Business line magazine

Leisure time

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 03:00:00 +0000

These are two poems written by Fathima Rinha, grade IV student of Yambu international school, KSA

The candle

I found a lighted candle,
Which I thought I could handle.
But I fell,
In a well,
And lost my pretty sandal.

Termite

It was late at night.
There was a termite.
It gave me fright.
I thought it would bite.
So I started to fight.
But because it was bright,
The termite was alright.
So then I turned off the light.
And with all my might,
I fought until twilight.
But then I lost sight.
Nope! No delight!

Fathima Rinha

Lens as a weapon

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 15:38:00 +0000

TP Shukoor

Nisar Kolakkadan

Being a man of values, Nisar Kolakkadan is always vigilant to protest when anyone tries to loot the naturally formed sand of rivers Chaliyar and Iruvazhinji of his village. As he is a noted and dedicated wild life photographer and environmental activist of the time, he uses his lens as a weapon to struggle against any kind of destructing activities to the nature.

Adventurous and stunning experiences of his childhood days made him powerful enough to become a wild life photographer. He remembers a pathetic incident during his high school time that he could not forget still after many decades. That led him to the way of wild life protection and awareness programs.

In older days, hunting was a common practice. No legal restrictions were there at that time. Kolakkadan family was well-known for their dominance in hunting and 'Kaalappoottu' (bull-race). In case of a party or function in his house, the elder ones would set out to the forest with rifles in order to shoot down any animals to enjoy a delicious feast to celebrate the occasion. As a high school student, Nisar also would be accompanying them for the hunting.

The strategy of hunting was different in various contexts and it was to be apt to the occasions. This time, the strategy was to attract the animals towards the bank of river and would shot them when get them a closer look. That day a deer was the prey and the team could shoot it down easily. They slaughtered and removed the skin to prepare the meat for cooking. But the shocking sight seen that day has still been smoldering in Nisar's heart. What to say, he could not look at it twice. It was a pregnant animal that they shot. The kid in the womb of the deer was not just foetus. It was almost in a matured level to be born as a fawn following days. It wriggled for a while and breathed its last in front of him. The final shrieking of the young animal has still been loudly echoing in his ears that persuades him to form resistance against such atrocities against wild life.

After this cruel incident, Nizar never accompanied the team again and started to support the initiatives that protect those helpless wild creatures. In his efforts, his only weapon was his camera. He went ahead courageously to protest against the cruelties being practiced against the progeny of jungles. That's how the noted wild life photographer Nizar Kolakkadan emerged. Today he is an active presence in social media for the sake of environmental protection social criticism against the destruction of nature.

He was born at Cheruvadi, a village in Kohikode district, Kerala, as son of Kolakkadan Ghulam Hussain and retired teacher Mariyam. His formal study is Pre-degree and Diploma in Electrical engineering. Photography was his craze since his high school days. First debut as a photographer was with an AFCA 12 film black&white camera that can develop negative photos. At present, he is in a mood of fulfilling his ambitions as some of his childhood ambitions are fulfilled in recent years. One of which was a Canon One Dx camera. Another one is an opportunity that he got to click a rhino, that is being a dream of every wild life photographer as the rhino is very rarely seen in front of the lenses.

In India, rhinos are being looked after only in Kaziranga national park, Assam. But Nisar got the chance to click a rhino is not from India. He went to Chitwan national park in Nepal for that purpose. Being an animal lover, he is ready to do anyhow adventurous travelings in order to get the clicks. To click this rhino, he traveled as much as 3000 km by car to Chitwan national park which obviously shows his enthusiasm and dedication in the field.

Many times he had experienced narrow escape from wild animals like elephant, leopard and tigers during the treks. Tiger, he says, is really a gentleman as once he accidentally happened to fell just in front of a tiger in forest. The animal just stared at him and moved to its own way. 'It was God's will that saved me that day', he recalls.

A click of a tiger, that got after the troublesome wandering of as long as eight months, is the most valuable photo in his collections. He was returning disappointed as he got nothing special after a safari inside the Nagarhole tiger reserve. It was then he could spot the 'real' tiger with its full majesty in a rain pit near the road as near as 15 feet away. The tiger 'helped' him to click from different angles around 20 minutes without moving away from there. 'The pleasure and excitement of the day was really not able to express through words.' He says.

Many news papers including Times of India have published his photographs. A number of recognition including Wild life Photography award of Karnataka government also came into his account. He also achieved first price in 'Bhouma novu', an environmental protection photography contest held by a Facebook group 'Sanchari' that has more than 2.5 lakh members. 'Loss to the nature on account of tourism' was the topic. His click, a deer that eats plastic bags, made him winner in the contest.

He normally visits the jungle at least four times in a month. Getting the animals like tiger or leopard close to the lens from the vast area of dense forest is really a luck. We must be extremely patient in order to be blessed with that luck. Once he traveled to Bankok with a friend when he heard about a tiger temple in which the tigers are being looked after by some Budhist monks in Thailand. Thus he got the chance to walk with a tiger, patting on its back, without any distance or barricades. That also he considers as another luck he was blessed in the career.

He visited many places of different countries like Sumatra in Indonesia, Hong kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Egypt, Turkey, Holand..etc. Almost all states of India that keep wild life or a reserve forest were not exempted from his reach.

'Although governments spent crores of rupees for the sake of wild life, its resemblance is visible only in Karnataka. We can see at least a guard in each 500 meters of forest area of Karnataka.' He says.

But in other states, there are not seen any stringent measures taken against the environmental and forest pollution.

He keeps the precious collection of thousands of pictures that were captured throughout his wild life photographic career over a span of 4 years. In spite of his busy schedule as a business man, he has still been sparing time for frequent travelling. He is preparing to conduct a show of his captured pictures in recent future. He could master the photography only through persistence and hard work as he was a self learner throughout his career. Now his dream is to form an NGO that focuses on preserving wild life and awareness programs for the environmental protection.

(Thanks to Salim Geeroad who wrote a Malayalam feature that inspired me to pen down about Nisar Kolakkadan)

A day in Labuan

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 15:39:00 +0000

Dr. Harimohan Narayanan

Living in Brunei Darussalam, a small country in Borneo Island, Labuan was just an hour and half away separated by sea and ideal for a day’s holiday. Labuan, itself an island surrounded by six smaller ones, was part of Malaysia, though peninsular Malaysia was pretty far off separated by vast expanse of sea. Labuan belonged to East Malaysia and part of Sabah. Before 1946 it belonged to the Sultanate of Brunei which was handed over to the British under a treaty, later it became part of Malaysia in 1963 and the island itself is now a federal island and a duty free port.

It is famously known as the pearl of Borneo as it is part of the Borneo Island. It has a population of just below 1,00,000 and is a booming center for oil and natural gas offshore explorations, industries and trade. It has the Financial center which can be seen on its coast as a blue modern landmark a symbol of its progress. Its duty free status makes it very famous for shopping specially for liquor and Chocolates which are available at very moderate prices and in immense varieties. Labuan is also called the Chocolate island.

So, on a lazy Saturday morning I decided to make a day trip to Labuan. I had stayed one night earlier in Labuan but I hadn’t gone around much then. There are a lot of modern ferries that took one to Labuan in comfort from Brunei. They started from Maura port in Brunei which was around 30 km from my house in Jerudong. So I started early and drove to Muara port in the excellent highway reaching in half an hour. There was parking facilities and the terminal was very comfortable. There were boats every half hour and also a big Jingar which carried vehicles. I opted for Suria ferry which I was told was the fastest and the most comfortable. It left at 8.30 am.

After immigration at Brunei end where my passport was checked and security clearance done, we were allowed to alight the small but comfortable air-conditioned boat. It was not very crowded and I could sit comfortably. There was a movie running 'Captain Philip' and that was very apt for sea travel. Soon we left Brunei moving across offshore installations, big steamers boats etc. We reached Labuan quite quickly. The horizon was very nice with the blue colored financial center looming prominently. After berthing we had to go through Malaysian immigration. Even though normally Malaysia requires visa from Indian nationals, Labuan had a special privilege for short stays it did not ask for visa but checked your multiple re-entry visa from the country you came from.

Walking out of the terminal I was into the heart of Labuan city itself. It was a busy place with plenty of shops and neatly manicured roads. There were a lot of cars and taxis and the sun was already up and it was warm. I asked a couple of taxi drivers about my going to two landmarks I had in mind. One was the Chimney, a structure known for its tourist attraction at the opposite end of the island and the second was the war memorial and cemetery of second world war soldiers from different countries of the world.

They were quoting different prices. But I was actually more keen on going by local transportation instead of by cabs as one was more exposed to the local flavor then and I was all alone travelling with just a camera and myself. So it was good that I took the local bus itself. I walked to the bus stand and found out that bus No. 6 would take me to the chimney around 30 km away. The mini bus was comfortably cool and had a sprinkling of locals who were friendly and amused to see a bespectacled Indian walking around with a hanging camera. The driver told me that it would cost three Malaysian ringgits around 1 Brunei dollar or fifty rupees and he would tell me when to get down. So I just sat back and relaxed, we passed through the high way looking at schools colleges houses markets etc.

Slowly the landscape became slightly more forested, greener and one could see short hills though Labuan was known to be generally flat. The winding roads with green canopies, the winking sea between the trees, the dark clouds which had gathered and cool winds made the trip a very pleasant one. Most passengers had got down by the time. I reached the chimney and I too got down there. The chimney itself was built around 1900 CE. A red bricked structure around 160 feet height and a chimney below. None knew its exact purpose though there have been several speculations as at the time coal mining was present. One view was that it's part of an underground tunnel conduit but, on excavation, no such connections were found. It could have been a sort of light house as it was near the beach and there was no evidence of burning in the chimney too!

The government has constructed a very nice park and a small museum near the chimney. I could get a free orange juice from a stall set up for some rally going on that day. The climate was cloudy and cool. After going around and taking selfies I came out and waved at a small minivan which was part of the city transport. I got into the front seat with the driver and told him I would like to reach war memorial. He replied it wouldn’t go there but one could reach town and then go from there which I agreed. There was an elderly woman sitting behind who spoke very good English. She felt somehow I was a reporter or writer and need to be told and shown Labuan well. So she talked to the driver and told me we will take you around once we reach town and show you how much Labuan is progressed recently. Well, I couldn’t ask for more than that!!

And so after reaching bus terminal with just the three of us we first went to the War memorial. In 1942, Japan had taken over Brunei and Labuan and was ruling it. In 1945 the allied forces with Australian, Indian soldiers landed in Labuan and in the battle ensued Japan had to surrender. There were lot of casualties in the battle and the place is filled with neatly painted white tombstones of unknown soldiers. On the opposite side of the road was a cemetery with names on the tombstones too. There was a couple of memorials and one of them was dedicated to the soldiers of the Punjab regiment from India. Later we drove to the elegant golf club of Labuan and the botanical garden. There was also a water park. I was shown the international school, the colleges, the mosques, the lone Gurudwara and the two churches of Labuan.

Dr Harimohan Narayanan

Coming into the town we drove through the Labuan walkway, the port, the Sunday markets, and the big financial center where I got down, paid the driver some money and thanked the lady for the information provided. I went into the complex with a food court and lot of duty free shops where so many varieties of chocolates at bargain prices and liquor were available. Later I took a cab into the port area and went into an Indian restaurant to have lunch. I still had an hour to kill. So I walked around the many shops in town, sat on a pigeon filled square and rested and later with laden purchases came back to the ferry station to return to Brunei in my ferry. It was a great day well spent too!

(The author is a Keralite physician working in Medical Oncology department of the Brunei Cancer Center. He is an enthusiastic traveler and writer as well)

Grow your business with project management

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 16:03:00 +0000

Mohammed Nizam

Great products, services and processes are at the heart of every successful small scale business ventures. Developing your ideas into something that you can sell requires effort, discipline and a guided framework to get things right: that framework is Project Management.

Think twice before you dismiss the idea of project management as though it is adopted only by big companies. No matter how small your venture, implementing effective project management processes can ensure things get done quickly, on time and of the highest quality.

Project management can help you manage many aspects of your small business including product development, testing, customer service, advertising & marketing, payroll, setting up a company website, establishing the office in a new location, invoicing and other business processes. Used well, it's an excellent way to refine, tweak and create more effective and efficient ways of doing things.

To understand why Project management makes sense for the smallest of businesses, let’s reflect on what is at the heart of project management – that is to say, a management process. If we ignore project management definitions for a moment and concentrate on “What is a process?” it’s ‘A series of actions, changes, or functions that bring about a result’.

Applied to project management, this result is the outcome of temporary endeavors to develop a unique product, process or service. All businesses are, or should be, focused on results. Given the competitive nature of the current business environment, it may be argued that the need to initiate the right projects and achieve the desired results is just as critical as it is for the large business. One of the main advantages of being a small business is using innovation and creativity so you can get products and services to market quicker. It gives you a competitive advantage.

Mohammed Nizam

Why Is Project Management Useful For Small Businesses?

Small businesses don’t have the luxury of abundant resources to accomplish each task. It’s likely that every employee in your business wears several hats at a time. That’s why project management is so useful for small business. It will help you make the most of your resources (even if the only resource is you), manage your budget, and deliver quality solutions to your customer. It can even help you make your internal business processes work better so it takes less time and effort to get things done. In short, project management can help you turn chaos into order.

Here are four reasons why project management is so valuable to small business:

1. Makes big goals achievable – With a project management approach to your goals, you can seize opportunities, solve problems and realize the success you seek.

2. Reveals gaps and pitfalls – All projects are not meant to become reality. If you’re like most small business owners, you have more ideas than you could complete in a lifetime. Using a project management approach can help you see the gaps in your thinking and provide the “cons” of completing a project before you’ve invested a lot of time, resources, and money in the project.

3. Breaks down the overwhelm – Do you dream big and then get exhausted thinking of all the things that have to be done to realize that dream? Project management helps you “chunk up” the work into bite sized pieces so you can make progress and avoid getting so overwhelmed that you get nothing done. Nothing can motivate more than small rewards along the way to achieving a big goal.

4. Gets the work out of your head – Writing down what needs to be done to accomplish your goals will help you get done faster without a lot of rework. Having to remember everything that needs to be accomplished just clutters up your brain and creates a prescription for disaster.

Case Study
Recently I was asked to jump in and rescue a small infrastructure project that was headed for disaster. What did I do?

1. Assessed the project objectives and current status

2. Identified the current project team members

3. Discovered the project's major issues - and any major critical deliverables that were behind schedule

4. Determined who needed to be added (or removed) from project team

5. Got the team talking, regularly and frequently!

6. Attacked the most important issues and most critically behind challenges first

7. Communicated regularly and directly with the team and with project stakeholders

8. Maintained issues documentation that have a high probability of impacting time, scope, quality or budget.

Of this process, there were really two critical success factors.

First, I needed to push the long lead time items that had been missed, getting them in motion with expedited speed and escalated priority.

Second, we needed to start communicating. The team wasn't talking among themselves, no one was talking to the customer and vendors, and it was killing the initiative. Establishing a project team email chain, twice-weekly brief status and problem solving meetings and customer-focused status summaries made a huge amount of difference! The team grew to understand the big picture and was more productive with group accountability for their deliverables.

Project became back on track, with all planned components scheduled to complete on time. The customer is happy with progress and the project team members are pleased to be part of the effort.

How Do I Implement Project Management?
If you are able to hire a project manager or even a project management consultant, that is a good first step. The consultant will be able to get you set up in project management that fits your company and then teach you how to maintain it.

If hiring a consultant is not in your budget, you can also search for project management information and books on amazon.com. Project management, as a science, can get really complicated. You do not need to have it be that complicated in order to make improvements. It is fine if your approach is to “keep it simple.”

If project management is your new “thing,” you may want to take a trip over to PMI.org. Otherwise, a search for something likes “Project Management for Dummies” and using a free online resource may be a great step in the right direction.

(The author is CEO & Principal Consultant of 'Mission Means Project Management' Calicut, Kerala. Mobile No. +91-9400384441 Email: consult@missionmeans.com .
Website www.missionmeans.com )

Four Indians from Bollywood among 20 richest stars of the world

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 17:30:00 +0000

Mumbai: Four Indians were included in the list of world's richest 20 film stars, the whole 4 are from Bollywood. Shahrukh khan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay

kumar are the stars included in the list recently published by Forbes magazine.

King Khan, who has been listed as No.8 with $33 million asset, is the first among four Indian stars. Shahrukh Khan stands neck and neck with Hollywood

star Robert Downey Junior. The interesting thing is that Shah Rukh Khan has more asset than many popular Hollywood stars like Leonardo Dicaprio, Chris Pratt and Will Smith.

Akshay kumar, another Bollywood star, is at the 10th place with 31.5 million dollar and Salman Khan is at 14th place. Nevertheless, Big B of Indian cinema, Amitabh Bachchan, is far behind in this list. He is at 18th place with 20 million dollar asset. However, he was at 7th place last year.

The star who grabbed No.1 in the list is Dwayne Johnson with 64.5 million dollar. It is last year's winner Mr Downey Junior who has been overtaken by Dwayne this year. Jackie Chan, Matt Damon, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp are the rich stars in the list at 2 to 5 places respectively.

Deepika Padukone, who has been listed as 10th, is the only female star from India included in the list of richest female stars. But, Jennifer Lawrence, who has been listed as the first one among

the richest female stars, has the asset of just 44.5 million dollar which is 20 million lesser than the asset of Dwayne Johnson. The magazine says that this big difference indicates the inequality prevailing in the fee rates of male and female stars.

His image just posted in Instagram; See what happened!

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sat, 20 Aug 2016 10:19:00 +0000

Now William Franklyn Miller has 1,52,000 followers on Instagram.

One moment! Only one moment is enough to get everything changed! Otherwise, this boy, just a student of Melbourne city would not have become a star as he is now. Everything was pioneered by the social media. It was only with one of his images, William Franklyn Miller, a 12 year old boy, became blue-eyed of the social media.

It is a Japanese girl who has been sharing the images of William. All viewers were stunned, seeing William's images that are standing neck and neck with the images of professional models. For the time being he has 1,52,000 followers, which has rapidly been increasing.

Now William is attracted by 100 followers per every 3 seconds, most of the fans are from Japan and China.

As far as William is concerned, modelling is not a new thing for him. He was a model for Covent Garden in his childhood as early as when he was 5 year old. He had participated many campaigns as well.

However, William, nowadays, has a very busy schedule after gaining stardom through social media. Asian TV shows and Skype interview magazines are in tight competition to fill their programs with the interview of William.

His future plan is nothing else to get an entry into movies through modelling. Auditions are already over for some American movies.

Trending...

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 16:30:00 +0000

By Jonny Hawkins

Dream

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 16:50:00 +0000

Author of this poem Simi Sethy is UAE based Indian lawyer, writer and social media activist.

Simi Sethy

Jagged stone walls around me were wet,

Rustle of cold water in my anklet was a solace,

Night with full of twinkling stars, ignited my heart

The bluish lights of silver moon

Were giving me the map to paradise...

The first sight of magical valley!!

I was floating in a dream.

An exhalation of joy ripped the air

I was prepared myself to get the answer without being asked

After an indeterminate time,

It was then I knew my motionless existence..!!

Amazing Andaman – flashes of unique experiences

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 03:49:00 +0000

Being an enthusiastic traveler, IT professional and writer based in Bangaluru, Niyaz K Zubair has visited many places all over the world as part of his profession as well as his adventurous expeditions. He depicts his recent Andaman visit here for the Business line magazine readers.

It was a long time desire to visit Andamans - discussion were on with my friend Riyas Kottayam for more than 6 years as his sister is settled there. The planning became lively when we shared the travel plan with Safir, Siraj, Raheem bai and later with Navaska. Finally we decided to have a family trip of 6 families (12 adults& 10 kids under the leadership of Riyas bai) to Andamans in Octobar 2015 and booked the flight tickets in early May. The most fantastic part of the trip was the team.

Andaman and Nicobar islands (ANI) near to the east coast of India and capital Port Blair is connected from Chennai, Vizag and Culcutta through air ways and ship services. Statistics saw that, percentage wise, internationals tourists prefer to visit ANI 2 times than the Indian tourist for holidays. So, many Indians who might have done explorations outside India, might not reach this union territory region in our country. There are two main reasons for this.
(1) It still considered as a forest land or land of uncivilized people.
(2) comparatively high travel expense.
Reality is, these two reasons are merely hiding us from this blissful region in the tourist map.

Niyaz K Zubair

There are many tempting facts& factors about ANI which will surely prompt to visit ANI again and again. I would like to describe some of them.

In a sense it is a special region in the geographical map of india. It has 572 islands and out of which about 34 are permanently inhabited. There are indigenous people living in these Islands. Some of the Islands in ANI need special permission to enter, that too not permitted for tourist purpose.

There are five indigenous Andamanese groups in these Islands – Jarwas, Onge, Sentinelese, Grate Andamanese and Shompren. Some of them are forager (hunters) groups. All of them are very specific to this region and all of them differ each other in their culture and way of life. At large the interactions and attempt to stream line these groups to the main stream have affected their existence itself.

Considering the decent cleanliness maintained all throughout the city and other villages, it is very different from other part of India.

It is a land of offspring of freedom fighters who exiled for life from their mother land. Central Jail at Port Blair is an evidence for this historical fact.

Indian subcontinent has 4 major sea coral sites (ANI, Lakswadeep, Gulf of Mannar,Rann of Kutch). As per scientific survey results, ANI boasts of having more than 177+ verities of coral species out of the identified 793 species in the world. Scientists say that, we can find more if we do further explorations in this area.

Once you wander in ANI, you will become a fan of sea shells, fishes, diving, corals etc. There are many species that we can see without eyes, the diversity of creation by the Great Creator, All Praise to Him!

Beaches in Andaman are excellent, what I felt is all beach that we visited were different. All of them are clean and lovely. The vastness, beauty, pinch of loneliness, serene view, water clarity with bluish touch etc will always keep these beaches in our minds. Many beaches are shallow and takes distance to go deeper, which helps to play around safely. Your entire family can peacefully enjoy playing in the waves. In low tides, playing beach football was also possible as the sea bed is uniform and horizontal.

It is a land of nice people. In the modern era, people have reached this Islands from Tamilnadu, Karala, Bengal, Malaysia etc and so it is a mixed community but yet living in harmony.

As we visited ANI in Octobar and end of Octobar being start of tourist season, we had a mixed feeling on the climate. There were heavy rain on the day we reached at Port Blair, but climate was pleasant after that day. Most of the day sky was clear and climate was hot. Islanders say that, normally Andaman climate is unpredictable. But thank God, none of our plans were influenced by bad weather.

Planning a visit to ANI need two main things to take care. Proper stays and commutations plans across Islands. In tourist seasons (Oct to March), it is very tough to find tickets and overall cost will be high. So preferably better to go just before starting of tourist season like we did (Actually it was not planned intentionally, we realized by chance that we came there at the proper slot)

We will love the lunch here. Simple and ‘fishy’. Food was satisfactory through out.

In our case, Riyas bai’s brother in law (Habeeb Sir/Machan) was very helpful. He was with us in the planning phase itself and once on the field he was one among us. There are many others who helped, directed and arranged many things for us, like Andaman Rasheed Sahib, Muhammedali Sahib, Brother Hussain, Brother Shameem, Brother Zaid etc. During travel to an unknown place, directions and even small helps are felt to be of great relief; which eases our movement in the unknown land. The pleasant interactions and responsibility all of them taken their own were noteworthy and many times helped us to learn lessons from them too. That part was a different experience in this trip.

I had earlier contacts with Rasheed Sahib, couple of years ago and he was teacher of Navas bai’s wife, which resulted to have more interactions with him. He received us at Vir Savarkar Airport- Port Blair (take off from Chennai) and headed towards IGC were we took rest and waited for the second batch to land. Machan also reached there to escort us to his home at Wimberly Gunj.

Wandering in Andamanas:

Day One: Landing at Port Blair. After the first day’s experience of travelling in ferryboat (means Jangar) and visiting the small dam in Wimberly Gunj, we stayed at Wimberly Gunj. Our group size (22 members) was so huge that we stayed at different houses that night, but Machan could do it with the help of his friends around Wimberly Gunj.

Day Two: We started to Havelock Island from Pheonix Jetty at 8.30AM. Considering the risk in grabbing 20+ tickets in Government ferry, we had booked the Makruzz (catamaran passenger ferry built by Damen Shipyard, Singapore - http://www.makruzz.com/ ) tickets 10 days before the travel date. It is a nice journey of one and half hours from Port Blair. We had opted AC Deluxe class and the seating was on the upper deck. At sea we will surely enjoy the vastness and the wilderness of bluish water around and the long stripes of small islands on the way.

The first thing that we notice after landing at Havelock Island was the clear water and every one were thrilled to get in to water as we couldn’t do it on first day and the sun was hot. Mr.Hussain who is a forest officer helped us to hire a Tempo traveler and we went directly to our hotel. Our immediate destination was Kalapathar beach, which is 5Km away. Beach was calm and quiet, most of us went in to water in the first chance. Even young kids really enjoyed their first experience.

The view of the soft sanded shore touching the placid sea with the wonderful rainy clouds at the sky was an overwhelming scene, frankly the overall caricature was first in life time. You can’t see it at the normal beaches in the mainland.

After spending around one and half hours, we headed towards Radha Nagar beach (Beach number 7, in the western coast). On the way all of us had a nice fish curry meals. Radha Nagar beach was a long time waiting surprise in the Andaman trip. In 2004, Time magazine named this beach the as the best beach in Asia. We spend around two hours in water and it was a wonderful time jumping with the wave’s movements, trying various tricks etc. Beach is shallow for a long distance which helps even toddlers to engage in their small activities in water. Coast guards are active in this beach and by the time of sunset they ensure everyone come out of water.

Day Three: We had scheduled to stay for two days at Havelock, but hadn’t planned much for second day. We were discussing about going for Scuba diving or snorkeling, but cost of this activity was a repelling factor. Discussions with Mr.Hussain helped to identify one diving spot where we could it for 2500 per person. From us; 6 men, 5 women and 1 teenager went for diving! It was another distinct experience in life.

Training ourselves to breathe through the regulated mouth cup was the most interesting and initial scary part of this activity. But all of us managed to do the scuba diving finally. By the time we all completed diving in three batches, it was evening and so we couldn’t go to Elephanta beach. There was no difference of opinion that we all decided to go once again to Radha Nagar beach. There is a small forest area near the beach, we all wandered through and then went on to beach. Walking on the vast sandy beach watching the tides and longing for a dip; it was awesome. The pattern made by Sand bubbler crabs is a surprise which occupied the whole beach. Frankly, it is a fabulous experience at the Radhanagar beach and the only worry was is it going to have sunset soon. The design at the sky for the sun set is magical and unique. We played a decent football match at the beach before leaving.

Mr.Hussain had arranged dinner at Forest guest house which is near to the Forest beach. It is on the way to Kalapathar beach. This beach is also decent and good for a visit. We had some group games while waiting for the dinner.

Day Four: Our next destination is Neil Island. Breakfast was arranged at the same Forest guest house and we all spend some meaningful photo sessions in the lawns and walkways in the guest house. As this area is facing the sea, it was a good time. We boarded Makruz and headed towards Neil Island. Saying farewell to Mr.Hussain and Havelock was nostalgic.

Comparatively less people reach Neil Island, but it is a small and beautiful one. The view itself as we approach the jetty from Makruz is amazing. The blue color sea water, the stranded leaf less trees near the sea shore and the 180 degree view of sea shore added to the beauty. This is one of the main coral site of Andaman and the peculiarity here is you can see the coral with your eyes and feel them with your eyes. The stay at Hotel Tango was nice and it is very near to sea shore.

We first went to Bharathpur beach, where water is shallow. As I time goes with low tide, we can see sea exposing the corals! The areas near to the sea shore are not that crowded with corals that we can walk along and play in water. We took a chance and walk along to see and feel them. Clams and other corals are plenty here. Just before leaving the beach we played football.

Next we went to the visit Natural Bridge. This was another surprise for us. It is a beach side with special rocks. The initial part was small specially formed monolithic rock structure, but on the ground and walkable. This is vast and home to so many species of creatures. Moving to the left side there were small natural ponds and through their side we can walk along. We observed many special sea creatures live (clams, anchovies, sea horse, crocodile needle fish, mud spiny lobster, mud crab etc). Many other types, we couldn’t identify. The ambience of the place was special and the natural bridge in the Howra bridge shape was extraordinary.

Our next destination was Laxmipur beach which is near to our hotel. And there is cape where we can watch the sun set. We were just on time to get a glimpse of it. Again here the after sunset scenery here is supernatural. Sand here is good that our kids could spend meaningful time with their sand work trials. We had a get together at night where we could know each other in depth.

Day Five: Some of went on for a morning walk on the sea shore till Bharatpur beach and we bought breakfast from the village hotel. The market and spaces around were calm though significant crowd was moving along. We are going to return to the Port Blair today, as we move along, it is difficult to leave the good time back.

We reached Port blair by 1PM and dumped out luggage at hotel room. We didn’t want to waste our time and so we went to visit Cellular Jail. It’s on hill and down there is Marina Park. It is a decent one to keep kids engaged. There is a water complex near to this park. By evening we reached Abadeen Bazar and has dinner there.

Day Six: We started our early morning journey to Baratang Island through Great Andaman Truck Road. The journey through the forest is good experience, but we couldn’t spot any Jarawa, though normally people see. After reaching Middle strait Jetty, we have to take jetty service to move to the Middle Andaman. Baratang the entry to middle Andaman and there is a forest office from where we need to get permission for boat ride to Lime stone cave site. We packed in two boats and the journey in open boat was nice. Lots of mangroves around and serene water through out. The boat took a peaceful left turn inside the mangroves through the small water ways which lead to a small jetty. Limestone caves are very rare in India. We need to walk some distance to reach Lime stone cave. It is dark inside, but the boat driver had a torch and showed us the patterns and differences in colors because of presence of water in some areas.

On the way back, we went to WimberlyGung once again. Went to see Machan and Rasheed sahib once again. It was second day treat for us at Machan’s home.

Day Seven: We visited Samidrika Marine Museum (An eye opener for most us, which gave clarity on types fishes, corals and other marine life of Andaman), Anthropological Museum (good portraits of indigenous tribal communities and the Andaman history) and Aquarium near Marina Park. Once you complete these three, we value the exceptionality of Andaman. It’s history, marine life and culture lays down a good feeling for your life. It has only natural stuff to tell you, which soothes your mind. Then we had a dip at Corbyns Cove beach. This is the beach nearest to Port Blair. After that we went to Chidiya Tapu to see sunset there. The journey and location are very nice. On return we visited the planetarium too.

Day Eight: This day was dedicated for Rose Island, a small beautiful Island which saved Port Blair from Tsunami in 2005. The lawn, the old buildings, deers and peacocks and the bottom view beach are specialties of this Island. This is at a 15 minutes distance from the Aberdeen Jetty in Port Blair. After this we had a surprise lunch from Syndicate Mess. It is a mess by Tamilians near the Syndicate Bank. This was the best meal we had all throughout our trip. We went to Gandhi Park after lunch. It is well maintained beatuful park. Our kids enjoyed much there.

Day Nine: We did some purchase from Sagarika and Aberdeen Bazar before leaving to Main Land (Chennai) by flight.

Left Overs: There are many left overs in this trip. To name a few – Jollyboy Island (wonderful coral visiting side) Barren Island (Has active volcano), Chowra Island (Land of Nicobarese tribs, famous for pig festival), Katchal Island (it is beautiful Island), Little Andaman (10 hour ship journey from Port Blair, this is home to Onge aboriginal tribes. Other settlers also live here), Rutland Island, North Sentinel Island (Around 400 members of Sentinelese tribe live here), Strait Island (Great Andamanese People live here). Many of these places can’t entered for a normal person as it is reserved for indigenous tribal community there.

That 11 day journey was splendid: good bonding and understanding among the group mates (thanks to all), amazing experiences throughout, lots of new things and learnings and nature always showed how vast and wide it is. This is one of the rare trips were there was a considerable left over even after spending ten days. Hopefully I will explore those left overs some time in future. Thanks GOD for a amazing vacation with amazing families…

Reason behind Chennai flood

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:41:00 +0000

This video shows the real reason behind the recent Chennai flood that seriously hit the life of Chennai city dwellers and visitors. Thanks to Indian Express for this video.

Salman khan's biography to be released on his 50th birthday

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 05:57:00 +0000

The biography of Salman khan, veteran bollywood star, will be released on December 27, the day is marking his 50th birthday as well.

The biography, 'Being Salman' is written by Jasim khan in which the author beautifully narrates Salman's personal life as well as many critical incidents like his deer hunting case.

Salman's debut in the bollywood was through 'Beevi ho tu aisi' the movie released in 1988. And he broke out as a popular hero is through the movie 'Mene pyaar kiya'.

Ek Tha Tiger, Dhabang, Kick, Body guard, Bajrangi bhaijaan...etc are the box office hits of his career. The recently released movie 'Prem ratan dhan payo' has been attracting crowds towards the theaters and breaking the collection records.

Currency trading (Forex)

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 10:36:00 +0000

An Indroduction to Currency/Forex trading
Many traders are participating in various kind of tradings. Most of them are certainly looking ahead to get rich quickly. Nowadays, the trading facility is available in various products like share, commodity, currency...etc. All these, of course, are risk oriented. Selecting a less risky product and investing in it is comparatively safe. It is here the relevance of currency trading araises.

Globally, major segment of the trading is being executed in currency sector.

It is very easy to buy and sell in forex and that is why it has high liquidity rate. The market is remaining open for 24 hours every day except weekends. Like any other methods, currency trading is also not completely free from the chance of loss. But there is more chance to make profit, utilising small variations with less expense rates.

Indian currency trading started its operation in 2008 and in 2010 it entered to option market. This facility is available in National Stock Exchange (NSE) and in Multi Comodity Exchange. One can begin the trading through the brokers who have membership in it. The trading can be performed via mobile phone or internet.

Four currencies
We can choose two different currencies as a pair for the purpose of trading. Here, with Indian rupee (INR), four currencies are allowed to trade. US Dollar (USD_INR), Euro (EUR_INR), Japanese Yen (JPY_INR) and Great Briton Pound (GBP_INR) are the allowed ones. Not only individuals but also many high profile institutions have been participating in the currency trading. Banks, central bank, financial institutions, Government, small scale investors and even speculators are actively participating in currency trading. Any basic economic factors like economic growth of the country, inflation, variations in interest rate, budget, financial deficit... etc, may affect the value of currencies. The rate of each pair of currencies may be changed on due to any of the above mentioned factors. Monitizing these fluctuation is all about the Currency trading.

Some basic matters to be learned before starting the trade. Let us take the example of USD_INR. This pair is sold or bought as 'Lots' . One lot is estimated as 1000 US Dollar. The value of one USD against INR is also to be understood and kept in mind while trading. Minimum fluctuation in this pair is Rs 0.0025, ie 0.25 paisa.

If the value of INR is expected to be falling down, that means the USD is going to become stronger, the trader should buy USD_INR. And when INR is expected to become stronger, the trader should sell the USD_INR.

When the value of INR increased by 1 paisa (Rs 0.01) after a trader bought it, his profit is Rs 10.
(1000 x Rs 0.01 = Rs 10).
If it increased by 50 paisa, his profit is Rs 500.

The value of one lot will be approximately Rs 66,000 as per today's rate. A trader can buy one lot if he pays 5% of this amount as margin. That means only Rs 3300 is needed to buy one lot USD_INR.

diversify to success

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 15:25:00 +0000

Diversification is the key to success.
There are certain benefits for each unique investment methods. We have to find out the suitable ones after comparing the benefits of each methods.

But the basic lesson of investment is like the saying goes... 'never keep all eggs in one basket'. What does it mean is, never invest the total amount of our asset into a particular sector only. Instead, we have to find out different profitable deposit schemes or investment methods before taking the decision and have to divide the capital proprtionally. Then only we can make sure the high profitability and security along with the liquidity. Next question is, what proportion is to be maintained in each diversified investment methods. It can be decided after considering some factors like age, aim, market condition...etc.

Age
Age is the most important factor that should be considered before selecting any investment method. A middle aged man has high responsibilities and that's why he cannot take much risk. An old man might have finished many of his responsibilities though, as his earning is possibly limited, he also cannot take any risk in the remaining life.
But up to the age 30, as the chance of responsibility is very less, he is able to take risk upto any extend. He has many years in future in order to recover although he makes some losses in the beginning time. Experts suggest a formula for choosing suitable investment method, considering one's age. This is the formula...

(100-Ones age = The percentage of risky invesyment)

Suppose your age is 25,
100-25=75
ie.. You can have 75% of your total investment in risky methods like equity share, mutual fund etc. Only 25% of your total capital is recommended to invest in secured investment methods like fixed deposit in banks and bonds. In the mean time, a 60 year old man must invest 60% of his total capital in secured schemes.
Only 40% is recommended to allow for the risk.

While investing in this way also, one can choose the diversification method for more security. For example, when a 25 year old man invests in risky sectors, he is able to divide his capital amount into share, equity funds etc in order to make sure the diversification within that segment as well. In the same way, for a senior citizen, diversification is possible towards PPF, gold, FD in banks etc.

Aim
The next considerable factor is aim. That means, what the gains you are expecting from this particular investment. If it is for making sure the money for the marriage of your daughter after 20 years, high gain and security can be assured if the investment is diversified into FD, equity funds, share etc. But if it is for the surgery of wife within two years, it is not able take much risk. In that case, you can invest the amount safely in any bank. That means, if an assured profit is expected within a certain period, the investment method must be less risky and highly secured. FD in banks, PPF, post office deposit, life policies etc can be considered. The schemes with high liquidity to be selected in order to make sure the certain amount within the certain period. Investors of all category are recommended to set aside certain share of fund into gold and land properties as they are said to be most secured investment methods. But the speculation trade in real estate is to be strictly avoided. At least 5% of total asset can be kept in SB account as a liquid cash. It will reduce the stress when a certain amout is required in emergency. Like SB accounts, liquid funds offering higher returns also can be considered for keeping this aforesaid liquid money.

Circumstance
Another factor that should be considered in selection of investment method is the circumstance of investing. Methods like sharemarket, gold, real estate could fetch higher returns if one utilises the favourable circumstances. A majority of share traders are pumping their cash into the sharemarket when the stock indices are at the highest position. This is the wrong method and that's why at the very next correction, the total of their capital will possibly washed away.

In accordance with the fluctuation of the indices, the size of amount in various methods is also to be rearranged. Only 25% of total investing amount is advised to deposit in share and equity funds when the indices are in the top position. 60% can be in FDs and bonds. Balance 15% have to be kept in SB account as a liquid money for emergency needs. This proportion can be maintained when the indices are not seriously crashed and even when normal situations. But when the indices are at the bottom level and a recovery is expected soon, 50% of the capital is adviced into the share market, 45% in FD and bonds and the remaining 5% into SB. In the same way, while investing in FD and RD, we can make sure that the higher interest rates are available at that time.

Top 10 Airforces of the world

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 10:26:00 +0000

Which country has the most powerful Airforce. Watch the video to know who is number one!

iPhone 5c & 5s all set to launch in India

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 03:10:00 +0000

iPhone 5s & 5c will launch in India tomorrow. Watch the video...

Corporate stunt

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 03:34:00 +0000

Corporate stunt

Intraday trading : An introduction

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 17:22:00 +0000

We had discussed the topic 'what is share market' in a previous post. In addition, it is necessary to discuss further about various type of share trading methods. Intraday trading, or day trading as other people refer to it, is the practice of buying and selling financial stocks or instruments within the same trading day. In this method, all positions are (or must be) closed before the market close of the trading day regardless of the trading ended up in loss or profit. The most common instruments traded by day traders are stocks, stock options, currencies, equity index futures, interest rate futures, commodity futures and other future contracts. As of the moment, day trading is growing in popularity amongst professional and casual traders because of many factors – advances in technology, amendments in the legislation allowing for easier trading and the advent of the internet.

     While the term intraday trading is the most common term for this type of trading, it does branch out to other types of trading styles or sub-styles. These sub-styles usually reflect the way a day trader trades, such as whether one makes a single trade daily, or a dozen, five, four and so on and so forth. The main reason why day trading attracts casual traders is the fact that it produces gains almost immediately. With short term trading the focus of most day traders, trades usually last only for a few seconds or a few minutes and most day traders exchange financial instruments many times in a single day, sometimes trading high volumes of stocks just to receive big discounts from the brokerage.

     More experienced day traders, however, focus on trends. They wait for the most popular moves within a single day, and choose to ride on it. They make fewer trades and take fewer risks. However, their success mainly depends on the success of the trends or momentum that they choose to ride on. The Indian share market, for example, is a market that sees itself with a growing number of day traders almost on a daily basis. With the growing number of day traders in the aforementioned market, these traders also look for ways to develop various intraday techniques, some of which they come up on their own, while most read about such techniques over the internet.

     The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) also see itself as having plenty of day traders every day, simply because day trading is comparable to gambling. In fact, the other investors, that do not see day trading as something profitable, call day traders as “bandits” or “gamblers” and they say that the day trading is not a way to make money consistently. Now, while participating in intraday trading is indeed very risky, all other ways of exchanging financial instruments also pose their own risks to anyone who dares participate. Thus, to trade stocks, in general, is a risk.

     Fortunately, one reason for the most day traders are behind the day trading is the fact that they can easily borrow funds to participate in day trading and the brokers also allow bigger margins for the day traders. Just a warning, though, that unlike in other trades, loss is very common for day traders, and most would usually exit the trading day even on a losing position just to prevent an even greater loss that will lead to them spiraling to a world of debt. The life of a day trader is not easy and it is not for the undisciplined, undetermined and it certainly is for those who have the wit, intelligence and instincts to participate in trades for hours at a time every single day.

   A successful day trader is a man who could control his anxiety, greed and fear while trading.

Forget the tyre pucture!

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 06:08:00 +0000

New generation tire that will never puncture. We should not apply brake even when we see a nail or any other sharp object on the road any more. Watch the video to know more....

Absolute Breadth Indicator (ABI) and the mood of market

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:46:00 +0000

What is Absolute Breadth Indicator (ABI)? How it can be calculated? How it impacts the total mood of the market? How useful is it in selecting the shares.

There is an interesting scene that all teachers including the headmaster running away when the Inspection Officer (IO) reaches at school without any notification. Even today, the teachers of government schools welcome their IOs with a bit fear in mind. In older days, when the head-counting was not an issue, the teachers were trying hard to make ready their students to perform well in front of IO, by giving them special practices and revisions in the syllabus as well as the general knowledge. The clever ones would be given the seat in the front-bench itself in order to reply quickly to the surprise of IO, when he throws a question towards the students.

I still remember that the IO came without the usual seriousness that day. The front row became ready to face any questions after the IO pleased with the attendance register and other documents. But, ignoring the front row, IO threw a question towards one of the students of back-bench about the reason of Panippatt war. The student, who got amazed by the question, even didn’t know why he was coming to school. Two more students of the back-bench also were asked the same question though, the performance was very poor to the disappointment of the class teacher who watched the developments through the window. The front-bench team, who were all set to answer any questions, were absolutely ignored. IO moved to the next class with a smile in his lips and we were forced to realize that the new IO knew the fact that a classroom is not only the front row of students who could answer any questions thrown at them.

We would usually check the share prices of our portfolio when we hear the news that “Sensex shot up beyond 19,000 or 20,000 etc… Probably it would lead to disappointment. My shares would be still on the purchase price or below of that level!” It is the investors’ common complaint that the shares in their hand are still not moving despite the share market booms.

Absolute Breadth Indicator (ABI)

It is here we have to understand the importance of Absolute Breadth Indicator (ABI) when we select the shares. The indices are made by the best performing shares of different sectors. Therefore, when we say that the index Sensex is up or down, it means the particular shares comprised in Sensex are up or down. For this reason, the total mood of the market is ignored by the overwhelming trend of upward or downward movement of Sensex. There is possibility to go down or not to change in the prices of a number of shares even when the Sensex is going up. Probably, this is the mistake that happens to the common investors who expect that the shares, other than Sensex shares, are better to invest than the Sensex shares. When they hear the news that the Sensex is up, they would purchase the stocks as they misunderstand that the bulls are dominant. But, though the sensex was up, the bulls still may not have reach in the market yet. That is why the aforesaid complaint commonly arises from the investors always.

ABI and the total mood of market

As the inspection officer understood that a classroom is not only the bright students of a front row, the fact which we should understand at the beginning is that the share market includes not only the shares of Sensex. In order to understand the total mood of the market, we have to know that the number of traded shares in the market. These information are available in BSE and NSE websites. Next, check, how many traded shares were up, how many were down and how many were that didn't change.

As all these information are available in the website, an investor only needed to know that what the ABI means. If the most traded shares are up, that means the market has strong breadth. For example, if the total traded shares are 1800 numbers and in which, 1200 shares are up, 300 is down and 300 didn’t change. Here, the net advance is 900. ie, subtract 300 from 1200 and the result is 900. Here, the ABI is 50%. (900/1800X100=50%). It is important that we should understand the ABI above 40% indicates the bullish trend and below 15% indicates the bearish trend. Commonly most share prices are going up or down as per the mood of market. Therefore, understanding the mood of market will definitely help you highly.

Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIB) to fight back inflation

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 11:22:00 +0000

Inflation Indexed bonds are the new bonds issued by the Government of India in order to protect the assets of people from the losses on account of inflation.

Would you really like to get rid of inflation, the cancer which corrodes your assets? If yes, the appropriate investment method for you is Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIB). IIBs are government sponsored bonds that offer protection from the loss on account of inflation. The Government of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are all set to launch a special issue for common investors in October this year.

Fixed deposits in banks, the way people widely follow for their investment plans, provide 9-10% interest though, in fact, the real benefit they get is up to 1% only. Because the inflation rate is approximately 8% per each year and the real profit an investor gets is the amount after deducting the inflation rate. Since 15-20% profit is expected from share business and mutual funds, those investment methods are capable to overcome the loss on account of inflation. But, as the possibility of loss is far high in these sectors, majority of common investors are still not interested to invest in such ways. Here is the relevance of secured investment method that has the capability to overcome the inflation.

Click to buy this book

It is a long awaited need of common people that the Government fulfilled through launching IIB. Although RBI initiated IIB for the first time in June 4, there was only a meager share provided for the small scale investors. Now RBI is going to initiate a special issue for small scale investors in October. Moreover, RBI is looking ahead to sell out the bonds of Rs 15,000 Cr in the current fiscal year.

What is IIB and how?

Inflation Indexed bond is a bond instrument issued by government. Similar to prevalent government sponsored securities, IIB is also a type of bond that has a face value. This face value is connected to the inflation. Therefore, when the inflation rate increases, the face value also will go up and when the inflation rate decreases the face value will go down. Interest/coupon rate will be declared at the time of issue.

Bonds are issued for a span of 10 years. In this span, interest will be given for the face value in coupon rate. When the span completes, real face value or inflation indexed face value of that time, which one is higher, will be returned the investors.

How to invest?

Last time, it was by submitting bids through the primary dealers, the issue targeted for the institutions was launched. Now, the authorities notify that there will have the convenience for more feasible transactions in the upcoming issue for the small scale investors.

More Benefit through transactions

The attraction of these bonds is not only the income through interest. These bonds can be sold and bought back again as it is done in share business. Therefore, it will be listed in stock exchanges as well. It will have more liquidity as it is a plan that can be transformed to money at any time. Most recently, IDBI bank arranged a new online portal, named ‘Samrudhi,’ in order to provide the investors the convenience to execute the IIB transactions more easily. At present, as part of its publicity, the bank doesn’t levy any brokerage fee for this service.

Demerits

Besides its all benefits, like any other bonds, IIBs also have some demerits. The prominent one is that the bond is issued after connecting it with wholesale price index (WPI). As far as the common people are concerned, the WPI is not much related to their day-to-day life. It is consumer price index (CPI) that hits his backbone. Therefore, according to experts, the real benefit can be achieved through connecting the bond to the CPI other than WPI.

Income tax is the other nightmare. Income tax is levied for these bonds and the real profit of the investor will be the amount after deducting the income tax. A capital gain tax also is to be paid for the profit made through transactions of these bonds in secondary market.

Substitute to gold

As an investment method that protects investors’ asset from the tentacles of inflation, these bonds have high news value nowadays. At present, it is gold that has been depended to fight back the inflation. But the gold price is surged to a level that is not affordable for a commoner due to high volume of purchase of government and people. This was because of the prevailing instability that the economy is in the shadow of a recession. That situation led to increasing the amount of gold import and decreasing the value of foreign currency collection substantially. And the attempts to control ‘gold mania’, that is obviously a threat even to the financial stability of the country, didn’t find success at all. It is in this context the government of India comes forward with the new bonds that is expected to protect the people’s assets from inflation. The bonds are also aimed to get reduced the undeserved importance given to the gold at present.

This new investment tool is beneficial for the government as well as the investor. The government is able to raise funds without much effort in a situation that the instability on increasing mode. The investor is getting rid of the inflation head-ache as well!

Related articles :
1. What is mutual fund?
2. What is share market?

Kindle fire; The technology for reading E-Books

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 01:38:00 +0000

Amazon Kindle Fire makes revolution. E-books occupies the space of paper books. What is Amazon Kindle Fire? Where we can buy it?

What Sets Amazon Kindle Fire Apart

These days, almost everyone has a tablet. Because of their rise in popularity, the number of manufacturers selling their own line of tablets has also increased as well. This has lead to competition in the market and confusion amongst consumers and making the right choice even becomes harder. It takes more time, due consideration and it is not advisable to decide irrationally. Fortunately, the market has a short list of the most popular tablets, one that consumers find the most interesting. The Amazon Kindle Fire is one of these. This 7” inch tablet is a front-runner when it comes to revolutionizing the tablet market simply because of a few features that sets it apart from the rest of the competition.

Simple, Affordable, Powerful

The Kindle Fire HD is a tablet that will not woo you with its specs. At 7” inches, it is not as big as the other tablets out there as well. However, what it lacks in supposed “power”, it makes up for it in substance. It packs a punch, especially when you consider that not only is it small, but it is a tablet that offers plenty of features for a very low price. At a very affordable price of around $200, it offers what all other tablets can, at a price that’s significantly lower than theirs. It has all the features that you can exploit from the Android Operation System and it comes from a company known as the biggest name in the internet. Thus, not only does it have substance and power, it also has the reputation of its manufacturer to boot.

Anyone Dare Come Close?

Amongst its competition, the only one that dares comes close is the Apple I-pad Mini and the latter is found at a price range that’s almost twice as much as the Kindle Fire. The screen itself as well becomes one of the Kindle Fire’s best assets. Compared to the tablet PC, the Kindle fire’s screen does not glaze. It emits no light or radiation, making it safe for the eyes, reducing strain leading to the best reading experience ever.

The Catch

The problem with the Amazon Kindle Fire 7” is that it runs a modified version of the Android Operating System. Much like its predecessors, it suffers from the lack of available applications and functions available for Android users. This, however, is not much of a problem, because there is not much you will miss. Still, it is a factor, as some applications that you find useful may not be available in the Amazon Kindle Fire.
The Verdict

It is powerful. It is compact. It is affordable. It blows away competition. It has a famous manufacturer and most important of all, despite the limitations in its operating system, Amazon makes up for it by offering free apps on their website. This means that Amazon Kindle Fire users can choose to download apps from their website without any cost once a day. It is a definite must buy for those looking for a tablet that’s cheap without them having to necessarily give up processing power and quality. It’s simple. It’s powerful and most important of all, it’s affordable.

Start making money with Amazon India

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 10:13:00 +0000

We had discussed the topic Some ways to earn money online in a previous post. We had slightly touched Amazon affiliate program also in that post. Here is a brief description on Amazon's affiliate program and its launch in India.
Amazon provides Indian individuals the opportunity for making money through online selling platform while it provides amazing shopping experience for the Indian buyers as well. Amazon Affiliate program also helps individuals to make money as commission by referring customers to the site and it also allows individuals to start seller account with the site in order to run online shops with the help of Amazon.

Amazon, the American based electronic commerce company, recently started their activities in three locations of India; Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore. [Visit Amazon India now and get Nokia Lumina 520 (Black) with amazing offers!]. Amazon inaugurated their journey solely in India against harsh technology challenges that ultimately help them get profound in many aspects on many occasions. Most importantly, they started building IT to be stronger than what it is now. Software and applications supporting their websites will contribute as a potential development in the area of transaction, transportation, and extremely digital commodities. Their biggest motto, that will help every Indian build a self IT based career, is that they begin encouraging individuals to get it and personalize it. There is the biggest sign of summoning people to receive the challenge through earning and creating impact worldwide. Individuals get the opportunity working with decent people who are always challenging problems which already similarly hit millions of people throughout the world.

Recent steps from www.amazon.in, launching their business activities in India, opened the door of reaching high quality internet marketing services in India and for Amazon it’s a breakthrough probably because they are going to find and capitalize enormous online professionals who are dedicated and aware of the best recent development throughout the world. Also Amazon opened their activities in three zones where the demand of IT services have proven to be the greatest class. Their decision to come first at three vital zones indicates that their vision is clear and sound on these occasions.

Amazon is an online shopping mall helping vendors sell within the experience of Amazon. They make the shipment after they stock goods of wide varieties being a retailer first. Amazon is a brand that represents itself the core trademark for online shopping for purchase and product research. They provide cloud computing technology as well as assisting with other significant technologies that are able to run individual’s online store for him/ her.

We can depict the situation by few instances that show the competitive position of www.amazon.in with others in accordance to surveys and analysis by MySmartPrice, a website that reproduces statistics of price comparison. It says that pricing of www.amazon.in is 50% cheaper than that of other online shopping zones. The www.amazon.in was proven to be the cheapest of all for over 2000 books (Get the biography of Bill Gates now) across various genres. A very large collection of movies and videos (Get one about Aerobics now) also available in the new venture. If we consider the shipping cost, we must come to know that www.amazon.in charges no shipping cost to its customers for sending the product to the right door. However, yet no other domestic sites reacted by offering any challenging package against it since www.amazon.in started their procedures.

If this difference consistently prevails for long term on likely many products, Amazon won’t have to gear up the competition while doing the business. Amazon goes ahead imposing its India Strategy with customer-based focuses; the voice of Greg Greeley, VP of International Expansion of www.amazon.in seemingly proves that to be relevant too. It entered the Indian Market through roping nothing except using their strategies to sell products in India through a marketplace model and consequently this will help third-party sellers expose their commodities on its basic platform. Still there are some resistances from current FDI regulations as they did not allow Amazon yet to work as an e-commerce venture with their complete gestures.

Support and Resistance levels

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 14:18:00 +0000

What is Support and Resistance levels in share trading?

Creating a smokescreen of mystery by using confusing words abundantly in the talk and deliberately making a concept that we have been speaking about something big. This is the activity of at least a few of professionals nowadays. They deliberately wish to hide the matters under the fog and fumes. For that, they never forget to use a lot of technical jargons in between their talks. And the listeners, probably, didn’t understand the talk though, avoid asking their basic doubts in order to keep their ignorance hidden from public.

One guy, once, had to give more reverence to his preceptor as he must be greater than Sri Budha who died at age 80. The guy used a trick, for which he didn't hesitate to say, his preceptor was born (not died) at age 84. Look, what he irrationally claimed is that his preceptor was born at 84. What a blunder! Yet the guy was left without questioning.

Once, when the Sensex nosedived from 21,000 by 10,000 points, another guy, who was traveling in a train, told to his co-passenger. ‘Sensex will reach 5,000 level in one month.’ The later was astonished and subdued by anxiety. He had bought some shares, thinking that it was the best opportunity, when the Sensex nosedived from 21,000 to 15,000. But in the followed torrent, opposite to his expectations, Sensex again fell steep beyond 10,000 and his loss was estimated more than 50% of his capital. It was in that context the co-passenger’s comment that the Sensex is expected to be going down towards 5,000 levels. Panic triggered in his mind and he asked a bit loudly. “Are you saying that the Sensex will nosedive again and will reach 5,000 level?”

“What to doubt! I hope to buy some shares at that level”. Hearing this answer, our guy really shocked and asked. “If it is so, let me sell the shares now and re-enter at the lower levels. Wouldn’t it be better?” The reply was just a smile with nod.

But after one and half year, when the share prices reached more than double of his buying price, with deep depression, he said. “If I was patient enough to hold the shares, without giving attention to that co-passenger's words, now, I could have earned 100% profit now instead of 50% loss of that time.” But the then co-passenger who had spoken about the share market in an authoritative tone, now said. “What I had said was correct. I had said that the Sensex would reach 5,000 level only in case it breaks the support level 7,100. In that sense, today, I hope that the Sensex will touch 20,000. But only on condition that it must break the resistance level 16,400! Hearing this, the guy didn’t continue the conversation on that topic. It was obvious that, then, he was not interested to clear his doubts about the support/resistance levels in the presence of others. The person who talked these matters may not have possessed much knowledge about this topic though, his intention was fruitfully executed. He escaped from the further questioning that why the market moved towards just opposite direction of what he had predicted. Speak with more and more technical jargons when you don’t have the clear answer. This has become a phrase too nowadays.

Despite we have heard the term support-resistance levels many times, did we really understand about those levels? Many investors, at least, didn’t understand how the levels are formed.

If anyone asks you to climb a steep hill quickly, in an initial excitement, you might rush ahead as quickly as possible. But after a few steps, you will get tired and start panting. Therefore, you will relax for a while and accumulate energy for further movement. Exactly this is what the support-resistance level. These levels don’t mean that the share price will never go upward beyond resistance level nor will go downward beyond support level. But rather, there, a resistance will form at that level. For example, when you climb a steep hill, you will relax there for a while and resume the journey after getting rejuvenated. In the other case, you will climb down when you see the further climbing is more difficult.

Now let’s see how a support-resistance level is forming in share prices or bourses. It is just based upon the sentiments of investors. Suppose an investor bought a share at the price Rs 200. Trading volume of that share also was very high at that time. But against the expectation, this share price reached at Rs 160. The trading volume also has come down. When the price was at Rs 200, the trading volume was very high. Which means, the investors were optimistic about the share at that time. But when it fell down to Rs 160, a number of investors who bought the share at Rs 200 are not satisfied about the performance of the share. Subdued by anxiety of more loss, the investors will sell the stock again and again. which will lead the share price to more declining.

But in the other case, if the share find bottom at Rs 160, when the share price starts gradually going up, again, the investors are attracted on this share and more and more buying will be executed. Which will lead further increase in the share price. Again when it reaches at Rs 200, a big group of investors will start selling the share in the memory of their previous experience. (Last time it was at Rs 200 the share price started declining).

Once, more sellers are coming forward to sell at this level, the share price will, either stay there for a while or will start falling down. That is the resistance level of a share. Again, when the share price fall and reach at Rs 160, in the memory of previous experience (share price had found bottom at Rs 160 last time) investors start buying the share. That will lead to stay the share price at that level or will start gradually going up. That is the support level of a share.

We took the example of only one share though, the matter is same for all shares as well as indices.

Stock market: 7 misconceptions

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 08:19:00 +0000

Stock market misconceptions

If you have decided to invest in the share market, you may come across with a lot of comments that would try to stop you from doing so. The prevailing misconceptions about stock market is the main reason for this. We, today, would discuss 7 prominent such misconceptions.

Investment in stock market is a kind of gambling.

Many people stay away from share market because they think that it is a kind of gambling. Winner, in gambling, is paid money by the one who got defeated. There is no matter of any values. But in share market, it is about the investment in the business of a company. The value of investment is increasing in accordance with the growth of the company. It will reflect in the share price as well. Thus, one could earn unimaginable amount of profit in long term. One more, when we deposit in shares, we are taking part to strengthen the economy of the country also.

Stock market is only for rich people.

According to many people, their reason for staying away from the stock market is, their lack of money. Most people misunderstood that we must carry lakhs of rupees in order to invest in shares. First, we want to think that we could be a rich man by investing in shares, instead of thinking that we could invest in shares after being rich. If divert our thought this way, we can make big changes in our life. You can start investing in share market if you can set aside Rs 500 every month. Start depositing 20% of the salary each month after limiting your expenses by the remaining 80%. But the decision in this regard must be taken now itself.

No time at all

The prevailing public concept is that the share trader must be vigilant from morning to evening about the movement of share prices. But, ironically, share traders comprise people from all walks of life. People with ‘no time’ may plan mid-term as well as long-term investments. It can be 6 months, 1 year, or 10 years as per the convenience. For example, share price of Federal bank in 2003 was only Rs 30. At that time a doctor bought 5000 shares spending 1.5 lakhs. Now the stock is trading at Rs 465 per share. ie.. 1.5 lakhs rupees capital turned 23 lakhs in the span of 10 years. You are doing the job for making money, but, when you invest in a company, the money is working for you and the capital is going up in multiples. You can make higher profit from share market than that from a fixed deposit.

High educational qualification required for share dealings.

You don’t want to be a finance expert in order to invest in shares. The public concept in this regard is totally wrong. Mainly 3 qualities are needed to start the investment.

(1) Common sense.

(2) Desire to earn knowledge.

(3) Willing to spend a few time in this way.

First you want to be ready to study about the share market. Reading books, attending seminars, using internet … etc are useful ways. In brief, ‘studying is the foundation of achievement.’

You will lose money when indexes going down

This misunderstanding creates more anxiety about the share market in common people. Declining share prices and steep plunging of indexes are common in share market though, it is not only a place of falling down. The motion of share prices is always like a wave. Definitely there are both upward and downward movements. Using this wavy motion discreetly is the best way to succeed in share trading. We have to buy when the share prices falling down, and to sell when it going up. For example, see the share price movement of V-Guard. Its IPO (@Rs 82) was in 2008 March. But, soon after the IPO, the share price had gone down by 50%. But it was only a temporary phenomenon. Now this share is trading for Rs 437.

Broker takes over everything.

The concept that broker takes over everything is absolutely wrong. Never forget that, it is your hard earned money, being invested in the share market. There are various kind of trading like derivative trading, speculative trading… etc. These all must be done with clear knowledge. We must be aware about the chances of loss in the market. As far as the beginners are concerned, they are recommended to invest in long term and that method is safe for them. And expect the annual profit as limited as 10-15%.

It won’t suit me.

One should make investments looking forward about the future. Best profitable investments are necessary nowadays as the day to day expenses are booming. Most of the traditional investment plans only bring the profit of as small as below 10%. Here it comes the relevance of share market. Looking the statistics of last 30 year’s, the investments in share market has achieved the annual growth of 19%. Yet, if we didn’t notice the possibility of success in stock market, it would be painfully frustrating!

Shah Rukh Khan's business empire

noreply@blogger.com (TPShukooR) — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 15:01:00 +0000

The secret behind Shah Rukh Khan's business success. A review.
‘Shahan Shah’ was the title used for emperors in the Mughal dynasty. What else we could call Mr Shah Rukh Khan while he has been twinkling in Bollywood as well as in business world simultaneously. The Shahan Shah of business! The emperor of business world! Shah Rukh’s business empire is formed by the companies like Red chillies entertainment, Kolkata night riders, Kidzania India etc. The area covered by the empire is as wide as the diversified sectors like Visual effects, film production, sports, edutainment etc. The empire might extend the border of its area wider towards restaurants, cricket, along with other sports items. The empire has been built up with a capital of approximately 2,000 Cr rupees.

     The asset of Shah Rukh khan touches up to 2,000 Cr rupees. All these assets have been earned through years of toiling in business as well as through acting in movies and advertisements. Shah Rukh, while being the ambassador of as many as 40 brands, earns as much as 300 Cr rupees from that sector itself. Rupee around 8 Cr is the value of Shah Rukh for acting in one advertisement movie while he earns around 80-90 Cr rupees from different stage/television shows. He has 700-800 Cr rupees of asset in real estate which included the residences in Mumbai, London and Dubai. Remaining 800 Cr is the value of Red chillies entertainment and Kolkata night riders.

Red Chillies, IPL, Kidzania
      A visual effects (VFX) studio is running in the banner Red chillies entertainment which is amongst the leading ones in India in this sector. It is located in western Santa Cruz, Mumbai.
Red chillies has a cinema production division and it has released many block buster movies as well. Most of the finance of Red chillies entertainment is found out from the film production division. Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket is another province of Sha Rukh’s business empire. As the owner of IPL team Kolkata night riders, he has 55% shares in the company. Although the team, in first season, had collapsed and pushed back to the last one in point rate, when it reached in the 5th season, Shah Rukh’s team won the crown and the team was known as the first IPL team which started running in profit. It was in 2012 the gain achieved.

     Joining Kidzania, the multi-national company based in Latin American country Mexico, Shah Rukh extended his business towards the edutainment sector as well. The aim of Kidzania, as the name indicates, is to provide secured, special and realistic education to the children in the age group of 4-12 as well as to their parents. Shah Rukh has 26% shares in Indian edition of the company, Kidzania India. Shah Rukh’s personal mission by this is to circulate the brand in India. Its first education theme park is located in Mumbai and it opened offices in metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangaluru. The education theme park is built in 75,000 square feet land and has the convenience for children to involve in more than 80 types of activities at a time.

Business perspective
     Why Red chillies? Why not Shah Rukh Khan Productions? These questions also have clever answers. 'Not interested to use my own name in business. That’s all'. He says. The debut of Khan as a producer is with ‘Dreams Unlimited’ a film production company started in 1999, joining with former Bollywood star Juhi Chawla and director Ashish Mishra. Shah Rukh's first business establishment also was Dreams Unlimited. In 2004, Dreams Unlimited was taken over by Shah Rukh himself and changed the name to Red chillies entertainment. The only partner in this attempt was his wife Gauri.

     Although Red chillies didn’t face any acute bad times, it has been forced to shut down a few of its divisions. Red Chillies idiot box, a company started exclusively for TV shows, is one among them. After starting the businesses, Shah Rukh is not simply sitting at home. Rather, he is closely watching the other large scale entrepreneurs and relentlessly studying their business activities. He has already directly seen how the company of Rajiv Bajaj produces a scooter in 15-20 minutes and how ICICI bank is professionally lead by KV Kamath. He has also studied about the refinery activities of Reliance, joining with Nita Ambani, wife of Mukesh Ambani. Shah Rukh says that his ambition is to grow as an entrepreneur like these business tycoons.

     Shah Rukh never thinks about austerity measures. “‘Every thing will go its own course’; People with this mentality care the austerity measures.” He says. Shah Rukh wishes to produce a movie with 140 Cr rupees while others do it with just 40 Cr rupees. This shows that he is strict, adherent on quality and not ready to compromise in it.

The brand SRK
     While the other business entrepreneurs use cinema-cricket stars for promoting their brands, all in all for Red chillies is Shah Rukh Khan himself. He is also known as SRK in abbreviated form. Promoter, brand ambassador, icon, motivation, financial source... all in all is no one else but SRK. Spending time for business after busy schedule of cinema sets, as far as a Bollywood mega star is concerned, is not a small thing. In Bollywood, stars are rarely stepped into the business world. Among the rare ones, the succeeded ones are very very rare. Yet, Shah Rukh’s growth is surprising for even traditional business tycoons. The answer for the people who ask about the secret of his business growth is, in his own words… “I will deliver passion and quality. Else, take your money back”.