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Showing posts from September, 2012

The black and white of money

Many people talk about black and white money. Here is my understanding of the same - Black Money- this is the money which people claim to have spent (or not earned) but do not - So effectively this is the money they do not have. Like a businessman may claim that their sales and profits were lesser, to save on tax. So whatever amount that is under reported becomes black money. White Money - Money earned and accounted for. Like salary coming in the bank account. Now the interesting part, how to make your black money- white and vice versa. White to Black -  NGO donation - Donations to NGO are tax exempt. Many NGO just take a cheque of white money and give you cash. This is done at some service charge. Black to white Someone gives you a cheque against cash. This can be shown as payment received against some service or product. As the economy is one whole, so white to black is balanced by those wanting Black to white.

Pathetic service of Standard Chartered Bank India

Standard Chartered Bank India : I decided to try stan chart's super value card as it offered a cash back on bills. So i thought any savings however small is worth it. I could not have been more wrong. When my credit card was made, my mobile was entered without +91 in the system. It is apparently mandatory as their sms sending fails in that case. I came to know this when i went ahead and tried to login to online banking. Next tried to register some billers as that was the main reason for getting this card. Once the billers are added they never get confirmed. Even after 1.5 months. Emailing them generally gets a dumb response, which may not be even related to what you are asking. Calling them is even dumber as telecallers do not have your history or account information. They just ask you to email incase you ask some clarification. I have tried so many credit cards, but still citibank seems to be the best in terms of overall service. Pathetic bank and pathetic service. will

Relationships and epics

I was thinking how different is the teachings of Ramayana and Mahabharata when it comes to relationships and families. Ramayana teaches to give, even at your expense. So Ram agreed to 14 yrs exile. Mahabharata on the other hand teaches you to do the right thing. So you fight with your brother's etc, to take what is rightfully yours. Ramayana and Mahabharata were both because of hurt male ego at the hands of women. We somehow fail to estimate how powerful a force that is. While Rama was the king in Ramayana, in Mahabharata Krishna was the king maker. So essentially with time it taught us that being the king maker is more important than being the king. As the accountability of a king is much higher, like with Ram, who has to alienate Sita because of social pressures. But in mahabharata draupadi had 5 husbands, and even after the cheer haran incident, she could live with her honor. This shows how just a womens strength can make people around her respect her. In Mahabharata it