For what all I need to save?

You know what , of late I am thinking a bit more about where is all the money going actually?( Don't say I don’t have any other work to do..! :) ) For what all I need to save? Or how many things, I mean different headers I really need to consider and care about vis a vis financial stuff.
I keep discovering and my list goes endless. I believe in any urban city whether both husband and wife are working or it is only husband is working, it does not really matter . These headers will remain common and in fact may even grow bigger. The only thing that changes is the size of the canvas that you are playing on.

I am now a days hit by this analysis bug, courtesy the advice given by my close pal Suresh Purisai other day! So I hit upon idea of analyzing and listing down these headers, which might become a full-fledged financial plan later. In this blog, I am just listing down the headers. Going further we will talk about them in detail. The audience I am considering here is the salaried class living in urban cities like Bangalore.

Whatever may be your salary, job profile or age, you need to concentrate on and consider these headers and work towards saving for them or plan for them.

Following is a comprehensive list of such headers, which may even grow further, based on the kind of lifestyle you are leading.

1. Day to Day Expenses (Like Grocery, Electricity, Water, Gas, Milk ..etc)
2. Home loan EMI or Monthly House Rent
3. Dependants Care ( Your family,Parents, In-laws or any other relatives..)
4. Insurance for your life and dependants
5. Home Loan Protection Coverage (Very IMP)
6. Children Education Fund
7. Children Marriage Fund (These two headers depend on no. of Children!)
8. Retirement Fund
9. Emergency Fund
10. Any other EMIs

I will further detail out each of this header in next few blogs.

Vasanthi Hariprakash - Goooood morning Bangalore girl....!

Do you remember sometimes back the Radio City 91 FMs mornings were filled with this loud, lively and bubbly voice called Vasanthi Hariprakash who could effortlessly speak more than four languages and light up every one's morning with her lovely voice.

When I last listened to Radio City 91 FM, this voice was missing and I was wondering where did this girl disappear? You may not be aware that she is also a qualified journalist and is a sort of multi faceted personality in her own way. When I last read about her, she was going to abroad regarding presenting some paper. She had a very successful career as an RJ at RC for more than two years and was a house hold name in all Bangalore Radio listeners circle. But for some time now, there was no news of Vasanthi.

Suddenly last week I could trace her on TV! Now she is with NDTV new channel as a full time journalist from Bangalore, a profession probably she is most passionate about. Really a good move on the part of her career.

The most popular woman radio jockey of the city, Vasanthi Hariprakash, has a very eventful career from Electronics Student to Journalist to RJ to again to Journalist.
You can read more about Vasanthi at :http://www.discoverbangalore.com/Profile15.htm

Hope she will be equally successful there in her new role. Good luck Vasanthi!

Fight one more round

Whenever I feel down.. whenever I feel 'enough is enough' I just try remembering the following creation by James Corbett. It is very inspiring and keeps me up and running again. I thought of sharing with you all.

Fight one more round...

When your feet are so tired that
You have to shuffle back to the center of the ring,
Fight one more round....

When your arms are so tired that
You can hardly lift your hands to come on guard,
Fight one more round….

When your nose is bleeding and
Your eyes are black and you are so tired that
You wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and
Put you to sleep,
Fight one more round…

Remembering that the man who always fights
One more round is never whipped.

- James J. Corbett

Cricket in India going the movies way...!

So much of cricket is being played in India now. ICL.. IPL..20-20, 50-50..players getting auctioned.. bollywood stars fighting for best of the teams. I wonder if cricket continues like this in India, there may be a day when cricket may overtake Indian movie industry for the sheer volume of cricket it will produce.

Today I watched an old 20-20 match again on ESPN. You know which one.. The thriller between India and Pakistan from 20-20 World Cup where India won through tiebreaker by 3-0. I did not get opportunity last year to watch this match as I was in US that time.

What a match it was! The match thoroughly entertained the crowd till the last ball and even beyond that. I should say it was full paisa vasool for every one!

As I knew the result already, this time I was watching the captaincy by both the team captains very closely. The match very effectively proved that Dhoni was a very intelligent cricketer of the two. This was evident in the selection of 5 bowlers for the tie breaker.Dhoni kept more of slow and spin bowlers and 2 seamers, where as Shoeb Malik erred and took more seamers and fewer spinners. Dhoni intelligently started off with Sehwag, Harbhajan and Robin and kept his seamers at the end. The slow bowlers bowled with their natural run up and pace and hit the wickets always.

Where as Shoeb started off with seamers and that too with a short run up! These guys erred again because they were not at all comfortable with short run up at all and could never hit the wickets! At the end Dhoni found 100% success and Shoeb 0%. It was 3-0! I guess team India was certainly better prepared to face this kind of emergency and Pakistan looked totally clueless.

Whoever wins or loses, it is ultimately the quality of Cricket I always enjoy. I feel some of the matches have some great lessons to learn from, in the way they have played. There is strategy.. there is plan, emotion, passion, grit and determination and lots of masala and suspense. Because of all these ingredients the cricket rules in India and players have become demi-GODs.

If you see the second edition of ICL tournament has produced some very good thriller and breath taking actions and whole tournament was really worth watching for the time and money you invested.ICL has come a long way since its first edition. I still remember how Stuart Binny changed the course of the match in just 3 overs and how Lance Klusener single handedly fought for his team till the last delivery. Some of the matches were simply out of this world!

People are looking eagerly for ICL tri-series Word cup edition happening next week between ICL India, ICL Pakistan and ICL-Rest of the World. Kapil is all smiles now after the second league. Unfortunately Media in India is very biased now and is not giving enough coverage for this . The best of youth talent coming from many Indian towns and proving their worth in ICL are not getting due recognition by the media. That is very sad! But I am very happy that at least these youngsters found that much needed break in ICL and proving themselves. They are doing financially well too.

Ok.. now coming back to the main topic, Cricket in India is definitely going the Indian movies way. My imagination is going wayward. If it continues how could be the future of cricket in India? I am just listing few of the possibilities here.

1. There may be some 800-100 matches being played annually in India just like the movies.
The cricket might become very commercialized like some players might say "I am booked for next 2 years. No call sheets now please !"
2. Each player irrespective of his experience will have a Individual Financial consultant, Secretary, Physio, Trainer, Doctor, A mobile Gym , Clinic and possibly a mobiile family or girl friend ! :)

3.There will be DVDs, VHS Tapes, VCDs of all matches available and people might watch some good matches again and again just for thrill.
4.Just like movies, all our kids might start dreaming of playing for a cricket club and making it big.
5. Many of the district places might come up with sophisticated world-class stadiums and multiplexes.
6. You and your son might go for an evening 20-20 match while your wife and daughter might opt for a multiplex movie.
7. There will be many ICL and IPLs. Cricketers might change their clubs just like some one changes his companies in Industry.
8. Because of the job opportunities these matches will create, there will be better mobility of funds un the market and might help economy further.
9. As players contract is purely based on quality cricket he plays, no body can take their place for granted in the team. Thus there will be many new youngsters coming to the national stage and getting recognized.
10. When you are fed with too much of something, you will lose the taste and start looking for fresh taste and new avenues.

11.There will be all types of cricket being played.. 20-20, 50-50 and Test Cricket..etc., Different class of audiences will be evolving very similr to people watching only comedies, romatic movies, suspense thriller or message oriented movies.
The new avenues look infinite for me.

1. After some time, people might lose their interest in Men's cricket. Why not Women's cricket and making it this big? We have so much to do in Indian Women Cricket. Is Subhashchandra reading this blog?

2. We have many other sports we can think promoting like this. Recently concluded Bangalore Open was such big success. We can take it further.
3. Force One of Vijay Mallya is coming up in a big way. This looks very promising in the coming years.
4. Indian Hockey...! I dont need to mention here what all we can do in Indian Hockey. Should we think of one more league like ICL to revive Indian Hockey?

You can think of many such possibilities.Personally I am very much interested in sharing such ideas and help if some one is willing to work towards bringing them to reality.

The coming days in Indian Sport are looking bright. I guess ICL and IPL rivalry is good for
our talented youngsters and as my friend Aravind Hebbalalu said other day "the day is not far off when ICL and IPL teams will lock horns to win some coveted trophy." At the end of the day it is the victory of cricket and victory of sports community!

Long live the sports community in India.

Gouramma's strategy, vision..etc.,

I feel amazed some times about the disciplined life these normal people live and feel bad that sometimes this much needed discipline does not exist in us, the so called white collared corporate pros.

We have a maid at our home by name Gouramma, who works for us about 2 Hrs a day. I never speak to her, but my wife keeps updating me about her. Some of the facts about Gouramma's life are really interesting and made me take a curious look into her life.

Her husband works for a factory on whose salary her family runs. And she works for about 5-6 houses per day. All her income goes towards the education of her 15 year old son and his future. You know what? Her son studies in a private school in English medium! She has paid donation to get the seat there and still pays about Rs.10,000/- fees per year! This fee is much higher than what I paid for whole of schooling and 12th std.

I see some people cribbing about the cosmopolitan growth of Bangalore and other cities. They talk about digital divide and big gap between 'have's and 'have not's. Such differences take mammoth shape in the incidents like riots in Bangalore during Dr.Raj's death.

But can't we look at some of the good and positive developments such growth has brought in the lives of some of the ordinary people and the awareness that they got in life? I feel there is an intense change in the very outlook of these people. There are some good souls in these people who can keep their head straight despite all that is happening to their good city and still think positively. One among such people is our Gouramma.

Her thinking capabilities, strategy and execution skills are praise worthy. Can you imagine? She has two TV sets at her tiny house. One is color and other one B&W. They watch only B&W TV every day as she feels it will spoil her son's studies. Color TV is brought out only on festival and holiday occasions! What a noble thought! I feel bad we don’t take such minimum precautions for our children!

Coming to her financial management skills, she had a small site measuring 20x30 which her mother had earned through her hard work would achieve at the end of her 25 years of working at well known breweries company in Bangalore. She has built two houses in that site and leased out one of them. That’s how she has guarded her family and her future.

It is not that she has come smoothly all along the way. She has gone through all the ups and downs of life. Her husband was a drunkard and he used to harass her every day and spend all his money on his habits. This is where Gouramma made up her mind and decided to show him the door. She sent him out of the house for some months and warned him not to return unless he quits all his bad habits and lives a decent life. She did not have any problem as she was independent, courageous and living in her own house with her son.

Her husband after few months realized the reality and his mistakes and returned home. Now he is living the life of a goodie goodie husband!

People like Gouramma truly stand out as unique personalities with their vision, strategy, grit and determination to succeed despite of all the limitations and odds that they face along the way.

Our life and Career- Driven by Instinct or Strategy?

Many a times this thought has hit my mind, whether we should lead our lives by strategy or instinct. I have always been left with comparison whether in Cricket Aussies are better or Srilankans (Indians play with neither of strategy nor an instinct.. which is a different part of the story all together !) Aussies play with a strategy while Srilankans with an instinct.Many times strategy wins and sometimes an instinct.

Strategy has all the ingredients like study, assessment, analysis, reviews, plan, execution, results ..etc., but some where it might lack the much needed emotion. You might play your game to that plan. You are actually designing your success story by creating a master plan and living up to that plan.

But instinct? It is a feeling, killer emotion on that day, at that time of the day. A minnows like BanglaDesh can buldoze stalwarts like Aussies on that day. Today Indian Cricket team might beat best of the best, but might succumb to Bangladesh tomorrow! Should we lead life like this? Can we afford to get carried away like this?

I believe , our lives and career need two different treatments. When you say life, live it with full enthu, full spirit. Career is a tool to lead a good life. You can say a best career is an advanced tool with state-of-the-art technologies! :).

With all these analysis, reviews and jargons, at the end I would like to conclude that, a succesful life needs a career with a well designed stragey,a plan, a determined approach and ofocurse a killer instinct to succeed.

And ofcourse a meaningful life needs that much needed enthu, taste and hope to enjoy every moment and get the best of life.

The lady with million dreams...

I happened to meet a young lady one day, whom I was interviewing for a position in my team. Let us not name this lady, simply call her “SHE”. She works for one of the top IT companies in Bangalore. I went through her profile and the details she had given in the employee information sheet. The handwriting was not so great. Generally I hate people who casually scramble something in such important forms. Same with this lady. I did not like her hand writing.

I reluctantly took her to interview hall and started off with the interview along with my colleagues Amit and Sridhar in the panel. I began with some simple questions. She answered quite well. Her profile was really impressive. She was a state level rank holder at SSLC and had a good consistent academic record till her graduation.
We then turned into technical round, she could answer well in whatever she had worked so far. Unfortunately she had not worked on the technologies that we were looking for. Otherwise she did pretty well in the discussion.

She was a good looking, dignified lady, very good with her attitude and communication skills. Very honest and straight forward in her responses, I could see that she had all the skills one would expect from a typical IT professional. The enthusiasm, inquisitiveness to know and learn new things was quite visible in her conversation. The lady was covering her arms with a matching duppatta for her dress.

 

But one thing that really looked strange for me was that she was always using her left hand to explain something or write. I wondered for a while, but then thought "Oh this girl must be a left hander like our Sachin Tendulkar and GOD gifted in some way!". I was slowly going through her profile when Amit and Sridhar were taking her through Technical round.
At one point in her profile, I was shocked to see that she was physically challenged! You know what was the reason?

She was a normal person like any of us till she finished her graduation. Just at the time of completion of her degree, she had met up with an accident and her right arm was totally amputated! And that is what she was trying cover up so far! My GOD, I was really stunned, though I did not show it up on my face.

Life is so strange and cruel..! GOD sometimes gives everything to you in life and ditches or rather tests you to the core at some times. She just did not have one complete hand! A bright career of an extremely talented student was just cut short and handicapped in that accident.

But I when went through other details in her profile, I liked the way she has come up in life after that. It is worth a million appreciations. She completed her graduation and then got selected in this top IT Company. She is married and has a son. I can see that she has to struggle twice as much we do in everything she does. I don’t know how she manages her key board, heavy work load and still performs with one single hand that too left one! She is recognized as one of the top performing employees for the current year. I hope and believe there are no other issues in her life to struggle.

Whatever it may be, but certainly this lady certainly left a mark on me that day. Her fighting spirit, her positive outlook towards life, her attitude, everything made me think about the way we approach our lives. She was as confident as any other person in the discussion.  I had no words for her grit , determination and strong will to succeed in life at any cost. I was speechless.

 

Sometimes we get so worried with our little issues in life. But people like “SHE” are the real source of inspiration when we are down with challenges and problems in life. She made me think, pause a while and take a different perspective on my own life.

The lady with millions of dreams in her eyes had written in the hobbies column as " cooking and playing with my son."

I just told myself " Hats off you great lady! "