Imagine you are travelling in the local train of Mumbai and since its a long journey of about an hour you decide to take a short nap. You change some settings in your mobile and go to sleep. As soon as the train reaches a station prior to your destination, you mobile gives you an alarm. You wake up and get down.
Isn’t this pretty convenient?
I wonder why has this been not implemented so far by the cell companies? We already have the location information being displayed in our cell phones! (In Nokia handsets its called Cell info display). This information can be fine tuned a bit to suit the purpose. Its pretty easy for the cell cos to maintain a sequential list of stations. We just need to select a location from the list. As soon as we reach that location, voila! The application sounds an alarm.
Go a step further and think about outstation journeys! No need to ask anyone about the prior station or whether the train is on time or not. Pay Rs. 50 extra at the time of booking your ticket and give your mobile number. All the basic details should keep coming to you via SMS! You know exactly how far is your destination, how many stations are left, how much time it will take and this info keeps updating every now and then. Additionally, you will be prompted in a special way when your destination is near.
Go a step further and we should be able to get more details via SMS like where is the next big station (with cafe, snacks, newspaper/magazine stand, etc.), when is it coming, for how long will train stop there, what are specialities of the coming station (e.g. oranges at Nagpur 
), etc.
Why don’t cell cos and railways tie up to provide something like this? This could be a great value addition.
In a few days from now the India-Pakistan Test Series will start. Here’s the best Indian 11 in my opinion
- Sehwag
- Jaffer (mainly on form)
- Laxman
- Sachin
- Dravid
- Yuvraj
- Dhoni
- Pathan
- Zaheer
- Harbhajan or Agarkar (based on pitch)
- Kumble
Yuvraj is preferable to Ganguly for at least following reasons.
- Current form. Youvraj is in much better touch and so Maharaj should make way for Yuvraj now.
- Yuvraj plays pace bowling better than Ganguly. So he is better equiped to play the Shoaib & Co.
It would be in the interest of team India to play Yuvraj and not Ganguly. After all its a test match and that too against arch rivals Pakistan! Don’t bow to pressure Dravid, be brave and play the best 11!
Filed Under
(Sports) by
Ashish
On the first glance, a common man will feel that Income Tax (IT) which is 30% (highest income bracket) is very high and Service Tax (ST) which is at 10% is pretty ok. But go a level deeper and one will realise how high ST is! This is because ST is on Gross Receipts and IT is on Net Income!
Here’s one very basic example. Mr. A is an interior decorator with gross receipts of Rs. 50 lakhs annually. He will have to pay 10.2% (10% + 2% Education Cess) i.e. Rs. 510,000/- as ST.
For IT purposes, he will deduct all his expenses and arrive at net profit. Assuming that net profit is as high as 10% it will be Rs. 500,000/-. He will have to pay 30.6% (30% + 2% Education Cess) i.e. Rs. 153,000/- as IT! He can further reduce this liability to Rs. 122,400 by taking benefit of section 80C and investing in PPF, LIC, etc.
This makes it pretty clear that IT at 30% is far lower than ST at 10%! Even when compared with highest tax bracker, ST is more than 4 times IT.
ST was only 5% when it was introduced and only a few items were covered. Slowly it was increased to 8% and now it is as high as 10%! Now it also covers many more categories of services! At the rate the government is levying new taxes and changing older provisions in its favour I feel one day will come when we will have to pay taxes even for breathing!
I today received a mail in my yahoo account. Here’re the contents.
Security Center
Military Grade Encryption is Only the Start
At PayPal, we want to increase your security and comfort level with every transaction. From our Buyer and Seller Protection Policies to our Verification and Reputation systems, we’ll help to keep you safe.
PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of buyers and sellers. To protect the security of your account, PayPal employs
some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud teams regularly screen the PayPal system for unusual activity.
Recently, our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with PayPal’s User Agreement access to your account will be limited. This is a fraud prevention measure meant to ensure that your account is not compromised.
In order to secure your account we may require some specific information from you. We encourage you to log in by clicking on the link below and complete the requested form as soon as possible.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run
Ignoring our request, for an extended period of time, may result in account limitations or may result in eventual account closure.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is
a security measure meant to help protect you and your account.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal Email ID PP****
I think these fraudsters need to learn new techniques now. These tricks are too old! Here is the complete header
From PayPal Sat Jan 7 17:54:25 2006
X-Apparently-To: ****@yahoo.com via 68.142.201.246; Sun, 08 Jan 2006 03:14:33 -0800
X-YahooFilteredBulk: 211.115.216.228
X-Originating-IP: [211.115.216.228]
Return-Path:
Authentication-Results: mta274.mail.mud.yahoo.com from=paypaI.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 211.115.216.228 (HELO bigfoot.com) (211.115.216.228) by mta274.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; Sun, 08 Jan 2006 03:14:33 -0800
Received: from mountaineerpublishing.com ([68.213.49.6]) by BFLITEMAIL-KR4.bigfoot.com (LiteMail v3.03(BFLITEMAIL-KR4)) with SMTP id 0601080604_BFLITEMAIL-KR4_491054_8660022; Sun, 08 Jan 2006 06:06:41 -0500 EST
Received: by mountaineerpublishing.com (Postfix, from userid 1048) id D6E531A8A159; Sat, 7 Jan 2006 20:54:25 -0500 (EST)
To: money.matters@bigfoot.com
Subject: PayPal Account Security Measures (Routing Code: C840-L1541-Q110-1937)
Message-ID: <1136685265.21980.qmail@paypaI.com>
From: “PayPal” Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
Content-Type: text/html
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 20:54:25 -0500 (EST)
Content-Length: 1537
Notice it is from service@paypaI.com, its not L for Lion, but its I for India Even the return path is melanie@mountaineerpublishing.com. Here’re the screen shots of the original and duplicate sites. Almost all the links are same, but forgot password link is different from the main site 
and of course the login button will execute some different script 
Original Paypal Site
Duplicate Paypal Site
GROW UP SPAMMERS AND THIEVES! LEARN NEW TECHNIQUES TO GATHER CONFIDENTIAL DATA
A new section 50C was introdcued in Income Tax Act a few years ago. It was introduced to reduce black money property transactions. Although the intent was right, the implementation is horribly wrong! 
This new section completely changed the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) scenario. Earlier, CGT was calculated from the real (or apprently real) sale consideration. Now the same is calculated from the deemed sale consideration.
The deemed sale consideration is calculated as per the values given in the Ready Reckoner (RR) for a year. The RR is published every year by the state government and gives values of property for the purposes of stamp duty.
State governments whisically and in complete disregard to the market realities keeps increasing the supposed market values of the properties every year to augment their stamp duty collection. Central government has now joined this bandwagon and saw it as an opportunity to increase tax collection and play a fraud on general public!
Under the new regime, the tax is on deemed gains rather than the actual gains, which, in my humble opinion, is a complete violation of the basis of charge of Income Tax. Now the tax is levied on assumed income. Whether it is actually earned or not is completely immaterial. I wonder why this provision has not been challenged as anti-constitutional so far in any courts.
From my practical experience I can say that at times, the CGT (which is supposed to be only 20% of gain) is more than the actual consideration received! How can they expect people to bear this? Our Finance Minister has one track mind of increasing revenue. When will the governments start thinking about increasing public convenience?
Its time to replace my old and lovely Nokia 6610. I am using it since 2 years and must say it was value for money. But now the battery is weak, talktime is low. One call makes the battery bar jump from full to half and after another call I start getting the low battery warning 
I can sell this handset as it is for 2800 and a new battery costs 1400 (400 in grey market). A new battery doesn’t seem value for money.
I am just plain confused. Which one should I buy now? Shall I go for Nokia 6681 or Nokia N70? Shall I switch brand and go over to Sony Ericsson K750 or Sony Ericsson W800? My heart says go for Nokia. Thats a tried and tested brand that has given satisfactory results. My brain says go for Sony Ericsson, they are more reasonably priced, gives value for money and W800 is for music buffs like me. I am confused. But SE W800 has one major drawback! It comes in only orange colour. 
Worst part is pocket permits all , otherwise it would have been an easy decision.
The person who coined the term “sleep like a baby” either never had a baby or never took care of one! Babies are one of the worst sleepers.
First of all, its difficult to make them sleep. Next there is no guarantee that they will reman asleep for a long time. At times, I spend 30 minutes to make Mahi or Meha sleep and they get up within 15 minutes.
Recently, during a press conference before departing for Pakistan Tour, Rahul Dravid, the Indian cricket team captain, said that biggest worry for him is to put his infant baby boy to sleep! I can understand and relate to what he said. Its so damn difficult to put a baby to sleep!
Additionally, when the baby cries, we don’t know whether the baby is sleepy or hungry or both! The worst part is that the baby itself doesn’t know that! We have to keep trying various options till they go to sleep. Additionally, having twins makes it all the more difficult. You put one baby to sleep and the other starts crying at the top of its voice. By the time you pacify the first and put it to sleep, the other one gets up because of the noise and then …. the cycle continues.
But one thing is there. Howsoever I or my wife may complain, we are enjoying all the little moments that we spend with them. All the babies, when sleeping, look like little angels. Their innocence shines through their face. Check out Mahi and Meha here. 
 |
 |
| Mahi |
Meha |
There’s something seriously wrong with my family.
Some days ago, my wife sprained one ankle and a toe was fractured in another leg! She is still recovering from it. Its very difficult to take care of 7 month old twins with both legs under pain. But she is somehow managing it.
Some days back, I had very bad frozen shoulder and neck. I could hardly lift my babies. I couldn’t even look down and my parents were not in town. So I had to bear the pain and take care of them.
On the day my parents came back to Mumbai, my wife sufferred from stomach infection and was down with diahrrea. Soon after she recovered, Meha was hospitalised. She has come home now, but is still weak and so cranky becuase of the heavy antibiotic doses she was given.
Now today morning my father is hospitalised due to dehydration
When will this all end? I want to see my entire family healthy and happy!
