That "Early Sunday Morning" is what I am Waiting For !

Have u ever felt tears rolling down your eyes and you heart sinking with every word you typed..
that’s how I feel since Abhi left for his week long business trip after a gap of 2 long months …

it was diappointing… seeing his itenary in my mailbox…
then watching him pack up while I just made sure hez carried his thermal wear … a book to read and whatever else I can think of at that sad point of time…

I just detest the feeling I have when we climb down the stairs and I walk slowly behind him wishing so much that he doesn’t go…
but just as I get to the gate I see the car waiting and walk up reluctantly to leave his bags and hug him in the hope that these 8 days fly by within no time …
finally I see him wave me good bye … and the moment I turn my back my step feels so heavy and my heart bleeds in loneliness...

Teary Eyed i am but i keep myself from crying and tell myself to get on with life…
Afterall its just a matter of a few days instead of thinking it’s a long week …
Sunddenly the entire house seems so empty … nothing makes sense ..

and you wish so much that you could tread along with him .. even inspite of knowing you too have a job to do and cannot be accompanying your husband whose itenary reads like 7 cities 3 countries in 8 days …

I thought I had enough of trying to play a brave heart when I am actually not one …
but I still try to picture the morning when Abhi would be here.. just to lift my spirits…

when his flight lands at the Mumbai airport and he makes his 1st brief call to say “ I am back !!“ :) then I wait for him to get out of the plane, finish collecting his luggage and take to the expressway …he stops by to grab a bite and calls me to inform me of the time he would be home..

I am still half asleep … and then therez that noise of those wheels when he drags his luggage and holds a bag of chocolates … as I instantly jump out of bed to look down from the window … :)
then proceed to switch on the geyser for a hot shower he has …just in time to hear my mobile ring again and then my heart starts racing when he says “I am here” … :)

I rush to the door to hug him tight after a gap of a long 8 days that seemed like weeks on end …
he stands there leaving aside his luggage to hold me in his arms smiling and kissing me on the forehead …as if trying to tell me “I am here … never to go back leaving you alone .. ”
that is the “Early Sunday Morning” I am waiting for …

- sayli..

A Maniac Monday Massacre

Call it “A Blood Bath on Dalal Street” or ‘Financial Wipeout’.. Every Black Day on Dalal Street had lessons to teach us – the sooner we forgot the more intense the pain has been.

It is now that you realize, that just as you had Career Goals / Personal Goals it is equally important to have financial goals.

And if the word “Goal” just made you feel sick then lets call it “identifying a purpose for earning money”. Very obviously we all earn to: get married, support a family, maybe retire early, go on a vacation abroad etc etc

But when you write down and set aside an explicit amount and associate it with an appropriate investment vehicle for that purpose, you would never wear an expression as horrifying as those outside the BSE did, on yesterday’s Maniac Monday Massacre when the markets world over fell and all the Stocks in Sensex and Nifty closed in Red.

For those who may be completely unaware of the term “Investments”, here are some pointers that worked for me since Year 2004!

1: Keep a Track of your Spendings: you can record your spendings religiously just for a month to analyse where you could cut expenses. Expenses have to be realistic and not exhorbitant since what you may be affording now you may not necessarily be able to afford it 25 yrs down the line. So it always made sense to be wise early on to enjoy similar status for as long as you lived.


2: Never Take on a Debt that is more than 40 % of your take home Salary: Your EMI’s towards Home Loan, Car Loan, Personal Loans etc should never be more than 40% of your earnings – else you are sure to loose sleep over your Financial Standing. If it is, then it makes sense to consider liquidating some of your savings/investments to get rid of that debt.

3: Diversify your Portfolio: Never put all of your savings in just one instrument eg: only Equities or only Debt or only Real Estate or only Gold.
There are online Risk Analyzers that determine your apetite for Risk and suggest you a Percentage Portfolio Allocation in each of the above which you can adhere to. But a thumb rule for equity works well: exposure to equities = 100 – your age. 100 – 26 = 74 % So early on in life you could do well with having a major portion of your savings in VALUE Stocks and give them a time frame of 10-15 years to grow and eventually reduce your investment in markets as the older you grow the lesser your apetite for losses.

4: Benefit from the Power of Compounding: Investing regularly in MF’s through the SIP route is the best way to benefit from this. Also if you invest for eg: 30K in PPF, make sure you park this 30K in the beginning of the Financial Year into a Liquid Scheme [Debt] and then liquidate this amount to deposit it in the PPF account in Feb. This way you make your money work harder and stay away from volatility that you would otherwise be exposed to had you set aside this amount in stocks – also liquidating would be difficult since timings the markets is impossible.


5: Don’t Invest Just to Save TAX but to create Wealth for the Long Term: Investments in Section 80C right from PPF, ELSS, Insurance Premiums can each be linked to more than one of your Financial Goals of Providing for retirement, preparing for your Child’s Education, Protection for your Loved Ones etc etc

6: Medical Insurance is Extremely Important: It comes at rock bottom prices but could save you from the biggest financial drain in the event of a tragedy god forbid. Yes the company does provide for one but if you were in between jobs or rendered jobless tomorrow and had health problems then this is the vehicle that sees you through. A cover of a 1 Lakh for a Year comes for as cheap as 999 which by any standards isn’t a huge amount at all.

7: Do not time the Markets and Allow your Investments sufficient time to Grow: If you have identified sectors that look promising for the long term, identified just 2-3 best companies within these sectors that look optimistic in their growth & developments, invested in them at the right price, accumulated stocks of these on dips and waited for a feasible horizon of 3-5 years and even more you are sure to look like a contended investor and not like an apprehensive trader who looses sleep on every downturn.

As an expert rightly said “Such is the way of Financial Markets that a few Participants will go down under and never be able to get back to the market again, but most will survive. The pain will linger for many months, maybe years, but lessons have to be learnt.”

With an optimistic outlook for the teary eyed, the weak at heart - the financially wiped out families…

Signing off,
~ a long term investor in value stocks.

An Action Packed 2007!!

Composed On December 11th 2007

It's been one helluva year, and I have been on both sides of the fence… 1st to have made a self decided transition from an IT services [Satyam] to a Telecom company [Hutch in April 2007]. Then to have witnessed the Merger & Acquisition Deal of Hutch by the worlds biggest telecom company - Vodafone [September 2007] and now I would be on the payrolls of IBM starting JAN 1st 2008 as a result of the Strategic IT Outsourcing Deal between Vodafone & IBM India !! [the offer letters were issued to us by IBM today morning]

Satyam Hutch Vodafone IBM – All Brands in themselves… and I feel truly proud of having been associated with them however brief my period … only to realize that as companies start out they strive to be self sufficient by owning all the processes that are key to achieving the conviction of their clients. As a result of which they develop practices, applications, and models that grow in-house.

However, once a company is on the fast track there is always this pressure to innovate, the pressure to surpass your competition, to forecast the most crucial problems that may be prove to be roadblocks to growth a few years from now..

That's why there arises a need to identify specialists that have an edge over you in carrying out certain functions of the organization that may in turn help your business to be profitable… It then starts scouting for the probable candidates who have proven expertise in respective operations … and then the IT, call centre, telecom network setups, infrastructure, etc are outsourced to leading players… That's how the company maintains its attention on its core business – of acquiring and retaining subscribers in its network.

Well u are probably thinking that you don't have to go through the psychological ordeal nor financial pleasure of being migrated to organizations to understand this simple logic…dint u ?? :)

But I thought how about applying this practice back home as well ..

Delegate, distribute, outsource work and focus on enriching quality relationships to live a stress free life ! Sounds like magic truly ! But it aint easy, especially when responsibilities are on a rise and the time to fulfill them just doesn't seem to extend.. Every time the quarter ends and companies announce results and talk to the press proudly about YoY growth, Profits, PE ratios, Valuations etc.. I think to myself why we as individuals can't have certain north stars for ourselves… something as simple as maybe a visit to a wildlife sanctuary or learning to jive ! or something as complex as building a physical asset for yourselves !

Why is it that KPA's, KPI's, sales targets, deadlines, corporate presentations, quarterly circle meets, annual organizational events are taken very seriously.. whereas procrastination is always the practice when it comes to tasks back home… you always think maybe next Monday would be a good day to start exercising… maybe next month is ideal for a picnic … I would probably learn to bake great cakes before our next anniversary… !!

"Delay" is the word when it comes to personal interests…

So while I sit pretty thinking and being pleased about having remembered bdays/anniversaries of near n dear ones, completed a certification, improved on my culinary skills in the kitchen, learnt to take time off to read the newspapers, made time to take care of my skin n nails, spent countless pleasurable moments with abhi, met expectations of my in laws parents n relatives, kept in touch with friends …

I realize I have a bigger & a brighter North Star to meet in every quarter of 2008 - Personally & Professionally!!

– signing off [a Vodafoner now an IBMer next]
~ sayli :)

Time Savers for the Responsible Homemakers – No Gender BIAS Please :)

Well, I personally hate advices on Managing your Time, Life/Self Improvement.. Prioritizing blah blah… this piece of writing was actually meant only for self reference but as all other good & bad things I couldn’t help but share this one as well ;) :)

I am habituated with self retrospection. And that’s why, very often the need to improvise my habits comes from the aftermath of a disaster! :) So I trust my own bad experiences to teach me well rather than any counseling from my elders [mom included] ;) :)
Sad, but true … I guess was born a rebel :)

This is especially for those “newly weds” or “previously lead a careless life & suddenly bogged down by duties kind of people!! ;) “ or even those who just love to read stuff in their spare time and forget it as quickly as a mediocre Bollywood film (I generally tend to remember the worst & the best :) ) All others may find that they already practice most things but maybe a point or two maybe worth a try..

The list can obviously go on endlessly, but preferred to keep it at an optimum - not necessarily meaning SHORT :)

Time Savers for the Responsible Homemakers – No Gender BIAS Please :)

1: Sticking to a Schedule:
Try to follow a routine of getting up and sleeping at the same time. Maybe between 6-6:30 AM and 11-11:30 PM. Now with 7 hours of sleep and a 17 hour long day determine and divide your home and office time. If you spend 9 hours in office and maybe an hr commuting back and forth, you are still left with 7 hours for personal and home care combined.
How you plan these 7 hours is really the key to staying happy. So just as you have a schedule for the office, have one for the home as well.

2: Having a Personal Calendar:
Set aside time on your calendar for activities with the people who are important to you or for events you want to attend. Once these events or activities have been scheduled you will have to schedule other responsibilities around them. Once your calendar is full, you will have to turn down other requests.

Saying no will make sure you keep your schedule open for the activities that are important to you. It sets boundaries for people who would otherwise take advantage of you and your time. This also ensures that you make “Yourself” a priority in your Life. If you disregard your needs frequently to meet the needs of others, chances are that your aren’t looking after yourself too well and that isn’t going to keep you or others around you too Happy.

3: Keep a Track of Things:
Keep a track of the last time you got yourself a pedicure, you had you teeth polished or got your Eyes inspected. This way you know when is it next that you need to visit the beautician/the dentist/the eye specialist. Mark that date/time on this calendar and make sure you keep those appointments.

4: Organizing your Wardrobe/Closet:
When you know you are to attend a Marriage Reception this Thursday evening or a go on a Trek this Saturday don’t hunt your wardrobe last minute.
Make sure the saree you want to appropriately wear for the occasion isn’t lying in the laundry or the blouse is still fitting you well. You have accessories to match in place. That your favourite perfume or your lip liner is not over. Landing home from office on Thursday evening only to find that you have to wear a different saree and aren’t equipped with appropriate accessories or cosmetics isn’t going to leave you looking too good and neither feeling great!

Also make sure your apparel to wear to office the next day is kept ready the previous night. You don’t have to stare at your wardrobe every morning wondering what to drape to office today and loose out on time. 5 minutes spent deciding and keeping your clothes, accessories, makeup ready the previous night saves you about 10 mins of the time the next day morning.

5: Organizing the Kitchen:
Planning your meals [breakfast, lunch/dinner] a week in advance helps you save a lot of your rush hour time. A weekly meal plan done on a Saturday can ensure that your trip to the vegetable/grosser/fruit stall/super market is profitably utilized.

Also it saves you that time of waking up every morning to dig the refrigerator to decide on the vegetable to cook and pack for lunch or even the breakfast to prepare every morning. It ensures that you cook a variety of meals and take enough time to skim through a new recipe to avoid monotony and keep you dear ones relishing their meal.

6: Filing Important Documents:
I remember sending a mail long ago about a filing system. It has truly ensured that the Document is found instantly when it was needed! It also helps when u have important documents Scanned and stored on your laptop/burnt on a CD [disaster recovery ;) :) :p ].

Having an excel workbook wherein there is 1 worksheet dedicated to each of the following:

Academic Details, Employment History, Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Car/Bike/Home Insurance, Bank/Demat Account Details, Debit/Credit Card Information, Identity Proof Details (PAN, License, Passport, Voters ID etc), Stocks, MF’s/SIP’s, NSC/PPF/EPF details, Details of Other Assets, Your Numerous Website Subscription Details, IMP Contact Numbers you may not want to store on your cell [The Cooking GAS Agent, Your Family Doc, Beautician, Tailor, Grosser, Laundry Guy etc etc] , Your wishlist maybe ;) :) helps to serve as a single point of reference for all the important information!

But of course, the unauthenticated access of this 1 file spells disaster for you for life! So if u think you can’t guard this softcopy well you’re better off not having it :)

7: Marking Birthday’s and Anniversaries on your Calendar:
Year 2005 when my wedding was fixed, I remember being greeted by a lot of sarcasm from my relatives/friends for having forgotten birthdates/anniversaries. Everyone was like “now that you are getting married to a sweetheart and going to be a part of another family you need not remember us..”

While it dint surface verbally, I was deeply hurt…But I also made it a point that nobody ever complained the next year :) Marking important dates or having a separate calendar dedicated to Birthday’s, ensures you aren’t hurt by comments made by your loved ones, which are actually unintentional and acceptable since they are right when they expect such a simple act of kindness from you.

8: Don’t be Lethargic or Turtle Paced:
Complete tasks within realistic time frames, do not endless go on doing the same activity as if all time were yours. It puts off other people and moreover you may be left with absolutely no time to do other more important things. Like 35-45 mins to bathe, hair wash, drape a saree, get your hair in place and get a hint of makeup is just fine when you are going for a party but that 35-45 mins can be cut down to 20-30 mins when you are going to office and the balance 10 mins can be used to skim the newspaper beat the terrible rush hour traffic to reach office on/before time.

9: Eliminating Clutter Periodically:
Broken Crockery, ill fitting clothes, expired medicines, tablets and cosmetics, old newspapers/magazines, unimportant documents, spoilt CD’s/damaged DVD’s, plastic metal or anything that remains unused for long periods should be cleared weekly, every fortnight or monthly to avoid clutter and an unorganized lifestyle. Follow the one in one out policy. For every one new thing that comes into the house one must be donated or disposed if not needed.

By the end of this mail you are probably thinking that my home is full of calendars & planners all over :) !! Nope it isn’t !! :)

But yep Year Ending is a time for me to go Stationery Shopping!!! :) [Shopping after all is in the DNA of a woman !! - remember ?? ;) :) ]
1] A Year200K Business Organizer to note your personal/professional information – tasks, deadlines etc …
2] A Year200K Wall Calendar to be aware of festivals and other important days
3] A Small Year200K Dairy to make a note of daily expenses
4] An A4 sized good looking file – to file any self made single page Planners
5] and A new Parker ;) :p [just for fun :) - suits the man and the woman alike ;) :) u can do with any 5 Rs. pen as well - this is just good looking motivation to write and note down imp stuff ! :)]

This is all it takes to be in control of your daily life ;) :) Sounds stupid!! Nope it isn’t! Try it !

luv as always
- sayli

..and the world set It's Eyes on INDIA !!

"What is important Is, whether you have The Desire, Strong Enough to Prevent the Odds from Overwhelming You " said Mr. Ratan Tata in reply to what enabled him to cut down costs, meet the safety challenge and score over the entire global auto industry - as he unveiled the World's cheapest Car on JAN 10th 2008!

Certainly! I thought, as I went 20 years back in time when my DAD sold off his Yezdi, to buy a Kinetic that was an amiable choice for a family of four. It would accommodate me standing in the front, Dad driving, Anant sitting in the middle and Mom cautiously holding onto him. We had some extremely fun times moving around on this wonder, which still is a priced possession in the Family - attached with an emotional value and hence was passed from Dad to Me then to Anant and now to my cousin Anuja studying her engineering …

Fortunately a lot changed for us as a family since then…

Dads 1st car was a second hand Premier Padmini, the 2nd - a second hand Maruti Omni, the 3rd - could have been a Santro but he cancelled his booking for INDIA's 1st manufactured car of its own – a small hatchback – A Brand New Indica! We all loved it for its Fuel Efficiency and the Space! He kept retiring his old Indica's till he recently bought the 3 rd one in a row - the Turbo Diesel V2. He surely is a devoted customer of The Tata's Car.

But a majority of Indian families were still unable to own even the cheapest car on the roads and enjoy those long drives to go waterfall watching in the heavy moonsoons - or that small drive together on chilled winter nights to have chai by the roadside dhabha - or even a ride to the closest hill station on bright sunny days … and it is for these very families – not exactly at the bottom of the pyramid not really middle class - that Mr. Tata conceived a Dream of a safe, affordable all weather form of transport - The PEOPLEs CAR !!

And it surely did make heads turn when someone like Mr. Tata, who had only a 10 year history of MAKING CARS, decided to serve a billion people who are at the cusp of an explosive consumption growth by making a car they could afford, instead of waiting for this class to become affluent enough to consume western style goods that are at present quite unaffordable!

Abhi was in Delhi for a couple of meetings and got a chance to catch a glimpse of the NANO and he told me over the Phone .. "Just by the looks of it I loved it ! Beautifully styled - a car in just $ 3000! I feel a sense of pride to see the world media turn their attention to India who has never had a history as strong as theirs in automobile manufacturing.."

Tata's decision to go in for a fully locally built product followed by tractor maker M&M's success with Scorpio - a SUV developed domestically has had a profound impact in the way the global auto industry has come to view India. "There's a good chance of India becoming a world wide production centre for mini and small cars for which there is a big domestic market potential in Europe, Japan, South East Asia and Africa, if the Nano catches the fancy of customers from Thailand Turkey to Nigeria just as it has of the global media" KPMG said.

As someone rightly said - The world is changing. The Bucknors, Whites [CEO of Orient Express, Paul White who refused an association with the Taj ], and Suzukis don't know it yet, but they could find out the hard way. Just as our politicians found out the sheer power of numbers of previously downtrodden people. In the coming year 2008 and beyond, you may not be able to run a finance company without Chinese money, you may not be able to run a luxury hotel without the Asian service, you may not be able to win any election without the votes of those you abused.

My Salute to the Ambani's, Tata's, Mittal's and numerous other Indian Industrialists who keep generating employment for the needy, Realizing their Dream for a Developed India, Keeping Hope Alive for the "trying to make ends meet" commoner and doing their bit to bring a smile on each of our Faces…

- an Idea can change lives ! Dream On…
~ sayli :)

P.S: Time dint allow me to Wish you a Happy New Year till the NANO had my heart feeling Proud and my fingers pounding the keyboard for the 1 st time in 2008!

So for those whom I missed wishing – HEREZ wishing you a Successful, Healthy, Happy & A Prosperous New 2008!

Keep in Touch!

An Inaugural Article - From a Naïve Blogger

Ravi (Abhi's long time close friend) was to get married and travel to settle down in the US for a couple of years. It was for him that we ENTHUS (name of Abhi's Gang of Friends) reunited on the evening of Jan 16th. I was going to remember this evening for many reasons more – one of them being, the words of praise that I had received, from everyone gathered for dinner that evening, for the emails I had authored.

The next day in office, I had the time and the chance to check my Gmail, when I found a mail from Mukta (our association goes back to the Engineering days in PICT and school days in St. Joseph's Pashan), thanking me for an article I had written – “Time Savers for the Responsible Homemaker”. She had contributed it on my behalf in her Project’s Monthly Magazine in Sungard Named: Fun @ Desk [FAD]. Mukta was also the very first person to suggest that I start Blogging.

After persistence from DAD, Abhi, BABA & close friends of mine, who are ardent readers of my emails, I have finally signed on.

On days you have the urge, you have the time, what you do not have however, is access to resources at that point in time. This is exactly what has kept me away from starting a Blog.

While i intend to write on newer topics, a lot of the Posts here, to begin with, would be Emails I have authored as and when I was Influenced by People, Inspired by Events or Delved upon Thoughts.

So here is a peek into my Perspective of the Not So Ordinary Things in Life.

In the hope of making both - Reading & Writing a Pleasure…

Signing off for now,
~ sayli