why not stp ?

I am not an avid tracker of all these indices like sensex or Nifty . I have some of my friends who burnt their fingers not knowing what they were doing in the markets. Some of them were told by their mutual fund agents during the 2007-08 that indian exhanges can give you returns of 200 p.a ..What ?

Come on, lets be honest . For any stock to deliver 200 % yoy , the production needs to jump 200% . Agreed indian markets are huge and they have a lot of value .But expecting a ROI of 200% every year is just next to impossible . Investing in Indian equity would give you returns of abt 20-30% over a longer tenure , which is really good .

Taking their advices and tips , my friends investments have eroded big time .I for one never believed in stuff which generates short time happiness . I prefer long term . After some analysis, I did come to know that most Mutual fund AMCs have a product called STP .
Yeah Systematic Transfer plan . Whats so great abt it ? This is very much similar to SIP ( Systematic investment plan ) . But with a minor difference .
Here , you move the money periodically frm debt funds ( check my old article on this ) to equity funds instead of having bulk deposits . This way you if you are in the top tax bracket you save on tax on Savings account as well as you get the fruits of investment in equity . The only catch here is you might not have AMCs which are strong both in debt and equity . And you can have a STP only within a AMC ad not across AMCs.
All AMCs should have these products. You might want to try this product and let me know your feedback .

Madhu
-the financial expert .

Bus bookings

This might be old news .There are some sites that allow booking of buses online.
You might want to try this site .

KSRTC has this feature . But TNSTC doesnt .. Come on TamilNadu transport ,lon way to go ..Come out of stone age .

Madhu

Ttttt ?

New office ..new people , new characters . I am a slow mover amongst people . It takes time for me to get used to people. Its amazing how human mind makes impressions about people by just their looks . Infact I too made first hand impressions about a lot of people mostly wrong impressions .
I was getting close to Sundar who was my manager . Sundar was very talkative.Infact more talkative than me . People used to be scared of him both for his knowledge and his voice . I had no problems getting along with him .
As time passed one day he invited me to his house for a cup of coffee . You all would by now know that I am one of the greatest lovers of coffee not that I am addicted to it . Yaaru Coffee nnu sonalum I go with them without a second thought ..We got in the car and as we were travelling to his house .there was a quick argument on who was the best coffee taster . He said that he is an extensive coffee drinker . As the argument heated up, he brought about his visits to cafe coffee day in his locality . He also mentioned that star bucks in US offered him a spl rebate on account of his loyalty. He brooded that he could identify and distinguish variety of coffees by just a sip . Infact , he proclaimed his wife made coffee which was the best in the world . This was on expected guidelines . Now all that I could offer as an argument was I just drink one cup of coffee everyday but that it was a south indian filter coffee. He was laughing hither thither as we parked the car in his house .
I greeted Mrs. Sundar and their kutties Aswin Sundar and Megha Sundar . The beverage topic started again and the kids said that Boost is the secret of their energy and they wanted to be Sachins and Dhonies ..
Meanwhile , mrs Sundar gave both of us cups .As we were sipping sundar was enjoying , but my facial expression changed . This certainly wasnt tasting a bit like my regular coffee . Several thoughts were running in my mind , was this is a special Coorgean coffee, Ingy Coffee , Sukhu Coffee ? Infact this was tasting terrible . But how could I say this to my manager . I gulped this like a kashayam. Sundar was sipping his cup and called his wife to boast abt his coffee drinking and coffee identifying prowess . To impress him I asked her the recipe of this special coffee for which she silently replied that this was not coffee but Tea and that she didnt know to make coffee all through her life . What ?
I gave a wry smile to Sundar as we walked to the car .

Madhu
Coffee Champion .

Naatyam ...

Last friday one of my kalpakkam friends had invited me for a dance performance. His wife who is an eminent Bharatnatyam exponent was performing in Yavanika state youth center , Nrupatunga Road , bangalore at 6:30 PM . For whatever reasons,my inclination towards music is much
more than towards dance .I wanted to break this barrier and grabbed this
oppurtunity .
On dot 6:30 , the program started with an invocation to the dance Lord Shiva ,
in Revathy . The first thing I realised was the phenomenal stamina one needs to
have while dancing. A humble suggestion audience , pl do not pick up your mobiles while an artiste is performing . Would also appreciate if you can remain silent all through the performance .
mmm.. dance soodu pudika arambitchidhu . Right after the invocation the central piece the Varnam began . Unlike in a music concert where varnam is the starter in dance it is the core . Its like the RTP where the exponent can show all his/her talent . Madhu why do u have to compare Apples and Oranges ?
The Varnam was set to RitiGowlai ( for new comers listen to Azhagana Rakshashi, kangal Irundal ) .Sri Krishna vasudeva depicted lord Krishna leela . How beautifully the lady depcited Putana vada and shakatasura vada ( please read it as destruction not as an eatable vada :) ) . Lord Krishna becoming the
parthasarathy...Now I came to understand the dance is no less than music .
Certainly there is a visual appeal . Thanks to the lady performing .
Having done with the varnam , the track moved on to the Padam in Chinna jiru
kilyeah set to Ragamalika by Subby ( Thillu mullu style ) . The bhava of
mother child relation was just amazing. Good Job done again .
The lady singing to synchronise with the performer needs a noteworthy mention here . In all the renditions she brought abt the emotions to help the lady performing . Just a small suggestion madam , 'N', 'n' ,Gna in songs need to be relooked upon . Yeah I understand that diff lang have diff pronounciations ,but meanings differ if a wrong syllable is used .
If chinna chiru kilyeah was superb , The devar nama by Purandara Dasa
was a step further . This piece was the best rather I liked it the most .
Reason , because there was a posture of Lord Nrsimha my fav which the artist
brought about realistically .
I was just thinking , probably the theme today is only Lord Vishnu . Just as my
thought went through she started a performance in a Javali which depicted
a beautiful husband wife relation . Isnt this Raghava Prema ?
Dance without a thillana is a lunch without a desserrt . The dessert was
was in AmritaVarshini . Ok guys lets go home after such a wonderful evening.
On the whole it was a brilliant performance by the lady .Certainly appreciations to the singer , the natuvangini , the flautist and the mrindangist as well .
Great job done . My appreciation is minimal here as my knowledge in dance is
zero . I would have certainly appreciated the perf if I had known better .
Certainly the seed is sown , and I would get back with some more understanding
of the art .
Venaktesh , this academy has perfomances on every weekend on diff art forms.
Next week polama ?

Madhu
Thandava Koney

yet again..

I have got tired of writing abt terror . Past 3 days have really been tramautic for me as it has been for anyone in India .seeing the stupid idiots firing at innocent people ..These terrorists are just cowards . they do not know what they want . i have no words to abuse them .
certainly the NSG, police , Army , the hotel staff have to be appreciated . No words of praise can be sufficient .
aftermath , i saw ppl shouting and finger pointing at politicians , intelligence failure ..all of them said they want a better system in place. My point is out of the 20-25 ppl who wud have got interviewed , I am assuming 10 wudnt have voted.. 10 wud have tried to evade taxes .Now each of us are corrupt and ahve a systemic failure ..but expect the system to be perfect .the only way to correct the system is by correcting oneselve.Each one of us shd do our duties sincerely and then if we demand something is going wrong ..then nothing like it..But here each one of us are corrupt to the core including me ..But we want the system to be perfect..
My heart cries ...

madhu
- the warrior

Finally.....

I feel its just yesterday I came to Hyd . I looked at my calendar and realised that its more than 5 years that I have stayed here. The Gullys in Ameerpet and Begumpet know me very well.

I have had my share of ups and downs in my stay at Hyderabad. Beautiful events , very sad events have happened in this place.
Now its time for me to move on. Again all that I am going to do is fix / create more bugs as i have always been doing.As I always say as a computer applications programmer , there are only 4 things you can do ...SELECT , UPDATE , INSERT or DELETE ...But in a new place , new ways of doing old things..new challenges new expectations .. lets see whats in store ..

Bye Bye Hyderabad .. I am coming Bangalore ..



Madhu
--Last Post from the Nawabistan

Shoot Me if you can

Photo Courtesy : Olympics Site

Abhinav Bindra has won India's first individual gold medal in Olympics .Event: 10m Air Rifle .

I am just at loss of words in Congratulating the champion ... I was enthralled to listen to the Indian National Anthem during the award winning ceremony .I salute the great indian shooter .

You are ABHINAV "WIN" DRA.. Its a great day forIndian sports .

Cheers,
Madhu

Theory of relativity

After a gap of abt 3 years I picked up a book on Relativity . Yeah it was a real technical book and Thank god I didn't really struggle hard to understand .It took me some time to get on to the groove and then what I was driving the book pretty fast . Its altogether another matter that I had to refer back to google time and again to get my physics back in place .

Why is the theory of relativity so much acclaimed in physics world ? mmmmm.. The main reason is it redefined Newton's laws which were considered to be the bible of classical mechanics .What was it ? Heard of the great twin paradox .. Think on those lines .. Though Sir Einstein is treated as the guy for relativity , I would certainly contribute some of the relativistic principle's to Poincare and Lorentz.
Even though theory of relativity is a path breaking discovery , Einstein didn't get a Nobel for this discovery but got the Nobel for his work on Photo electricity .. Did you know why? Post your comments if you know the exact reason . ( I guess I know ) .

Hindu philosophy treatises relativistic principles in its own way . Did you know that one human year is treated a day for "Deva" .One Year of Deva is treated as One day for Brhma on all those ..Dont you see the time dilation or space time curvature in the umpteen stories that we have heard off during our child hood days ..

Talking abt relativity , I always felt Physics and Philosophy of life go hand in hand . Both of them try to think on the most obvious things around. Most famous people in this world are either physicts or philosophers . The reason is simple . Common people don't understand either of them :)....And I know that most people who read my blog wouldn't have understood me either ..
So Am I a physict or a philosopher or both ?

Relatively yours ,
Madhu

Timely Puzzle

I know its a decade I have asked a puzzle or infact posted something at all ..

Again its a sequence Puzzle which I got to know recently ( infact last saturday ). i am posting it coz I was able to crack it ...otherwise would I have ?

Ok ..The sequence is

1,6,11,4,9 ,......

Can you find the sequence ?

Cheers,
Madhu
--The titan

Philosophical Masala Dosai

Before reading this post , I would request u to read my other post on dosais. I relinquish my dosais fully . Especially masala dosais(MD) . The other day when I was munching my MD , I realised that eating MD was an art by itself !! yes ..i then started analysing how people ate their MD..To my excitement it did have a significant way in their way of life too ...
Let me put down my analysis ..
1)People who finish the dosai part and have the masala saved till the last moment. These people save a lot of money and use the money later.
2) People who are of the other kind . The ones who finish the masala first and slowly gobble the dosai part ..These are the people who dont care abt savings ..Spend and enjoy is their motto.
3)People who start from the middle and proceed to both ends..These are the people who like to get right to what they think is their best part of life.
4)People who eat the dosa making sure that the masala lasts forthe whole dosa.. These people are very rare. They plan their life systematically ..
mmm...these are my strange analysis ..Next time you eat dosai , i am pretty much sure
you would think abt this art of masala dosai and eat it carefully and not push it in your digestive tract..

Be careful ,eating Masala dosais reveals your character ..

Madhu
-MD in Dosai Philosophy