Sooraj's diary

Scan N Pay - The next generation payment system

2015-06-03T17:35:00.002+05:30

Have you ever thought of making your grocery/food/shopping bill payments in using just your mobile- without cash or card ? Well, the next generation bill payment is ready. With Scan N Pay mobile app, experience the power of instant bill payments.

Scan N Pay is an innovative mobile application from Federal Bank. It is a smart tool for payments at shops, e-commerce websites and for funds transfer. It works on QR code that can be generated online as well as through the application. The transaction will be completed within seconds and both remitter and beneficiary getting alerts.

To know more about Scan N Pay, please visit http://www.scannpay.in

A perfect gift for your loved ones...

2011-10-29T14:12:00.000+05:30

Are you planning to gift anything to your girl friend or family members ? Confused with lots of gift ideas ? Here is a perfect gift that can be presented to your loved ones- A gift card. What makes a gift card so special ? Perhaps you might not be knowing what the receving person likes most ? Or what she/he needs to have ? By presenting a gift card, you are fulfilling his/her wish. Let me tell you what he/she can do with a gift card: Book movies, Buy food and drinks, Shop online, Eat outs... She may buy her favorite Teddy Bear or a favorite Music album... You just need to gift her a gift card.. So where can you avail gift card ? Well, here is a nice choice for you- buy a gift card from Federal Bank. Gift card is prepaid. You can load with any amount - ranging between Rs 500 to Rs 50,000 in multiples of Rs. 50. Need more details ? Visit this link: .: Federal Bank :.GiftCard

Invest in gold and silver through E-Series

2011-09-14T15:22:00.001+05:30

National Spot Exchange (NSEL), an electronic spot market promoted by Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) and National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED), has launched a unique investment product in the form of demat gold. The segment, which is similar in functionality to the cash segment in equities, offers commodities in the demat form in smaller denominations (e.g. 1, 2 3.....gms). This is expected to be a big hit with the retail investors, who have been waiting for an investment product in commodities.

Opening a separate Demat and Trading account for trading in NSEL
First of all you will have to open a Demat and Trading account with one of the authorized participants with NSEL. This has to be a separate trading account from the one that you might be using for trading stocks.
There is a list of authorized depository participants (DPs), and you can open an account with any of these to start trading in NSEL. You can expect to pay an initial charge of about Rs. 350 or so for opening the Demat account depending on who you open this with, and then expect a slightly lower AMC (Annual Maintenance Charge) of about Rs. 250 or so every year on this account. Some DPs might offer you a scheme where if you give them a refundable deposit of Rs. 2,000 they will waive off the opening charges, and subsequent AMC, so you can check that up. To open an account, you will require documents such as PAN, 3 passport photographs, bank proof, and address proof.
Buying E-Gold, E-Silver, E-Copper, E-Zinc or E-Lead through NSEL
Once you have your account set up, you can then carry out transactions. You can buy gold, silver or copper, and one unit of the E-Series is equivalent in the following way:
1. E-Gold: 1 gram
2. E-Silver: 100 grams
3. E-Copper: 1 kilo
4. E-Zinc: 1 kilo
5. E-Lead: 1 kilo
The commission to transact is about 0.5% if you take the delivery, and 0.05% for intra – day trading.
You can trade the E-Series from 10:00 in the morning to 11:30 in the night on weekdays, and the settlement is done on a T+2 basis.
The price of the three contracts is visible on the website of NSEL, and once you buy a contract, it will be credited to your demat account after settlement.
Converting E-Gold, E-Silver or E-Copper in Physical Form
You can hold the E-Series products in Demat form, and you also have the option of converting it into physical form – this is known as rematerialization.
There are two key things to note here:
1. Rematerialization is currently not done in every city, so if you need this option, then check with the agent first.
2. VAT: When you rematerialize you will have to pay some rematerialization charges (which will be in the range of Rs. 200 for 10 grams gold), but the VAT might be a bigger amount based on how much electronic quantity you hold.

Currently, there are no holding charges, but you can expect to pay holding charges sometime in the future, if not immediately.

Low floor bus timings in Kochi

2011-08-09T16:30:00.001+05:30

As many of us know, Low floor Volvo buses have been a big hit in Kerala, especially in Cochin. The buses were launched under JnNURM(Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) scheme which aims to imitate steps to bring about improvement in the existing service levels in a financially sustainable manner.

Although the fares have gone up, Mallus are happy to use these services. Because of its comfort, traveling in low floor buses is enjoyable too.

Recently I came across this page which lists the time schedules of low floor A/c buses from Ernakulam Depot, which will be useful for those who travel in Cochin. Here I am sharing the link:

http://www.keralartc.com/html/JnNURMTimeEkm.html

A must-try restaurant for all foodies

2011-08-06T10:34:00.000+05:30

Today I have got something to contribute about Eat Outs. Let me tell you about a good restaurant in Kalamassery. I am presently staying near this restaurant.. It is nothing but 'Bhojanalaya'. If you are coming from Cochin, you may need to drive towards Aluva. It is around 15 km away from Cochin.The restaurant is situated in the just near to Cochin University signal in Kalamassery, in the north east corner, by the road side of NH-47.

The restaurant is open in the evening time only - from 5 pm to 12 pm. The restaurant is run by a group of Tamilian guys, however it is not a typical 'Tamilian Brahmin Veg restaurant'. You can get veg as well as non veg food there- Indian, Chinese, Ceylon and Malaysian recipes.

I should say that the taste and quality of food is superb. A variety of dishes are available- Dosa, Chapathi, Parotta, Fried Rice. We may think that these dishes are common in restaurants. But here it is very special. Here you will get Crispy Ghee Roast, Soft Chapathis and yummy parottas. they are specialists in Parotta- they serve Ceylon Parotta, Malaysian Parotta and Kothu Parotta. I have tasted these dishes in other restaurants, but here it is delicious. And the non veg dishes like Chicken Chop Suey, Chilly Chicken will make the waves in our mouth. And vegetarians are not disappointed- The Tomato curry served here is one of the best I have ever tasted.

The restaurant is always house full during the time 8 PM - 10 PM. Because there are two major companies- Nest Solutions and Vodafone nearby and the people working there are visiting the restaurant. And the students from Cochin university also visit the restaurant. The waiters are very courteous and good-mannered. During the rush hours, you might have to wait 5-10 minutes for food. It is having an open space in the entrance and you can enjoy television too with fresh air.

So I think you should first visit this place and then comment about it.

Where are we going ?

2011-08-05T15:24:00.000+05:30

Today I met a person in a restaurant who was sitting in front of me. Meanwhile by looking at my ID card, the man guessed that I am working in bank and he started talking about banking and finance. First I didn't give much attention to his speech, but later when I discovered that he lost his money in stock market due to blind investment, I felt pity on him. He was simply repenting on investing in the stock.He started with a small sum, got a little bit of gains and started to play with it and now he is almost lost with it.

Then I thought about writing something about our present economy. The present economic conditions bespeaks the bad omens of near future. Indian stocks are also getting badly affected by the worldwide economic conditions. RBI has already increased the Repo and Reverse Repo rates in order to reduce the skyrocketing inflation. Heads of major banks in India, had requested RBI not to increase the rates further, but everything went to vain. Following the decision from RBI, all major banks have increased the interest rates on deposits and loans.

The quarterly financial results (for the quarter ended in June 2011) of many companies have been turned up in newpapers these days. Automobile sales is coming down. Last week, the annual sales volume report of automobile manufacturers revealed the same. Leading automobile manufacturers- Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors are much affected by the interest rate changes. Reason is simple: Interest rates go high. People stay away from vehicle loans. No loan means a big stop to the dreams of buying a car. The demand goes down. And the automobile manufacturer starts to suffer.

That is the case of automobile. And now take the case of housing loan. Housing loan belongs to Priority sector advances in Indian economy. Because food and shelter is inevitable for human beings and nobody should be deprived of getting these. But what if the price of building materials go high ? What if the housing loan interest rates go high ?

On the other hand, the food price index has started going down again. But are we getting the food items at a lower rate than before ? No. Because oil price in the international markets are going high again. In turn the goods transportation charges go high. So if any factor makes the price down, some other factor keeps the price up.

And in between, the typical Indian investor runs to make profits- invests in equities, invests in mutual funds, invests in gold...

So dear Indians, where are we now ? Are we going down or going up ?

As always, there are hot discussions happening among financial experts on economic stability- something which we lack now. People spend much time thinking about the best investment option.

In my opinion, it is always good for us to be in safer side of finance. And I would like to recommend two options- Either go for bank deposits or invest in gold. In the case of bank deposits, the interest rates are in pretty peak position and it is highly likely that the rates wont go higher than present.

Therefore, it makes sense to open a fixed deposit account for a longer tenure now so that you can take benefit of these high interest rates for a long time - even if the rates reduce in between. Try to open a fixed deposit account for 3-4 years so that you can lock into the high rates. For even higher rates, you can consider the "special" FDs offered by many banks, like a 390 or 1000 day FD.

Here are the interest rates for deposits offered by some of the banks. (Remember, senior citizens usually get 0.5% more than these rates)

Bank Name	Interest rate	Duration
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB)	10.50%	620 days
Federal Bank	10.00%	333 days
Oriental Bank Of Commerce (OBC)	9.80%	1-2 years
State Bank Of Patiala (SBP)	9.75%	555 days
State Bank Of Mysore (SBM)	9.75%	500 days
Kotak Mahindra Bank	9.60%	700 days
Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB)	9.60%	1000 days
State Bank Of Travancore (SBT)	9.60%	500 & 1000 days
Syndicate Bank	9.55%	1-2 years
State Bank Of Hyderabad (SBH)	9.50%	1000 days
ING Vysya Bank	9.50%	366-500 days
Corporation Bank (CorpBank)	9.50%	1-2 years
IDBI Bank	9.50%	500 days, 7-10 years
Canara Bank	9.50%	366-554 days
Jammu & Kashmir Bank (JK Bank)	9.50%	500 days
Bank Of India (BOI)	9.50%	1-2 years
IndusInd Bank	9.50%	400 days
State Bank Of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ)	9.50%	3-5 years
Punjab National Bank (PNB)	9.50%	1111 days
Central Bank Of India	9.40%	555 days
Bank Of Baroda (BOB)	9.35%	444 das
Vijaya Bank	9.35%	2-3 years
YES Bank	9.30%	271 days, 956-960 days
Dena Bank	9.25%	2-3 years
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)	9.25%	3-5 years
ICICI Bank	9.25%	590,790, 990 days
Axis Bank	9.25%	366-419 days
Indian Bank (IB)	9.25%	270-365 days
HDFC Bank	9.25%	744 days

As you know, bank deposits have advantages as well as disadvantages. The returns are low as compared to equities. But it is rather risk free and safe option for typical Indian citizen.

If you have still in hand to invest, and you are still bold to take some more risk, go and invest in Gold. In my opinion, you need not go and buy physical gold. Instead invest in any gold fund. Gold ETF's(Exchange Traded Funds) are a good choice. Gold price is going up as always. And do you know the wonderful rule of the present world- price of the gold is inversely or directly proportional to dollar !!. People have chosen gold as investment option for years.

Yet nothing is risk free. Now what is the risk ? If the gold price goes high, there will be corrections at International level. That means, gold price will come down.

So.. Think and Invest.

Kochi Metro Rail

2011-07-28T12:42:00.000+05:30

Here comes the start of a new endeavor- Kochi Metro, the long cherished dream of all Kochites. Kochi Metro Rail (KMR) project is expected to solve the vexed traffic problems in Kerala’s commercial capital. Let me tell you something more about Metro railways. Metro Rail is a Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS). It is a convenient, fast, efficient, reliable, modern, user friendly, comfortable and affordable mode of urban transport. It is safe and eco-friendly. It is electric and requires only 1/5^th energy per passenger km compared to road based transport systems. It brings about a more equitable allocation of road space by encouraging greater use of public transport and provides point to point connectivity.

The Kochi Metro is a proposed mass transit system for the South Indian city of Kochi. It was one of the first proposed in India but was delayed for a variety of reasons. It is now planned to be commissioned by 2011. The alignment was created by the DMRC and is planned to be made on a Public-Private Partnership basis. The nodal agency for the project is KINFRA. Kochi Metro Rail Corporation has been created specially for this project.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has proposed a route spanning 25.253 from Thripunithura to Alwaye.There will be 26 Stations and are the following:

Aluva
Pulinchodu
Company Pady
Ambattkavu
Muttom
Appolo Typres
Jacobite Church
Kalamaserry
Pathadi Palam
Toll Junction
Edapally Junction
Edapally Station
Palarivattom
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Kaloor
Lissie
Madhav Pharmacy
Maharaja's College
Ernakulam South
GCDA
Fathima Church
Elamkulam
Vytila
Thaikoodam
Punithura
Petta

The official launch of Kochi metro website was done on 26th July 2011. For those who want to know more about Kochi Metro and its updates, please visit http://www.kochimetro.org

The total estimated cost of the project is Rs. 4427 crores. And central and State equity expected in the cost.

Sheera- classic Konkani sweet

2011-07-14T15:49:00.000+05:30

I have been experimenting a lot with cooking. And one of the classic, traditional konkani recipe that I found tasty is "Sheera". It is easy to prepare and yummy in taste. This is especially enjoyed by children, although it is for persons of any age.

We, Gowd Saraswat Brahmins, occassinally conduct poojas and other rituals in our homes. A variation of Sheera called Sopadh (Savai) is also prepared during Sathyanarayana Poojas conducted in our homes. In my own experience, I found it as an easy-to-cook recipe which is much better than the sweets that we buy from Bakery. Because this is home made, free from any artificial flavors and unhealthy ingredients.

Let me come to the point. To prepare Sheera, you need Wheat Rava (Sooji Rava). Another major ingredients are milk and sugar. Please note that the measurement is very important in the case of Sheera. You need to take equal proportions of Sooji Rava and Milk.

What you need ?
1. Sooji Rava (Wheat Rava) - 1 cup
2. Milk - 1 cup (Some people take 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water)
3. Ghee - 3 tablespoons
4. Raisins - 1 teaspoon
5. Cashewnuts - 1 teaspoon
6. Banana - 2 small ones cut into small pieces
7. Cardomom seeds 1/2 teaspoon

How to do ?

Heat ghee in a pan and add cashews and raisins, fry for sometime. Add wheat Sooji Rava and fry on low flame till the nice aroma comes out. Add milk and sugar and keep on stirring. Please note that you should use low flame only. Add banana pieces into it and stir well again. Cook well till the water is absorbed and the Sheera becomes thick and solid. Finally add cardamom powder and mix well.

And now Sheera is ready to serve !

Some people add saffrons and badams also n Sheera. Some others add lemon yellow food color too.

Salt N' Pepper Malayalam movie review

2011-07-11T15:42:00.000+05:30

Well, let me start with a movie review. Last day I watched the malayalam movie Salt N' Pepper. The movie is directed by Ashiq Abu and casted by Lal, Shwetha Menon, Asif Ali, Mythili and many others. Salt N' Pepper is a simple movie with a simple theme, expressed in a simple way. I would like to call it as a domestic movie or a home movie. It just paints the pictures of our daily life. For those who expect an action-rich, dialogue-rich movie, salt and pepper is not the one. This is not an action thriller. The script is slow. the story takes place in an urban area- hence the life of humans in modern conditions are depicted beautifully. Human life and thoughts are carefully captured. The blend of Nostalgia and Romance is the taste maker of the movie.

Shwetha Menon(acted a 'Maya') does her job wonderfully and Asif Ali (acted a "Manu") rocks !! Comedy is the one which lasts till the end of the film. Although there are no megastars or veteran comedians, the natural comedy flows throughout the film. And this film is definitely dedicated to all foodies. :-) The song 'Kanamullal' is one the best songs in 2011- good music and good sceneries. Presence of Shyju Khalid behind the camera has made the movie wonderful. There is no heavy action, there is no thrilling long dialogues, no multistars- but those soft romantic moments which cools the mind of evey youth and untold feelings of loved ones is the centre point of the movie- simple but lovely film. I would rate it 8.5 out of 10.

Back to blogging

2011-07-11T12:14:00.000+05:30

Friends...
After a long break, I am again back to the world of blogging. With lot of thoughts, lot of ideas and lot of fun in mind, its the time to blog everything !!

About me

2011-05-29T15:15:00.000+05:30

Dear friends,

Welcome to my world- this is my personal blog. Well, its time to tell you something about me..

I am Sooraj.
A post graduate in Computer Science and I am working as a banking service professional in Kochi.

And about my family- I am married to my wife Maya who is working in Kochi itself, and we both are staying together happily.

And the things that I like:

I love music. Music is passion and life for me.

I love chatting with my friends.

I love reading books.

I love making friends (Of course, friends are "unavoidable" for me) and I always been a good friend of everyone.

I am a foodie. I love eating food- has tasted food from different cultures.

I like kids. I love to spend my time with them.

And the things that I don't like:

I don't like the complexity of "casts and religions" of India.

I don't believe in politicians. (Because I am an Indian citizen- the typical 'aaam aadmi' who is getting fooled in each five year.)

And something more about me ?

My sun sign is Gemini.

My favorite food is Idly with Sambar and Chuttney, traditinal south indian food.

My best friend and the person behind my success is my mom.

My favorite author is Chetan Bhagat.

My favorite sportsman is Sachin (I love his attitude more than his achievements).

Save our country from GM foods

2010-02-01T17:59:00.001+05:30

Dear friends,

Please join the below mentioned program organized by Greenpeace
movement. It is for a noble cause to save our nation and make it GM
food free country-

Right now, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is deciding if he'll
allow corporations with American interests to genetically engineer
India's King of Vegetables—the brinjal.

The U.S.-backed companies say the BT Brinjal will be free from pests,
but Indian farmers have successfully grown brinjal for thousands of
years without this toxic gene.

Here's an exciting new way to persuade Mr. Ramesh to protect India's
brinjal: We're going to make the World's Biggest Baingan Bharta, in
Delhi!

Can you help make a world record? The baingan bharta will have one
brinjal for every person who signs our petition. We will present the
names of all the signers to Mr. Ramesh.

Our goal is 10,000 brinjals. Add a brinjal by signing our petition today:

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/the-biggest-baingan-bharta-ever

The petition says: "India should not allow our brinjals to be
contaminated by corporations with American interests."

Ask your friends and family to add a brinjal to the World's Biggest
Baingan Bharta—and protect Indian brinjal from toxic tampering. Just
spread this news.

Bt Brinjal is created with U.S. technology that inserts the gene of a
bacterium into brinjals. The gene causes the Bt Brinjal to produce
toxins.

But there are no studies proving that Bt Brinjal is safe for human
consumption. In fact, rats fed on Bt Brinjal had diarrhoea and liver
weight decrease.

If Bt Brinjal is grown in India, it could contaminate traditional
brinjal farms as well, thus tainting India's food supply forever.

But there's still time for Jairam Ramesh to stop corporations from
poisoning our brinjals.

Can you help protect Indian brinjal? Click below to sign our petition
to Mr. Ramesh and add a brinjal to the World's Biggest Baingan Bharta:

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/the-biggest-baingan-bharta-ever

Thanks a billion!

My Nokia N73 Music edition

2010-01-31T22:54:00.001+05:30

Mobile has become the important medium of communication in our life in recent years. Use of mobile is not limited for just making calls. Depending upon the person's job, age, needs, interests and finance, the use of mobile varies. Some use mobiles for only making calls. They never bother about sending sms, or even reading sms- cant' you believe it ? Yes, I have seen many aunties and old people who just carry mobile as some rare piece of antique, with default nokia ringtone ! Some others show a little more courage- they send sms !
And with youngsters.. ? Young people use mobile for different needs. Now a days mobiles are available in wide variety of models with different technologies and features.

I am using Nokia N73. There are phones which are more costly than this. There are phones which are less costly than this. I simply love Nokia N73 because of its good design, features, easy-use, security and
multitasking features. Actually, my mobile has almost turned like a laptop for me. I should say, it does better than laptop in many occasions. I had bought the set in 2008 June. At that time, it was costing around 12500 rupees.

Needless to say, this mobile is worth of its price- you get value for your money. In addition to normal features, it has got bluetooth, IR, GPRS, EDGE support, 3gp/mp4 support and many advance features.
I am a music lover. Hence the music edition of Nokia N73 proved to be very useful for me because of its good quality of playback and easier access mechanism. And about camera ? The camera is fantastic one- 3.2 mega pixel camera. The photos taken using this camera are awesome and are of good quality. In addition, I have subscribed for unlimited GPRS connection, which makes me 24x7 online ! I can send or receive emails, I can chat with my friends, I download mp3 and videos, and hence it has turned out to be a multitasking device for me. Since it is having Symbian operating system, it is possible to run multiple programs at the same time.

For chatting, I am using the Nimbuzz software, via which I can chat with my gtalk/orkut friends, yahoo and other chat providers. For accessing web sites, I am using Opera Mini 5, which is some more better than Opera 4 version. I can browse web sites, can work with my blogs, upload/download photos etc via this browser. I am fond of reading books also. I usually download the PDF ebooks and read via PDF reader. In addition, I have installed Quick Office 6.0 which enables us to read or edit MS Office documents too.
I am using the Mobile banking facility of State Bank of India and using the mobile banking software, I am able to view my account balance, and balance statement. Also it is having a facility for recharging mobile. This is ultimately a useful feature for me- I can recharge to any number in India, under any provider- so it gives total
freedom. There are still more things... For tracking my daily expenses, I am using Money Manager utility. I have installed Google Maps utility, which gives me 360 degrees of freedom to roam around. I can track the
geographical location as I move from one place to another. I have installed 'Gravity', which is one of the famous twitter client, and is used to check my tweets in Twitter.

All these facts make me to love my Nokia N73- it is simply the best handset.

A spicy evening at Arabian Grills

2010-01-30T21:46:00.001+05:30

Do you like Arabian foods ? Those tasty shawarmas and delicious shawai chicken, decorated with green chillies and cucumber and carrots ? If yes, then here is a right place in Cochin- Arabian Grills.Last day in the evening time, I had a bee-line to the fresh restaurant 'Arabian Grills' located near palarivattam junction. More precisely, it is located on the way from Palarivattam junction to Pipeline junction, just opposite to Chick King restaurant. In Cochin, there are a couple of restaurants that have Arabian dishes, mostly located near the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kaloor. Those restaurants are always having rush and it is not possible to enjoy the food in its own way. I could see that 'Arabian Grills' is unique in its appearance, service and quality of food. I entered the restaurant and ordered one plate of shawarma. There are two versions- ordinary shawarma and spicy shawarma. I ordered the spicy one. I noticed that the interior of the restaurant is perfectly well designed. It has got a very good ambience and every corner was painted in violet- on walls, cash counter, on uniforms of waiters, on plates-every where you can see violet color and it was a nice atmosphere. I liked it very much. Tables and chairs are well cleaned and neatly maintained.Soon after my bird's eye-view, the waiter turned up with hot and spicy shawarma, with kuboos and mayonise. The waiter was very proactive to customers and was very service-oriented. I enjoyed the food. I should say that it was simply superb. Hot spicy shawarma is definitely going to make your taste buds to dance with joy...! Both Arabian as well as north indian thandoor food is available in the restaurant. Cost of food is less as compared to other shops. I just loved it- because there is value for your money. And I am sure that it is definitely a better place to add more spice in your evenings.