty by its visitors, hawkers, vendors, pets brouhgt by visitors etc. There are so many NGOs trying to clean the beaches and creating awareness to people.
Beaches are a place one visits to be peaceful. Thiruvanmiyur beach is one of the good beach where the vendors and hawkers are less compared to Besant Nagat beach and Marina beach. On April 5, 2009, evening whoever visited the beach might be surprised to see this. A person brought 3 gigantic sized dogs. He was playing with it with untied belt. The dogs were running here and there. It even disturbed many of the visitors sitting at the beach. It ran towards them, and when the owner of the dog shouts, it go back. One of the dog was running of its own and many of the visitors moved with fear. When one old man went and argued with the owner of the dog, the dogs jumped at him, luckily it stopped.
It is common sense to know that shouldn't disturb others like this. It is not at all bad to bring pets with you for jogging or walking in beach or at streets. But please keep in mind that it shouldn't hurt or disturb others, as people come to beach to find some peace and escape from the summer hot at their house, work tension etc.
Even in streets people play with their dogs like this. Some even don't care when it make dirty at the vehicles parked.

Chennai autos characteristics

2009-04-07T09:54:00.001+05:30

If you are in Chennai, then you probably might have come across this.
We all know that the Chennai Autos are known for its high hire rate. Though the government said few times that the Autos should use meter and charge only what the meter reads, nothing can be done. There are also some instances where the newspaper reports some complaint numbers which can be called to lodge a complaint if the auto driver refuses to use meter. Other than this there are various characteristics of a Chennai Auto.

1. During night times, most of the autos doesn't use head lights.
2. Have you ever seen an indicator glowing at Chennai Auto. They will never use indicators to turn.
3. All of a sudden the Auto will make a U-turn at the same road. Be careful while overtaking or following an auto, you need a sudden brake.
4. When you are about to cross the road or getting out from a shop, he will slow the auto near you, asking "Sir/Madam Auto-va".
5. When you are waiting for the bus at bus-stop, you will see autos slowing and queueing.
6. The auto driver will keep on spitting, without even considering the passenger in the auto.
7. For a distance of 10 kms, he will ask around Rs 200, and you have to start bargaining. And finally he will increase 10 to 20 Rs for what you agree, saying, "Sir, don't look at 10 Rs sir".
8. Though you say the place clearly, where you want to be dropped, before 2 kms he will start asking, "which way Sir", "Still more you have to go", etc.
9. When you get down from the long route bus, auto drivers will crowd and ask if auto is needed, some will even carry your luggages down as if they came to receive you.
10. The sound of a Chennai auto will be unique Krrrrrrr, after getting down from the auto you feel a relief to your ear.

Bad Things

There were some news about auto drivers that they push the passengers and rob the bag. One auto driver even slapped a passenger at R.A.Puram.

An auto driver like Cinema hero

Recently I read a good thing about auto driver. One of the auto driver while dropping a passenger in Tambaram railway station saw a lady shouting for help when a person snatched her chain and running. This auto driver chased and caught the person and handed him over to police station. Probably he has to be given a work in Police department.

NEFT transaction

2009-04-04T13:09:00.004+05:30

What is a NEFT ?
NEFT is National Electronic Funds Transfer system which is used to transfer funds online from any bank to any other bank. Not all the banks has this facility.

How does this operate ?
The requests are settled in batches. You have to submit the NEFT request to bank and this will be submitted by the bank to its Service center. The service center then forwards the same to the local RBI, and will be included for next settlement. In weekdays the batches are at 0900, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1500 and 1700 hours and on Saturdays it is at 0900, 1100 and 1200 hours. So remember you have to submit the NEFT request quite earlier to this time so that the bank process it and sent.

Charges
After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked the bank not to charge anything from the customers for withdrawing cash from other bank ATM, there is this NEFT charge comes into effect. It is the processing charge for transferring fund online using NEFT. This charge was waived till 31 March 2009 by the RBI. The charges are as follows,
Upto Rs 1 lakh - not exceeding Rs 5 per transaction.
Rs 1 lakh and above – not exceeding Rs 25 per transaction.

Advantages
Quick transfer of funds. Your fund will be processed on the same day itself, if submitted before the last settlement time.
No hassles of visiting the bank and getting DD or sending cheque. Assume if your parent lives far away from you and you need to send money to them, you may need to send Demand draft or cheque, which will again has postage/courier charges and collection charges. This NEFT way is too comfortable.

Whom to Contact if the money is not credited ?
First you need to contact your bank / branch. If the issue is not resolved satisfactorily, then you may need to contact the Customer Service Department of RBI on nefthelpdeskncc@rbi.org.in or write to -
The General Manager,
Reserve Bank of India,
National Clearing Centre
First Floor, Free Press House
Nariman Point
Mumbai – 400 027

No charge for cashwithdrawal at other ATM

2009-04-04T12:00:00.002+05:30

Account holders in India can feel happy that there will not be any charge levied if you use your ATM card to withdraw money from other bank ATMs. Earlier this facility was given by some of the banks to their customers if it is their salary account. A circular issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 10 March 2008 has asked banks not to levy any charges for checking balance amount in any ATMs, for withdrawing money from own ATMs and the maximum charges that a bank can charge is Rs 20 if the customer uses other bank ATMS. This too is now free with effective from 01 April 2009. If you are charged by any ATMs then probably you need to follow up with the bank for the reversal of the charges.

BSE and NSE trading holidays 2009

2009-04-03T08:46:00.006+05:30

During the calendar year 2009, BSE and NSE will observe the following trading holidays.

	Holidays	Date and Day
1	Moharram	8th January, 2009 Thursday
2	Republic Day	26th January, 2009 Monday
3	Mahashivratri	23rd February, 2009 Monday
4	Id-E-Milad	10th March, 2009 Tuesday
5	Holi	11th March, 2009 Wednesday
6	Ram Navmi	3rd April, 2009 Friday
7	Mahavir Jayanti	7th April, 2009 Tuesday
8	Good Friday	10th April, 2009 Friday
9	Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti	14th April, 2009 Tuesday
10	Maharashtra Day	1st May, 2009 Friday
11	Ramzan Id	21st September, 2009 Monday
12	Dasera	28th September, 2009 Monday
13	Gandhi Jayanti	2nd October, 2009 Friday
14	Diwali ( Bhaubeez)	19th October, 2009 Monday
15	Gurunanak Jayanti	2nd November, 2009 Monday
16	Christmas	25th December, 2009 Friday
17	Moharram	28th December, 2009 Monday

Few of the festivals like Bakrid, Independance day falls on Saturday or Sunday. The list above shows the trading holidays during the weekdays.

Intraday tips for 02 April 2009

2009-04-02T07:42:00.001+05:30

Intraday tips for 02 April 2009 for some of BSE stocks.

ONGC
Scrip Code:500312 Company: ONG CORP LTD

Previous Close 803.85

Support 1 - 768
Support 2 - 732
Resistance 1 - 824
Resistance 2 - 845

HINDUSTAN DORR OLIVER
Scrip Code:509627 Company::HINDUS DOR O

Previous Close 42.1

Support 1 - 39
Support 2 - 37
Resistance 1 - 43
Resistance 2 - 45

SBI
Scrip Code:500112 Company::STATE BANK OF INDIA

Support 1 - 1009
Support 2 - 945
Resistance 1 - 1109
Resistance 2 - 1144

TATA MOTORS
Scrip Code:500570 Company::TATA MOTORS

Support 1 - 175
Support 2 - 170
Resistance 1 - 185
Resistance 2 - 189

MTS mobile service in Tamilnadu

2009-03-31T11:41:00.006+05:30

MTS mobile service has launched its service in Tamilnadu. It is the CDMA service.
About MTS, it is headquartered in Russia. The main shareholders are Sistema and Shyam group.

10 lakhs minutes free call ?

When I saw the advertisement that 10,00,000 minutes of free call for just Rs 499, I thought of checking it up. I contacted the customer care center and found the following.
Initial Cost - Rs 999 for phone + connection.
Starter pack - Rs 49 with Rs 10 talktime.
Regarding the 10 lakh minutes free talktime, you have to top up with the MCard for Rs 499 and you get a free talk time of 150 minutes per day upto 2028. Free calls to MTS only. The 10 lakh minutes they calculate with a limit of 150 minutes per day till 2028.
At present they have 2 models of phones, both priced at Rs 999. You can even buy the sim and connection without phone, if you already have a CDMA phone which can support MTS card. Nokia 6275 is one such model which supports MTS, not sure if their is some other model phones available that supports MTS.

Other tariff in Rs.

Local MTS to MTS - 0.35
Local to non-MTS - 0.70
Local to landline phones - 0.70
STD to mobile / landline - 1.40

SMS Charges
Local & National (all networks) - 0.50
ISD - 5.00

Recharge vouchers
Recharge vouchers are available for Rs 200, Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 20, Rs 10

MSavers
They have other vouchers like booster card for Rs 99, Rs 49, Rs 45, Rs 30, Rs 25 all serve different purpose.

Let us wait and see if MTS catches the market and the competitors reduce their price.

Sms to TV channel programs - viewers spend, TV profits

2009-03-31T07:33:00.000+05:30

If you have the chance to watch reality shows in TV channels in India, you will see every now and then they request viewers to vote through sms. They have a sms poll. This is the one which is used to make the viewers spend for no use to the viewer. Even the tamil music channels like Sun Music, Jaya Max, Isai Aruvi etc come with this idea of sms. The viewer sends an sms in the particular format, and it will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Not sure how many sms get displayed and how many get filtered out. These sms are mostly send by lovers. Some sms will be so funny. It reads like this, "X : Hi ..., Why no call ?", as if the other person is watching this that time. Some will send, "X : I miss you ...". I didn't understand why this people getting fooled by these channels. And this too irritates the viewer in watching the good song.

Asianet utilises sms for deciding result of contestants
Last year, in Asianet's Idea Star Singer 2007 in one of the elimination round a conestant named Krishnakanth was called and announced the result as eliminated. I was very shocked when Krishnakanth was asked for his final words on this competition. He said that, "I scored really good marks, that I couldn't even come to this danger zone. I didn't expect that I will be in danger zone". The reply from Ranjini Haridhas and judge M.G. Sreekumar was that his sms score was less. This sms score is the one which the viewers has to poll for the contestant of their choice. This commercial sms which is being sent to a 5 to 7 digit number cost very high than the normal sms. In the same stage another lady was also called and announced the result. Before announcing her result, they said that she scored very less marks from judges compared to Krishnakanth. So obviously the viewers are in the thought that she too will be eliminated. But when her result was announcedm she was IN. Ranjini Haridhas said that she scored more in sms poll. I didn't understand onething, then why is there judges giving scores. Let them also poll through sms. Sms poll is one of the factor in deciding the score they say. So, if a person has too many friends or contacts, then he will get more sms and he can be IN. Even one person can poll more than 1 sms. Why do they have such rule ?, all because the viewers are spending and they are profiting. I think they can also include the profit they got from this sms poll while announcing the sponsors in every break. When they say that this builder will give flat worth this much amount to 1st prize winner, this company will give prize worth this much amount to 2nd prize winner etc, they can also say, we got this much amount of money from sms.
The sms poll was there for almost all reality shows. In Vijay TV, for Jodi no.1, the viewers has to poll the jodi of their choice for best performance. They had different seasons for this program. I think this is there in some other channels too.

Is it worth taking advice from experts ?

2009-03-30T10:43:00.002+05:30

I already wrote a post about the so called financial advisors and financial magazines advice to people about the markets, investment strategy etc, is it worth of taking that. Now some more to add on that.
Everyone might have read these so called finacial advisors and magazines advicing people to go for SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) route, to invest in mutual funds and do not go in bulk. Yes, that is a good advice as you don't lose heavily if the market fell after you invest in bulk. They also come up with some tables showing how you profit from this route. Yesterday in one of the leading business magazine, at the front page, they said, that at present scenario the SIP investors are hit most than the non SIP investors. They quote some examples in tables showing the returns generated by SIP route and non SIP route. Yes, the SIP investors were hit the most. Now for somedays you can see the so called advisors and magazines advice people not to take the SIP route or they don't talk anything about SIP. Somedays back everywhere in financial magazine, site or advisors, all talk about FMPs. They give comparison table between bank fixed deposit and FMP, how much returns after tax dedcution you will receive, and how this FMP is best compared to bank fixed deposit etc. Now no where you can see any news about FMPs, as they are not the success as foreseen by the so called experts. And when the gold price rises, these experts and magazines draw some tables for comparison between gold and sensex, gold and nifty, gold and solver, gold and real estate, what not ?, to come to the conclusion that gold has given the highest returns in the last 1 year, or 6 months etc. But once the price of gold comes down, they will advice that only 5% of asset should be in gold, blah.. blah.
So it is not at all worth to get advice from so called experts. When the Sensex is at 17K, they called it the bottom, when at 14K, they called the same thing, when at 10K, they called the same thing.

SBI executives unaware of their products

2009-03-30T08:11:00.004+05:30

Recently our employer provided us with facilities that the salary account can be transferred to SBI or HDFC from Citibank if required. I didn't have any problem with Citibank salary account. I can transfer funds easily, get statements easily, got my queries answered clearly etc. But what made me think is SBI's words that said some benefits in having salary account with them. The benefits they said were,
1. Concession in Demat account maintenance fees.
2. Free Multi City cheque(limited number of leaves).
3. Auto sweep facility.
4. 2 cards will be issued so that the account can be operated in either or survivor basis.
etc.
Also it was clearly said that the existing personal account we hold can be transferred to salary account.
I voted to go for SBI and when the helpdesk was put I went there to convert my personal account into salary account. Why open another new account. I was shocked with their answer, that the existing account cannot be converted into salary account. Ohhh... only from SBI people you can hear such responses. I asked them repeatedly what is the problem or why is it not possible to convert personal account into salary account. They said the features are different for both, so it is never possible. My thinking is that, there may be a flag or something which has to be changed to make a personal account into salary account. I didn't understand why it is difficult for them to do this.
Then regarding the concession in demat account maintenance fees, they said that the account opening is free. And what is the concession rate of annual maintenance fees ?, that is the same as ordianry cusotmers. This account opening fees is already waived (may be for limited period), and even if you go by ordinary route without salary account, you will not be charged anything as demat account opening fees.
Then regarding the multi city cheque, they are not aware, when it will be issued.
Then regarding the autosweep facility, they are not aware what it is !!!!.
The welcome kit is issued there itself. But it contained one ATM card, cheque book, and internet banking user id and password. When asked about the 2 cards, which can be operated in either or survivor basis, they are not aware of that.
I got in touch with my HR regarding the unability of transferring the personal account into salary account, and they told me that it can be done, just with the help of a letter and the passbook. But since these people told me that it is never possible, and got the welcome kit from them, I got another account opened.
State Bank of India has very good facilities and features. It has all the facilities that the private banks offer, and the charges is also very less compared to private banks for the same service. But you need to know everything about banking and the fees involved. Because I was charged money for depositing a multi city cheque with them, which shouldn't be. I asked 3 employees of the bank and was said it is chargeable, and finally after following it up with the cusotomer helpdesk got my charge reversed. Since I got doubt that then what is a multi city cheque for if it is charged a collection charge, what is its advantages than a outstation cheque, when its collection charge is higher than that of a outstation cheque, I followed it up with them. Read here for knowing how it was charged.

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2009-03-28T20:50:00.001+05:30

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Intraday tips for 2009 March 30

2009-03-28T20:27:00.000+05:30

Intraday tips for 2009 March 30 for some of BSE stocks
Tata Motors
Scrip Code:500570 Company:TATA MOTORS

Previous Close 188.80

Support 1 - 175
Support 2 - 161
Resistance 1 - 198
Resistance 2 - 206

SBI
Scrip Code:500112 Company:STATE BANK OF INDIA

Previous Close 1,125.35

Support 1 - 1093
Support 2 - 1061
Resistance 1 - 1145
Resistance 2 - 1164

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES
Scrip Code:500325 Company:RELIANCE

Previous Close 1548

Support 1 - 1528
Support 2 - 1509
Resistance 1 - 1575
Resistance 2 - 1602

JaiPrakash Associates
Scrip Code:532532 Company:JAIPRAK ASSO

Previous Close 89.55

Support 1 - 86
Support 2 - 82
Resistance 1 - 92
Resistance 2 - 95

Abbreviations in stock market

2009-03-18T17:24:00.001+05:30

Below is the brief description of the list of abbreviations used while placing order in stock market.

RL - Regular Lot for BSE orders

NL - Normal Lot for NSE orders

Limit - To place the order at specified price

Market - To place the order at prevailing market price

StopLoss - To restrict the loss on the open position

DAY - The Order is valid for the day

IOC - Immediate Or Cancel - Execute the order immediately at the current prevailing price or price specified, if not, then cancel

Obligation - You can sell the deliveries before that comes to your demat account after you bought the same

MAR - This is useful to place orders in F&O segment.

INTRADAY - This is to buy and sell on the same day.

DEL - This is to place order for long term.

DISC QTY - This is to disclose only a part of the quantity order, if you don't want to disclose the real quantity.

TRIG PRICE - This is to set trigger price for Stop Loss order.

Order types of Stock Market

2009-03-18T11:57:00.003+05:30

What is an Order Type in Stock market?
When trading at the stock market, you have to specify what order type it is. There are two types of Orders.
1. Market Order
2. Limit Order.

Market Order is nothing but your order will get executed whatever the prevailing price is. For example, if you want to buy a particular stock, then once you place the order it will be executed. But remember there is a negative side in placing this Market Order type. Suppose if the stock you are to buy is trading with high volatality then, you may place the order at one price and while executing the order it will be bought at some other price that was prevailing while your order is getting executed.

Limit Order is that you set the price of a particular stock for trading. When you place the order you set the price for which it should be traded. Suppose a stock is prevailing at a price of Rs 120, and if you want to buy that stock if the price comes to 115, then you set the Limit Order with price as Rs 115. Once the price comes down to Rs 115, your order will get executed. In the case of limit order to buy the investor specifies the maximum price he is willing to pay. In the case of limit order to sell the investor specifies the minimim price he will accept.

Presence of mind in untried emergencies

2009-03-17T11:07:00.000+05:30

This is one of a very good email I received. Read On..
Once, a dog lost his way deep into the jungle.
He almost fainted to see a lion coming straight to him at a very near distant.
" I will be dead today " , thought he.
There were some bones lying over there.
He turned his back towards lion and started pretending as if he is eating those bones.
When lion was very close to him he cried out loudly " Wow, what a fun eating a lion, by chance if I can get another one, it will be a treat ".
Lion thought " What a dangerous dog!!!!! He kills lions and eats it. Let me run away from here and save my life ".
Now, there was a Monkey hiding on the tree there watching the entire show.
He thought " It's a good chance to tell the truth to the lion. Lion will become my friend and I will not have to run saving my life from him ".
He just ran away to inform the entire episode to Lion.
The dog had seen him going and quickly understood the ploy.
Both lion and monkey were coming back to the dog and the lion was furious.
When lion was very close to him he again cried out loudly " It has been half an hour and yet that stupid monkey can't fetch another lion??!!!! ".

Morale : "It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of man is tested."

Intraday Tips for 16 March 09

2009-03-16T10:46:00.002+05:30

DLF
Scrip Code:532868 Company:DLF LTD

Previous Close 152.55

Support 1 - 143
Support 2 - 133
Resistance 1 - 158
Resistance 2 - 164

SBI
Scrip Code:500112 Company:STATE BANK OF INDIA

Previous Close 953.05

Support 1 - 932
Support 2 - 910
Resistance 1 - 965
Resistance 2 - 977

BHARTI AIRTEL
Scrip Code:532454 Company:BHARTI ARTL

Previous Close 558.7

Support 1 - 547
Support 2 - 534
Resistance 1 - 570
Resistance 2 - 580

ONGC
Scrip Code:500312 Company:ONG CORP LTD

Previous Close 705.95

Support 1 - 694
Support 2 - 681
Resistance 1 - 714
Resistance 2 - 721

Intraday Tips for 09 March 09

2009-03-08T21:04:00.002+05:30

SBI
Scrip Code:500112 Company:STATE BANK OF INDIA

Previous Close 940.85

Support 1 916
Support 2 890
Resistance 1 961
Resistance 2 982

DLF
Scrip Code:532868 Company:DLF LTD

Previous Close 145.3

Support 1 142
Support 2 138
Resistance 1 149
Resistance 2 152

BAYER CROP
Scrip Code:506285 Company:BAYER CROP

Previous Close 210

Support 1 193
Support 2 177
Resistance 1 219
Resistance 2 229

ICICI
Scrip Code:532174 Company:ICICI BANK Ltd

Previous Close 269.3

Support 1 253
Support 2 237
Resistance 1 285
Resistance 2 300

Firefox not saving any page or images

2009-03-07T22:52:00.002+05:30

While trying to download any page or image in firefox, sometimes it doesn't get saved, even the Download window doesn't pop up. If you check on the directory searching for the saved file, it will not be there. Check for the status bar to see, if it says, "n active downloads remaining", where n is any number. Now if you try looking for the Download window, that too will not appear. Don't panic. There is simple way to do this.
This may be caused when you tried downloading a file. Firefox will scan the file with the antivirus installed in your system. Due to some reasons the scanning will be stucked. So the Download history or active downloads be strucked.
Follow this steps I mentioned in my previous post to do this.

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Firefox Download window not appearing

2009-03-07T22:24:00.001+05:30

Even after pressing Ctrl J, your Download window is not appearing, or after clicking on Tools -> Downloads, the Downloads window doesn't open in firefox, then follow this simple steps.
1. Go to D:\Documents and Settings\your username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxx
2. Find for the file, downloads.rdf
3. Delete downloads.rdf
xxxxxx is something that will be set by Firefox.
Don't worry in deleting this file, this will get created the next time you start Firefox.
If you don't find the Application Data folder then in folder options, choose to show hidden files.
If you don't find downloads.rdf, then search for the file downloads.sqlite
If while deleting the file it says, that "the file cannot be deleted, it is used by another application", then restart the system, and try deleting the file. This will work.

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Review of SBICAPSEC online trading account

2009-03-07T20:19:00.011+05:30

After seeing the news that the stock market is in high volatality, I got interested in stock market and opened DEMAT account and online trading account with SBI.

Before opening DEMAT account, I asked several questions within myself...
If it is really needed now, as there is annual account maintenance fees. If I get into stock market now, will I lose money, or can i make very good money. After reviewing so many forums, articles, I made up my mind to go with SBI for opening DEMAT account and online trading account. I saw some leaflets at some SBI branches telling about their product ez-trade. I went and enquired at Chennai Adyar SBI branch. The customer relationship executive gave me a contact number of a person and asked me to get in touch with him. So, I went to another branch called Indra Nagar branch nearby which has kept a big board showing sbicapsecs. The people asked me to come around 11.00 am, as the responsible people for sbicapsec didn't arrive yet. I went to them in the afternoon and enquired to the lady sitting there. When I asked her few (2 or 3) doubts, she showed bit of angry and asked me do you have any experience with trading ? I said, No, I am just beginning. Then I asked her for the account opening form, and was surprised by her answer saying, they don't have forms right now, and asked me to some the next day. I got frustrated, and even thought of not opening account with them. Meanwhile I sent email to helpdesk of sbicapsec asking for what is the difference between ez-trade and sbicapsec. Then I came to know that ez-trade was SBI providing trading account with Motilal Oswal broker. And sbicapsec was SBI's product. I am not sure if they still open account for ez-trade. When I got a reply from them, they asked me my contact number so their executive will call me. I replied them also saying that there was no form available in Chennai Indra Nagar branch SBI when I went there. Then got a call from one executive of sbicapsec, and after 2 days submitted the required forms. After 3 weeks of submitting the form I got an sms from SBIDP that my DEMAT account was opened, and received the starting kit later. Then after about 2 weeks, I received the welcome kit from sbicapsec. I am finding it difficult to set the initial settings like adding script to market watch in the terminal. I am not getting any valid error message.
Regarding the fees, they charge Rs 400 as one time fees for online trading account opening. But I heard from one other person that he was not charged anything. I followed up it with them, they said the charge is applicable for everyone. I signed the form initially for deducting Rs 400 from by savings bank account, but that form was with SBI Demat application form. I didn't sign any form with SBICAPSEC for deducting the amount. Since these two are different entities, I didn't understand how they can deduct the amount.
If you have experience in sbicaps, and the fees deducted why not post it in Comments section. I will post my experience with sbicapsec later.
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How to get a LPG connection without a ration card ?

2009-03-03T20:50:00.002+05:30

Getting a new gas connection is tough, that too the LPG delaers ask for a ration card as residential proof. Is it mandatory to produce a ration card now ? No.

During 2004 - 2008, the LPG dealers ask for a ration card as residential proof for getting a new connection. They even asked the existing customers to bring the ration card and get it sealed to book for a refill. So what will you do if you are staying temporaily in a place for rent. Each time when you change the residence you have to change the address in the ration card, then the LPG dealer if needed, etc. This is a very annoying thing as people live in the cities for rent how hard it is to do this things. And in cities like Chennai almost all the house owners vacate you in 11 months (that is the agreement period between the house owner and the tenant). Around 2005-06, LPG dealers accept a No Objection letter or NOC from the Civil Service office in that zone. It will be stated there that, the so called person is staying in this address for rent and this NOC is issued for him/her to apply for a gas connection. And ofcourse this too is tough and will take atleast one month to get this letter as you all know how the response and rhe work will be in Indian Government offices.

Residential proofs for applying gas connection
Then around the end of 2008, the oil companies said that the ration card is not needed for applying a new connection. So, any of the accepted residential proof like Bank Passbook, Election ID, Driving Licence, Electricity bill ,Letter from the employer etc is enough. But still you will be given a waiting list number and has to wait for the letter to arrive. This will take months. That too you can apply for only one cyclinder. Then after getting the first cylinder you have to book and be in waitllisting for getting the connection as 2 cylinders.

List of BSE 30 stocks with Scrip code

2009-03-03T17:20:00.004+05:30

The following 30 stocks with scrip code are which makes the BSE Sensex.

Code	Name	Sector
500410	ACC Ltd.	Housing Related
500103	Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.	Capital Goods
532454	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	Telecom
532868	DLF Ltd.	Housing Related
500300	Grasim Industries Ltd.	Diversified
500010	HDFC	Finance
500180	HDFC Bank Ltd.	Finance
500440	Hindalco Industries Ltd.	Metal,Metal Products & Mining
500696	Hindustan Unilever Ltd.	FMCG
532174	ICICI Bank Ltd.	Finance
500209	Infosys Technologies Ltd.	Information Technology
500875	ITC Ltd.	FMCG
532532	Jaiprakash Associates Ltd.	Housing Related
500510	Larsen & Toubro Limited	Capital Goods
500520	Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.	Transport Equipments
532500	Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.	Transport Equipments
532555	NTPC Ltd.	Power
500312	ONGC Ltd.	Oil & Gas
500359	Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.	Healthcare
532712	Reliance Communications Limited	Telecom
500325	Reliance Industries Ltd.	Oil & Gas
500390	Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.	Power
500112	State Bank of India	Finance
500900	Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd.	Metal,Metal Products & Mining
524715	Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.	Healthcare
532540	Tata Consultancy Services Limited	Information Technology
500570	Tata Motors Ltd.	Transport Equipments
500400	Tata Power Company Ltd.	Power
500470	Tata Steel Ltd.	Metal,Metal Products & Mining
507685	Wipro Ltd.	Information Technology

What is a Multi City Cheque

2009-02-28T19:58:00.004+05:30

"Multi City Cheque" or MCC is a facility wherein the customer can issue cheques drawn at the base branch and payable at any branch at remote centre. These cheques will be treated as local cheques at the remote branch. There will be no collection charges and the credit will be given on the same day, as applicable to local cheques. Even if the cheque is dropped at any other bank other than the base bank, there will not be any collection charges.
For example, if you are paid a Multi city cheque by an account holder at a SBI branch in Delhi and you drop the same at any bank in Mumbai where you hold an account, then there will not be any collection charges.
Collection charge in SBI
The reason I came to write this post is about the collection charge levied on me by State Bank of India. Since I followed up on it I got my collection charge refunded.
I was paid a SBI Multi City Cheque by an account holder of SBI branch, Mumbai. I dropped the cheque in my account at SBI bank, Shastri Nagar branch in Chennai. This is the first time I am receiving a MCC, and I asked if there will be a collection charge for the cheque, she was not sure and asked to the person at the next counter, this person said in a clear way - "Yes. Charge Rs 1.5 for every thousand". I told her that this is a Multi City Cheque given by SBI itself, then why is the charge ? She said there will be collection charges for a MCC. I got my passbook updated with collection chrges getting debited and went to a "May I help you" like counter. I asked the lady the same question and was said initially, there will not be any collection charge, when I showed the passbook, she said, "Ohh, for this there will be collection charge". I asked here then what is the use of MCC ? Her reply was, it was payable at any of the banks in other areas, but there will be collection charges. I asked her, then what is the difference in depositing outstation cheque and MCC ? She doesn't have a clear answer. I left from the place and asked the same question with SBI customer care through email. I didn't get any reply even after three four followups. I put DGM of customer care as CC. Finally I got reply from DGM of Customer care that there will not be any collection charge. I told the matter, that I was charged for the same. He forwarded the message to corresponding department to take care of it. Meanwhile I forwarded the message to branch manager of the same branch where I was charged. I am yet to get a response. But I verified my account and found that the charge was refunded.
If I left this as such beleiving the so called executives at the branch I should have lost that amount debited as collection charge. The cheque itself clearly says, "Payable at Par at all SBI branches", then why do these people don't understand. Not sure if they do this purposefully or without knowledge. If it is without knowledge then what do they do without knowing their own products, and there is no way other than that we have to be their customers. SBI is a large and very trusted bank and is losing its name and trust in customers because of this kind of executives.

What is a Beta Value

2009-02-27T15:23:00.001+05:30

A beta value is used to check for the volatality of a fund with that of market. It is a statistical measure that shows how the fund will move in relation to the market.
If the beta value is 1, then the stock will move up or down with the Sensex. If the beta value is less than 1, then the upward movement of the fund will be less compared to the Sensex, same time the downward movement of the fund will also be less compared to the Sensex. Similarly, if the beta value is more than 1, then the upward movement of the fund will be more compared to the Sensex, same time the downward movement of the fund will also be more compared to the Sensex.
Example:
If a particular stock has a beta value of 0.8, then when the Sensex gain 10%, this stock will gain only 8%, and when the Sensex lose 10%, this stock will lose 8%.
If a particular stock has a beta value of 1.5, then when the Sensex gain 10%, this stock will gain 15%, and when the Sensex lose 10%, this stock will lose 15%.
There may be other factors which makes the fund movement less volatile though its beta value is more than one or vice versa.
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BSNL Recharge coupon replace

2009-02-26T19:13:00.000+05:30

If while scratching your BSNL recharge coupon, the card activation numbers get faded or torn such a way that you cannot guess the activation number, then follow this.
1. Go to the nearest BSNL Exchange and fill a form which is meant for this purpose.
2. You have to fill your name, mobile number, address, and also the name and address of the place from where you bought the recharge coupon.
3. After submitting the form there they will find the activation number for you from the database in a few seconds.
Don't waste your time calling BSNL customer service and getting help. For the same purpose I tried calling BSNL customer service at 9400024365 and the call kept on disconnecting. Sometimes before the representative attends the call and sometimes just after he picks up the call. Finally after few hours of trying I got to speak with a representative.
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Life is all about

2009-02-20T07:33:00.000+05:30

This is one email I received which says when our life is full and the priorities in life.

Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students with an unanimous "yes."
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the grains of. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. sand is everything else---the small stuff."
"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you."
"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18.will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal Take care of the golf balls first---the things that matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."
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Surviving the Recession

2009-02-17T07:13:00.000+05:30

This is one of the best email I received. Good for this time of recession, a motivating one, making to think at the other side, how not to go into recession because of bad judgement.
The story is about a man who once upon a time was selling hotdogs by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers.
He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he never watched television. However, enthusiastically, he sold many hotdogs. He was smart enough to offer some attractive schemes to increase his sales. His sales and profit went up. He ordered more a more raw material, buns, and use to sale more. He recruited few more supporting staff to serve more customers. He started offering home deliveries. Eventually he got himself an improved stove. As his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from college, joined his father.
Then something strange happened. The son asked, "Dad, aren't you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?" the father replied, "no, but tell me about it." the son said, "the international situation is terrible. The domestic situation is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times" the man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers, listened to the radio and watching TV, he ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly. So the next day onwards, the father cut down the his raw material order and buns, took down the colorful signboard, removed all the special schemes he was offering to the customers and was no longer as enthusiastic. He reduced his staff strength by giving layoffs. Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his hotdog stand. Moreover, his sales started coming down rapidly and the profit too. The father said to his son, "Son, you were right. We are in the middle of a recession and crisis. I am glad you warned me ahead of time."
What can we take away from this story?
1. How many times we confuse intelligence with good judgement.
2. Choose your advisers carefully but use your own judgement.
3. A person or an organization will survive forever, if they have the 5 Cs
* Character
* Commitment
* Conviction
* Courtesy
* Courage
4. The tragedy today is that there are many walking encyclopedias that are living failures. The more practical and appropriate views on this economic recession is: "this is the time to reunite together for any small or a big organization, this is the time to motivate and retain people which are the biggest asset, this is the time to show more commitments to the customers, this is the time show values of our company to the world, and this is the time to stand by our nation".
Now decide what to do and what not to do...
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Nokia to temporarily layoff people and cut production

2009-02-11T20:00:00.001+05:30

Global economic recession is bringing down every industry. Now it is with mobile phones. Cellphone maker Nokia said on Wednesday that it would cut production on its Salo plant in Finland as demand for cellphone has dropped.

Temporary Layoff

At the Salo plant it will temporarily lay off the whole 2,500 staff on a rotational basis, with between 20 percent and 30 percent of staff idle at a time.

Closed factory

Last year Nokia closed its Bochum, Germany site.

Effect on Nokia's share price

On average, Nokia's earnings per share is expected to fall to 0.08 euros, the weakest level since the third quarter of 2001.

Nissan announces 20,000 jobcut

2009-02-09T08:16:00.001+05:30

Now it's the turn of another Japanese company to announce Layoff. Japan's Nissan Motor Co said on Monday, that it would cut 20,000 jobs worldwide. It is forecasting a net loss of 265 billion yen in this financial year.
Reason for layoff
Slowdown in the global economy and the strong yen made Nissan to post a net loss of 86.2 billion yen in the third quarter ending December in this fiscal.
Operating loss
Nissan made an operating loss of 99.2 billion yen in the third quarter. And it sold 731,000 vehicles worldwide in the third quarter, down 18.6 percent from a year earlier.
Current workforce of Nissan
Nissan has presently 235,000 global headcount, and is planning to cut 20,000 by March 2010.

Slumdog Millionaire won seven BAFTA awards

2009-02-09T07:34:00.001+05:30

Slumdog Millionaire, emerged as the biggest winner at the Baftas (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards) winning seven categories on Sunday.
A R Rahman
A R Rahman won the Bafta's award for best music score. It also won awards for best picture, best director, best cinematography and editing & sound.
Danny Boyle
This was the second Bafta for Danny Boyle, the director of Slumdog Millionaire. The first one was for Shallow Grave before 15 years.
High hopes for Oscars
We will wait for a fortnight and see if the film will be a Oscar success.

Flintoff and Pieterson beat Dhoni

2009-02-06T15:23:00.001+05:30

England players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff today became the most expensive players of the Indian Premier League after being sold for a whopping USD 1.55 million. During the IPL first edition, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the most expensive player. Pieterson was bought by Bangalore Royal Challengers and Flintoff was bought by Chennai Super Kings. Kevin Pieterson was the captain of England team till recently while Flintoff was the former captain of England team.
Bangladesh paceman Mashrafe Mortaza went for 12 times his base price of USD 50,000. For close to an hour the bidding war was going on between King XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders, then the Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for a whopping USD 600,000.

Michael Phelps suspended from US swimming

2009-02-06T12:41:00.001+05:30

Michael Phelps, the record breaking Olympic swimmer has been suspended from US swimming for 3 months. A British newspaper published a photograph showing Phelps smoking marijuana at a party being held by the students at the University of South Carolina in Columbia in November. Phelps has disppointed thousands of people especially swimmers who see him as a role model.
Apology
After publication of the photograph at the newspaper, Phelps apologised.
Punishment
The International Olympic Committee had accepted his apology. But in South Carolina possession of marijuana is a misdemeanour and it is punishable as upto 30 days in jail or a $570 fine. Since he smoke marijuana out of competition, this may not come under the anti-doping matter.

Infosys puts 2,200 employees under scanner

2009-02-05T19:31:00.001+05:30

Infosys puts 2,200 employees under scanner as non-performance, this is about 3.5% of IT services staff. Last year Infosys puts 1.5% or about 1,000 employees under this non-performance scanner. These employees are put under a performance improvement plan and given training, then after a quarter their performance is again reviewed, if they are good, then things will be good for them. Already 600 employees put under this scanner has left the company.

Loan rejected for bad credit score at CIBIL CIR

2009-02-04T19:07:00.000+05:30

If your name reflects in CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited) as poor credit score, then you are to get rejected if you apply for a loan or credit card. CIBIL maintains a database called CIR (Credit Information Report) which is a factual record of a borrower's credit payment history compiled from information received from different credit grantors.
When you default on a loan, then your identity will reflect as poor credit score at CIBIL's Credit Information Report. Before approving a loan the credit grantor will check for your credit score at CIBIL.
Suppose you had defaulted earlier but has settled it, and still your loan is rejected for being a bad credit score, then
1. Contact the grantor from whom your application was rejected and ask for the clarification of your poor credit score.
2. If it says, that the poor credit score is because of your earlier default with some grantor, that you had now settled, then contact the earlier grantor and request them to remove your identity as reflecting as poor credit from CIBIL. This should be actually done once you settle the loan after default, but the grantor might have missed in sending it to CIBIL.
Suppose you never defaulted on a loan and still the credit grantor says your loan is rejected because of your poor credit score, then
1. Contact the bank and ask for the clarification of your poor credit score and get the control number for your credit report.
2. The bank should then provide with the control number and the information on your credit report that explains about your bad credit score.
3. If you feel any dicrepancies with the information in the report, then you may contact the CIBIL, and explain the nature of discrepancies in the report.
In either of the above cases, if you did not get the response from the credit grantor for your query even after a month, then you may contact the banking ombudsman, presenting the copy / proof of the query. You can also file the complaint online at www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in or by sending an email at bochennai@rbi.org.in to the Banking Ombudsman. There is also a prescribed form for filing a complaint, which is available with all the branches of the banks. However, it is not necessary to use this format. The complainant should, however, incorporate all the required information. For more details log into Reserve bank of India website at http://www.rbi.org.in/
Can you check your identity directly at CIBIL's Credit Information Report ?
No. That is not possible. Reports can be accessed by members of CIBIL on the principle of reciprocity ie only those members who have provided all their data to CIBIL are permitted to access CIRs. Members can do so only to take valid credit decisions. Disclosure to any other person or entity is prohibited.
Contact Details of CIBIL
Helpdesk : 1800 - 224 - 245
Tel : +91 -22 6638 4600 / 2281 7788
Fax : +91 -22 6638 4666
Email : info@cibil.com

Panasonic to cut 15,000 jobs

2009-02-04T16:19:00.001+05:30

The Japanese electronics giant and the world's largest maker of plasma TVs Panasonic announced it will cut 15,000 jobs. This job cut announced represents about 5% of Panasonic workforce and will be implemented by March 2010. One half of job cut will be in Japan and the other half at rest of world.
Reason for the layoff :
Due to the economic downturn that hit the world and the down in sales, Panasonic expected a net loss of 380bn yen ($4.2bn) for the financial year ending March 31. It expects to cut costs by 100bn yen in the next financial year.
Other Japanese electronics firms to layoff workforce :
Sony - 16,000 jobs.
NEC - 20,000 jobs.
Hitachi - 7,000 jobs.
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Gold as an Investment

2009-02-04T15:19:00.001+05:30

If you prefer gold to be one of the investment, there are various options you can choose from like Gold ETF, gold coins, ornament etc. But what is that which gives you much benefit than the other ?
Buying gold from Post Office ?
In India, India Post in association with World Gold Council and Reliance Money is selling gold coins at selected Post Offices. It offers 24 carat gold in denominations of 0.5g, 1.5g, 5g and 8g. The gold coins will be packed in a sealed cover with the certification from Valcambi, Switzerland.
Drawback in buying gold from Post Office :
As of now, Post Office will not buy the gold coin bought from them. It seems that they will launch the buyback scheme later.
Inida Post charges a margin of 8-9 per cent.
Buying gold from Banks ?
Banks charge a margin of up to 12 per cent on the coins, which includes end consumer fee, certification charges, value-added tax and customs duty.
Drawback :
Banks are not allowed by Reserve Bank of India to buyback gold they sell.
Banks charge a margin of up to 12 per cent on the coins, which includes end consumer fee, certification charges, value-added tax and customs duty.
Buying gold from jeweller :
If you want gold as an ornament then you buy it from jeweller, the price will that prevailing on that day. You need to check for the purity of the gold. Jewellers even sell gold coins. You need to check if the jeweller will buy back the gold and if it is at the price prevailing on that day.
Drawback :
If you buy gold as ornament from Jeweller, you will be charged upto 30% as making charge and wastage. And when selling it back to the same jeweller, some charge about 4%. So, assume you bought 10g of gold ornament when its price is Rs 1200 per gram, then for 10g of gold you will be charged (1200*10) + (30% of 1200*10) = Rs 15600. If you want to sell it after few days, when the price is the same, you will get (1200*10) - (4% of 1200*10) = Rs 11520. This 4% may vary with jewellers. Please check.
Things to check while buying gold from jeweller :
Buy it from a reputed jeweller who will give you a certificate of purity and not charge a premium for that.
If you can sell the gold or recast it into jewellery at the same establishment at the prevailing gold prices.
If the jeweller has a buyback policy. If it has, find out the rate at which it buys back.
Gold ETFs :
You can also invest in Gold ETFs (Exchange traded funds). You can't see the gold, nor you physically hold it. There are various gold ETFs availab;e to choose from. The various gold ETFs available in India are, Benchmark Gold BeES, UTI ETF, Kotak GOLD ETF, Reliance Gold Exchange Traded Fund, Quantum Gold Fund. The investor should be careful on selecting the gold ETF as there is a trading commission or brokerage involved in trading at gold ETF. Some even charge a fund management fee.

Satyam salary in two parts for overseas employees

2009-02-03T19:28:00.001+05:30

Satyam to pay the February month salary to its India employees by this month end, however the overseas employees will get the salary in two tranches- one in mid of February and the other by this month end.
How much is needed for Satyam to pay for its employee salary ?
Sources say that around Rs 500-600 crore is needed per month to meet salary payments. Not sure how this will be handled, as the question arises, how the scam hit company will meet this.
Any liabilities ?
Any hidden liabilities, are as yet unknown. There are other expenses such as rentals, TDS, insurance, arrears to vendors etc excluding the salary to employees.
Satyam's asset :
The major advantage of Satyam is its huge land bank. Satyam has got huge unencumbered assets in the form of a land-bank. Along with the Satyam Training Centre, it has around Rs 1,500-to 1,700-crore worth of property in Hyderabad which can be mortgaged to raise funds.

SAS to axe 3,000 jobs

2009-02-03T18:31:00.000+05:30

Scandinavian airline SAS announced on Tuesday that it would cut 3,000 jobs after reporting big losses in 2008.
SAS had 23,000 employees at the end of last year. It reported net losses of 6.32bn kronor ($757m; £532m) in 2008, after profit of 636m kronor in 2007. And it lost 2.77bn kronor in the fourth quarter alone. SAS was hardly hit by the record rise of oil price and credit squeeze. SAS is also selling its 47.2 percent holding in AirBaltic, a Latvian carrier, as well as its stakes in Spirit, Air Greenland, BMI, Estonian Airways, Skyways, Cubic and Trust. SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Air System.

Shoe thrown at Chinese leader

2009-02-03T17:24:00.001+05:30

After former U.S President George Bush, now it is the turn of Chinese leader Wen Jiabao for getting shoe throw. A protester has thrown a shoe at the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as he was giving a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University. The shoe missed the stage by few meters.
The 27 year old male protester was removed from the hall by security guards.

Layoff : 9000 jobs vanishing per day

2009-02-03T15:41:00.000+05:30

As the world economy is getting rattled, on an average 9000 jobs worldwide has been lost during January 2009. Total layoffs crossed 2.7 lakhs this year with 80000 job cuts announced on January 26. The bankruptcy of American electronics retailer Circuit City is expected to affect 30,000 employees
The below list will show you the details of Layoff announced this year.

NEC - 20,000
Caterpillar - 20,000
Pfizer/Wyeth - 20,000
Alcoa - 13,500
TDK - 8,000
ING - 7,000
Home Depot - 7,000
Philips - 6,000
BHP Billiton - 6,000
GlaxoSmithKline - 6000
Ericsson - 5,000
Tata owned Corus - 3,500
Corning - 4,900
Motorola - 4,000
Texas Instruments - 3,400
Honda - 3,100
Kodak - 3,000
General Motors - 2,000
Ford Motor - 1,200
Harley-Davidson - 1,100
Starbucks - 1,000

Recurring deposits returns Calculator

2009-02-02T18:43:00.003+05:30

Calculator : Recurring deposits returns Calculator - Excel

Recurring deposit is one of the ways of saving. Through recurring deposit you invest a fixed amount every month. And after certain number of years, your investment will have grown to a good amount. Suppose if you invest Rs 2000 in a recurring deposit at the beginning of every month for 5 years, and if it gives an interest rate of 10 per cent per annum, compounded monthly then you will accumulate 154874. you should have invested totally 2000*12*5 = 120000.
Here is a simple Recurring deposit returns Calculator in excel format. Its very simple to use. This excel calculator can be downloaded from here

This is the view of the spreadsheet.

Download Recurring deposits returns Calculator - Excel spreadsheet

Before applying for Credit Card

2009-02-02T16:32:00.000+05:30

Before applying for Credit Card

It is better to stay away from credit cards. But if you are in urgent need of credit card, then the following points might be useful to you. If you effectively use your credit card then you can be safe from debt trap and make good use of the reward points.

Read the application form clearly before signing :

Mostly banks engage third party people to get your application forms filled and signed by you. In a hurry the agent will show you few places where you have to sign, and you blindly sign. Remember some banks without your notice put you into their insurance scheme, where a fixed amount will be charged in your statement. Only after getting the first statement you will see the charge. Then if you call them and ask for cancelling the insurance scheme, then a cancellation charge will be levied including the first instalment charge which is already billed.

Add on Card - Free ?

Another thing to note is add on card, banks will issue you an add on card that you can get in the name of your parents or your spouse. Ofcourse this is free, but I heard that when my friend went and cancelled the HSBC add on card that he got in his mother's name, he was charged an annual fees saying only during the first year the add on card is free. So if you really don't need of add on card, just close it, or if it is sent to you by your bank without you asking for, then you can just return it.

Selecting statement date :

Some banks give you the option to choose the statement date for your card. If you are salaried person, then you can make use of it. Keep your statement date such that the due date for payment comes between 5th to 10th of every month. So as soon as you get your salary first you can settle of this debt. I have some of my friends who worry about their due date after 25th, by the time their account is almost empty.

Check the statement clearly :

Check the statement as soon as you receive. If there is any amount billed which was not used by you, then report it immediately. Last month when I receive my Citibank credit card statement, I saw a transaction was billed twice, the 'Reference No.', Date of transaction, Amount everything shows the same. I called them to report it and they asked me if I am sure I did the transaction only once, then they asked me to sent a form, which was available at their website for download, and courier it to them. Ohh, for their mistake I don't know why I have to do all these. And also they said they will resolve this in 45 days (that is too big). If the transaction is right, unlike what I complained, then they will charge another 100 Rs.

Complaints ? Whom do you contact ?

If you have some complaints, then first approach the bank, if you didnot get reply from the bank within one month then you may contact the banking ombudsman. You may also contact banking ombudsman, if the bank rejects the complaint or if the reply given by the bank is not satisfactory. A complainant can file a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman simply by writing on a plain paper. He can also file it online at www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in or by sending an email at bochennai@rbi.org.in to the Banking Ombudsman. There is also a prescribed form for filing a complaint, which is available with all the branches of the banks. However, it is not necessary to use this format. The complainant should, however, incorporate all the required information. For more details log into Reserve bank of India website at http://www.rbi.org.in/

What primary use is it for ?

Before zeroing in on a credit card, make sure for what purpose you mostly use your credit card like shopping, filling up your fuel tank, book airline tickets etc.
I will give two examples of Citibank cards. In no way I am recommending this is good, but its features here.

If primary use of credit card is for shopping :

Citibank Cash back gold card is like you get minimum 1 rupee cash back for every 200 rupees spent. You can redeem it once you accumulate 500 rupees. This cannot be redeemed as cash in hand, but against the outstanding bill amount. If you rarely purchase fuel, then this card is good for you.

If primary use of credit card is for filling up of tank :

If you use your Citibank credit card mainly for purchasing fuel from IndianOil then you can opt for Citibank Indianoil card, here you get 4 turbo points on every 150 rupees spent on IndianOil outlets and 1 Turbo Point for every Rs. 150/- spent on non-fuel purchases. These points can be redeemed at select IOC outlets for free fuel and other IndianOil products once you accumulate 500 points. You will receive coupons for the amount which is equal to the number of points, by which you can only buy IndianOil fuel products from some of the IndianOil outlets.
All the best..If you had any good or bad experience of Credit Cards, then please say it in
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SBI Demat Account Charges

2009-01-30T15:52:00.001+05:30

Account Opening Charges : NIL

Account Maintenance Charges : Rs. 400/- (Rs. 350/- for customers receiving statements by email) per year.

Dematerialisation : Rs. 35/- for each request form, additional Rs. 2/- for each certificate.

Rematerialisation : Rs. 25/- for each request form.

Closure of Account : NIL

Additional Account Statements : by courier - Rs. 30/- , by email - NIL

Buying equities : NIL

Selling equities : NIL, if you sell through SBICAP Securities, or eztrade.co.in. If you give instructions to branches to sell, then 0.03% of the transaction value (minimum Rs.30/-).

Ford revenues and net loss

2009-01-29T19:10:00.000+05:30

Ford reported biggest full year loss in its history

Ford the US carmaker company has reported the biggest full-year loss in its history. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Ford's revenue fell to $29.2bn, down from $45.5bn a year earlier. Its quarterly net loss of $5.9bn was bigger than expected by analysts. Ford said its net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $5.9bn (£4.1bn). For the whole year, the loss amounted to a record $14.6bn.

Will Ford seek the help of government ?

Despite the loss, Ford said in a statement that it had "sufficient liquidity" to fund its restructuring plan and is not going to ask for government loans. Ford so far has not sought any government help unlike its rivals General Motors and Chrysler.

Job cuts ?

Ford added that its credit division would cut 1,200 jobs, or 20% of the division's workforce.
Source : BBC

Trading Account

2009-01-29T18:26:00.000+05:30

What is a Trading account ?

Trading account has to be opened if you wish to trade on the stock exchange. The two main stock exchanges in India are Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange. There are charges included for opening trading account. And for trading there are brokerage charges. After opening trading account the trading can be done through phone or internet. Trading through internet will be convenient as you can specify the price for which you have to buy or sell, also it is easy to track the status.

What is the difference between Demat account and Trading account ?

Demat account is just to hold shares. Trading account is by which you can buy or sell shares that is do trading. After doing transaction, that is buy or sell, the same has to reflect in your Demat account. This will mainly be done on T+2 basis, that is after 2 days of your buying shares the same will reflect in your Demat account.

Is it required to open both Demat account and trading account at one place ?

Not necessary, but it is good so that the transfer of amount and share takes place easily. For example, while selling a share you log into your trading account and specify all the details of the share, then after executing the trade the shares will be debited from your Demat account and amount is credited into your bank account if you have all the three accounts with the same organization. Suppose if your bank account is with different organization than the trading account, then you will have to move the amount from the trading account to the bank account.

How many Demat account can an individual open ?

There is no limit to the number of Demat accounts you can open. You can open multiple Demat account in same name and with same or different DPs. But you should not apply for any IPOs for more than one time.

Demat Account : What is it ? and How to open it ?

2009-01-29T12:09:00.000+05:30

What is a Demat Account ?

In simple terms, Demat Account is like a Savings account where here you hold shares like holding money in Savings account. Just like opening account with a bank if you want to save money or make payments through cheque, you have to open Demat account if you want to buy, sell shares.
Like viewing Savings account transaction in its statement in Demat account too you can view the statement of your buy and sell share details. Earlier you hold all the shares in physical form that is in paper format, but now you can keep it electronically in Demat account. DEMAT stands for Dematerialisation. In bank account you have to maintain minimum balance but here you can have zero balance of shares. While opening bank account you need to deposit minimum balance, but to open a Demat account you need not hold any share.

How to open a Demat Account ?

To open a Demat Account you have to look for a registered DP (Depository Participant). Most banks and also many brokers are all DPs. To get a list of all the registered DPs visit the NSDL and CDSL websites.

Documents needed for opening a Demat Account

Here is the list of documents needed for opening up a Demat Account. Not all of these are required. The copies of required documents from the below list has to be submitted, but you may need the originals for verification.

1. PAN Card
2. Driving licence
3. Ration Card
4. Electricity Bill
5. Telephone / Mobile bill
6. Bank statement
7. Employee ID card
8. Passport
9. Passport size photographs (2)

Ford Layoff : Ford Motor Co.'s Finance unit to layoff 1200 workforce

2009-01-29T11:08:00.001+05:30

Ford to Layoff 1200 people

Ford Motor Company finance unit plans to cut one fifth of its workforce, or about 1200 people, to save money. More details about this layoff are expected on Jan 29, 2008 when Ford and its finance unit releases fourth quarter and full year results. The layoff will start from mid-February, which include involuntary layoffs, some planned attrition and retirements.

Reasons for Ford Motor Co.'s finance unit jobcut

This jobcut will help keep our costs in line with the level of receivables we have," both reports of Automotive News and Bloomberg News quoted Ford spokeswoman Margaret Mellott as saying.

Effect of Ford Motor Co.'s finance unit jobcut on its share price

Analysts on average expect Ford to post a fourth-quarter loss of $1.22 per share before one-time items, according to Reuters Estimates. That would translate to a loss of more than $2.8 billion.

Ford's previous plan to beat recession

In November, Ford said it planned to improve automotive cash by $14 billion to $17 billion through 2010 through a number of cost cuts, including reducing expenses for salaried workers by 10 percent by the end of January in North America.

Source : Reuters

U.N. agency says that World economy may lose 51 million jobs.

2009-01-28T19:35:00.000+05:30

Economic slowdown has turned into a global employment crisis. As a result of economic slowdown, up to 51 million people worldwide will lose their jobs by the end of this year, United Nations agency said on Wednesday. This will make the global unemployment rate to 7.1 per cent.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) previously estimated the employment in Octber and said that 20 million jobs will disappear by the end of year 2009. What a bad days ahead ??
Source : Reuters

Layoff : More than 2 million job cuts in one month

2009-01-27T16:57:00.000+05:30

Total jobs lost in January so far crossed two million. The major firms that announced massive job cuts are, Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar, pharma major Pfizer, telecom firm Sprint Nextel Corp, home improvement retailer Home Depot. The global economic recession is worsening day by day.
The highest yearly total job loss since 1945 was at 2008, and about 2.6 million people lost their job.

Global Job cuts : About 70000 job cuts announced in a single day

2009-01-27T16:55:00.000+05:30

There are worst Layoffs coming on. The below were the Layoffs announced by the companies in a single day. There are more Layoffs expected.

GLOBAL JOB CUTS

Caterpillar - 20,000
ING - 7,000
Philips - 6,000
Corus - 3,500
Home Depot - 7,000
Pfizer/Wyeth - 20,000
General Motors - 2,000

Source: BBC

What a bad day ???

Corus Layoff : Steel firm Corus axes 3,500 jobs

2009-01-27T12:17:00.000+05:30

Corus is Europe’s second-largest steelmaker. It announced to cut 3500 jobs as part of a new stragetic initiative launched to enhance competitiveness. Corus currently employs about 42,000 people and a little over half of them are stationed in the United Kingdom. A company spokesperson told that jobs will be cut in three plants — 1,100 in South Wales, 1,400 in the United Kingdom and another 1,000 in Holland.
Tata-owned Corus is the latest steel maker to announce downsizing of its workforce. Faced with an economic slowdown, steel makers the world over are cutting output, cancelling investments and reducing their workforce.
Source : Business Standard

ING Layoff: ING Group plans to axe 7,000 jobs

2009-01-27T12:16:00.000+05:30

ING Group is a Dutch financial company. This is to cut down 7,000 jobs this year, it said on Jan 26, 2009. And also its chief executive would step down as it seeks government guarantees for toxic mortgage debt. In October, ING took 10 billion euros, or about $13 billion from the Dutch government to bolster its capital. It said it expected to post a 2008 full year net loss of about 1 billion euros.
"Jan Hommen, the former chief financial officer of Philips Electronics and currently chairman of the ING board, will replace Michel Tilmant as chief executive," the bank said in a statement.
Source : Times of India

Double, Triple, Quadruple Money Calculator

2009-01-25T12:36:00.003+05:30

Here is a simple Calculator. It tells you the number of years required for your money to get doubled, tripled, quadrupled just by entering the expected rate of interest. Its very simple to use.
Suppose you expect 12 per cent returns from your equity investment, and you want to know how long will it take for your money to get doubled, tripled or even quadrupled, this calculator will show you. This excel calculator can be downloaded from here

This is the view of the spreadsheet.

Download Double, Triple, Quadruple Money Calculator - Excel spreadsheet

Home Loan EMI Calculator

2009-01-25T10:35:00.003+05:30

Here is a simple Home Loan EMI Calculator. Its very simple to use, you have to just enter the Loan amount, Rate of interest and Tenure in years. This shows you the EMI you pay and the total repayment amount. This excel calculator can be downloaded from here.

This is the view of the spreadsheet.

Starbucks Layoff: Starbucks may cut 1,000 more jobs

2009-01-25T07:38:00.000+05:30

Coffee chain Starbucks Corp could cut another 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks and also may close down 600 cafes. This has already trimmed jobs in stores and at its headquarters. The company is scheduled to release its first quarter financial results on Wednesday. The company recently told employees that it will not guarantee matching contributions to their 401(k) retirement plans this year.

Source: Reuters

Guaranteed return funds which qualify under sec 80C for Income tax exemption in India

2009-01-24T09:11:00.002+05:30

Name/Type of fund	Lock in period (in years)	Returns on Investment per annum (%)	Tax on returns of investment
Employers Provident fund	Till retirement	8.5	No
Public Provident fund	15	8 %	No
National Savings Certificate	6	8	Yes
Bank Fixed Deposit	5	8.5	Yes
Post Office Time Deposit	5	7.5	Yes
Senior Citizens Savings scheme	5	9	Yes

Note: The rate of returns, or any other info given in this page might be changed. Please confirm it before investing.

How long does it take Google to crawl a page

2009-01-16T18:46:00.000+05:30

As you can see below, as soon as I did a post, I verified it was crawled by google in just 3 minutes. I didn't keep on verifying, so it might be faster than this. Next time I will try if it crawls my post much faster.

If anybody has a page which was crawled much faster than this by Google, then you may share it here.

How long does it take Google to crawl a page

2009-01-16T18:07:00.000+05:30

As you can see below, as soon as I did a post, Inspiring attitude from Satyam employee I verified it was crawled by google in just 3 minutes. I didn't keep on verifying, so it might be faster than this. Next time I will try if it crawls my post much faster.

If anybody has a page which was crawled much faster than this by Google, then you may share it here.

Inspiring attitude from a Satyam Employee

2009-01-16T17:59:00.000+05:30

I received this as an email. Thought of sharing it with my readers.

JUST ANOTHER DIMENSION TO LOOK AT LIFE... MAKES A HUGE IMPACT. TRUTHFULNESS APART, JUST READ ON...

Dear All,

I (Satyam Employee) am deputed at client location and came across a very interesting conversation in cafeteria yesterday. One of my co-worker, also deputed with the same client through some lesser known two room company, mustered guts to ask me sarcastically in front of entire team, "So, Satyam is gone! What are you guys planning to do now?" In normal circumstances, I have a habit to not to reply to lose talks, but in front of entire team.... I thought I need to fix this guy's thought process. I asked him, as my military training has imbibed in me the habit to fight till last breadth, "Who says Satyam is gone when I am very much alive here and committed to create value on behalf of my company?". He shot back, "Hello Mr., your chairman has resigned, you guys are facing financial turbulence and you still have a face to say that Satyam is not gone!"

At this juncture, I thought of replying to this guy in his own language. I asked him, "Tell me, what will you do and where will you go if our country India was not there?" He was not prepared for this level of thought and asked back, "What a stupid question, How can India be gone, it is a country?" I asked him back, "Country! What makes a country? Land? Economy? Our Prime Minister? Our President? Our Geography? Or the PEOPLE? If our PM resigns, will you say India is gone? If our economy faces a slowdown, will you say India is gone? But yes, if the people of a country are lost for any reason, we will say that country has no meaning. Who cares of vast land of Antarctica today which has just one permanent resident, Father Georgy? Which country does it belongs to? Why does not it has any government? Why does not it has any economy? Or, how many countries were there when humans used to hunt for food in pre-historic times? Countries, Wealth, Infrastructures and booming economies are nothing but creations of efforts of PEOPLE, and they do not have any existance on their own. And the final blow was, "When one man can create Satyam as an organization of 53,000 people, why not 53,000 committed people can rebuild one SATYAM?"

TRULY INSPIRING...

Traffic policemen near NIFT, Chennai

2009-01-15T16:42:00.000+05:30

I used to go for lunch to my home through IT highway (Rajiv Gandhi Salai also called Old Mahabalipuram Road). Exactly near NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology), there will be 4 to 6 traffic police waiting. They make the vehicles to stop, mostly 2 wheelers and fine for any reason. Once I was driving my 2 wheeler, which was badly punctured, but I didn't notice it. Before approaching the traffic police, I was surprised that my bike is running differently, so I was driving it slowly. Even water tankers were overtaking me. The traffic policemen waiting there asked me to park. One policeman asked for my licence, he got it from me. I thought he may ask for licence, insurance, rc book, as I was wearing helmet, but he said that I was overspeeding. I told him that even lorries were overtaking me and what is that you say. He said pay a fine of Rs 400 and get your licence and go. Whatever I say to him went in deaf years. One other policeman said that the bike is punctured, only then I noticed that it was puntured. But those people doesn't understand that punctured vehicle cannot be overspeeded. Finally after several bargaining, I paid 100 Rs, and pushed my vehicle to pucture shop. Usually they stand at that place during afternoon to catch the vehicle going from SRP Tools juntion towards Tidel Park. Please be careful while driving at this road during this time, better go at a speed of less than 30 km/h.

Satyam rhyme

2009-01-13T12:04:00.000+05:30

After news broke out that the Satyam chief has made a fraud by inflating the revenues of the company, I received this rhyme by email, which was so funny.
Raju Raju
Yes baba
Cheating us
No baba
Telling Lies
No baba
Open the balance sheet
HA HA HA

Admissions forms for academic year 2009-2010 at St John's School, Besant Nagar

2009-01-13T12:02:00.001+05:30

The admission forms fo the academic year 2009-2010 will be issued at St John's School, Besant Nagar, Chennai-90 on January 19, 2009.

Santro rust at the body surface

2008-12-21T09:30:00.000+05:30

I own a Santro xing bought on dec 2003. For the past 6 months I could see a kind of rust formation at the body. I contacted the Hyundai customer care and was asked to approach the any of the Hyundai service center. I visited Kun Hyundai service in Adyar, Chennai and they quoted me Rs 4500 for about a half inch rust at the rear side and Rs 3500 for a minor crack like rust which is not formed but appears under the paint. They also said if within another 1 month the rust appears at the same place don't question us, as we don't give you guarantee. I followed it up with Hyundai customer care as this looks like manufacturing defect. They replied it all depends on the atmoshpheric condition, operating cycle of the car.
Then all the cars running at the same place should be rusted before they are 5 years old as the atmoshpheric condition is same. I drove only around 35000 kms, also I use cover for covering the car daily. The car was not even 4 years old and if the car goes rust then what is the quality of steel they use ? The Hyundai customer care sent me the same template when I followed it with them asking for the warranty period of the car. Then after pointing out his to me, they called me and defined, operating cycle is, how you clean the car - with hot water/cold water (I am surprised if people will use hot water for cleaning the car), then warranty peiod they say is just 2 years.
Also it gives only around 8 km mileage even after its full service.
Any thoughts ...?

LKG Admission form for academic year 2009-2010

2008-12-17T19:55:00.001+05:30

Application forms for admission to LKG for academic year 2009-2010 will be issued on Saturday 20 December 2008 at St. Michael's Academy, Gandhinagar, Adyar, Chennai-20. Those who have their kids studying at St. Michael's Academy can get the form on Friday 19 December 2008. The details for getting the form, filling it and submitting are as follows.
You have to show the birth certificate of your child, only then they will give the form. The child should complete 3 years as of June 30 2009 ^ a. I am not sure of the upper limit of age, please check with them. They give nearly a week time to submit the filled in application form. You have to submit a copy of the community certificate, birth certificate, few photos too with the form. Regarding the cost of application form, last year they didn't collect anything while issuing form. Regarding the number of forms, people have different views on this. Some say it is limit to 250 forms. There is a limit, not sure about the number. They just stop the queue once the limit is reached. People will queue up near the school from previous day itself.

Eligibility criteria: Minimum eligibility criteria is, child should complete 3 years as of June 2009.

Once you fill the form and submit it with the required documents, you will be called for a discussion with your child. During the discussion day, they will say when the result of selected children will be displayed. And on the day of the result, they will also display the amount of fees to be paid for the year and the last date for payment.

Please note that the information given here is based on the past years admission process, the eligibility criteria, documents to be submitted may or maynot change.

I will try to get the details of other schools issuing application forms for LKG and post here once I come to know of it.

Income tax slab for assessment year 2009-10

2008-11-27T20:29:00.001+05:30

Income tax slab for assessment year 2009-10 in India

Income tax slabs 2008-2009 for Men

Income tax slab (in Rs.)	Tax
0 to 1,50,000	No tax
1,50,001 to 3,00,000	10%
3,00,001 to 5,00,000	20%
5,00,001 to 10,00,000	30%
Above 10,00,000	30% + 10% surcharge on tax

Income tax slabs 2008-2009 for women

Income tax slab(in Rs.)	Tax
0 to 1,80,000	No tax
1,80,001 to 3,00,000	10%
3,00,001 to 5,00,000	20%
5,00,001 to 10,00,000	30%
Above 10,00,000	30% + 10% surcharge on tax

Income tax slabs 2008-2009 for Senior citizen

Income tax slab(in Rs.)	Tax
0 to 2,25,000	No tax
2,25,001 to 3,00,000	10%
3,00,001 to 5,00,000	20%
5,00,001 to 10,00,000	30%
Above 10,00,000	30% + 10% surcharge on tax

Note: In addition to the above, an education cess of 3% is charged on the entire tax amount including surcharge.
Please note that the taxable income is arrived at after adding all your different sources of income and subtracting the deductions that you can avail under income tax exemption.

How to avoid spam in your Gmail inbox

2008-11-27T15:59:00.002+05:30

This simple way allows you to avoid spam on your inbox. Many times you browse a site, you like the application or something in the site, but to use it your email id is required for registration, also to post some questions at some forum its mandatory to submit your email id. But once the email id is submitted, the inbox will be spammed. Many emails arrive at the inbox or to the Spam folder, but you will not be sure from whom or which site the spammers got your email id. Sometimes it will feel irritated to unsubscribe from the list. Though some sites say, your email id or details will not be revealed to anyone, manytimes they do. So how do you find the site which sold your email id to any spammer, and can unsubscribe from that site. Here is the way if you are using GMail account.
Lets say your email id is, iamshami@gmail.com
Any email sent to the below ids will be automatically forwarded to iamshami@gmail.com
i.am.shami@gmail.com
iam.shami@gmail.com
i.a.m.shami@gmail.com
i.am.sham.i@gmail.com
i.am.sha.mi@gmail.com

So, when sites ask for your email id for registration, just use any of the email id in the format iamshami+sitename@gmail.com and register. Now from your GMail account use filter to label the email sent to each id with corresponding label. Now you may trace out which site sold your email id and is spamming your inbox.

Money, Investment related advice and articles - worth ?

2008-11-21T07:41:00.001+05:30

Investment related articles - worth reading it ?

Is it worth reading articles related to investments or is it worth getting advice from some so called geeks in this area. As I got interested in stock market, I am keeping myself updated by reading articles on web, newspapers, magazines etc. One thing you may see is, most of the things they say will be contradicting of what they said in the past. For example, when gold price skyrocketed, you might have seen newspapers showing gold as the investment option and it covers the cover story of some magazines. They also give you some graphs, charts, tables to show you how the rate peaked etc. Then when the price came down from its peak, you could see articles like only a little % of your investment should be in gold.

Once few people from a financial planning company, which is located at L.B Road, Adyar visited our company in Perungudi to deliver tax saving and investment related ides to employees during January 2008, as the due date for submitting the tax exemption bills is nearing. It was during the 2nd week of January 2008. They delivered a speach with tax saving instruments. They were mainly aiming at distributing NFO forms of Reliance Natural resources fund. They were marketing this saying, you all might know how much craze was there for Reliance Power IPO. And they also said, don't go by the SIP route now as the Sensex is going upwards continuously. SIP route will only help you if the market is volatile. This info was very much contradictory to the good investor's plan. Assume if a novice investor invested by taking these people's advice, the Sensex was around 20k that time, and if an investor invested 15K as bulk in a mutual fund, he should have bought units at higher price and his investment might have been eroded a lot more than 60% as of October 2008. If he had taken the SIP route he should have got more units with low price. So think several times before acting with the advice of the mutual fund agent. They try to market the product which is beneficial to them and which earns them high commission.
I added some more to this at another post here.
Is it worth taking advice from experts ?

Cheat at Indianoil pump at Indira nagar

2008-11-09T17:18:00.000+05:30

Cheat at the Indian Oil pump

The cheat at the Indian Oil pump at L.B Road, Adyar, Chennai - 20. Many times I see a mileage difference when I fill tank. Once I asked them to fill for Rs 500 for my 4 wheeler. I saw the person setting the meter to 500 and one other person came to my rear side and asked for the money, as I was about to take my purse and hand over the card, I suddenly turned to the meter and saw he had changed it to 200 from 500. I shouted at him, and he has no answer as I caught him hand, one person without uniform came from inside the office and set it back to 500 and filled just to stop the problem there. Several times I caught them, but they say some reason like, they didn’t hear properly. One person will get money, when we ask for Rs200, the person collecting money will divert our attention towards something else and the person filling will try to stop it at anywhere below that. I had visited this outlet hundreds of times and many times I see a mileage difference before realising the cheat they play.
They divert by showing you a small bottle of liquid which they say will increase the mileage if added with petrol, or showing you some coupons etc. The person filling the tank will try his level best to hide the meter from you. He will call you and show the initial reading as if he is very very good. Whenever I go there, I watch the meter for the people standing before me too. Once a man asked to fill tank for Rs 100 for his 2 wheeler. The person collecting money came to the opposite side and collected Rs 100, meanwhile the person filling did it for Rs 30 and called for the next vehicle, the man caught him and shouted, he was about to hit him, the answer they say is, I heard it as 30 Rs.
Whoever visits this pump will have bad experience surely. Please share it by leaving a comment.

How to deactivate BSNL Caller tune

2008-09-10T18:36:00.001+05:30

How to deactivate BSNL Caller tune ? Is BSNL Caller tune worth for the money ?
BSNL Caller tune doesnot seems to be good. One main reason is the cost is high, Rs 20 + Rs 12 every month.
Once you opt for the BSNL caller tune, when the caller calls, most of the time the caller will hear advertisement for their caller tune service. Before playing the song it says, "intha paattu ungalaukku pidichirintha udane star keyya press pannunga, copy pannunga" which means, if you like this song, press star immediately to copy this song to set it as your caller tune.
Why should we play advertisement for them after paying. The other reason is, most of the time it doesn't play song, it just rings as usual tring...tring...I set caller tune to my mobile at home most of the time I don't hear caller tune though we have sufficient balance in that mobile. Yes, for prepaid mobile, you might know that for activating the tune you should have minimum balance of Rs 50, but might not know that you should have a minimum balance of Rs 50 to play the caller tune. Once your balance comes comes below Rs 50, the caller tune will not be heared. Thats what the customer care executive told me.
Yes, for deactivating too you need Rs 50 minimum balance. And it takes minimum 24 hrs to deactivate after sending sms.
To deactivate
To deactivate sms BT DACT to 56700. You will be charged Rs 2 for sms. If your message fails saying, "Message not sent, try again later", you may have less than Rs 50 in your account.

BSNL Customer service experience

2008-09-10T18:33:00.001+05:30

Customer care service is very worst for BSNL mobile. They have a toll free number 9400024365, it will be funny if you call this number.
I tried for more than 5 days and finally could speak to customer care executive. You may try this.
Dial 9400024365, you will hear welcome message and the options, 1 for Tamil, 2 for English.
Press 2. Again you will hear options. 1 ..2. go to Main menu
Press 2 again. you will hear options for next menu. 1..2..9.to speak to cusotmer care executive.
Press 9. The call becomes silent. You can never speak to them.
Many times I disconnected the call, since I didn't hear anything. Once I waited for 10 minutes thinking without any message the call might be in
waiting for the executive.
Once while recharging, I did easy recharge as the shop which I went has this facility only.
I recharged for Rs 1000 talk time. I paid the amount. The person said there is some issue with BSNL service, and so the activation is not happening immediately, after few minutes you will successfully recharged sms.
I came back and after 3 hours I called the person to check as I have not received the sms. They said, "we called up BSNL they have some issues now, will be rectified shortly". I called BSNL customer service and enquired the matter, they said we can't check your status as you did easy recharge, you have to approach the place where you did recharge.
Ohhh, assume suppose on a travel you did easy recharge for urgency. You can never track it. Finally, after long hours of waiting I got the sms.

Chennai to Kanyakumari

2008-09-05T13:43:00.002+05:30

Chennai to Kanyakumari.

While on travel between Chennai to Kanyakumari the scenaries will be too good especially in the early morning when the train crosses Thirunelveli. Both sides of the road or track will be covered by greenaries, lakes, wind mills etc. I will try to take some snaps during my next visit and post it here.

From Chennai to Kanyakumari there were several kinds of transportation available. People generally prefer train, but some hates it and will prefer buses. Few years back before 2003 train travel was very much annoying, because it takes more than 16 hours and sometimes more than that from Chennai to Nagercoil. Later this Kanyakumari express train was made superfast express, by which the travelling time reduced to 13 hours. One other train named Anantapuri Express is there which takes few hours more compared to Kanyakumari Express. There are few more trains including day train. The sleeper class non AC ticket costs around 300 rs (please check the railway website for latest rate). The ticket rate of private buses will cost between Rs 450 to 500 for non AC airbus. If its AC then it costs Rs 600 around and if it is volvo then it is around Rs 700.
The main problem with train travel to Nagercoil is there was no bustop closeby to Nagercoil Junction. You have to walk a few distance with luggage or else you need to take auto / taxi at railway station. But new mini bus facility is available. Once you get ouf train there may be one mini bus waiting to pick and drop at any of the two bus terminuses Meenakshi puram bus terminus or Vadasery bus terminus.
Considering government buses, there are two varieties. People still call them Nesamony and Thiruvalluvar which were the old names of those transport corporation. Now there name has been changed. Seems like Thiruvalluvar operates from Chennai depot and Nesamony operates from Nagercoil / Marthandam depot. Comparing this two Nesamony was good as it travels faster and has less stops in between. Travelling by Thiruvalluvar might be very much struggling. They take the bus to almost all bu terminus and stop there for few minutes by not considering that people has to travel 700 + kms. And if it is not peak season there will be less passengers, and they stop at almost all terminus to make the bus full. I have experience of travelling at this few times. Once I got into this at 2.30 pm from Koyambedu and reached Marthandam at 8.30 am the next day. Ohhh 18 hours.
Considering private buses, they take around 15 hrs travel, but if it breaks down, thats it gone. It will take few hours more. Once while I was travelling from Marthandem to Chennai by Rathi Meena. On the way between Madurai and Trichy bus breaks down. It was 1 am midnight. They asked all the people to take some other bus and go. They returned nearly 50 % of the fare. That place was like forest with no lights can be seen surrounding nor its a bustop. But somehow a bus going to Trichy from Madurai stopped there. It was an ordinary bus, we got into that. Then from Trichy we got a bus to Chennai, finally instead of reaching Chennai before 7 am, we reached here around 12 noon.
One other time I booked a ticket for Rathi Meena at a shop in Vandalur. He gave me a seat number 29. He said this was last seat and he promised me to get some seat in the front once somebody cancels. Later on the journey date I went to him, he said couldn't make it in the front and changed the seat number to 28. When I got into the bus, already one person was sitting there at seat 29. The driver and conductor has no answer, they said it got double entry. Then I realised the person cheated me by giving seat number 29 though there was only 28 seats in the bus. When I called the office from there they have no answer. I have to travel by sitting in the front near the conductor. And one other time when I booked ticket from Marthandam to Chennai in the bus which starts from Trivandrum, the departure time at Marthandam was 5.30 pm when I went there at 5 pm, they informed the bus was yet to start from Trivandrum, after starting from there it will take another 1.5 to 2 hours to reach Marthandam. They don't of any expected time when the bus will start. It was season time and I booked ticket earlier to avoid rush, but still I have to cancel the ticket there and look for some other option.
Kindly post your comments on the Comments section here. You may post anything like your experience on travel to these places etc.