Stay Hungry.. Stay Foolish..

Best Tax Saving Mutual Funds

2010-03-16T22:52:00.001+05:30

According to my knowledge and judgement, i am listing down few Mutual Funds which i feel are the best for Tax Saving Investments.
These are the ones with highest returns for a sustainable period of time. They might not the safest as they all are Equity Diversified.

1. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief '96
2. Canara Robecco Tax Saver Fund
3. ICICI Prudential Tax Saving Fund
4. HDFC Tax Saver

For more insight of Top performing Mutual Funds in their respective classes, keep visiting moneycontrol.com . This is the site through which i learnt a lot and started having my interest in ShareMarket and more in Mutual Funds.

I really feel Mutual Funds is the future of Market. Its a hidden and unearthed treasure.

Appraisal

2010-03-16T11:38:00.002+05:30

Appraisal... this word means a lot to we IT professionals. Everyone works his/her ass off for this. But dont u think.. we never get what we deserve. These higher management ppl will always see and note what you havent done for the whole year. Even if you have done something remarkably good also, they always have a point to disprove it and would always say, its not remarkable. Even though you both know, no one else in the team couldn't do it.

In Mid year discussion, all praises are showered, you are doing good, your an example to others n blah blah blahh.... But in final year appraisal, they contradict themselves saying what you have done is not good enough. Is this trueee.......????

They say You dint take responsibility, tell us what you have done what others dint do and which is exceptional? Although you might defend the first, how would u prove what u did was exceptional.

In the end, all the hue and cry you make, for a better revised appraisal, would all go in vain, as they dont care for you.

As a wiseman said:
Love your work, not the Company as you dont know when Company would stop loving You.

Walkin Drive for Experienced People in Honeywell

2010-03-15T12:17:00.000+05:30

HTS Aero is Hiring-Referral Walk-in Event

* Engineers with 2 to 5 years experience in C, C++, Embedded (Development and Testing)

* System Engineers with 3 to 7 years with experience in Environmental control system design, Matlab and Simulink

* Engineers with 3 to 7 yrs with experience in Environmental Control System, Hardware-in-loop realtime simulation, requirements based system testing, Hardware and Software Integration testing experience

Written Test Followed by interviews

Date: 20th March 10, Saturday

Time: 8:30 A.M to 10:30 A.M

For Details, contact me @ salilbelani@gmail.com

Since it is a walkin drive, you would need Emp Id.

MFs

2010-03-10T01:28:00.002+05:30

I have always been interested in Mutual Funds much more than i am in share market. I feel Mutual Funds as we know is like a bright star we can see with our naked eye. Its bright and nice and big, but still what we cant see what it is in the ocean of stars.

It has always been a field of interst for me.

I would write more n more on it. and would probably invite some people who are also interested in this and start sharing ideas with them.

After all, sharing knowledge enhances itself.

Avatar - a real treat to watch

2010-03-10T01:14:00.005+05:30

Watching a science-fiction so real that it would take your mind to the back seat and make you wonder "One who conceived the movie, is he GOD?

Watching Avatar in 3D is one such experience i can never forget. How to transform an average script into an, undoubtedly gonna be, highest grossing movie of all time, we can learn from James Cameron. From the dusk till dawn of the movie, i never realized, i am actually sitting in Earth and watching another world come alive. 3D motion was made so brilliant, so real that many a times I reached my hand out and tried to grab the floating flowers of Evyaa tree. For almost 2 hours in middle of movie, I had no sense of whats going on around me. I was living on Pandora.

Conceving an idea is one thing and realizing it is other. What connects both of them is Determination, passion and hardwork and above all, Never Say Die attitude. I confidently can say that film making has travelled leaps and bounds with this movie. And it might very well take more, if not the same, number of years for any filmmaker to bring this kind of idea to life.

It's a movie, you can go watch over and over again, for the life it gives you within itself. If you feel, you can actually live the moments in movie livelier than your own dreams. It makes you realize that dreams can be bought to life.

I would rather give it 10 out of 5 rating, for this movie is worth watching it twice. Once for grabbing the story and inside, and the next for just living in the movie at places you wish you want to be.

2 on way

2010-03-03T01:27:00.002+05:30

2 posts are on their way....
nice ones...
if one is an earthquake.. other one s thunderstorm... no sign left afterwards.

Test Funda

2010-02-25T16:05:00.008+05:30

Since my preperation for MBA. (lemme tell u frankly, i am like a about-to-fuse tubelight that always keep on blinking, trying to get ON but alas.... ) though i haven't, till now, prepared with full devotion, hardwork n blah blah blahhh.... till now for any of my MBA entrance exam, i still like to keep myself in touch with quizzes, puzzles, general knowledge and other stuff.

few days back while i was browsing for site for MBA preperation i came across a site named TestFunda. I spent some time browsing on it. After a while, i could say that by far it was the best site i have ever come across for MBA preperation.

It not just gives you the insight of what is happening around, hot topics n all, it also provides many different ways to prepare for MBA.

Likewise, it has courseware that can help you in preperation which obviously we would need to purchase. But contrary to other MBA preperation sites, it gives you wordlist of 5 words, daily question from CAT, weekly puzzle and biweekly quizzes to participate absolutely FREE.

And like a cherry on the icing, when you browse the site, you would find more than 10 games of different kinds which not only helps you in preparation with Verbal & Quant but at the same time gives you a nice timepass to have.

I would suggest everyone to visit this site once even if you are not in prep mood for MBA.

As for timepass only, you would find those games much more worth.

PS: Just in case, if you would like to join, give salil.belani as in name of person who referred you.
It would get me 10 points. :) :)

ummmmm....

2010-02-25T15:48:00.002+05:30

its been a long time since i have written anything on my blog. And when i see ppl making more and more use of their blog, i feel i should also take sometime out and keep updating things here.

so here i am... after a long time... blogging again.

The Story Of India

2009-01-02T17:35:00.008+05:30

Recently, I came across a TV series "The Story of India" introduced to me by my friend. Even though its not a new series, dont know how it dint catch my eye. It was made and telecasted on BBC sometime back.

Written and presented by Michael Wood, it is one of the most remarkable and inedible series which tells you about all the ups and downs India faced from the time of its birth. Its an incredible series which keeps you glued to your seat for the whole time, taking you on a ride through the 10,000 year History of the Indian subcontinent, till present. While watching it, you'll feel you are spell bounded with your mind in a state "nothing-else-matters". It presents you so much about the culture and heritage of India, that i am sure most of us are unaware of.
It gives us an insight of Harappa / Indus Valley civilization, time of Vedas, Mauryas, Guptas, Cholas, then Moghuls and the recent Indian Independence. Though i dint cover even 5% of what it covers, its enough to give an idea of the vastness of the timeline it takes under.

For eg. Most of us know that North Indians are said to be the decendents of a race called ARYANS . What most of us dont know is that they came from Central Asia (Ural Mountains) and are also called as CAUCASIANS. And the meaning of "Aryan" is "Pure Blood". About South Indian, Dravidians as we know, can trace their roots to Africa. And there is a village still in india which has preserved their genes from ancient times (M13) ... and which are said to be the rarest and earliest genes on the earth.The first civilized society flourished in India near Indus Valley called as "Harappan Civilization" in 5000BC and when it was on its peak, about 5 million people lived there in .

Can you believe it...?? Our India, that time also, was the most populated place in the world. ;) ;)... Jokes apart..!! After watching this series, I truely felt proud of being the part of the Greatest and Oldest Civilization and Culture in the World what we know as "India". I came to know more about my birth place in which i am living for almost 24 years. Though I had studied many of the facts shown in this in my school days in History but still, the vastness and depth shown in this is truely remarkable. I have gained more knowledge of my country, my motherland, of its Old but still preserved in its true form, Rich and Diverse culture.

I feel proud to see that Foreigners taking so much interest and pain to show the real true picture of India, what it was and what it is, but at the same time, it hurts to see that despite having so many class film makers here, no one comes forward to take such a topic. People have time to make documentries on film stars, politicians etc. . But on the topic of National pride, they dont. I dont know, when these people would understand, making things which sells is good, but making only those things is not good and it doesnt make you stand out.

I would say that every indian should watch this documentry once to know his /her motherland well and hence can pass on the knowledge to the future generations so that we dont loose what we have preserved for thousands of years.

Life = Risk

2008-11-25T18:46:00.004+05:30

Sometimes in life you take a decision you are not sure would work out or not. Still you go with your gut and prepare yourself to face concequences, be it good or bad.

I took the biggest decision of my life and ... umm.. what can I say.. didn't work out the way i thought... but still, it taught me a few important lessons of life which im sure, would possibly never have learnt if not this time.

I blindly trusted one of my friend with whom i have known for last 10 years, and whom i thought would not be the first to betray me, if not the last atleast. YET it happened. All what I was promised to come onboard and work in his firm turned out as fake as crocodile trears. Big company, high pay, nice work culture and much needed international exposre... all came out to be a BIG FAT lie.

Within 2 days I came to know, neither he has anything, nor his firm has. If you talk to him, he would brag so much about his qualifications that you would feel you have done nothing. But the reality is, he is not even a Graduate even in B.Sc. But if asked upon, he might produce certificates (fake ofcourse). One more gal, classmate of his, who knew him for years was also working in his firm when i joined. Though she also left the firm just 15 days after i did...!!! after 3 months of work.From the day we met till the last day i met her, we had atleast one lie of his unearthed. My goddd... we just couldn't believe we trusted that guy and took biggest decisions of our life (ya.. like me also, she left her settled job).

Next 2 months I spent hunting for job like anything. But couldn't managed to get into anyone. Though, later I came to know that it wasnt the best time to search for job. Hiring is freezed from May till September in most of the cases. So I was left, all alone without job. Its hard to admit but its true that even after being optimistic for the whole time about the situation that something good would surely come out of this, I felt low sometimes. I have never been jobless from the start of my career and now, all of a sudden, I have nothing to do. At this time, I had my family and the Gal I love beside me, who kept me intact and gave me courage to fight back the situation I have put myself into and come out of it. She never made me feel I lost something, at the sametime pushed me to get the best out of me and go for the best.

Thanks to them and GOD, that I am back to the place I truely belong, which I left for Better, ignoring the fact that I already had the best with me. I guess, its human nature.

"We never like what we have, We never have what we like, STILL we live, we love".

All I can say is, its good to hunt for the better things in life and never settle and take risks as LIFE = RISK. BUT never to forget, the risk should be CALCULATIVE.
Its life whom you are dealing with.

Getting No Objection Certificate (NOC) for Bike

2008-04-18T17:04:00.008+05:30

Getting the NOC for the vehicle is truely a tedious and time consuming job. And as it deals with the people in Government jobs (Babu... as we all call them), the above mentioned adjectives are implicit and apt to the situation and Hence you need to be patient for that. If you are planning to shift from one state to another, you need to have an NOC with you from the RTO of state where your bike is currently registered. If you shift your bike without getting the NOC and if a traffic policeman of the other state stops you, he will first ask you for the NOC. And if you dont have that then he might confiscate your bike. The only way out for you is to lure him with some Bribe. But what i believe is ....
Prevention is better than cure.

Documents you need for NOC :
1. 3 Copies of Form28
2. Original Registration Book
3. Emission Certificate (even Xerox copy of it would do)
4. Insurance Certificate (even Xerox copy of it would do)

I was shifting from Bangalore to Gurgaon(NCR) permanently. And to get my bike transported from bangalore to gurgaon, first thing for me to do was to get an NOC from the RTO. I had absolutely no idea as of how to do it. Just knew that i have to go to RTO for this. So one Divine morning on Saturday, i decided to go to the RTO and work it out. So i reached RTO Bangalore Central (2nd Floor of Koramangala BDA Complex) in the morning as i thought that being Saturday it will be a half day. But to my surprise, it wasn't. This gave me a huge relief as i dint know how much time it might take.

As soon as i entered the office, a bunch of Brokers sorrounded me asking "Kya boss.. kya chaiye... kya karana hai..." (What sir. what do want to get done). I told them about the work. One of them came out and said 1200 bucks in all it will take. I suspected that being a North Indian (so... no grip on Kannada), which he got from my attire and face, and probably working in a software company, he was trying to fool me with the prices and trying to overcharge me. So i asked him " how much does it take normally". He said " it will take 700 bucks for you to get this done by yourself and it will take around 1 month, but i can get it done in 3 days". I said ok and left the place telling him that i ll think and tell. Then i went to a person sitting at "MayI Help You" desk. I asked him the details about the work. He asked me to take 3 Form28 and fill them up. It took me around half n hour to figure out myself as in how (and exactly WHAT) to fill in the form. After doing it , i went to him. He asked to get the Chassis imprint on all the 3 forms with a pencil. So i went down to get it. Believe me, it took me around 40 min for that. (3 Phone calls and 20 min to find where the chassis number actually is on my bike and then another 20 min to take the imprint). After all this, i went upstairs, made a file with the forms and other documents. Then i went to a desk with 3 people sitting outside the office having a board hanging above them as Help Desk. One of the person took my file, had a look at it and then asked me to give the file inside in the Room No.11. I went inside and saw the office. The office was so messed up that you can not get by any means as to whom you should give the file to. Anyways i gave the file to the peroson siting in the front. He took the file and gave me an acknowledgement slip and asked me to come in the evening at 4.30 and collect a letter.

I went in the evening to the office. But as expected, the letter was not ready yet. (Although it was just a 5 min job to get the letter ready, but i dont know as of why these people in the government dont do the work assigned to them. Dont they have deadlines as we people have... ;) ). Never mind, the concerned person gave me the letter and asked me to get the verification certificate from the Deputy Commissionar of Police's office. (End OF Saturday)

I went to the Commisionar's office (on Infantry Road) on Tuesday (as it was a holiday on Monday for Ugadi) and went inside the office made for the visitors. The person there asked me to go to the back office CCRB (City Crime Record Bureau) and give the letter to them. I went there but to my surprise, no one was there in the office. It was 10.15 in the morning. Then someone came to me and told me that the office will open at 11 am. So i had to wait for another 45 min there only. After passing my time , i went inside and handed over the letter to the concerned person. He asked me to come in the evening at 4 or at 11.30 next morning. So i went to the office happily. But due to some urgent meetings in the office i could not go there. So i went there next day. (End OF Tuesday)

I went to the office next day i.e. Wednesday in the morning collected the certificate from there and again i went to the RTO and submitted the certificate. They asked me to come after 2 days. (End OF Wednesday)

So i went to office on Friday morning, that time all the running and hectic work arounds happened. From Room No. 11 to Treasury room to Audit room to again Room No.11 . But after all the running and sweting there, my file finally came back to the concerned person in that room. He asked me to come in the evening. I went to the office again in the evening at 4. As soon as he saw me, he started searching my file which god knows where was. As the time went on, i was literally having my heart in my mouth as all my bike's papers were there in that file with the RC. But by gods grace, he found the file and gave it to a helper lady to give it to the chief officer. She gave the file to the chief and i also went inside into the room. He asked me a few questions and verified the file and details from tip to toe. After that my file went to the person who was supposed to print the NOC for me. But the guy was not in his seat (no surprise... government office). Then another guy with a fierce look on his face came to his seat and took other 2 files first that came to the table after my file ( guess why... because those files were bought by Brokers). Anyways testing my patience, after 30 min of my file landing at his desk, he printed the NOC slips and gave it to the concerned man. He took the slips and pasted in my RC and on other documents. Then finally it went to one more officer for his final signature.
And after that he came to me and asked me for the Acknowledgement slip. When i gave it, he handed me over 2 of the Form28, which i filled up in the starting, with NOC sticker and RC with NOC sticker. (End OF Friday)

Finallly to the sigh of my relief, i got the work done myself, within a week and without paying a single penny as Bribe, for which the broker was asking me 1200 bucks and was telling me that it will take a month.

And all what i had spent in for all this is 100-100 bucks which i gave to 2 people. 1 who helped me in the start with all the initial work and the other was the concerned person who undertook my whole work, got it completed without asking a single penny. Ofcourse the time and swet is there, but now when i look back and see, it was worth.

PS: Please do take care of your Acknowledgement slip. It is necessary for you to give back in the end to get the RC and other papers.

Technology Unparallel

2008-04-17T15:25:00.046+05:30

Science has always given the mankind a way to think and live. It has always been the Foundation Stone of Mankind. Be in Technology, Health, Philosophy, Psychology or any other thing. Even when a man choose to look back in times, he can see that science has always been the pioneer of the innovations and inventions. Or in other words we can say that science is the mother of all inventions. When we see electronic gadgets, automobiles etc. today, exactly how many of us wonder that just a few of centuries back, they were not even in dreams of people. None of us even would have hoped at that time to see any of these things. And yet, those dreams turned into reality and today we are in much comfort and enjoy the leisure they all provide. And the credit goes to the people who dreamt of all these, who had the courage to go against the winds to create a path for mankind. And today we owe it all to those people who could make all these possible.

Few days back, i came across a new invention that took place in the research labs of Nokia. i.e. their new Mobile phone named MORPH. Its a bridge between high end technology and potential users. This mobile represents the extent and depth of the advancement of technology that is happening in the world we live in and yet we are untouched from it. This device concept took leaps into the future techonology and unleashed it to the people. It shows the future face of science and technology that we know today as Nanotechnology. The phone is developed by Nokia Research Center and Cambridge Nanoscience Centre showcasing some of the best nanoscale technologies that potentially would create a new world of electronics and open a new specturm of possibilities.

The mobile is equipped with few amazing features that would blow your mind off.

1. Flexible and transparent
2. Built-in sensors that will understand the surrounding environment
3. Built-in solar devices that will get charged up
4. Made with the material that is self cleaning and self preserving
5. About 10 000 transistors integrated to the precision of a single fly hair.
6. 3D sensing buttons
7. Can flip and fold it and use it as a wrist band.

You can them by see yourself at: http://www.nokia.com/A4852062

Its not something like this is the only mobile, that has the remarkable features, in the market. We have iPhone in the market that has some of the outstanding features that is not possessed by any other mobile and hence, by far, it is the best mobile to go for as of today. And even before also, the mobiles used to come. If we choose to see, not so long ago, the mobiles that were launched initially were so bulky and costly that people seldom preferred to buy them. But if we look at the mobile market now, we will realize that mobile phone we purchase today would get outdated within a week. Market is flodded with the mobiles with newest technology and added features and everyday we see on the information media (TV, Newspaper etc.) that one company or the other is getting their new mobiles launched to keep up in the market and compete with its rivals. But the use of future technology in the mobile is taken up in this mobile and hence Nokia has taken a big leap ahead of its competitors the day this mobile was unveiled. This video shows us how beautifully the imaginations are being turned into reality. Ofcourse the time is a big factor but what more important is the belief and the imagination the people had, outcome of which is truely remarkable.

So i know and i am sure that after seeing this video, we all will have few ticks of clock to appreciate the hard work, the Engineers and Scientists, have put in and the imagination they have behind it and for taking the Mobile technology to the next level. And so we all can say that with so many built in featurs, it surely is the face of the future of mobile technology. And undoubtedly Nanotech is the no more a future tech and now is a reality that soon will take over the present technology and will give us the devices that we still cant even imagine in our wildest of the dreams.

One should never stop Dreaming as Todays' dream could be Tomorrows reality.You could be the poineer of it. You just need to have the courage to follow your heart even if it leads you off the world known path.