BUDGET SNAPSHOTS!!!

Hi Folks!! So once again the FM unveiled his finance policies for fiscal year 2008-09..So here's a quick look at what Santa Chidambaram had to give all of us.....!!

• I-T exemption limit raised to 1.5L.....As well, income tax to be charged @ 10% for income of 1.5L-3L, 20% for income of 3L-5L and 30% above that against the prior slab of tax charge @ 30% for income of 2.5L onwards.....That's a huge relief for high-income earners too!!
• I-T threshold limit increased for senior citizens from Rs 1,95,000 to Rs 2,25,000.
• 15% tax for Short term Capital Gains
• 20% hike in Education Budget to Rs. 34,400 Cr.
• Mobile handsets to become costier (Ooops!!)
• FM proposed a reduction in the customs duty on small and hybrid cars from 24% to 14%(GM, Hyundai to cut prices of small cars by Rs. 16000/-)
• A 2% general excise duty cut for all consumer goods to stimulate manufacturing sector (Those who waiting to buy your news fridge, oven etc etc etc...GO GET IT!!)
• Custom Duty reductions also proposed on sports goods and exports of gems and jewellery, helicopter simulators, domestic fertiliser production.
• Non-Filter cigarettes to cost more..(Beware all you Smokers!! Quit now at least!!)
• 5-Year Time Deposits in post offices and Senior Citizen Saving Schemes to eb included u/s 80C
• IT, ITeS sector allocated Rs. 1680 Cr. fund
• Excise duty on packaged software raised from 8% to 12% (All Webbies...CHECK CHECK!!)
• Proposal to reduce customs duty on specified life saving drugs from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. Anti-AIDS drugs have also got excise duty exemption!!!
• Rs. 433 Cr. allocated to IFCI for restructuring
• Commodity Transaction Tax proposed for Futures
• Paper industry to gain from the proposed excise duty cut
• No changes in import duties of Edible Oil
• No changes on liquor prices
• Also debt waiver and other relief schemes have been announced for small farmers (Pretty Good!!)

So quite many points browsed over!!! However, the markets din't seem to digest the propositions all so well, though sector variations remain!!....Even the recent Economic Survey is partly the cause of the ongoing trend in the markets!!....Anyways..me being a common girl or aam ladki in our FM's rhetoric ;)..do not have much to do with this moh-maya...hey hey.... ;))

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

What Is LoVe???

Sometimes I just think what would life be without the emotion called "LOVE", imagine life full of ego, jealousy, fraud and negativity..God!! the imagination itself is horrifying, sick and pathetic.....Subsequently, it also makes me wonder that how many know when they are actually in love or when its absolute love and not mere attraction?? As Swami Vivekananda once said:

Love can be illustrated by a triangle, of which the first angle at the base is fearlessness. So long as there is fear, it is not love. Love banishes all fear. A mother with her baby will face a tiger to save her child. The second angle is that love never asks, never begs. The third or the apex is that love loves for the sake of love itself. Even the idea of object vanishes. Love is the only form in which love is loved. This is the highest abstraction and the same as the Absolute.

What I mean to say is love is never temporal....when its love, its absolute love, its never half or a part, when its love, its complete though not many realize it or they do when that love is gone...so as this new week begins...I wish you all get hold of your absolute love and trust me you wont have to search for it....just close your eyes and reflect, you have all your answers within you....n as they say...LOVE CANT BE Searched for, It CAN BE JUST ATTAINED!!!

So Go GET IT!!! :))

SiX iNcHeS Above The gRoUnD!!!

This story is really cool one...!! Its actually true that when we make more mess of ourselves than the mess makes of us due to the fear and anxiety that prevails over us...You'll admit once you read this:

A small balding man stormed into a local bar and demanded, "Gimme a double of the strongest whiskey you got!" The bartender, noticing that the little man is a bit the worse for wear, pours him a DOUBLE. The man swilled down the drink and demanded, "Gimme another ONE!" The bartender pours the drink, but said, "Now, before I give you this, why don't you let off a little steam and tell me WHY you're so upset?"

So the man begins his tale: "Well, I am a salesman for this fancy goose pillows. I got an order and took several samples to an apartment in this neighborhood. I knock on the door and this woman opens the door. Now, the lady can't make up her mind, so she asks me to take the samples to the bedroom and check them there. As I get into the bedroom I hear some keys jingling, and SOMEONE starts fumbling with the door." "Well, the woman says, 'Oh my god, it's my BOYFRIEND. He must have lost his WRESTLING match today, he's gonna be REAL MAD! He won't believe that you are just a salesman. Quick, HIDE!' "So, I opened at the CLOSET, but I figured that was probably the FIRST place he would look, so I didn't hide there. Then I looked under the bed, but no, I figured he's bound to look there, too. By now I could hear the key in the lock. I noticed the window was open, so I climbed out and was hanging there by my FINGERS praying that the guy WOULDN'T see me." The bartender says "Well I can see how you might be a BIT FRUSTRATED at this point."

"Well, yeah, but I hear the guy finally get the door open and he yells out, 'Tell me, who you been seeing now?'" "The girl said, 'Nobody, honey, now have a glass of water and calm down.' Well the guy starts TEARING up the room. I hear him tear the door off the closet and throw it across the room. I'm thinking, 'Boy, I'm glad I didn't hide in there.' Then I hear him lift up the bed and throw it across the room. Good thing I didn't hide under there either." "Then I heard him say, 'What's that over there by the WINDOW?' I think 'Oh boy, I'm dead meat now'. But the woman by now is trying real hard to distract him and convince him to stop looking."

"Well, I hear the guy go into the bathroom, and I hear water running for a long time, and I figure maybe he's gonna take a bath or something, when all of a sudden the guy pours a pitcher of scalding HOT WATER out of the window right on top of my head! I mean look at this, I got second degree burns all over my scalp and shoulders!"

The bartender said, "Oh man, that would have pissed me off for SURE." "No," the customer replied, "that didn't really BOTHER me. Next the guy starts slamming the window shut over and over on my hands. I mean, look at my fingers. They're a bloody mess, I can hardly hold onto this glass." The bartender looks at the guy's hands and agreed, "Yeah, buddy, I can understand why you are so UPSET." "No, that WASN'T what really pissed me off."

The bartender then asked in exasperation, "Well, then, what DID finally piss you off?" "Well I was hanging there for hours, and I turned around and looked down, and... I WAS ONLY ABOUT 6 INCHES OFF THE GROUND!!!" ;))

A MoMenT oF SILENCE!!!

Have you ever experienced a moment in your life when you just ran out of words and you go...silence??let me assist you in recalling...

... the moment when you left your home for the first time and you look back at your parents who are worried that their son/daughter are leaving them yet happy that their child took the first step towards independence...

....the moment w hen the girl/boy you like most.. smiled back at you! You don't say anything.. you just smile back...

... the moment when you get better marks than you expected... those "numb" moments of ecstasy n surprise "is that true?"...

... the moment when you are parting with your old friend(s) and the train has just started... and you are standing on the door of the wagon.. waving "bye-bye" with your heart beating fast ...

... the moment after the HR manager has just called you and told you,” You are through! Congrats!"

... the moment when you sit alone in your room after having told everyone that you cleared that exam you prepared for 6 months!!

You can go on remembering your "special" moments! I had always wondered why I never said anything to myself at those moments.. as if it was "understood"... happiness, joy, pain.. all feelings just flowed ceaselessly in the 'years' that passed in those flash moments!

They say.. The best way to communicate is through "silence"!!!

Markets set to open higher!!

The Sensex finally snapped its losing streak yesterday, closing in the positive after 7 consecutive days of closing in the negative.. Retail report issued by the U.S. Government last night pointed to an unexpected increase in consumer spending despite rising oil prices, a choppy stock market and worsening credit squeeze in the real estate sector. Additionally, unexpected strong growth in Japan in the last quarter of 2007 sparked off a rally in the Asian markets which were up 2%-3% @ 9:30 a.m. .. So, worried investors, breathe easy, initial indications are that the Indian marekts may open in the positive for a second consecutive day..

However, Indian investors are still wary of re-entering the market. A strong closing of the market over a session or two will give some confidence to these investors. Indication are that a lot of investor money is currently waiting on the sidelines, investors are hesitant to enter the market currently but an improving scenario and strong closing of the Sensex and Nifty will lead to increased money inflows.. Advice remains to invest in stocks with a long-term horizon. Near-term investors would be advised to book their gains at every rally because the uncertainty is not out of the market yet. Experts believe that the markets may re-test the levels touched in January 2008 again before staging a comeback rally!

Received a funny mail today which took a dig on the stock market and the sale season going on.. Got it in a PDF format, trying to see if I can upload it here. But one good thing to come out of the market's downfall is that a few defensive stocks have come in the limelight. One such stock is Ranbaxy, the Indian pharmaceutical giant. The stocks of this company declined by only 5% in the period when the marekts declined by as much as 25%. This stock is a good long-term play and with the demerging of the NDDR business unit, an unlocking of asset value will drive the shares higher.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!

Hi Folks!! Guess most of you must be busy with your loved ones today without having time to check your mails or blogs.....he he ;) ya even I am excited about this day but not that I have some special plans but to see the luvly spring showering moments of love into many lives...... even if for a day, at least we take out some time to see, feel and realize the passion, the ecstasy of love amid the world of competition, ego and selfishness that we will live in....isn't this true??

Well many of us do believe (so do I) that we don't need a day for expressing our love to our dear ones..its a pure natural feeling and can be expressed any time, any moment, any month of the year.....but ask the value of this day to the couples who are busy with there lives and careers that they hardly get time for each other, for couples who after 5-10 years of marriage have lost that fervor, that spark in there lives...guys let me tell u this is one such occasion when your heart and mind says.."knock-knock!!! Do you remember the last time you told him/her that you love that beautiful smile of his/hers???" and things like that...also young couples who stupidly fight at little things or who are not able to express themselves, at least these occasions would be one when they can express there true feelings with the crowd, wat say??....well well I am qualified to that status guys...CHILL...but its my witty brain that acknowledges it all..ha ha ;)

All I mean to say is whatever be behind these Valentine's and Friendship's Day etc.....it just gives us some sweet moments to speak and understand the language of love, and guys even if you are'nt in love.....the breeze of love that flows today will give you some feel-good factors to take a life easy, to stop and feel and breathe...!!!! So here's me wishing all of you a luvly day with your sweethearts and dear ones!! :)) ENJOY!!!

The OriGin of Indian Stock Market!!....A Non-Economic NOTE!!!

Guess going through the following you would have a slight knowledge of how the idea of Indian stock exchange cropped up..its primarily for the beginners in this field ;)....have a nice time reading this amusing piece!!

Once upon a time in a village, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs 10. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.The man bought thousands at Rs 10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at Rs20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to Rs 25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs 50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at Rs 35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell it to him for Rs 50."

The villagers squeezed up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys. Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!

Welcome to the 'Indian Stock Market'!! ;))