Monday, August 31, 2009

Eenadu - Kamal Hasan


Kamal Hasan remade the popular Hindi film, A Wednesday in telugu as Eenadu. Kamal Hasan played the role of Nasiruddin Shah, and Venkatesh played the role of Anupam Kher.

It seems, probably the first time, Kamal Hasan dubbed for his own character. Till Dasavatharam, Dr.S.P.Balu gave his voice for Kamal Hasan.



Trailer of Eenadu:

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Cartoon in Eenadu on YSR and JP



Left Hand Side (blue shirt): Dr.JP holds Indian Constitution.
Right Hand Side: Congress Minister holds YS Constitution.

The text outside the cartoon: We don't know all these. We know only this (YS Constitution). If you want, go to court.


Background Information:
Present Congress Government has put an amendment bill to The Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001. By the new amendment, government gets right to interfere into any society in A.P, by citing reasons that the society is not functioning properly, or it is not following rules. Government can appoint a representative to control it for three years. There are more than 2 lakh societies in A.P. All the temples, political parties, social organizations, NGOs, and many others are formed as socieities. By this amendment, government can control all of these.


In Telugu
http://news.loksatta.org/2009/08/lets-us-consult-advocate-general-on_29.html
http://news.loksatta.org/2009/08/prana-thyaganikaina-siddham-drjp.html

In English
http://news.loksatta.org/2009/08/lets-us-consult-advocate-general-on.html
http://news.loksatta.org/2009/08/drjps-letter-to-advocate-general-of-ap.html
http://news.loksatta.org/2009/08/drjps-letter-to-speaker-of-assembly.html

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sibals's Comments on Hindi


After Sibal said, hindi should be taught in all the schools, all the old posts related to hindi became active again.

Few snippets from other's blogs:

Nita - The language Problem


Please understand that no race should dominate the other. I wonder if you know that if Hindi takes over, the regional language dies – as it happened to the regional language of Punjab – Gurumukhi. On the other hand, if you keep English, our regional languages and culture will thrive. In any case English is the language of the world.



Do people from Tamil Nadu say that North Indians should speak Tamil? So why do North Indians say that Tamilians should speak Hindi? I am afraid domination like this never works. North Indians are not our rulers. They are one of us. You are one of us. We are one country. We have to respect each other’s religions, languages and culture.


Balaji - North is North. South is South. Shall the twain ever meet?


In my view imposition of Hindi is likely to influence a non-Hindi speaking state’s culture so much so that in a few years it may have far reaching consequences. Why force somebody to learn a language not their own? If need be, they would volunteer for learning.

Didn’t our history books carry this statement: Unity in diversity. Let’s recollect it when we feel the urge to see a homogenized India.



Balaji - http://twitter.com/balaji_a

Does Sibal understand India is a heterogeneous culture? Not majority of states have Hindi as their state lang.? Or is he concerned that those flocking from Hindi heartland to non Hindi speaking states have hard time communicating in Hindi?

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

ICICI Bank - Extra charges for E-Cheque transactions


Effective Aug 24th, 2009, ICICI bank introduced charges for all NEFT (E-Cheque) transcations. Now, the users have to pay Rs.5 + service tax for each transaction. Is this fair or not?

For those who have been using ICICI bank for quite some time, would have understood the policies of ICICI. It is very user friendly, if you have salaried account. But, if you have regular savings account, you would realize the problems with that.

If your account is not a salaried account, you have to pay money for many things. It charges money for the cash transactions. If you don't maintain quarterly minimum balance, you have to pay money for that. If you don't have enough money for few months, and deposit some amount, then they would cut for fines from that amount, and it makes a big difference for small customers. One person I know did not maintain quarterly minimum balance in ICICI for few months, and then deposited Rs.4000 cheque. The bank took the entire amount as fine for not maintaining minimum balance, and that person ended up with zero balance again. Because of guidelines from RBI, it had to cut the charges for drawing from other ATMs. Before that, if anyone withdraws from SBI, they used to cut Rs.60, which was more than any other bank's charges.

ICICI bank was never for business professionals or normal people who do not have buffer money. For the last many years, it was only for the professionals who do not have time, but have money.

Having lot of experience with ICICI, I was not surprised after coming to know that, it is charging money for E-Cheque transactions. I don't blame them for this. If anyone does not like them, they can always switch to some other bank. Unlike the era of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, now we have choice (because of the efforts of P.V.Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee). It does not cost anything to switch to another bank, provided you had good experience with ICICI till now. If you did not have, you should have switched long time back. Choosing a wrong partner and blaming them is not a good thing.

Having said that, I feel, ICICI may be going in wrong direction. It was never for business professionals or common man. Now, it is charging even the professionals also. The moment the professionals feel ICICI is doing too much, it will collapse. For any professional, if their company can transfer salary to any account, it will not take any time for them to switch to another bank. Even if they don't provide facility to transfer to any bank, still, if there is pressure, the company may switch to different bank. If corporate companies stop using ICICI, then I am sure, it would collapse.

I have not checked whether they charge this money for net banking transactions while shopping online, and payments to ICICI credit cards. If they do for both, then I am going to open another account in another bank.

Related Posts
Ankur - ICICI Bank Charges
Balaji - ICICI - Why? What Next?

Update: There is no transaction fee for transfers between different ICICI bank accounts. The transaction fee is applicable for transfers to different banks.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Quote of the Day

We hate when there is huge traffic on Road. But, we love when there is huge traffic on our website.

Courtesy: Hasan

Monday, August 17, 2009

Quote of the Day

According to the latest methodology in software engineering, Developers have to deliver products to the customer everyday. Those who do not deliver everyday, have to publicly agree that they are using outdated and crappy process.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Swine Flu Vaccine is available at Positive Homeopathy


Swine Flu Vaccine available at Positive Homeopathy for Rs.300 at the following places.

Positive Homeopathy,
Opp.State Home, Near Saradhi Studio, Yousufguda, Hyderabad - 73. Ph: 040-23734432.

Opp.SBI, Road No.12, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 34. Ph: 040-23326499

Near MRO Office, Phase I & II, KPHB Colony, Kukatpally, Hyderabad - 72. Ph: 040-23150543.

Opp.Model Co-Operative Bank, Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad - 36. Ph: 9290884444.

Opp.Spencers, Durga Agraharam, Eluru Road, Vijayawada - 2. Ph: 0866-2435855.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Quote of the Day

Two developers of same calibre think alike. There is no use of blaming one at another.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Google Products that I use


Google Reader
Gmail
Blogger
Google Search
Orkut
Feedburner
Youtube
Google Calendar
Google Apps
Google Maps
Google Docs
Google Notebook
Google Analytics
Google Photos (Picasa)
Google Alerts
Google Groups
Google Adwords

If I am using these many products, how can I be a not fan of Google? I have not come across any other site, which provides atleast three of the above as efficiently as google.

Before someone suggests a new product, I request them to check whether that product works as efficiently as the corresponding google product, and whether there is any advantage of having a separate account at some other place instead of maintaining every thing at one place.

Of course, I do not use Google Chrome and Google Adsense. Google Chrome is not as good as firefox in terms of heavy and custom use. I could never create a Google Adsense account.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Tax Structure in India


Question 1.. : What are you doing?
Ans. : Business.
Tax : PAY PROFESSIONAL TAX!

Question 2 : What are you doing in Business?
Ans. : Selling the Goods.
Tax : PAY SALES TAX!

Question 3 : From where are you getting Goods?
Ans. : From other State/Abroad
Tax : PAY CENTRAL SALES TAX, CUSTOM DUTY & OCTROI

Question 4 : What are you getting in Selling Goods?
Ans. : Profit.
Tax : PAY INCOME TAX!

Question 5: How do you distribute profit ?
Ans : By way of dividend
Tax : PAY DIVIDEND DISTRIBUTION TAX

Question 6 : Where you Manufacturing the Goods?
Ans. : Factory...
Tax : PAY EXCISE DUTY!

Question 7 : Do you have Office / Warehouse / Factory?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY MUNICIPAL & FIRE TAX!

Question 8 : Do you have Staff?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY STAFF PROFESSIONAL TAX!

Question 9 : Doing business in Millions?
Ans. : Yes -- Tax : PAY TURNOVER TAX!
Ans : No -- Tax : Then pay Minimum Alternate Tax

Question 10 : Are you taking out over 25,000 Cash from Bank?
Ans. : Yes, for Salary.
Tax : PAY CASH HANDLING TAX!

Question 11 : Where are you taking your client for Lunch & Dinner?
Ans. : Hotel
Tax : PAY FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT TAX

Question 12 : Are you going Out of Station for Business?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY FRINGE BENEFIT TAX

Question 13 : Have you taken or given any Services?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY SERVICE TAX

Question 14 : How come you got such a Big Amount?
Ans. : Gift on birthday.
Tax : PAY GIFT TAX

Question 15.: Do you have any Wealth?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY WEALTH TAX

Question 16 : To reduce Tension, for entertainment, where are you going?
Ans. : Cinema or Resort.
Tax : PAY ENTERTAINMENT TAX

Question 17 : Have you purchased House?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY STAMP DUTY & REGISTRATION FEE

Question 18 : How you Travel?
Ans. : Bus
Tax : PAY SURCHARGE

Question 19.: Any Additional Tax?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY EDUCATIONAL, ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL & SURCHARGE ON ALL THE CENTRAL GOVT.'s TAX

Question 20: Delayed any time Paying Any Tax?
Ans. : Yes
Tax : PAY INTEREST & PENALTY

Question 21: Can I die now??
Ans : Wait we are about to launch the funeral tax!

Source: Funtoosh