@rgumental @dvisor

Indian PM made a highly risky political & economic move by removing 500/- & 1000/- rupee notes from circulation. The move aimed at curbing black money & fake currency seems to be getting equal amount of support & criticism from different quarters at the time of writing. Currency is the lubricating factor on which economy runs. The Indian currency base as of Mar'16 is represented in the table below Currency Note     Value ( In Rs Billion)    Volume(In Billion)  Value%     Volume%     10                            320                               32                            1.95%       40.8%    20                       ...

Excerpts from a conversation with a person who works as a cleaning staff in Dubai. Actual conversation happened in Hindi.  Me: So how do you save money in India? Him: I transfer money to my uncle’s bank account. He takes it and gives it to my father. He keeps it. Me: So, a person keeps the all the money of earning members in your family? Him: Yeah, and he lends out money at 2% interest to our immediate & extended family members & friends when someone needs it Me: (My finance mind starts to work) Well, why don’t you open an NRE account? You get 4% interest tax free on savings account and 7.5% on fixed deposit (Thank God, I didn't advise Stocks & Mutual Funds) Him: Banking doesn’t work for us Sir. Our financial needs are different Me: Can you explain? Him: Sometimes for my daughter’s school fees, I need some money urgently. Maybe for some agricultural expenses, I may have some unanticipated need. If I go to banks, they ask for many paperw...

Let me start with a caveat. We could not even cover one-third of Cyprus. The country, even though it looks to be a tiny island in Mediterranean, has a lot to offer for more than a week. We were there just for 4 days including the travel dates. We landed at Larnaca on a Wednesday morning. Took our rental car and drove straight to our wonderful hotel @ Latchi  .. The cross country drive from South East of Island to the Western side took about 4+ hours ( 170 odd KM ).  Cyprus represents a unique fusion of Greek, Turkish & Continental European cultures. Its cuisine is distinctively Mediterranean. Not just fish & squid, but the European influenced beef & pork as well.  You drive on the left side of the road ( i.e, British system ) . Cypriot beach areas are of two-three distinct kinds . If you are a party-hopper , would suggest you to look for options near Aiya Napa   . Cities like Larnaca & Limassol offer good beaches, but often crowded as p...

Two of the things that I definitely wanted to visit in Budapest were statues. One was of a person whom I googled up couple of weeks before - Imre Nagy. The other one was of Ferenc Puskas, one of the greatest footballers ever. Imre Nagy Statue Overlooking Hungarian Parliament   Imre Nagy was out of a peculiar novelty. One of the best political satires of all time in Malayalam - Sandesham - has a reference to him amidst a political conversation . Something that highlights the ubiquitous political awareness of a keralite in the early 90's. Ferenc Puskas who led the invincible Magic Magyars of 1950's is part of football folklore. Someone who failed at perhaps the most important game of his career - World cup final 1954 .  Hungary of today seems to have totally forgotten him. There is a stadium dedicated to him in the city. But other than that, Puskas seems to be totally forgotten. We had quite a bit of difficulty in tracing out the exact location & identifying the co...

Roma ? Roma ? - Quipped a long faced gentleman who walked into our waiting area for EK095 at Dubai T3 -  to make sure that he's getting into the same flight.. He reminded me of Paolo Maldini, former Italian captain and one of the finest footballers I've ever seen. This was a much anticipated trip for me. The cradle of modern civilization, legal systems, urban planning - all could be traced to this city.  Like most other European cities, the city & civilization developed around a river (Tiber) and the seven hills surrounding it. Raphael's "School of Athens" Huge crowds throng the Vatican city - the center of Christianity , but more importantly, the place that houses the artworks of Raphael and Michaelangelo.  Incredible Frescos dominate the Vatican Palace. Every picture has a story behind it. Not just the Biblical stories, but images that capture various phases of Roman & Greek times. I remember this particular painting by Raphael where he combine...

So we were at this island two weeks before the 'Rinjani' explosion & Chotta Rajan's arrest here made news. Uluwatu - One of the best Views in Bali       Indonesian Rupiah or IDR is one of the most depreciated currencies that I've come across. People discount the last three zeros in the currency :) .. Despite not being a net exporter of fuel, Indonesia seems to have kept the fuel rates at very low levels ( Actually comparable to middle east levels ) , thereby resulting in huge pressure on currency . Most of the fuel consumed here apparently comes from Brunei. Rice cultivation / Rice Garden     On the demand side, the tourism industry is booming.  The Island seems to have emerged from the downturn that came along with the bomb blasts of 2005. Even though the currency is very weak, nothing from food to souvenirs is cheap for tourists. Essentially, as the demand is there, the prices are also marked-up  . Government seems to be investing w...

Seldom has people's ignorance surprised me so much than last month when this entire episode of Digital India & Internet.org played out in the mainstream & social media   .  Regardless of whether or not you are supporting digital India , its absolutely ridiculous to even think that changing your profile pic will "register you as a supporter" of internet.org  .  Facebook or any other corporation does not work on any form of democratic decision making in such initiatives ( and they should never )  .  So, whether you change your profile pic or not has got nothing to do with internet.org It also made me think about a point that I emphasized in my last post on this subject  .  People tend to be taken in when you put a liberal dose of words like 'liberal' , 'neutral' , 'equal' , 'democratic'  - so on and so forth. The central point in trying to understand this entire proposition is accepting the fact the internet connectivity that you...