Got LKG admission -St.Johns, Besant Nagar

Lachu got selection in St.Johns School.

The process was smooth.... First there was verification of the records... Then lachu and me went to play - in see-saw and climbing bars etc etc...

When we were called for interview... she was in no mood for that.. and started crying for forcibly taking her out of the play area...

We entered the teacher's room... crying and crying.. But they told her she can go and play.

After meeting the teachers - rest of formalities were done in a minute.

Had to take lachu using force out of the school. She now dont want to go to Abhyaas playschool and want to go to the BIG school.

best investment

Insurance is not for investment...

But I can feel.... the best investment in this point of time seems to be a "term insurance" of 1 crore.

feeling my health, i may need to pay only few premiums!

*Touchwood* hope it does not happen

Sri Sankara School, Adyar, Bad example

Today I went to Sri Sankara School Adyar. lachu's name is not even in the waiting list.

I dont know what is the criteria of selection.

We were called to school at 10am... and we were called for interview only at 12, and then the child failed at the interview (?)

They could have
- called only those who were shortlisted based on some criteria
- or could have done first-come-first

Chettinad Vidyashram school follows first-come-first.

St.Johns where lachu has got admission letter selects based on the following criteria
- location preference
- Parent's job ( eg:defence personnel has highest priority)
- girl child preference
- Parent's education etc

Whether the other criteria are good or not --- a selection based on interview for LKG students is STUPID!

There have been cases and judgement against this sort of practice in recent time - see reports

Now wait and see for St.Johns! Good luck to me!

lachu - first things first - morning starts

St. Johns

Lachu has got a call for admission from St.Johns...

Now we have a choice!

LKG interview

Today lachu had LKG interview at Sree Sankara.

Her token number was 97.

It was a long wait of 2hrs before her turn came.

They asked several questions.., she did not tell anything in return.

When they finally said bye.., she said BYE BYE BYE!

Now i have to go and look on 20th.., and see if her name is in the list....

You Are a Social Blogger!

Your blog is more of a semi-private affair for your friends.It's how you keep in touch... sharing stories, jokes, and pics.

Rest in Pieces!

Yesterday something was not working.

Today Nothing is working..

I dont want anything..

Let me Rest in Peace

Workplace

Excitement at work!!!

"This also did not work"

Health Renewal

spondelolythesis ( recommended daily exercise ) - 2000
sinus (recommended operation ) in 2001

Now in 2007!

Nothing done yet...

OPtion 1:
---------
1. eat pankaja kasthuri daily ! ( mohan lal says so)
2. do daily exercise

Option 2:
----------
?????????

I will be in trouble ..!

Sensex dips, Paper profit dips

Sensex dipped by 348 points, and my paper profit down by 17%.

Good!

I am targetting only 2050... ! Let India.Inc recover.

Blogs at work place

Most MNC's are promoting official blogs with personal touch as a way of PR exercises and better interactions with customers.

The company which uses blog to the max seems to be Microsoft.

All these guys were active in newsgroups and forums, have now turned to blogs..

Nortel guys also have started blogging...

In late ninetees in our group.., our boss had advocated active participation in groups like NTDEV, and always said we should use our official ids and signature in the communication..

The active participation happened.., but we were only interested in promoting us, and not the company we were working for :)

Now should we try blogs... I have a networking blog... but there i note down the things i come across.. but i dont put much effort to make that readable for others..

Index funds vs diversified equity

The very few investments I have in equities is (all) in - diversified equity mutual funds.

Diversified equity funds invest fully in equities, except for the cash reserves Fund managers keep. By investing in all sectors, and various companies in sectors they average out the risks. Also their investment philosophy allows the manager to find out the most under-valued stocks.

Recently only i enquired about Index funds. Index funds are passive funds which follows the market. Index funds invest in the companies that feature in the benchmark index and in the same proportion. So as indexes rise, the fund value will automatically rise.

It is said that in matured markets like US index funds are more popular, as it is difficult to beat the market ( why ? - things are stablized there ?)

Here the index in 1993 and 2003 was around 4000. so after investment of 10 years, it would have been a no-rise in the value... But now in these 4 years sensex has reached 14500 points..

Any guess on the value in 2050 ?

Index funds will be attractive because of
- low risk ( but in a emerging market like india , it means low returns, but nearly equal to benchmark indexes)
- low cost ( no active fund management needed )

So should take an eye on Index funds also..!

Passport Story

Got new passport... so third book...

If you are giving application to cochin office.., then:

1. the application form has to be filed in a file with colur code of district. So even if you have filled application form, consult with a authorised member outside the passport office to double check the form.
2. I submitted
a. old passports
b. copy of first four and last four of the two passport books i had
c. copy of valid visa
3. they gave me the old passport back after submitting the application, and asked me to come one and half week later ( on Feb 6th, 2-5pm)
4. They call ur names "Anoop Govindan nair".... during 3-5pm... so we have to be present before 3pm.
5. And i got the passport

Other things:

Ernakulam North is full of mosquitos. I reached there at 3am. had a room at Pannaickal tourist home, just opposite North stn. The mosquitos almost killed me. I also had my revenge. I killed all the ones who bite me from 6am to 7am, once i woke up.

So i had Odomos on my way back... so in railway station all others except me were dancing and running away from mosquitos... i was sitting , watching and enjoying.. Odomos is great!

I dont like auto drivers... They charged me 40Rs, 50Rs and 60Rs for the same routes... I will keep an option of "No Deal" with them next time.. I will better take taxi.

---

So i do have a passport with me now.....

Trading - Clueless

"Invest in what you know"

- Peter Lynch
Despite being acting as an MF expert, i am clueless about how the trading happens inside.

Just looked at the equity side, and i am clueless how to "fill in the blanks" of the buy sheet of equity shares.

Need to study the basics at this old age :)

I am not going for investing directly in equity, but would like to know what is the basics of buying and selling... from where i will get all the paper profit and why ?

Is it real ?

Productivity

"The top software developers are more productive than average software
developers not by a factor of 10X or 100X or even 1000X but by 10000X"

- Nathan Myhrvold, CTO, Microsoft

Google earth

Google earth has agreed to blurr pictures of key indian sites...

There was a discussion in the past in one IEEE discussion forum we had...

Some points discussed were:

1. we should have indian Google.... US Google may not be in our national interest.. An argument against this was, now all indian information will be contained in one consolidated point making it easy for anti-indian elements.

2. Does terrorists look into google earth and attack.. they may have their own satellites..

3. Does india have a map or photos stating its key positions... in the event of any any natural or man-made calamity, it will be necessary... now atleast we have google earth...

i dont know...

Power of compounding

It may be surprise for people who knowing me for years, that currently i am fascinated by the power of compunding ( of money).

still i am not really fascinated by money, i like the power of compounding aspect only.

when i had my IIM K PGCPM course, i took my Demat account and my first MF investment ( still my investments are small only in MFs), but only recently i am hooked to it.

I have started investing 5K per month into diverisified equity funds through SIPs ( systematic investment plans).

Today i gave a deal to my wife also... i will give 8% minimal interest if you invest 1000Rs per month in MF. If the MFs are in better state after 3 years, let it be there. She has agreed. It is bad disclosing personal things through web. But i rarely disclose anything :)

2007 is a year of volatity. But as i learnt.., its not the time of market, but the time in market that makes the difference.

Reliance Vision / Fresh

After seeing Guru i immediately had an investment in Reliance Vision. I was impressed by Abishek Bachan's performance, if not Ambani.

Now there is a small Reliance Fresh vegetables outlet near Tiruvanmiyoor market. Was surprsied by the location, it is not in the main road where the spencers and other chains are located, but near market. Its always rush there. But i did take a look there today. The shop is small and but there are more than 20 people to serve inside... Plastic wrapper bags can be taken from the round kept here and there, the vegetables and fruits look very fresh. You can take whatever quantity you need, and a weighing machine is there at the counter.

They have issued a Reliance Once card also , where you can get points and get redeemed when it reaches 25.

I purchased for 99Rs in the A/C outlet. The man at the counter asked me to take a toffee for 1Rs, as i will get a pack of sugar ( Rs 13 wrth) if i purchase for 100Rs. I took a perk, and had the gift also...

The Reliance Card offers 50000Rs accident insurance also.. and the card is valid at any of the reliance fresh outlets..

I liked the shop..

But what about small vegetable shop owners who are there in every corner... seems it is inevitable that these guys will take the market. If not reliance then some walmart..

In chennai they will not have Achuthanathan;s to help them..

Prakash raj in Muruagan's Idly shop

Met Prakash raj yesterday at Muruagan's Idly shop, Besant nagar. I did not had a camera phone with me. Damn my LG low cost mobile.

I was afraid of going and talking with him.

So i silently went away after getting my parcel of Idlys..

Even if you dont see Prakash raj's often at Murugan's idly shop, still its worth going to eat the Idly's.

Growth or Dividend option

I was initially confused - where to invest - on growth option or dividend - For Mutual Funds.

In dividend schemes - Fund manager books profits by selling, and gives the profit to the investors. Since money is being withdrawn from fund, the NAV fails.

In growth schemes - Money is in fund itself. I have found this a better option, as I dont need income from MFs, and i see that as a long term option only. So let my money be in better hands.

Sr. Tech Consultant

Good news.. I am promoted to Sr. Tech Consultant! ( Why was i not that before.. after all i am a great guy)

So it suits my age.

Daily Renewal - Part 2

Ok.., Entertainment also done.

We had a three hour party at Rain Forest, Adyar, Restaurant.

So all except one thing is done.

Now i have to do some work - but feeling sleepy!

Daily Renewal

- Had 8/2 suryanamskars
- one spoon chayanprash after breakfast
- took pankajaksthuri to home ( its better at home as people here in office are eating my Rs 175 pankaja kasthuri ) !
- Read one chapter of stepehen covey's 8th habit - so i am nearing greatness

Saibaba in Tiruvanmiyoor

Saibaba is in our Area - Tiruvanmiyoor for the past one week. See link.

I am among the most affected. Because I work in office in three shifts - Morning, then a baby sit at home for 1.5 ours, then afternoon session, then drop sreedevi at home have tea, and will have a third session. When i come for the third session - the traffic is fully jam. Lots and Lots of devotees coming out the yagna place blocks the Road..

My father went and saw him. He did not have a pass, but when blocked by volunteers, he said "I am directed to this door". Thus he got an entry to the VIP area and got to see him.

I am not interested in the concept of human gods, but him being a celebrity figure, i would have liked to meet him. Today when i went home to drp Sreedevi, i just crossed the Tiruvanmiyoor junction, a police jeep speeded up and asked me to stop. I stopped and waited, then lot of cars passed by. Sreedevi then shouted "Saibaba".. I looked , but i could see only the car. Saibaba was sitting in the front along with one his devotee who was driving..

I missed a chance to see a Celebrity figure.

A very good site - for MF comparisons

ValueResearchOnline is a very good site for MF comparisons. It offers a Fund Selector tool which is very handy.

Go for 5 star rated funds.

It is not the "market timing" but time in the market that matter

lachu doing homework!!!

Lachu Reading!

Guru

Saw "Guru" - Its a movie based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani.

First half was thrilling scene by scene. Second half was slightly dull. But i liked the moview very much and also the persformances of Abhishek Bachan and Mithunda.

Its all about "Villager, Vissionary,BusinessMan, Winner"

Abhishek's character is very well portrayed. How he creates opportunities is interesting. Here you can find a good review on Guru film.

Indiato overtake ____ by 2050

I read two reports:

One says - India to overtake United states to become the second largest economy by 2050.

Another says - India now only second behind china.., will overtake China to become the most populous nation by 2050.

Let us wait and see!

Worries

"I've had a lot of worries in my life,most of which never happened"

- Mark Twain

Passport News:

I submitted my passport for re-issuing...

Things went fine. As usual there was some confusions and last minute runnings due to the over confidence i have in filling forms..

When I reached the end of the queue for submitting application.., I was told that the application and documents have to be filed ( the colur of the file depends on the district you are ).

For filing, i took the help of a agent outside and then discovered that some pages more have to be photostated.. Then a running for that..

Anyway it was over at 11:30 and was sleeping in lodge after that.

Alls well that ends good. Hopefully it will end good when i go and collect the passport on Feb 6th between 2-5pm!

Car parking

See my car parked at the TOP! Its nice to see such a system in chennai.

It was started some three-four months back. But then was stopped because one Esteem car fell down as the iron ropes corroded within month of installation.

I was very disappointed to see such a good system fail. So i am very happy when it is restarted again. So my car is at TOP.

Financial advice

Its great..

Financial advice to three persons within a day..

I talked with a young muslim man. He wants to invest in MFs(Mutual Fund), but does not want to invest in MFs where money will go to buy shares of banking institutions and liquor companies. This he asked me, when I suggested that MFs are the best investment in a Islamic way. I tried to convince him.., living under a non-Islamic government he has to take that compromise as investing in stocks directly needs time and knowledge. Then finally i suggested to look for special funds which invests in oil sectors, blue-chip companies etc.

My Father invested a large amount in three NFOs (New Fund Offers). I told him it was better to invest in a known performing fund. Also NFOs has more initial costs. He then said he asked for NFOs. Good! patients ask for medicine directly, rather than letting doctor prescribe.

Today I was called from a meeting. I was asked in which tax saving funds he should invest. I said "HDFC Tax Saver" and "HDFC Long Term Advantage Fund". Hope they are good. I am feeling like a Financial consultant now - speciality MFs.

looking for a new mobile

The three mobiles I had till date -- Erricksson T18 (1999), Nokia 8250 ( 2001) and LG B2000 ( 2006). I am in hunt for a new one.

Who will be the lucky one ?

Change

"Let us become the change we seek in this world"

- M K Gandhi

Systematic investments

I have dared to start SIP(systematic investment plan)s in these funds:
1. HDFC Top 200 Growth
2. Franklin India Flexi Cap Growth
3. DSP Opportunities Fund Growth
4. HDFC Equity Fund Growth

As usual on final selection - i just selected - there is no logic.

Life

"Life always is about our ability to start afresh, from scratch"

- Alexis leon

Travel bookings

Last 2 hours I was spending my time booking tickets to Cochin, Chanaganacherry, Trivandrum.

Me travelling to cochin in search of re-issuing my passport, My parents travelling back, and my wife travelling to Tvm.

Lachu is not travelling!

I learnt a few things. One thing - The site irctc.co.in (railway tickets) gives two options - "i-ticket" and "e-ticket".

"i-ticket" will be delivered to your postal address. It acts like a normal ticket. If you want to cancel that you will have to go to a reservation counter. "e-ticket" is more internet friendly. Its a print ticket. You will need a government identity card to travel using that ticket. But all cancellations etc can be done using internet itself.

But today i found one advantage with "i-ticket". You can specify in "i-ticket" mode that you need the ticket only if you are allotted atleast one lower berth. This is very handy. Because while reserving using Web, one thing i have found is you are never allotted berth according to the preferences we say, although it is available. Using this option we can get what we want. perhap irctc should introduce this in "e-ticket" also.

Also using "e-ticket" we cannot reserve "Waiting list" tickets. That also should be changed. If we have a PNR number, that should be enough. Why restrictions in e-ticket mode ??

And for reserving a flight ticket to Trivandrum, I evaluated these sites
1)www.airdeccan.net
2)www.makemytrip.com
3)www.yatra.com
4)www.travelguru.com
5)www.cleartrip.com

I used to reserve using the first two sites mentioned. But today I found yatra.com has the best options. May be you also would like to note down the sites.

Insurance Plans...

I did not like Insurance plans at all.. I am very much irritated in the point that somebody else will get money if i die.. and I preferred schemes like PPF and NSC for tax savings also..

Now with the arrival of "lachu" I see no problem in her getting the money if i die early!! But the problem now is with Insurance premiums.. They take more premiums as age increases..

So I preferred for a child plan. (My logic is - I have lost less than 3 years, as Lachu will be three years only on feb end. I cannot take a child plan before child arrives!!) If i take another policy, then i will repent on seeing the "premium amount" that i need to pay..

Moral of the story1:Insurance Policies have to be taken at a young age!

Moral of the story2:People have to be taught how to work with money at a young age and not at 32 as in my case.

Moral of the story3:Better late than never!

Touchwood: Hope the India Inc. will not collide this year due to my fresh interest in Investments!

Mutual Funds - 2007

Some MFs shortlisted for investment options:

Equity Schemes:
HDFC Equity Fund
HDFC Top 200 Fund
DSP Merrill Lynch Equity Fund
Reliance Vision Fund
Franklin India Prima Plus
Franklin India Flexi Cap
SBI Magnum Contra
DSP ML Opportunities Fund
SBI Magnum Global 94

ELSS Schemes:
Magnum Tax Gain Scheme
HDFC Long Term Advantage
HDFC Tax Saver
Pru ICICI Tax Plan
Franklin India Tax

Do you want to try ?

alternate career - part4

I am good at these::
1. Scheduling things
2. Understanding People

But sometimes i suck while managing people... in a highly people oriented software industry. I should try my hand with Real machines and see how i fare there..

Disclaimer: I still do software.. Was just thinking if i want a career change.. which doors should i try!

alternate career - part 3

I have now interest in something which i was never good at.. managing money..

alternate career - part2
alternate career - part1

Happy Pongal!!!!

Mutual Funds - Resolutions for 2007

Found a good article - Mutual Fund resolutions one must follow in 2007

Resolutions:
1. I shall be careful about investing in NFOs
2. I shall always remember that NAV and Share price are different
3. I shall NOT TIME the markets
4. I shall NOT look at the DIVIDENDS
5. I shall invest according to MY NEEDS
6. I shall BALANCE my portfolio
7. I shall REMEMBER & IMPLEMENT the above resolutions

Disclaimer: MFs are RISKY, But not buying them is more RISKier

Perserverance

alternate career - part 2

i like being myself a marriage broker also.. when i see a girl i note down in my mental diary and try to see suitable mappings.. this is just one of the social service i have.. but in case of eventuality, i may take this as a full time job!

Alternate careers

Three alternate careers that i love to do:

1. Running a play school for agegroup 2-3 years...



2. Running a counselling centre for young guys/gals... ( i may start it when software goes down or when stock market goes down)

3. exploring unknown.. ( for this also i will have a website which accepts funding from my NRI friends in dollars)

Best investments

“Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make.”

- Donald Trump

Qoutes

"In the power to change yourself is the power to change the world
around you"

- Anwar Sadat

in search of (?)

SSLC marksheet

In my school days.., all used to tell us SSLC marks are the most critical. Everytime, everywhere everone will ask. Even for jobs that would be a critical crieria. The full of kerala will be writing the exams, and the exams are (were) scam-free. You will be measured against the best in kerala etc etc.. Thats the reason why i studied hard..

But these days no-body asks. So I just thought of puuting it in blogs

No other use!

Even for address-proof I am using passport ... ( just remebered my passprt expired in september, so thats also useless!)

lachu at ECR dhaba

2007 resolutions

Although i did not publicize, i had some personal resolutions in my mind.

All of them broken by 3rd January.

Perhaps i will do a renewal in a weekly basis

Investment options

My investment ideas are changing:

1. Till I got married, I never did tax savings properly. I used to give money to "government" in tax while my money lied in savings bank account. Now i attribute my laziness for that behaviour. Hope government utilized my money properly for the well-being of others.

2. I vowed never to take Life insurance.. why give someone else the money after you die (!) . Now since Lachu is there, i am taking one ( not taken yet). Planning for some educational policy.

3. The best change that come to me - is my belief in investing in equity. I am interested in stocks markets, but since no time, i am investing only in MFs. Systematically investing a part of your money in MFs can yield you greater returns. I am not greedy for more, or cant spend less. But i have started liking better investment options for the small chunk i have!

4. Investing in real-estate seems to be good, but i cant compete with my NRI friends. They are making the prices grow like anything!

Best lesson learnt, but not practised yet by me: If you are planning to invest 24,000 in coming year.., invest 2000Rs per month, instead of waiting till the year end. In case if investment option is like PPF.., you will be able to take advantage of the compunded interest.. In case investment option is like MF.., then by investing regularly and systematically you also average out the market fluctuations..!

Dec 31, 2006

Seems to be a good day...

I have promised myself to be more pro-active in 2007. Its very difficult for me to overcome inertia.

So decided to do start all things in 2006 itself, so that i dont blame the new year.

And i did manythings today.

And in the evening.., i wanted to complete some official tasks, came to office, and what i was aiming got completed by 11:58pm, what a timing!.

so ending 2006 on a good note!