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February 28, 2009
Can we bank on them?
My sister had opened a current account in Axis bank, and the minimum balance to be maintained was 10 k. She religiously maintained the minimum balance, but there was no transaction as such from the day it was started. Once she wanted to withdraw some cash and she was shocked to see the balance - the amount was automatically reduced to 6 k from 10 k.
On enquiry she came to know that they had charged her Rs 150 as some debit card charges, for which there wasn’t any intimation sent, and from then on they kept charging Rs 400 each month for not maintaining minimum balance. Funny accounting I should say. My sister brought the roof down, blasted the managers, and went forward to the consumer court to file a case. After a month of making calls to and fro – she got her money back - 10 k credited to her account. Of course too much of energy was spent in the process.
My mom isn’t literate much and still carries this conventional notion that banks are the one who give us interest on the deposit made and not vice versa. She is a pensioner, and had an account in ICICI just for the heck of it. Even she religiously maintained a minimum balance, and thought ICICI would pay her interest for maintaining the same.
Last month when I visited my mom, she had received a letter from ICICI, which carried the account details and the account summary. ICICI had done its job perfectly. They deducted some Rs 250 as debit card charges in the month of October 2008, deducted Rs 800 for the months of November 2008 and December 2008 as fine for not maintaining the minimum balance, and they sent the October-2008-dated letter in the month of January 2009 - so Rs 1000 had already gone before we could think or react.
We didn’t have much energy to fight this time. I asked my mom to rush to the ATM and withdraw all the money, and stick to nationalized bank where Rs 500 is the minimum balance.
My mom innocently asked me, “instead of giving us the ‘interest’ for the money we deposit why are they taking the interest from our money?” I could not answer her.
Posted by Kenni at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2009
Fleeting thoughts!
*I felt a bit uncomfortable when A R Rahman won the Oscars. On one side I was happy that he got what he deserved but then on the other side I was a bit jealous. I don’t know the ABCD of music and I am in no way his competitor – but still I was unsure about this funny feeling inside me. It was much later I understood that it wasn’t because of the awards he won but it was because of the mass attention he as an ‘individual’ attracted. Not all are born with this kind of destiny!
*Someone sometimes is successful in breaking the demographical and religious barriers to such an extent that people want to get associated or connected with them in one or the other way. A R Rahman is one of them. No one calls him a Chennaite or no one remembers that he is a Muslim. He is just referred to as an Indian.
*I am totally pro-Muslims, but I know a lot of educated people who are completely anti-Muslims- they are so because they want to be so. Maharashtrians who are born anti-Muslims I am sure this time cannot prefer to bring the Muslim factor while celebrating A R Rahman’s glory. Rather they cannot afford to.
*It is quite possible that in future the Bollywood crowns A R Rahman as a Mumbaite - completely ignoring or forgetting that his base is from South India. The power of North India-centric media I should say. Hence one good thing A R Rahman did to prove his base was he spoke in Tamil after being awarded the Oscar and not in Hindi.
*The credit for Rahman’s success in fact goes to the filmmakers of Tamil Nadu (completely ignored by the media) who trusted him and nurtured his talents for decades. And the Bollywood cannot snatch it overnight.
Posted by Kenni at 07:07 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2009
The Happening!
Two reasons I don’t blog regularly these days – one I remain busy, and second when I am not busy, I am lazy. Well to be honest – this recession has helped me a lot for obvious reasons. May be that is why people say – life goes in cycle – when someone is doing well, others don’t and someone isn’t doing well, someone does. So overall he economy remains steady - more or less.
Past few weeks have been exciting on my end. I visited Tirutani – a murugan temple close to Chennai, I watched Slumdog Millionaire at home, I invested in a home theatre (Onkyo), and I tattooed ‘Lord Narayana’ on my right hand!
Slumdog Millionaire (SM)
After my not-so-good experiences with multiplexes – I have got a phobia for theatres. I have also understood something vital in life – that no Indian movie is worth big screen, and any foreign movie is not worth without good subtitles.
I had bought a pirated copy of SM in the train on my trip to Tiruppur recently. The print was good, the DVD seller is known to me, and it costed me just Rs 40. Well piracy is banned – but then the DVD seller pays the policemen Rs 300 for every trip he makes. I would love this DVD seller to make money than some multiplex owner – who makes money by selling stuff at more than MRP.
SM was a decent movie. But not worth the hype and the awards it is bragging. A R Rahman’s score was good as always, but not his best. He has done better in Indian movies I am sure.
The movie has it all – poverty, humour, sex, incest, violence, disgust, song, pain, ‘shit’ – a perfect masala I should say. The movie will surely give ‘sadistic’ pleasure to the people living in 1st world countries (US/UK) who are completely unaware about how people in 3rd world countries (like India) lead their lives. May be Indians should try to make a movie that depicts adultery, pre-teen sex, abortions and racial discrimination among the Westerners to brag some Oscars in future.
I liked the movie except for one dialogue – where the little guy says, this is real India, and the American says, then we will show who real Americans are. My God! They have tried to show Americans as the real White Gods! I think it is reason enough for A R Rahman to refuse to take the Oscars!
My New Tattoo
A year back or so I had this wish made to God that I will tattoo Lord Narayana’s picture on my hand. Things didn’t fall in line till I came to know about a Tattoo Studio in Chennai – ‘Irezumi.’ I googled, found the address, fixed an appointments and met the tattoo guy. He took the design from the net, and gave me the pricing too. Well it was expensive. I don’t know on what basis they charge – but he said Rs 4500. I think they charge depending upon the design and situation. Well I agreed and went for it.
I liked his job, and the tattoo has come out well too, but still found it a bit expensive. May be when the competition is high – the prices might come down.
I liked this statement that was displayed at the studio –
"A good tattoo isn’t cheap, and a cheap tattoo isn’t good."
Well I surely will go for more tattoos when good tattoos become cheaper.
My New Home Theatre
I think every man’s dream is to possess a good home theatre. And I thank God to have blessed me with one. I wanted to invest in a Sony Home Theatre first – but then I didn’t like their salesmanship and also for some funny reason they don’t give any discounts (if someone working for Sony reads my blog please make a note of it – your salesmen suck).
I went for Onkyo for couple of reasons – it suited my budget, the sound effect was mind boggling, I loved the salesmanship, they gave me a good discount, and the amplifier isn’t attached to the DVD player (unlike Sony) - you can always upgrade or change the external CD player.
Posted by Kenni at 02:22 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2009
‘Satyam’eve Jayete!
Some one who founded a brand, someone who got foreign money into India, someone who gave a new meaning to IT, and someone who provided employment to 1000s and fed their families and children for almost an decade is screwed royally by the media and the people around. And the 40 political bastards who got into a pub and thrashed 4 girls for having a good time are on bail moving out freely! That is what is ‘Satyameve Jayete’ in Indian context!
I don’t know how and why the founder of Satyam Computers - Ramalinga Raju got into this fraudulent activity. But then if I were him - I would have not minded to do the same, and when caught would have flown to Dubai and settled. And I think most would agree with me. The only difference between Raju and other businessmen is – Raju got caught, and others haven’t. If you apply simple mathematic calculation – you can understand that there cannot be any big fortune with out a bigger crime behind it.
Well for all of us the happy news is that we have got someone BIG at whom we can raise our fingers. But who in India is happy to pay their tax? Given a choice I will never pay mine at least. And I know so many businessmen who do so many things to save their taxes. It is simple – when we surely know that our leaders and the people sitting inside the parliament are corrupt, how can the people be uncorrupt?
I don’t know what my clients learn from me, but then I learn a lot from my clients. Recently someone visited me, who knew someone who has 2000 crore liquid cash. And logically it is all black money. And he also told me the ministers and banks involved in converting that black money into white money overnight. The commission for conversion is 20 per cent! Who keeps a tab on it?
I met a policeman recently who was on abstinence for Lord Ayyappa and I happen to meet him in one of our bhajans. Out of curiosity I asked him about his work, and he said he is in the liquor department, and his job is to check for furious liquors. He was honest with me. He told me that there are 4 people in his team. And each liquor shop pays them Rs 1000 per month – to ignore whatever happens there. Rs 1000 seemed less. But later with a naughty smile in his eyes – he said there are 80 liquor shops under our control! So what do they ignore? 1) they ignore spurious liquor 2) they ignore Pondicherry stuff (tax free) being sold in Chennai 3) they ignore liquor being sold at more than the MRP price! And he is just a constable!
Someone told me that there is Rs 1, 25,000 crores Indian money in the Swiss Bank - which if used correctly can provide free education for every childr till they complete their degree! Now who will open an account in Swiss Bank? A middle class job goer? A rickshaw puller? A politician? Or a businessman?
And the saddest part is politicians like Bal Thackery, L K Advani, and Narendra Modi who are responsible for ‘killing’ people in the name of religion enjoy power and respect. And people like Ramalinga Raju are going to get punished.
Posted by Kenni at 06:54 AM | Comments (0)