all Gyan BIG & small

As I savor the last few moments of being in the 20’s – quite a Lot of thoughts race through my mind. I rewind to the winter of 1999 – yes – exactly about a decade ago – when I was celebrating my last birthday as a Graduate student; and somehow – I could just see my life laid out for the next 10 years – ala till today. I made a list of things I wanted to do- the kind of jobs, the education, the money, the adventures, the splurges, the travel, the arts, the science, gyan et all – and when I look back – I see a lot of God’s Grace – for the simple fact – I got almost everything on that list (that landed right into my lap, needless to say –mostly undeserved – cos I know a hell lotsa smarter fellows around me who deserved much better) . So there you go- the decade of my 20’s is in the high 90’s in terms of what I wanted Vs what I got. What always perplexed me is - when I looked ahead as a 20 yr old – I could see my life for the next 10 yrs, and could see nothing beyond 30, and with some extr...

You've been living in a dream world, Neo. This is the world as it exists today.... Welcome to the Desert of the Real. ~ The Matrix And quite coincidentally, most of us live a life that is marred (err defined) by unfulfilled dreams. As humans, all of us dream, and dream we always of something thing much different than the state we have. It’s quite intriguing that even in our wild fantasies, we define our dreams with an important element in it – Pain – Even in this new state of affairs, we very consciously count the cost of what we will not have in the new state – and that’s what surprises me. Even in a state of fantasy and wild day dreaming, we always count the cost! I recall from another blog post that, we as humans are seasoned, equipped to deal and define our existence to start with and thereby the quality of life by the pain we are subjected to, the pain we can deal with, and the pain we can at will; can cause on another human being Imagine the ‘now’, for someone living in hect...

…and I am ready for the 2nd innings – I do not know how many innings are out there to play, maybe a couple more, a few more seasons, a lil more refining, a lot many dreams, make a few more stars twinkle, many more sunsets to be chased, a lot more to be learnt, much to be tempered, seasoned, pickled and then wake up early on a dreamless night and wonder, if another innings is round the corner. I breathe hope, eat optimism, ride on passion and flirt with ‘Grace’. That is what I am – simple and candid. ..and here I am, standing, looking ahead, taking a peek back, and no regrets, but think something(s) could have be done differently, but no regrets, cos I got more than what I asked for, and a lot more than what I dreamt of, and more importantly – I am here writing this, and at the start of a 2nd innings. A toast to all who have been at this moment before me, and a wish to all who are yet in their 1st innings – you will be here eventually! I wish and dream a brilliant 2nd innings, but real...

..and yet again I laugh at the vilest and ancient of paradoxes, that leers even today ..for every time we get caught in an intellectual problem, we seek an answer from the heart and do what the heart says; ..and every time we get stuck in problem that originates out of the heart, we rationalize with the mind ..and in this, life is choked, the heart weeps and the mind drains, and yet again ever so often, we see the same paradox over and over again, right from the time it started in the Garden of Eden, when man thought with the mind for an obedience God demanded of the heart; ..and for the empathy we expect, and a shoulder to crib, when all we really needed was an intellectual solution …and for the rational solutions we provide for the cries of the heart ..and when we really understand that; dropping these masks we wear, and reaching out to the heart with a heart, and to a mind with a mind, don’t we get moments of eternity right here on Earth? and ain’t not all the fondest of memories we...

I realised that most who are searching for a EMI formula will not read a long blog - To download the EMI / Loan Amortization Template and the formulae - click here To read the descriptive blog about EMI / Loan Amortization - click here .

I walk into my home today to find a mail from my Banker - there is an increase of 150 Basis Points in the Home Loan interest rate - meaning, my house loan has increased by 1.5% - What stumped my the most is this - My House loan tenure is increased to 425 months from 240 months, keeping the EMI (Equated Monthly Installment / Amortization Money) constant. It took about 2-3 minutes to understand that a 1.5% increase in house loan can actually almost double my repayment period - and needless to say, you would almost pay 80% than what you actually would have paid at the end of the agreed period - in my case 24 months. There was no mathematical error - and the easier way to decrease my 80% additional payout is to increase my EMI by just about 8% a month. At first, I took the easy way out asking uncle "Google" for the formula for amortization / calculate payout months with EMI constant, and for a surprise - I did not get any simple answers - There were some good Excel Templates on M...

Wipro had the fastest IT response time – under 2 mins – every time, all the time :) - Amazing All most every single Finance / HR head across all the companies have been sacked / tried for either financial fraud or sexual abuse!!! – And all these companies have the longest essays on everything ‘ethical’ All but at one company (SumTotal) – I have seen people make-out or watch porn in the conference room A comment that’s blog worthy Working with XXXX is like reliving the dream of high school - except that....in high school it was fun, but a few years down the lane, you see it as being stupid and occasionally laugh at yourself....but it gets even more frustrating when you have to hear self appointed pompous asses who make a big deal of it - grow up guys!!!! Unfortunately... I am living that for now - just can't wait to get out of high school No company ever gave a financial bonus to any employees, while each maintained at least 40% profit Y-O-Y Across all companies – ‘hikes ‘ came bef...