Sometimes I feel I should work in a call centre... 70% of my work happens over the phone... :(

9 ways to get rich

Being rich is something that almost every human being looks forward to in this world. One keeps on wondering as to what could be the easiest route to being rich. Some of the factors and also some of the options that I have thought of are listed below

Resort to unlawful activities – obviously out of the question (I am a good guy)
Become a movie star – theoretically anythings possible, but am well aware of my build and acting skills to even make a mistake of thinking on these lines
Become a cricketer – unfortunate, I should have started training for this atleast 15 years back – tool late.
Direct/Produce a movie – Possible, but again who will finance me, where will the money come from, how is a movie made, do I have the slightest clue, what the hell, another impossibility
Become a politician – Almost similar to point no. 1. Out of scope
Do business – Need a good idea, some financial backing, lots of hardwork and lots and lots and lots and lots of G…G..G.gggggggguTs. Need to think not just twice, but atleast 10 times
Marry a Rich Girl – I guess quite a popular idea, but against ethics. Not in scope once again.
Become an MBA – The standard way out, but am yet to crack it.
Write a Book – The brightest idea of them all. And that is why I kept it at the last. One need not work out to keep on looking good. No need to study a lot. No need to put in extra hours at the office. No need to go against ethics, law etc. No office timings. No boss (this is the best one). No timelines. Just pen or keyboard. And ofcourse, imagination, creativity and a best seller. Seriously, if there is anyone who has the skill, one should give it a shot. I wish I had, but I know I don’t.

Did It

Did some investment for the first time for myself yesterday. The agent that I had contacted in Haridwar was showing a lot of "bhao" so decided to go down to Dehradun instead and barge into the branches of the funds that I wanted to invest in and get it over with...

Strangely, it was a fantastic day yesterday. Went by a bus, and kept on listening to my favorite music all the way. At doon, went over to one funds office, the guy there was quite friendly and kept on advising me as to what to do, which part of the form to fill and blah blah ..

After that, I made a mistake of going to the CAMS office directly. CAMS stands for Computer Aided Management System - or something of that kind. Their office deals in processing of all the investments done at the location for a good no. of funds. The lady over there was also quite helpful, and since I was not carrying an attested PAN card, she directed me to the fund branch office, in which I wanted to make my second investment.

Anyways, after having done with all my investments, I did some shopping. Since nothing could fit my size, bought something for Mom and Dad. Bought some books for myself and one for my room mate as well, finished off with the rest of the work for which I was down in Dehradun and came over.

Anyways, my inquisitiveness for the financial world and all the jargon that these people are so used to using did arise yesterday. Ultimately understood that it is after all not that difficult a world to understand... just need a sustained effort. And since I am getting better and better these days and sustaining things... may be I should give it a shot at this as well... Atleast if not for anything else.. it will always be a nice topic of discussion with the older guys...

Hope to enjoy the weekend.... no off as I have already taken one this week.. so most of the next two days are gonna be spent at the factory...

Buh bye...

Funds... well.. that is word that has been buzzing in my mind for the past few days... the stock market crash.. ITC is a hot pick... save tax... file tax returns.. .rent receipts...

Well... I must say.. that I am quite a "bigda hua" adult.... I dont manage my funds on my own.. my Dad does it... I have no clue as to where my money is...what I am supposed to do with it. Sometimes I think I should try.. the theoretical concepts are there in my mind in a somewhat right place.. but the need does not arise....

It did though about 3 - 4 days back.. when I realised that if I dont invest some of my money in any of the tax saving schemes.. I will be losing a lot of it... and that people sitting at the salaries and retirement funds office in Kolkata are not gonna wait for my declaration of savings for long...

and so.. have been "trying to .. but not really" working hard for the past couple of days to figure out where to put the money... any college goer reading my blog... take heed and start investing.. nothing is wrong with it... after all .. it is your money.. you will lose some.. and may be gain a lot..

Ramayana

Have been reading Ramayana for the last couple of months.. Well, dont be surprised.. I am reading Ramayana written by Ashok K. Banker. My friend Shekhar had recommended this series of 6 volumes and although my initial opinion of the first book wasnt so great, I have begun to like it.

The whole story is written in six volumes. The author as claimed by him in the first few pages of each book, has done a lot of research and tried to depict through these books, the true story of Ram as understood by him.

Some aspects of the book can be quite offending. Ofcourse, one wouldn't expect Lakshman to be called "Luck" and Shatrugan to be called "Shot". Also, one would be quite surprised to find Lakshman teasing Ram about Sita.

On the whole, it isnt that "dharmic" as the title sounds. Quite an interesting read actually and difficult to keep down at times. The language is a little casual though. Would recommend all book lovers to definitely try it out.

Why... ???

There are a lot of questions that keep cropping in my mind. A lot of them have already been there throughout my life. It is just that I have never been able to spell them out, or compile them properly enough, to be able to ask. Would like to ask them in this forum. Let me see if anyone is able to answer.

1. Why is it that for most of the Indian Girls, their names end with either "a" or "i" ? (Example - Rani, Aishwarya, Madhuri, Preeti, Deepika etc.....)

2. Why is it that drinking water after eating ghee filled food bad for health ? I remember my Mom always used to prohibit drinking water whenever we had "halua"

3. How come astrology exists as a profession ? Wouldnt the world be a better place astrology was actually a science (I am not even asking it to be exact), and not a post mortem report ? Wouldnt the astrologers just tell if India would be out of the world cup in the first round - atleast give a probability if not exactly predict.

Answer these questions people. I will keep pouring my doubts in this forum from now on.

Phew !!! Its been a long time..My last post was sometime in May... The reason I am writing today is because I am already in a flow of it. Had written a stupid essay in the XAT entrance test a couple of days back. Am also write now filling up admission forms for a colleague. I guess it is very important to be in the habit... otherwise things get very difficult. I know because I faced a lot of problems in being able to write straight last Sunday. Forget the content.

Life's been having a lot of ups and downs. Didnt clear CAT. Well knew it that I am not clearing, but still, it feels horrible when the result is out in Black & White. Work is going on well, so no issues on that front. Boss keeps on giving work and I have to keep on obliging, but I guess that is a part of life, and will be till the time I have a boss.

Anyways.. will try and keep writing in the new year.. so long ppl... bbye

The Great Ganga Panga

The title of this blog comes from the trekking and rafting trip which all the new recruits of Mckinsey go through in India. We also had a similar experience last Sunday, when we decided to take on take on some Panga at Ganga - a 12 km white water rafting trip from Shivpuri to Rishikesh.

We had started off pretty late from Haridwar and were just lucky to have reached Shivpuri on time to be able to catch up with one of the last boats that was about to leave for the rafting trip. Since there were only 3 of us, we were clubbed with another group from ICICI Lombard into an inflated boat. In all, there were 11 of us in the boat including 2 guides.

The rafting expedition started off with the guide shouting out some instructions and giving us some practice to follow his commands. I got to man one of the oars, about which I was quite thrilled initially but regretted it later on. (you will get to understand the reason as you read on).

The stretch consists of calm waters as well as sections which are called "rapids". The rapids have been given names such as "Golf Course", "Tee Off", "Double Trouble" etc. The flow of water is quite high and undergoes tremendous turbulent motion (much more than the seas), probably due to undulations in the bed of the river. Therefore, when your raft passes through any of the rapids, one can expect it to undergo all sorts of motions and if luck isnt on your side, it could even topple. The experience is fun, adventurous, as well as exciting. One actually at times feels helpless as the rowing doesnt seem to help much in those kind of waters.

Anyways, the whole experience can also sap all your energy, as rowing is not an easy exercise. My whole body pained for almost till the whole of next day.

Anyways, hoping to go on such expeditions time and again. Gotta check out Mussourie and Dehradun, as well as places somewhat far off in the mountains. Hoping to make good use of my Sundays.