37 Useful Tips

I got these tips as a forwarded e-mail from an old friend. I am not sure how many of them would I be able to follow. Yet, I am in complete agreement that the tips would help you in many ways. The 38th tip in the list asks to forward this mail to others whom I care about. I usually do not send forwarded mails. Instead of forwarding the tips to everyone I decided to put it up on my blog so that all the readers of my blog would be benefited. :)

1. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. Sleep for 7 hours.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did in 2007.
7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink plenty of water.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
14. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
15. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
16. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
17. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
18. Smile and laugh more.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don't compare your partner with others.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
25. Forgive everyone for everything.
26. What other people think of you is none of your business.
27. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
28. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
29. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
30. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
31. The best is yet to come.
32. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
33. Do the right thing!
34. Call your family often.
35. Your inner most is always happy. So be happy.
36. Each day give something good to others.
37. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
38. Please Forward this to everyone you care about. (I hadn't followed this tip )

Try to follow some of these tips. Life would defenitely be different.

Dial an Auto @ Government rates : A good initiative for Chenniites.....

In one of my previous posts, I have written about problems faced by the common public while hiring an auto in the Metropolitan city of Chennai. The city has recently celebrated its 376th birthday, making it one among the oldest cities in the country.

A Good news I have for the common public of Chennai is the launch of "Call Auto's". This concept was introduced by the firm "Gates India", a couple of months ago. Though this iniative is likely to increase the competition between Call Taxis n Autos, it also helps to reduce the burden on the common man.

Anyone who needs to hire an Auto can make a call and avail this facility. The main attraction of the concept is that services are provided exactly at the amount specified by the government. The charges, Rs 14 for the first 2 kms and Rs 6 for each km afterwards, are collected as shown by the electronic meters. An extra charge of Rs 20 is collected as service charge for the expenses of call centre and other services.

Commenting on the service, one of the customers said, “These autos are cheaper than the ordinary ones, despite the collection of Rs 20 as service charges. The drivers are extremely polite and decent, hence we need not have the headache of arguing with them. They even give the details of the driver over phone.” “I have been using the service for the last three weeks. I am satisfied with the services and facilities they provide. This concept shall grow,”.

Any auto driver can join under this concept. The only criterion is that one should follow the rules and regulations as specified by the government. “I joined this, because I just wanted to do a neat and honest job. I do want to work according to my conscience. The income is less, but still there is satisfaction,” said an autodriver. When a top official of the Gates India was contacted, he said, “This will be useful, particularly for women, since they won't prefer to bargain or argue with the auto drivers. We still prefer advance booking from the customer, as our service is still in the budding stage.” “We even inform our customers in case we are unable to provide the service, so that they can make an alternate arrangement. Cash bill is given, which again proves our credibility. We also send bills through emails,” he said.

Those who want to avail of this service can call at the number: 3999 3999. The autos are available from 7 am to 7 pm, every day, except on Sundays.

All the best for the venture 'Gates India'. I only wish all auto drivers in the city becomes honest and stop cheating the travellers.

News Courtesy : NewindPress.com (Please confirm fares with the call center before you avail the service.... Fares are subject to change due to increasing price of Petrol n Diesel).

How many more victims?

Since long I haven't written a blog except "Inflation - The Apocalypse of Doom", so maybe I am a little rusty, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Like any other blogger I do love comments too, whether they are good or bad. Please feel free to leave your comments here - be it an appreciation or a criticsm. Those critics which help me to become a better blogger are the best.

The recent 24 hr Hartal by the left activists made me think about and write this blog. Its amazing to know that "Hartals" were conceived by the father of our nation, Mr.M.K.Gandhi himself. He organised a series of anti-British general strikes which he called hartals, thereby institutionalizing it.

The word "Hartal" was originally a Gujarati expression signifying the closing down of shops and warehouses with the object of realising a demand. A quick research on the net showed that the state with maximum number of Hartals is WestBengal followed by Kerala.

Hartals became more popular after the Supreme Court of India banned bandhs in 1998. However, the political parties are not concerned about the Supreme Court order and the still organize bandhs under the name of Hartal. Often a Hartal means that those who declare it expects the general public to stay in their homes and abstain from work. All this is expected to be voluntary, but in many instances people are terrorized into participating in it. There have been instances of large metro cities coming to a standstill. Though state-wide hartals are relatively less in number, local-level hartals have become the order of the day with at least one hartal a week.

The people of the 'most-literate' state are so scared of hartal-related violence that they mostly remain indoors, indirectly helping the cause of the hartal observers. Be it the hanging of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain or the Danish cartoon of the Prophet, Malayalis are the first to bring shutters down. The real beneficiaries, if any, are the state-run shops, where liquor is sold at nominal rates compared to licensed bars, and the mutton stalls which in particular witness roaring business on pre-hartal days. May be it is time for us to change the title "God's own country" to "Hartals own Country".

Instead of inviting entrepreneurs to invest in the state, we have started to celebrate Hartals. There were about 65 (an approx count) Hartals till date, causing loss of hundreds of crores of rupees to the state exchequer. Kerala has earned the dubious distinction of being the only state in the country where shutdown calls by any political party will be a sure success. Ironically, it is the Kerala High Court which banned bandhs for the first time in the country in 1997, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court also.

Those of you who can read malayalam, please read the following. This indicates the changing public mentality on Hartals.

The last in the list was the 24 hour hartal on 20th August. Neither I nor the public of Kerala would forget the agony of a mom who was not able to reach home in time to see her dead child. Rodia, a native of Kottayam, was at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to find out if her son, who was suffering from blood cancer, could get any better treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre. Late Tuesday night, she received the news that her son’s condition was worsening and reached the railway station early morning to take the first train to Kochi around 5am. But there were no trains due to the Hartal. The running trains were dealyed due to the presence of the agitators. Sitting at the railway station, she could only that the trains start to move. Yet, nothing happened and then came the bad news that her son had passed away.

None of the agitators helped her even after knowing the news about the death. The way the union leaders of the party responded to this incident was in the most barbaric terms ever. I feel pity for people who vote for these goons.

It is we, the public, who have to decide if we are in support of Hartals. If we think that nothing can be done, then nothing would be done. But if we boycott the Hartals, no one can stop us. It is upto you to decide. Follow your heart.

"Inflation - The Apocalypse of Doom"

Inflation is the world’s number one problem. Some say that Inflation is the “rate” at which rich gets richer and poor becomes poorer. Governments are pretending to respond. The Indian finance minister says that western nations are diverting land for producing expensive bio-fuels to replace the expensive crude oil. Surely, that is part of the problem. But that does not explain the jump in the price of rice. Rice is not diverted to bio-fuel production.

I do not like to put the blame on other countries. They have their policies and should be able to do what they please. If the western countries want to convert cultivation land into bio-fuel fields, that is their problem. But we must remember that they would have taken measures so that the people do not suffer from lack of food. We should stop the political ballgame of blaming other countries for our problems. If we cultivate more food based on the requirement, we will never have to depend other nations for food.

Successive governments have paid lip service to developing agriculture. Now it is time for them to be voted out of office. The world is abcruel and competitive place. It’s time that we grow up and deal with reality of scarce resources and increasing competition.

We do need to remember and accept the fact that we have ruined our own money system because of politics, greed and debt. Bankruptcy can happen not only to individuals and corporations, but to nations as well.

Collapse of our currency is not new. All we need to do is look at the value of INR against US$ for the past three years and the picture is clear. We have more or less pegged our currency to the US$, and what has happened recently is that the value of the US$ has declined rapidly thanks to the increased money printing by the FED, and we end up importing US inflation.

The past and the present centuries are littered with examples, each one traceable to the same source - and cause - governments which began the syphilis of inflation by printing money unbacked by gold or any other value. No one with sense would doubt the fact that there is more currency in circulation than there should be. Effective means to prevent circulation and distribution of counterfit currency adds to the same.

Inflation has risen to almost 12%, and what has the government been doing to bring down the same? When inflation reached the recorded highs, the government and the politicians alike were trying to coverup through the N-deal, and were trying to hang on to power through surviving the vote of confidence. The opposition - instead of pressurising the govt. to take stringent measures to bring down the ever-rising rate of inflation, was trying to pull the govt. down.

Our governments have spent crores widely, borrowed insanely, piled up debts beyond believing and then used the printing presses to create more paper money and inflation.

When inflation is rising, where does an ordinary man stand? Most of the commodities, including foodstuff are priced in $ and the decline of the $ means that prices in terms of $ goes up. Each week, money buys less. This has caused individuals to follow the example set forth by governments, "Borrow Heavily". You may not agree with me when i state the above. Just think how many of you have been using credit cards for purchases? Is it not borrowing from the concerned bank by means of an easy borrow card? A huge debt if you do not pay the due amount in full when get your monthly satements.

For ordinary citizens, all hope is gone, the money game is over. Savings, pensions and fixed investments are becoming worthless. Some have ways to profit from general misfortune and they become tycoons. Some who are fortunate enough rely on mutual funds and make a short profit. But for how long?

Of course, in any broad-brush analysis or conclusions, there is the risk that we miss the exceptions who behaved differently and correctly. For example, within the constraints imposed by the political system, Reserve Bank of India has done a very good job of trying to shield the Indian economy from the cycles of boom and bust.

Right now, its every man for himself, a time to survive, for individuals to scramble for financial life belts.No one would want to believe that an apocalypse of doom is imminent, especially when it concerns our finances. But its true that our economy is crashing - heavily than ever.