Category: General

Leh trek Update #3

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

So after 3 months of planning, mentally preparing myself and getting all the required things for the trek, the journey had begun. However, not on a very good note. One of my friend’s mom has become critically ill and had to be admitted to the hospital. She wasn’t feeling well because she had viral fever and the doctor had asked my friend to get her admitted to a nearby hospital as they can do the drips and get the condition better. My friend got her admitted to a hospital in the morning and after the doctors reassured him that her mom would be fine, decided to travel for the trip. While we were traveling, the doctors diagnosed her with dengue and started doing platelet transfusion as her platelet count was really low.

During the entire 10 hours my friend was in.the train, he kept thinking the worst and that’s when he got a call from his sister that doctor has said mom is critical. So he got down midway, traveled back and has just reached home. I hope and pray that everything turns well with his mom.

In the meanwhile, me and remaining 2 people have carried on with our journey. However, my mind is certainly not at peace and not happy.

Countdown to trek

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Next month me, my wife (hopefully) and my friend Saurav, will embarking a trek from Manali to Baralach la via Chandrataal lake. This trek will require us to walk for approx. 100 kms for 6 days to reach Baralach La after which we would be taking the local transport and reach Leh. We would be joined by our other friends in Leh and we would then be doing local sight seeing over there. I have been wanting to go to Leh and this trek is going to be once in a life time event for me. We would be reaching Manali a couple of days early to get ourselves accustomed to the higher altitude. Then preparation for the trek has already begun and most of the equipment is already in place. The best part about the entire trip is going to be walking through the valley with mountains on both the sides. Since we are not going to be a part of any trekking group, it is going to give us plenty of time to reflect on a lot of things. I am hoping that the journey would not only make us physically and mentally stronger but also enrich us spiritually.

Twitter mind

~ Akshay ~ 1 Comment

I have been blogging for quite a few years now and never before I have felt this feeling where I don’t have enough words to describe what I feel. Earlier my posts used to be long, detailed, expressing how I used to feel exactly about things, but now I feel my blog posts have become shorter. The frequency of my posts was pretty regular, but now that has reduced due to lack of thoughts. Earlier the posts were more about what I feel and why I feel and I was able to write things in detail because, unlike now, those feelings/ thoughts used to remain with me for some time. I was able to think over those things and describe those thoughts in details. Now, with the advent of Facebook and Twitter, whatever I feel gets posted in less than 140 characters on these forums – thus depriving me of my ability of retain those thoughts and think more of them. I am not sure if I am only one feeling like this or whether it is a global phenomenon.

Some people have proclaimed these social forums have made them better writers. I don’t know how it is possible since you are restricting your thoughts to a certain character limit. May be they are able to put those thoughts in a more concise manner. But for me, I feel it is not helping me. It could be my own procrastination because of which I am posting fewer posts than usual and just blaming these forums for it. Or I have become a Twitter mind – thinking only of restricting my thoughts to 140 characters at a time. I simply do not know. I am waiting to find out for myself.

Evening skies before the rains

~ Akshay ~ 1 Comment

Captured this today in the evening. The skies filled with monsoon clouds. The fresh smell of the mud. The street vendors busy making onion pakodas and bhajji’s. The kids in the ground welcoming the rain with joyous screams. The excited chirping of the birds, awaiting the first drops of rain from the sky. The hot Earth awaiting for the first drops of rain to cool it down. The season of monsoon and grey skies is here.

Mumbai looks beautiful in the rains.

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Service tax on an under construction property

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

In my previous post “House Hunting in Mumbai”, I had described how me and my wife have been looking out for property over the last few weeks. Recently, we came across a couple of under construction properties which we really liked and decided to do the approximate costing for those apartments. While doing the costing, we came across another term “Service Tax”, which is being levied at 3.09% of the cost of the property. I was very surprised to see that, but I didn’t pay much attention to it , thinking it is just a component of the overall cost structure of the property. While discussing this with a friend, he asked me what is this Service Tax? He mentioned he didn’t pay the same, when he got a property. So it turns out, the govt. has now decided to levy Service Tax on under construction properties as the builder is providing “us” a service by building the property. This is now applicable since July 2012.

If you are a cost conscious consumer (who isn’t in these days when the budgets are tight), this additional 3.09% is a huge cost.  As it is we are paying 6% stamp duty on the flat cost, plus there is Rs. 35000 of the registration of the property, there is 1% Value Added Tax and now this 3.09% Service Tax. So if you add up, it is an increase by atleast 10% on the overall cost of the property. So if the cost of the property is say Rs. 50 lakhs, the consumers end up paying an additional Rs. 5 lakh on the property. People budgeting to buy homes should also keep this in mind, while arranging their finances.

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Man of Steel

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

The movie Man of Steel comes out next month. Another super hero film – I think this movie is going to be one of the best super hero movies in a long time. However, Superman movies have been around since quite some time now. The comic book has been around ever longer. So what is it that attracts us to Superman? We all know he is a fictional character and things he does are something which normal people like you and me would never be able to do. However, as kids we all wanted to be Superman. Someone who will be able to achieve the impossible. When I think of this, I realize that during the times of crisis or while facing a difficult objective or while following our dreams and passion, we transform ourselves into something more than ordinary to achieve the impossible.  There are times in our lives when we are faced with insurmountable odds, where everything is stacked against us – still we face those challenges and do everything possible to come out on top and win. This is what makes me believe there is a Man of Steel in all of us. This is what I feel attracts us to Superman.

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House hunting in Mumbai

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

So some couple of months ago we, me and wife, decided to get a house of our own in Mumbai. If you are following the realty market in Mumbai, buying a house in Mumbai, with the right price, right views, right locality etc. is like going on wild goose chase. Looking at the prices of the apartments that are listed, makes me wonder – there is way too much money with a lot of people and only we seem don’t seem to have enough. A lot of places where we have seen the apartments, builders and agents have asked us “how much black (cash) we would be paying”? I look at them and wonder – do they think two working professionals with normal jobs would have 10-15 lakh rupees in cash? At such times, our normal answer is we would not prefer to pay anything in cash. However, the cost of flats in Mumbai has seriously sky rocketed. While searching, we realized that there is a concept of carpet area – what is the usable space in the house, and sale able area – includes usable space in the house, plus lobby space in the building, garden etc. and the builders actually charge as per the sale able area. The difference between sale able area and carpet area is usually between 35% to 40%. Basically the cost of the flat increases by 40%. Builders also charge floor rise usually between range of Rs. 35 to Rs. 50 – i.e. every increase in the floor rise would cost Rs. 50 per sq. feet more.

In far suburbs of Mumbai like Borivali, Kandivali, a 1 Bed Room Hall Kitchen (BHK) would easily cost around 65 to 70 lakhs and a 2 bhk could cost anywhere from 80 lakhs to 1.5 crore. We decided to check out areas like Vasai and Virar which are farther north and the rates there are much lower. 1 BHK in Vasai & Virar would cost around 27 lakhs, while a 2 BHK would cost around 35-40 lakhs max. However, the size of the rooms that we saw left lot to be desired. The apartments were match box sized. Hardly any space to have any furniture. Living in an apartment where we have windows on 3 sides and no building surrounding us with super spacious rooms, moving into such rooms was simply not acceptable to us.

Mumbai has everything for everyone, one just needs to keep searching and find it. So far we have not been able to find something that fits what we are looking for. But the chase is still on and the adventure continues. Mumbai – I know will not disappoint me.

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