Nearer, Yet Longer!

I wanted to share a few thoughts about something we experience almost every day—something we’ve slowly begun to accept as normal, even though it shouldn’t be.

Recently, I went on a road trip to Chennimalai, Erode. While returning to Chennai, we were able to cover a stretch of 246 kilometres in about four hours, after which we took a short break. Post the break, we had just 190 kilometres left, and we comfortably assumed it would take another three hours.

In any long journey, the last few hours are always tiring and tend to feel longer than they actually are. Moreover, we were travelling midweek and had planned to enter the city after peak hours. Naturally, we assumed we could maintain the same average speed.

The reality, however, was different.

As we began nearing the city, the ETA kept increasing steadily. At one point, we were getting extremely tired, and it almost felt like the journey would never end. What surprised us more was that this wasn’t even a long weekend with heavy inflow and outflow of travellers.

If this is the situation on a normal weekday during off-peak hours, I can only imagine the hassles faced by those travelling during special occasions and long weekends. Spending hours to cross just a few kilometres has sadly become usual. And this is not just about entering the city—people commuting daily to offices in OMR face this ordeal regularly.

Feeling exhausted by daily traffic and planning to escape to a hill station? Beware—hill stations are not exempt either. The above snapshot of the map is a real indication of what is happening there. One hour to cross five kilometres on a holiday? At that point, commuting to office (at least in Chennai) might even seem better!

While we in Tamil Nadu feel this is bad, Bengalurites might say this is nothing compared to what they face. And Mumbai, perhaps, stands in a league of its own when it comes to traffic snarls.

So, what can we do?

Improving infrastructure is the first solution that comes to everyone’s mind. But that too has its limitations. For example, if on a given day only X number of vehicles can use a road, widening it or constructing a new bridge might allow 10X vehicles to pass through. But what happens if the vehicle count increases even beyond that—as it is happening now?

Companies experimented with a complete remote model during certain periods, and now many have shifted fully back to RTO (Return to Office). Perhaps organisations should consider continuing WFH options on a case-by-case basis.

With better internet connectivity available across regions, technology companies could also consider opening offices in smaller cities and towns. Zoho serves as a good example by establishing offices in villages. More co-working spaces in Tier II and Tier III cities could encourage professionals to work closer to their hometowns instead of migrating to Tier I cities.

Every day, a significant amount of our valuable time and fuel is wasted in traffic snarls. If a vehicle transporting vegetables or groceries spends more on fuel, that additional cost ultimately gets passed on to consumers. So directly and indirectly, this is a serious concern that needs attention.

At the current pace, perhaps a combination of both approaches—infrastructure improvement along with decentralised work models—could offer a more sustainable solution.

See you in the next blog!

Investments

    As a usual routine of any article / blog / essay let's see a description about the topic. Once you utter this word (investment) first thing that crosses the mind is tax exemption. What is investment and how frequently we do that? On day-to-day basis we do lot of investments! A smile at your Friend, a tip to the security, a gift to your spouse.... etc., 

   Though there are N number of investments, here I am going to discuss only about investments that'll fetch you monetary returns. I can hear the question why should I invest. If you want learn it the hard way wait for comb from the nature (you'll get it once you are bald). There is another way - borrow the comb i.e. learn from other's. 

   Let me share my experience: I never had any plan for doing investments and had a big wish list - a bigger car / SUV, a bigger TV / Projector etc., until that day when I gave my car for service. My car is in good shape and it was just a regular service. Hence, i was prepared for a small bill. When the bill came I was shocked to see a bigger figure in it. Though I managed to pay it a thought crossed my mind "post retirement will I be able pay such bills?" 
     Okay got a reason to do investments how much should I invest and in what? This is a very common question of every salaried person. We have a limited scope for this after meeting our expenses. A small investments will fetch small returns - insufficient to meet the post retirement expenses! And we cannot allocate a big amount from our salary for investments.  That's precisely why we have to be choosy. 

   Unlike old days we don't have a common lifestyle, requirements / commitments. Hence, never go for a common idea for investments. The other common mistake is clubbing Insurance with investment. If you ask me insurance should be your first priority when compared to investments. When you go for a combo, you'll get insurance of lower value and a small return. Never investment all you have in single option. Gold & real estate which had consistent rise had a sudden fall in the last financial year. Similarly all the investment options will be in the cycle.  Investing in multiple options will help you to keep a tab on the losses.

   A non risky option would be do invest in RD's but don't expect huge returns as the mantra of investment is "low  risk low returns, high risk high returns".  If you are ready to take risks share market is the best option. What if you want to enjoy both? Systematic Investment Plans (SIP) is the solution for the same.  Companies allow you to invest as small as Rs. 500 a month. A long term investments in SIP will fetch you better returns. If you are planning to invest multiples of thousands do that in multiple companies.

   Other best options are the PPF schemes offered by banks, also offers tax exemptions. The new Scheme launched by our PM - Sukanya Samriddhi Account is also a good option but is available only  for female child.
Once make up your mind towards this you will find the best options to make a good future.
All The Best!!!

Alternative Energy

Power cut in TN:
                           One thing i hate to the core is blaming someone when there is a issue, instead we could concentrate on finding a way out. Latest progress in this issue is that the EB has started announcing the time tables when the power supply will be available! (Rest of TN excluding chennai). The old practice was sharing the Time table of the power cuts - what an improvement!!
                          Will you believe me if say that this issue has made many people to migrate! But that is the fact. The Union territory Puducherry is the best example. People from the TN villages near the Puducherry border are shifting to the nearby villages which belong to Puducherry where there is no power cut. The same could happen to the Metro - Chennai since there is only 2 hours of Power cut.
Chennaites: let's be prepared to face the problem of over population if this issue is not sorted out soon.

                          Generating power from Wind & Sun are the suggestions provided to overcome the power cuts. Both these sources are available through out TN then why there is power cut? The high capex (initial cost) and maintenance cost involved keeps these sources out of reach for the common man. The government is providing subsidy of 30% for implementing the alternative sources of power supply, but even after that the implementation cost is high. People are waiting for the companies to reduce the price and companies are waiting for the demand to go high hence they could reduce the price.

                   Many or almost every electronic equipment operates on a DC and has a inbuilt converter (AC to DC). The batteries which we use in the UPS stores DC and we use a inverter to convert it. Why are we doing the conversion process twice - why can't we directly use the DC power? And here the voltage required also will get reduced as the circuits seldom use voltage higher than 12.

New problem! 
             If we start using the alternate modes (wind & Solar) large amount of batteries will be required to store the current before usage. The life of the batteries are only 2 yrs, remember batteries are not eco friendly! after few years we will have many NGOs fighting against the disposal of used batteries.

Remedy??
                Instead of just working out short term plans to increase the power supply we should find and implement a futuristic solution. It just can't be done by the Government alone. The electronic manufacturers and public also should join hands.
                The another problem of high implementation cost can also be addressed. Rs 2 to 3 Lakhs  is actually huge for those who construct a house with a budget of 20 to 30 Lakhs. But for those who spend more than 50 Lakhs its affordable. The Government can make it mandatory for the projects which has a value more than 50 Lakhs to generate power from alternate sources. This will help in two ways:
1) The sales will go up and the companies promoting will reduce the price
2) The burden of the EB department will go down as they are the people who consume more power.

If you have any valuable suggestions are comments please share. Let's provide a real bright future for the next generation.

See you in next post....

Its Results time!!!

The long wait is over and the results will be out tomorrow, am not referring to the Exam results but the TN election results!!! Unlike the previous elections this time the media, the politicians and even the voters are unable to predict the outcome. The Tamilnadu voters are known for voting against the ruling party, thus they seldom allow a party to rule more than 5 years.

This time the ruling party had confidence on the schemes they had implemented (free TV, Rice @ low cost etc..) but during the last few months few issues turned up against the ruling party and did favour to the apposite parties. Generally parties go for alliances with other parties hoping that they would bring victory. This time even the alliances were not formed smoothly, resulting in chaos among the party workers.

Media played a very vital role by watching closely the moves of the parties and taking it to the public. The last few days turned out more like drama and few voters did enjoy it. The work of Election commission has been lauded by the public, lets hope that they continue this. Let's also hope that the newly elected Government will take charge without any more confusions and starts working for Public (We can only hope!!) Let's keep our finger crossed along with our politicians for one more day!!!

Cellphone Boon or Bane??

When it comes for misuse of Cellphone India will Top the charts!! I have no doubts in that. Here people use it to take pictures of others without their permission. Videos are taken and spread via websites. In the Western countries the Cellphones are used sparingly, you'll never see some one yelling over the phone in a public place, you will never come across some one wedded to his earphones while driving his bike.

The cellphones have taken toll on the phone ethics too! Earlier people used to greet while picking up the call, convey the purpose of call and disconnect the call. Since the call rates too low people have started spending more time over the phone than necessary! When introduced the cellphones were considered as a boon, due to the extensive usage it has turned out to be a bane!

If a person is angry about someone he immediately calls up and starts a heated argument over the phone, it worsens the situation. Whereas if this technology was not available he might not be in the state of mind if he meets in person.

Cellphones were killing people indirectly, you would have heard of a person getting killed cause of using cellphone while driving, while crossing the road etc etc... There were also instances where people committed suicide since their video was published in websites

Of late Cell phones have started killing people directly we are often hearing cell phone explosions and people getting killed.

How do we stay safe?

Go for Branded mobiles

Do not speak while charging

If you are replacing the charger or a battery, go only for branded spares

On top of all, avoid extensive usage!

I wish the newspapers do provide the details exploded mobile like model and brand, it will make both the consumers and the concerned brand more cautious and will help to avoid such accidents!

Endhiran

If you are an A R Rahman Fan or Rajni's fan you would have already heard the songs of the movie Endhiran. Nope, I am not going to rate the Endhiran songs but this is about the Audio release function.

For any movie first important day would be the first day of the shooting, a pooja will be conducted and a VIP would clap and initiate the shooting. Then the routine works like song recordings, shooting, dubbing etc will begin. Once the song recordings are completed the audio companies (sony, rpg...) would release the audio on a particular day and only after that the cassettes or CDs will be available for sale.

To create a hype for the movie the audio companies would arrange a star visit to a famous audio store of the region and first few cassettes CDs would have their autograph. Then comes the movie release and if the movie successfully runs for 100 days and above functions will be organised to recognize the technicians involved and to create more publicity. Of late the Audio release functions have gained importance and are being celebrated grandly.

Sun Pictures have gone one step above others and held the Endhiran audio release function in Malaysia. There was a huge star cast present at the function and there were performances by the stars. Endhiran is already said to be the most expensive movie ever produced in Indian Cinema History. Already there was an unconfirmed news that the crew bought two new expensive cars and demolished them for the shoot! I believe the crew is planning to set a new world record in terms of expenses.

Shankar already has a record in making films a costly affair. The best examples are the songs of the film sivaji (The Boss). He keeps breaking his own records in his successive films! The dressing sense of the stars has become very bad that i was unable to watch the Audio release function with my family and ended up swapping the channel!

Just consider the air fares they would have spent for the event and other expenses of the event, one could complete a movie with the amount spent!

Aston Martin Cars in India!!

Who said India has market place only for low and medium budget cars!! Aston Martin has tied up with Infinity Cars Pvt Ltd - Mumbai, to sell its cars in India. Infinity Cars is currently dealing with BMW cars.

The various models of Aston Martin cars will be available in price ranging between 1.35 to 2.85 crores (ex showroom price). The booking is expected to start in the second week of August. In the beginning 4 models - V8 Vantage, DB9, Rapide and DBS will be available.

Gone are the days when luxury car manufacturers from other countries were hesitant of entering into Indian market. The sales of luxury cars like Benz, BMW has encouraged others to enter into Indian Market. Indian car market is wide that it can accommodate low budget cars like Nano and also luxury cars like BMW, Aston Martin etc...

The market is wide but please don't ask me about the roads! The National highways are best suited for driving but not the traffic clogged roads in the cities and especially Mumbai - where the dealer is located!