Ferrari collection

If you fill full tank petrol (or a min of Rs 1500/- for car or Rs 350/- for bike) at shell petrol bunk in bangalore, you get a small ferrari car collection. I already have collected 2 cars

Things to cherish from school

My recent post Entering the next phase of life has made me remember what all I did when I was a kid in school, some of which even my friends remember.

1. Accidentally hit principal with a ball.
2. Collided with a classmate and had stitches. Because of this incident, playing cricket in the school ground was canceled.
3. Involved in wrestling resulting in breaking the glass of library show-case
4. Caused bulbs to burst in physics lab as I had incorrectly connected the wires for my physics experiment.
5. Losing my school fees in bus. After this my mom used to make me go to the school principal's house, which was very close to my house, to pay the fees.
6. Involved in petty fights with class mates in bus.
7. Forgetting my unit test and happily going to school without getting prepared for the exam. Got very less marks in that subject

Entering the next phase of life

I had not felt that I had entered the next phase of life even when I had got a school admission for my kid. But the feeling dawned upon me when I stood in the school line "with other parents" for collecting his uniform.

Wondering when the day will come when I have to stand in front of the principal's office because Nikhil broke other kid's nose

saving on monthly shopping

I was stuck behind a sardar family at star bazaar cash counter, this morning. They were there to do their monthly grocery and other consumables shopping. There final bill was was a whopping Rs 33000/-. They had filled up 8-10 shopping carts. The cashier was later saying that they come every month and make such a huge bill.
Why don't people with such huge consumption rate, go to wholesalers like Metro or such and get a min discount of 15-20%.They were 8-10 people from the family who had come to shop and paid the entire amount in cash. Couldn't believe, that they didn't think of converting it to credit card reward points.

In fact, I am a frequenter at 'Metro cash and carry'. I go there once in 4-6 months and buy all the non-edible items for 2 families. On a purchase of Rs 10,000, I save close to Rs 2000. I not only save a flat 15-20%, but also beat inflation for 6 months. Apart from this my friend made me realize that every time I have to have to buy something, I have to drive to the nearby store there by spending on fuel (and also spending time). By buying in bulk, I am saving on fuel too :)

The flip side, is by buying more, I am stocking up more at home. Since I have surplus quantity at home, I tend to consume more, there by buying more. So, it is a vicious circle.

I buy more to save more. But use more since I have bought more. I now have to buy more since I have used more :)

People who want to learn to how save money on monthly shopping should watch this mommy from Massachusetts whose family of 6 lives off $4/wk for food

Switching off lights for earth hour

I had switched off all the electrical equipment at home for an hour between 8.30 p.m and 9.30 p.m on 27th March, 2010 to show my support for earth hour

I not only switched off all lights at home, but also messaged more than 50 friends and relatives to do the same. A few called back to say that they did the same. Some called up to say that they switched off everything but kept TV on and a few switched off everything except one light as they had small kids at home.

As it was quite hot inside the house (since all fans were off), we all went out for a walk. I was happy to see that a few people in my area were doing the same. Some had switched off all lights and were sitting on the front porch.

Interesting profile for BBMP elections

Dr Shankar Prasad is standing for BBMP elections from my area. He had come home for campaigning and distributed pamphlets. I was very impressed by reading the profile. Our country should be ruled by such educated class.

You can read about him at here

I am pasting the site contents here

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Dr. Shankara Prasad

Chairman & Managing Director
INKROMA E-Business Solutions
Bangalore 560041
Shankara.prasad@inkroma.com (P) Ltd

Dr. Shankara Prasad is the Chairman and Managing Director of Inkroma E-Business Solutions, in Bangalore. The company focuses on developing Enterprise Portal ERP Software and Knowledge Management solutions for Indian and Commonwealth Government organizations. Dr. Prasad’s educational background includes an M. Tech degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York. Dr. Prasad is an active e-governance evangelist and his passion is to bring Six Sigma process methodology and philosophy into the Indian government domain. He and his team at Inkroma are the architects of the ERP / BPM software solution for Indian Government organizations, which is specifically developed to make Indian government organizations e-enabled and paperless. The team has developed the first Indian ERP product to meet the requirements of the government vertical. The product has been developed completely based on Open Standards, international software and communication standards. Dr. Prasad has been involved in many standards organizations in the USA, Europe and India, between 1982 and 2004. He was the Chairman of the SEMI Standards committee in the US, Member of European Union Standards organization, Member of the Rosettanet E-Business Standards in the Semiconductor vertical and active participant in the ebXML standards group. He has been actively advocating initiating the e-gov standards group in India since 2002. Prior to starting the software product company in the e-governance domain, Dr. Prasad has spent more than 20 years working in the computer chip manufacturing industry working for major semiconductor companies including Intel, California, Cypress Semiconductor, California, Robert Bosch, Germany and most recently as Vice President of Engineering & Technology Development at CS2 in Belgium. Dr. Prasad has traveled and consulted with more than 30 companies in 17 countries including Brazil, Switzerland, Singapore, and Italy. Since 1983 and he has developed and taught computer technology courses to more than 3000 technicians, engineers and managers worldwide. Kluwer-Springer published the 700 page book on Advanced Chip Interconnection Technology by Dr. Prasad in 2004. It is sold world wide and is available on Amazon. He has developed and published more than 10 interactive e-learning CDROMs.

Dr. Prasad was awarded the 1998 IEEE award for “Major Educational Innovation” for innovation in the delivery methods of engineering education. He was adjunct professor at California State University, San Jose and Advisor to Center for Electronics Development & Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has published more than 40 papers in major international technical and trade journals and conferences. He has been Chairman, Secretary and Member of many National and International Organizations in India, Europe and the USA. (1980 – 2005); Most recently he was the Member, Karnataka IT Task Force for Rural Advancement (2002).

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IPL tickets buying spree

I watched RCB was Rajasthan Royals match on Thu, 18th march. I bought 19 tickets for RCB Vs DC on 8th April and 16 tickets for RCB Vs Mumbai on 17th Apr. All matches in Chinnaswamy stadium Bangalore.
Full family heading towards the stadium. I am planning to take my 3 year old son as well. Visited all the places where they sell tickets. Bought few from forum, few from RT Nagar cafe coffee day and a few from mobile. Did a lot of research and a lot of phone calls to find out where all tickets are available in Bangalore. Emptied the stock at both forum and at RT Nagar cafe coffee day outlet :)

6 minute entertainer

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where did the 25paise go

A couple of days ago, there was news that the price of milk is going up by Rs 2/- or Rs 4/-.
The same morning, I was at a fast food joint (Darshini) to have breakfast. At the counter, I started a casual chat with the cashier on what would be the result of price rise on the price of coffee. He told me that there will definitely be an increase in the price of coffee by atleast Re 1/-.

Hmmm, that made me think. Using my logical brain (hehe), I continued the conversation and put forth this argument. He would atleast make 25-30 glasses of coffee with 1 litre of milk, which means that his overhead is about 10 to 20 paise per glass, but he was going to increase the price by Re 1/- resulting him in an extra profit of 80 paise per glass. The price rise announced by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) is a blessing in disguise for these guys. When I asked him why they couldn't absorb the extra cost of 10-20 paise themselves(as they were already making a huge profit on their sale), he replied, 'why should we'. When I complained that it was not right to raise the price that drastically, he asked he one question, for which I didn't have an answer. He aked me that if he increased the price only by 25 paise, but where the hell would he get the change from? People would only pay him a complete rupee and expect their 75 paise change back.

That gave raise to this blog. Where did the 25 paise and 50 paises go? why did the govt. stop minting these coins? I am not an economist nor a financial guru, and hence I am still looking for answers. Can someone explain to me, how and when does Govt (RBI or whoever) decide to decommission currency denominations?

maya architects

These were the guys who built my house. Visit the project section on their website to see some wonderful work they have done

http://www.mayaarchitects.com/

Salman's gimmick on 'Dance India Dance' on Zee TV

My wife was watching 'Dance India Dance' on Zee TV. She exclaimed that salman khan (who was one of the judges) was crying after seeing a dance performance by a couple. I guess that sucker would have never cried after running his land rover over the people sleeping on footpaths of mumbai.
I have seen such gimmicks from other judges in the past where they watch a couple dance and start crying just to fool the audience that they are airing an amazing show. But Salman crying was a little too much digest.

Nasty thing I did

Recently, we had been to a friends place for lunch. On the way back, we stopped at a traffic signal. I saw a few eunuchs (khojas, hijdas) coming towards the car.

Let me pause here and give you a peep in to why they were coming near the car. Eunuchs are a menace at Bangalore traffic signals. They go and pester all the people traveling on two wheelers , cars and autos for money. Unlike other beggars on the street, who just beg for money, these eunuchs, try to harass you (by touching you, or abusing you etc). It is difficult to wade them off. If you show them that you are uncomfortable with their presence, then they take the advantage of the situation and would not leave you unless you give them money. Atleast people in the cars are safer as they can roll up the windows and avoid them.

Now, lets get back to the nasty thing I did at the traffic signal. We were 5 of us in my car with the windows closed. When I noticed that these eunuchs were coming close, I decided to play a small prank on my friend sitting at the rear seat. He had not noticed these visitors. I lowered the window on his side. Before he could realized why I had lowered the window, he saw the eunuchs talking to him and asking for money. He tried to close the window and the eunuch put his hand obstructing the window. Then the fun (for the rest of us in the car) started, with the eunuch trying to touch my friend and calling him names. This dude was very uncomfortable and this made scene more funny as the khoja pestered him more. This went on for a minute. We were all laughing, when the traffic light turned green. We managed to get away from that place without giving any money.
I regret having done this (but it was fun). My friend vouches to take revenge on me some day.