Category: Life

Day 27/ 365 – The rise and rise of food prices

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Read in the newspaper yesterday, that the food inflation is now is at a all time high and prices of onion are currently 237% higher than what they were last year. Today onion, one of the most basic commodities costs anywhere Rs. 80-100 per kg, as compared to around Rs. 20-25 per kg. last year. The sad part is no one knows the reason why the prices are so high and the government, as usual, is clueless. The government blames that there is shortfall in supply, however, we keep reading that there onions have  been imported from Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Egypt etc. But there is still shortfall. Along with the prices of onion, the prices of potatoes have also increased. Couple of weeks ago, I got potatoes for Rs. 24/ kg, a week later my mom got it for Rs. 28/ kg and then last week I got it for Rs. 35/ kg. I asked the potato vendor – whats the reason for this reason. He had no reply. He said the prices would raise in the next few days. It sounded like these guys decide amongst themselves what the prices should be and then sell it to the consumers. Probably there is some cartel sitting and deciding on the prices of onions and potatoes and other veggies.

I feel the issue is with the entire supply chain management that we have in India. There are way too many middle men involved, who need to get their share of money before the goods finally reach the consumer. Consider this, the farmer sells his produce to his local agent, who collects the produce and forwards it on to the APMC level. The wholesalers buy their stocks from the APMC and the retailers buy the stock from the wholesalers and then finally sell it to the consumers. There is money exchanged at all these places and that extra cost is passed on to the consumers. There is also a very good possibility that these agents, wholesalers create an artificial shortage of supply thus reducing the availability of the vegetables in the markets. The government does not help in the matters by making statements like prices will remain high for the next 7-10 days. Such statements further create artificial increase in demand thus raising the prices further. There are statements from the wholesalers like “If people can afford to spend Rs. 200 crore on a movie, then they can very well afford these prices”. Not sure how they decide what we can afford and what we cannot. It is strange that the government acts helpless in such scenarios. We all know what happens once the prices increases – it more or less never rolls back down. The winter months are expected to bring the prices back to normal or reduce them. Let’s see how the scenario plays out. Not too hopeful of the reduced prices though.  However, do feel confident that a lot of people will turn to Jainism if such a trend continues.

 

Day 19/ 365 – Diwali

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

The festival of Diwali is upon us and on this auspicious occasion, I wish everyone a very Happy Diwali (although belated). A lot of people nowadays seem to be complaining how Diwali has become just a festival of noise and how much air pollution it causes etc. While I like to call these people enlightened, I feel that they are forgetting that they were once kids who would indulge in bursting crackers – creating noise and air pollution. They were once the same kids who would burst firecrackers late in the night and not let people sleep or get up at 4am in the morning and wake every one up with their Rassi Bombs. And believe me, they used to enjoy it a lot too. There was certain fun that was to be had, after all it is Diwali and you don’t get to light fireworks every day.  I was one of those kids who used to enjoy Diwali – burst crackers and all. I still do. While I don’t burst crackers any more, but I don’t feel others should give up their fun. I understand it is harmful for the environment and all, but at the same time it brings immense joy on the face of the child when he lights up the flower pots or when plays with the sparkles. I know I know a lot of you would be saying that it is not the children who burst bombs. But then, there is a child in everyone of us. May be for some adults, bursting crackers brings out the child in them. As it is our day to day lives are full of stress, may be bursting crackers with the loved ones will bring enjoyment in their stressed lives.

We have seen a reduction in the usage of noise producing firecrackers and pretty soon we would be moving towards a noiseless Diwali, which we would be equally enjoy. I think as a generation we are moving forward and it takes a some amount of time for the things to change. Until then for people who keep complaining about the noise, the air pollution and everything in between, I would just say – its Diwali, enjoy.

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.

kandivalinds16hc

Faith in humanity restored

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

I am regular follower of Reddit, even though the website contains posts mostly related to North America. While surfing Reddit today, I came across this story of a father of 4 children who inspite of working 2 minimum wage jobs is not able to meet his daily needs, has fallen behind on rent, electricity and water payments. He does not know how to explain to his children that they have no money to light a Christmas tree and they will have no water or light from next week onwards. As a last resort, this man posts about his dire situation in Reddit, not expecting help, but just to get things off his chest. The response from the Reddit community was tremendous, not only have people paid his water and power bill, they have also sent him plenty of toys and are taking him and his children to buy the tallest Christmas tree. It is because of stories like this, I keep following Reddit. As of right now, people have donated so much that he is actually helping others like him to have a happy christmas.

I am sharing the post from the man below:

“As I sit here writing this I am half tempted to stop. Why? I ask myself, what is this going to solve? But for some reason typing this and facing this makes it hurt less. I have four children ages 11, 7, and twin boys who are 3. This year has been absolutely miserable. After living with my girlfriends parents for years to get on our feet we did it at the beginning of this year.

I was promised a promotion at work which would bring in MUCH more money and we could live comfortably, however that did not happen. My brother was murdered in a Rite-Aid a few months ago, I suffered a broken leg and missed work for a month, and our bills fell behind and I fell into a deep depression.

I have been paying rent, but late every month. Often times not being paid until the 15th of the month. I hate having to sacrifice paying either the power or water bill, or just not getting gas in the car for the week. Christmas is now here, and my kids are asking me why we don’t have a Christmas tree? How am I supposed to tell them that we can’t afford one?

I have sold all of my stuff worth of any value to be able to pay some bills and I have nothing left. My power is due to be cut off on December 10 because of a $400.00 past due balance, my water is due to be cut off December 10th as well due to $120.00 past due. And of course all this comes full circle in December.

I just got off the phone with my landlord asking in a not so happy tone when the rest of Decembers rent would be paid. I feel like a complete and utter failure. It pains me to my core, and nothing hurts more than seeing my kids go without. I honestly don’t think I can bare to look into their eyes on Christmas morning, and what I will say.

Or what I will say on Monday when we have no power or water. I am working two minimum wage jobs, and their mother is working full time as well, yet we are barely scraping by and can’t get caught up because of the month with no income. If there was only a way to get caught up we would be ok. But playing catch up with past due balances in coming full circle.

I just wanted to vent, and perhaps cry a little, for the pain I feel for my kids. I hate myself that I could of not done better, or I could have a better job with more income. I am supposed to be a father and a provider and I can’t even do that. I am dreading Christmas morning, and wish I can just escape all of this.”

Motivational

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

The below dialogue is from the movie Rocky Balboa and it is one of best motivational dialogues.

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

 

 

Parking on the road

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Everyday while I returning from work, I pass through a 2 lane road. The best part of the road is it is entirely covered with trees. However, the sad part is cars are parked on both sides of the lane reducing the 2 lane road into 1 lane. Thus forcing vehicles traveling from both the directions to use the same lane. I am not sure if any accidents have occurred on that road but am pretty sure an accident is waiting to happen on that road esp. at night where people think of their vehicles are ferrari and drive fast.

The cause of this problem is with incomes rising faster, a lot of people have multiple cars in their households, however just one parking slot resulting in the cars being parked outside on the road. The other rule which most societies follow nowadays is visitors parking is not allowed in the society compound. This also results in people parking their vehicles on the road during the day time or in the evening during the weekends.

I think the traffic police should enforce the towing rules strictly. Currently there is hardly any impact of the vehicles being impounded. Also BMC should pass a rule which overrules the society rules and allows visitors parking in the society. This should be esp. applicable for the buildings which are on the main road. The last idea is a bit radical, the government should put restrictions on buying the 2nd car i.e if there is already a car in the household, the 2nd car should be taxed much higher. This will ensure that people think twice before buying a 2nd car. This will also help the environment as there would be less pollution, making this city a better place to live.

Death of an ex-colleague

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

2 days ago, while going through status updates on Facebook, I read an update from a friend who shared the news of an ex-colleague, lets call him S, who had passed away. The news was very shocking for me. I inquired with my friend for the details of the tragedy. S had jaundice a couple of weeks ago and he suffered a relapse of the same. My friend informed me that apparently S didn’t have the money to get himself treated at a good clinic/hospital. I asked my friend, why S didn’t take the mediclaim under company healthcare policy. Then I realized – he was paid on cash basis.

One of the sad parts of working in a domestic 3rd party BPO is that the salaries for employees can go really low, sometimes in the range of 5k-7k a month, which in a city like Mumbai is peanuts. When organizations hire employees at such low wages, they offer the employee the choice of getting the salary in cash or via normal payroll. When an employee chooses to get paid in cash, he does not have deductions like PF, PT and income tax. This way the employee gets more take home salary. However, getting paid in cash also means that the employee is not on the payroll of the organization and therefore, does not get benefits like PF and health care.

S couldn’t get himself treated because he couldn’t afford the treatment which made realize that there are so many people like S out there. In our daily lives, there is a lot of money which we spend on things which we don’t really need. Instead of spending that money, we can donate that money to a charity which will help people who cannot fend for themselves. May be such actions will make the world a better place to live in for all of us.

Rock on

~ Akshay ~ 3 Comments

Finally, I got a chance to watch Rock On on the big screen and to be honest, it was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Farhan Akhtar is seriously talented. The music was also awesome. I really liked the closing number, it was really full of “Magik”. The best part about the movie was.. the message. You live only once, so do what you really like doing. There are so many people who are in jobs in which are totally in opposite to what they would want to be doing. I was speaking to my Bhabhs after watching the movie, and told her that I just want to enjoy my life and not worry about anything else. Just live my life to the fullest and enjoy every moment of it. Do what I want to do rather than do something which I hate. I really hope I could end up doing that.

Life in a busy lane

~ Akshay ~ 5 Comments

The last week has been pretty hectic for me work wise. I am now working from the Chembur office in Mumbai and have been shuttling between 3 offices. A lot of work has been thrown in my direction right from driving a certain process to developing a certain process and handling a new process. So a lot of things are there to be done. Right now, my number one concern is the commute. The commute is a bitch to be honest, both by car and train. It takes a minimum of one and half hours either by train or by car. The traffic in the city is horrible. There are way too many cars, buses, autos, animals and humans on the street. It takes forever to get from one end of the city to another. The train journey is also not any better. I have to change 3 trains to get to Chembur and traveling during the rush hour is just a train too many. Anyways, I guess this is how life is going to go on until I am here in this city. Really looking forward to going somewhere else.

Uninteresting phase of life

~ Akshay ~ 2 Comments

I believe the current phase of my life is very uninteresting. The reason I say this is because working 6 days a week in the office does not leave with anything to do. The entire Sunday, I spend either playing computer games or watch TV. I don’t feel like doing anything. It can get very frustrating. The same old life routine during the week also gets to me. Wake up, gym, shower, work, come home, dinner, sleep everyday. Nothing changes in between. period.