Income Tax going techie.

How many of us know that there is a way to see what is in store on your PAN account? As a PAN holder, you can view your Annual Tax Statement online. Interested? Here is the link for PAN Registration.

Once you register online, either you have to visit the nearest TIN-FC (Tax Information Network - Facilities Center) or they should come to you to authorize you to access the info online. Scary!!! There are so many ways in today's world to authorize one to access their account online without personal visits.

On reading this on today's New Paper, I was very happy to know that our IT department has gone a long way. Still a long way to go!!!

Bus Day Celebrations

During my college days, I used to take part in Bus Day celebration. We used to distribute sweats and gifts to all the drivers and conductors. Dance and music will be part of the celebration on a decorated bus. Though, it would be nuisance to the public we never mind.

Here in Chennai, the students hire the MTC bus for the entire day by paying the collection for Bus Day. The bus will driven thru' its path at a snail's speed with students around including the roof.

This is a public nuisance. Can't they do this without affecting traffic? Why are they wasting their packet money on this?

The questions I never bothered to answer when I was part of celebration.

Finally, it is here...

The News :-
"Helmets will become compulsory for two-wheeler riders in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Salem from June 1. The rule will be implemented in the rest of Tamil Nadu from July 1."

The government decided to pass this rule after two public interest litigation petitions were filed on this in Madras High Court.

The government reacted positively to the petitions and has decided to do something good to the public rather than announcing free-bees.

Exceptions

All most every company will have a defined policies for several internal departments like HR, Finance, Admin etc.. The main purpose of deriving these policies are to adhere to a standard approach across broad and to ensure that every individual is treated fairly.

Ironically, exceptions to break these policies will form a part in the policy statement. In practice, number of exceptions will always be on the higher side.

Why do we need to define a policy when we can give Exceptions?

I failed to find an answer. If anyone could, please let me know.

Interesting way to celebrate.

The way marriages are celebrated in the recent past has been changed and are interesting.

Incident 1:

Myself and my Dad attended a marriage of Mom's Manager's Son few weeks back when they were in Chennai. As practise, we also took a snap with the couple.

What is interesting here is that, the host has sent an copy of individual snapshot with the couple to all. Costly in-deed!!!

Incident 2:
I have got a chance to have a look at an invitation. Both the bride and groom are in US and the marriage is going to happen more traditionally in Chennai. Since they have expected few foreigners to attend their marriage, they have depicted the Indian marriage and explained each of the scenes in the invitation itself.

Not just to them, even to me it was more informative.

Good thinking, right!!!

Baby's Day Out

It is been two months now that Kirthik is in Chennai with me and Hema. We never took him out apart from taking him to a Pediatrician. Kirthik is not comfortable yet for long stay away from home.

Thangai & Priya treated us at Taj Connemara for their Marriage. As I don't want hema to miss this occasion and she doesn't want me to miss either, we have no option other than taking Kirthik with us.

We are all set with milk bottles and nippers. Thanks to Sidd for taking us in his car. Kirthik enjoyed his first trip. We enjoyed the lunch.

Kirthik used to go to bed once in every 2 hours. So, when the lunch was about to over,he felt sleepy and tired. But we managed to keep him engaged.

Once back home, he had good rest as if he organised the party single handedly...:)

Bomb Blast Near Panipat

The heart breaking news from today morning was "A bomb was blasted in the Samjhauta Express, runs between Attari & New Delhi, near Panipat railway station today morning. Unofficial sources have confirmed that about 64 were feared to be dead."

I can easily guess what would be reaction for next few days.

1) VIPS visit the spot.
2) Media will be covering the scenes exclusively. Interviewing survivors/victim's family/politicians.
3) Government/Police suspect X or Y terrorist groups involvement.
4) Opposition blame the government for not being pro-active.
5) A special commission will be formed to investigate the case.

So easy right!!!

What is happennig to the reports submitted to government by these commissions for ealier incidents?

I feel like all these for the VIPs & the government are just to console the public saying that they are reacting.

Don't read too much about their reactions.

Techie Vs Management

Everyone has to ask themself the below question at least once in their career.

"Stay Techie or move to Management?"

A tough call to make when it arises. The answer varies to individuals depending on their long term objectives. If you think that the movement is a career progression, think again. Both are different ball games.

What motivates you?

Being a Manager, you are responsible for others work. Failure costs your more. Will be able to learn how business, finance, marketing etc. works.

As a Techie, you are responsible for your own work. You continue to learn and experiment new technologies.

'Manager's are highly paid' is still a myth. Even Techie can earn more.

The question you have to ask yourself is 'Can you get the job satisfaction from the achievements of others under your guidance?' If the answer is no, stay Techie. If you believe the answer is yes, then go for it and try Management.

Escalations

In corporate world, 'Escalation' is a buzz word. Especially in IT industry, it used as a weapon to threaten people. Many here are misusing the concept of escalation.

The dictionary meaning of the word 'Escalation' is 'To Intensify'. ie, To give the extremity to the context.

Escalation can only happen when there is a change in behaviour, ie, from stable/acceptable to unstable/unacceptable.

In IT world, 'Escalation' is mostly used to refer reaching out to the next possible level of authority to get the work done. One has to be on top of the situation and language before escalating. Otherwise, conflict of interest will arise.

Freedom of Expression

Every year on Feb 14, there are two active groups. One who celebrate the controversial V'Day with their loved ones (Group 1 hereafter). Second who don't want to celebrate (Group 2 hereafter). There is a conflict of interest between them.

The group 1 is ready to accept the cultural growth, while the group 2 is more of conservatives and don't want to this west-anization.

All coins will have two sides, no exceptions but they should exist on their own.

In this case, when group 2 has all-rights to deny the celebration, they should understand that the group 1 also has all-rights to celebrate. Here whatz happening is group 2 tries to disturb the celebration of group 1.

Where is the 'Expression of Freedom' for all?

Itz everywhere...!!!

Most of us think only Sub-register office, RTO, politicians and traffic police are the symbols of corruption in India.

How about gas cylinder delivery man?
Domestic cylinder cost Rs. 288.15. Don't expect him to return the change if you pay Rs. 300. Pay him the correct change, he will ask for more. Be prepared for delayed delivery next time, if wish to deny.

Even Tax-payers, so called public, are corrupting by producing fake documents for their Income-Tax claims.

Everyone wants to enjoy that extra perk.

I can proudly say that I have never produced fake documents for IT claims. There are few people around me with same attitude. Setting an example will definitely change the world.

As Dr. Kalam said, I'm dreaming very positively to see the changes in future.

Sorry & Apology.

Being a foreign user of english, I am not familiar with the usage of few words.

If the purpose of using 'Sorry' and 'Apology' be the same, then what is the difference. In my search to find the answer, I found that 'Apologize' is more formal whereas "I'm sorry" is more heartfelt and also express pity or sympathy.

There are places where you can only use 'Sorry'. (ie) Only 'Sorry' can be used to mean "to feel concerned about something". For Example : "I'm sorry that you lost your job"

Coffee/Water are poisonous...

If you think venom's of Cobra, Wild Spider or Scorpion are more poisonous; think again.

Yesterday, I was watching some programme on National Geo. The program was about Poisons. I learnt that

1) 40 cups of coffee in an hours will be more dangerous.
2) 100 glasses of water in an hours will be still more dangerous.

Not sure whether one can have 40 cups or 100 glasses in an hour. What surprises me is that if any have it, it will turn poisonous.

What a deal... !

Today's talk of the town among business community is the Tata's aquatition of Corus Group, the Anglo-Dutch steel firm for £6.7 billion. Tata's, seen as the underdogs, won the deal by a margin of just 5 pence a share.

The auction made a bit of a history with Corus becoming only the third company — after Canary Wharf and QXL Ricardo — to be sold in this manner. The merger would create the world's fifth biggest steel company.

India going global...