The Lock Down Stories - May You Meditate on Some Knowledge !

Spiritually, April is meant to be a month of balanced equilibrium. It's a time of growth and moving forward in new and positive ways. With psychic energy in abundance, it is the ideal month to start meditating, for the purpose of healthier living and raising consciousness. 

This WhatsApp forward, which has come to me way too many times, from way too many sources, in the last couple of days, has made me want to see myself as not lacking, but fostering discipline more than ever before ! 

And it helps even more, when You have a husband who lives that, days over months, over years !! The latest addition to his routine over the past more than a month has been meditation. 

In the tremendous exchange of banter that goes on, on our 'F.R.I.E.N.D.S' groups, Abhi, very graciously, pointed us to the list of free courses on Harvard (/ edX). His recommendation comes just in time, when I've failed to tick the box against 'Knowledge'. 

So as a 1st step, I've gone ahead and identified the courses that have caught my fancy ! These are very reflective of my love for writing / speaking, my interest to arrange tangible things in a way that they tell a story, my willingness to gain philosophical insights from the history of Hinduism and Christianity, to understand how digital technologies allow us to visualise ancient monuments in new ways - in this case, the Egyptian Pyramids of Giza ! And finally, how social problems in emerging economies can have entrepreneurial solutions - this choice of mine is more influenced by the scale and magnanimity of tackling Covid-19 ! 

• Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking 

• Tangible Things

• Hinduism Through Its Scriptures

• Christianity Through Its Scriptures

• Pyramids of Giza: Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology

• Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies 

There is of course an innumerable variety of courses online, something for each one, from humanities to technology, from health to healing. Happy e-Learning ! 

In the quest for more Knowledge...

this is Sayli signing off.. ! :)

Year 2004 : Turning vegan in the year of the Tsunami .. !

I had 2 choices in the January of 2004...!

One : Stay back in Pune and take up a job with Tata Technologies, which was a result of my Dad's influence being associated with the Tata Group.

Two : Ride high on the fact that I had cleared an Open House, to get employed with one of the top 5 IT companies in India -  all on my own merit ! My Father of course, made that choice a lot easier for me, by allowing me to get out of my Home Town and experience life on my own terms .. !

So here I was in Hyderabad, staying as a PG in the Cosmopolitan area of Begum Peth in Secunderabad with make-up loving & extremely pure-hearted girls of Mumbai ! :) I was now going to earn almost double the amount compared to what I started out with, in Pune.

However, funding expenses as a result of staying away from home, made me feel the salary was still quite meagre. This time, I ensured that my purchases were reflective of my earnings, in line with my monthly budget, and yet very tasteful. I bought a modest pure silk saree for my Mum from Nalli Silks.  I even remember returning my Dad's cheque of INR 5000 which he had handed over to me as contingency funds - I did make him so proud for a change ;) …!

It was also the very 1st time I owned a cell phone and shopped for 'only' branded clothes. One day when I stepped out shopping with a bunch of friends and picked up this Pendant and Earrings set made of white sparkly stones, Santosh instantly commented "You can't fake these for Diamonds !!". Now, ME, being the rebel I am/was, went ahead and bought it! But that statement had a profound impact on me and would shape my purchase of jewellery going forward ! N oh.. It's also worth mentioning that on our very 1st official outbound event with fellow Entry Level Trainees, both Santosh and Myself were voted to be the best dressed - so surely, the comment had been made from the Male best dressed to another female who was perceived to be best dressed and ought to have been taken seriously !

So what does that have to do with Finances you wonder ? Well it's this...  

When you cannot afford what you love or aspire to own, you must settle for an affordable classic - and I settled for the 'Timeless Pearl Studs' !

(somewhere in the September of 2013, anchoring the Vodafone India IT Townhall, I had a chance to sport this astoundingly beautiful set of pearls gifted by Abhi in 2011 when I returned to work from a sabbatical of 3 years & the ring of course is what I robbed from my Mother ! ;)  ) 

Year 2003: Crash of the space shuttle or the Year of the cease-fire ?

The Americans were recuperating post the dot-com bust that followed the Y2K scare. To make things worse, the 9/11 attacks had intensified the 2001 recession.

As an aftermath, the days of 100% placements at PICT had sunset. I was coming to terms with the fact that I had not landed a placement through college. I graduated with a distinction, and my maternal uncle helped me take up my 1st job. For contracting as a programmer with the National Informatics Center (NIC), INR 7000 was what I earned as my 1st salary! 

My 1st purchase was 3 months into working ! 14K blown off in less than 45 minutes, on "couple watches" for my Parents. Later that week, my parents take me to the Titan showroom to return the watches and buy gold instead, from Tanishq (thankfully, both being TATA enterprises made the exchange possible).

I had learnt my first lessons in managing money - A penny invested, is wealth multiplied ! The price of 10 gms of 24 carat gold was Rs.5,600 in 2003 - Today it is Rs. 42,430 ! A whooping 657% return on investment ! 

As I look back today, the seeds on living minimally, by refusing to buy more of what you already have and making wiser financial decisions were sown by my parents almost 2 decades ago. It has in a lot of ways, paved the way for a Minimalist Lifestyle, which I have repeatedly struggled to adapt, but have been proud of the fact that I've never let go off my attempts !

--------------------------------------------------

In a hope to do more of what I love, more of what gives meaning to my life, more of dedicating time to what I do for a living vs. what I do for Joy, more of trying to influence people positively through my experiences, more of hoping to help people live better... a series of posts on the "Financial Timeline of My Life " so far.. this was the first of those series and I hope if you dint find something you already knew, you at least found a way to teach it to your children ! :) 

Stay Tuned, Stay Safe & Stay @Home ! :)
-Sayli
(sending you love n hugs from the 'Corona Virus' Lockdown of April 2020)