Work for thyself

One upon a time, in small city, lived an architect named Raju; he was working for ‘Fast Construction Company’. He earned his living by designing houses in the city. He is well known, As his construction becomes the landmark in the city. His dream is to construct a house for him, which has all the luxury and everything put together from all the houses he had designed. So he was saving a certain amount from his salary every month to able to construct a house when retires.

The employers of Raju, Fast  construction company were very happy with his work and always appreciated him with perks and promotions. They even made Raju as the brand ambassor for the company.

Raju was very happy with work he is doing and worked even harder to make his employers happy. As his earning grew multi folds, his saving also grew likewise. He was happy that he would able to save sufficient money within few years so that he can start working on this dream house.

Raju Married a beautiful girl and they were content with what they have and never purchased anything that is unnecessary. They both were satisfied with what they had and have sacrificed all little desires of trying something new. Raju’s wife wanted to travel the around the world and see new things but never said this to Raju, because she cared about the his dream.

Raju somehow learnt about his wife’s dream, he wanted to fulfill her dream so he started to work extratime to save more money and thinking , "Once sufficient amount is saved, he will retire , go around the world with his wife and then start working on his dream house”. So he put all his mind, body and soul into the work and forgot to even care about his wife.

The company grew multi folds along with Raju, They began to construct house in different cities and earned Name, Fame and Huge profits. They always appreciated Raju with perks and promotion’s.

Year passed on and finally Raju looked at his savings and thought that he had sufficient money and decided to work on his dream house and plan for the world trip. So he went to his employer and told about his retirement plans.

The Employer “Fast construction company” was sorry to see his best workers go and they did not have a back plan for this, Therefore they asked Raju if he could build just one more house as personal favor and this would be his last work in the company.

Raju could not say NO to his employer who took care of him very well. So he said to himself, one last house and then I can work on my dream house. He started his work, but as the time passed, his heart was not in his work, and he began to think how he can complete the house quickly. He bought inferior materials to build the house. His plan was shoddy, did not have all the details, so he had to rebuild few parts of the house again to incorporate few changes and fixed the issues that came up in the nick of time.

Finally the house was completed, he himself felt very bad about the house and thought " As i am not going to live in it who cares".

Meanwhile, Raju‘s employers were busy in preparation for the his farewell as they thought the company’s success was due to Raju's hard work.

As usual, it was time  to inspect the house which was done by 2 or 3 people from the Fast construction company, but this time, hundreds of the people along with CEO of the company came, which surprised Raju, but he was confident that they will not be able to find any defects as his patch work was good.

Raju handed over the Keys to CEO to inspect the house, The CEO, Handed back to Raju and said, “This is your house now ….  Our gift to you, as token for all the work you have done to make our company successful”. We wish you happiness in you future. The employees also thanked and wished him luck and happiness in his life.

Raju was Shell shocked!!

(If he had only known, he was building his own house, would he done it all so differently? Would he want an unfortunate end to his dedicated career? If given a chance, would he do it much differently?)

It is up to us, we would not get another change to relive our lives, once the time is gone, it’s gone, whatever you do you cannot have it back, you can only make the present enjoyable. As someone said, “Life is a ‘do it yourself Project’ “, your attitude , choices you make today, will have effect on your tomorrow.

“Always work as if you are working for yourself,

You never know what is in store for you“- Khry

Note : The photos are for illustrious purpose only

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Know Thyself

The Prince

Once upon a time, there lived a Prince, who was tall, handsome and gentle, every girl in his kingdom and nearby kingdoms wanted to marry the prince, everyone adored the prince for his kindness too. The Prince was lazy, happy go lucky type, always partied with friends and ignored his responsibilities. The king wanted the young prince to get married, so that he will be responsible towards his duties but the prince had few conditions of his own and said to the king, I will marry the one who meets all my conditions.

The King died to illness and prince was forced to look after the kingdom. The prince wanted to enjoy his life without worrying about his kingdom or his duties, so he  searched for a girl who can be loyal to him, contribute in maintaining his wealth and look after his kingdom.

Finally, the prince found such a girl and married her, the girl was very loyal and loved him very much, and she was even ready to die for the sake of the him. They started to live happily together.

Three Wives

After a few days, his kingdom was in trouble and the prince noticed that his wife could not help him in resolving the crisis. So he married another woman who has helped him to resolve problems, she was clever, considerate, humble and listened to whatever the prince said. The prince started to ignore his 1^st wife now and always turned to his second wife whenever there were problems and she would help him out and tide with him in difficult times.

The Peace Celebration

The Prince who is the king now, had to visit neighboring kingdoms for celebrating peace in the region. He reached there with his two wives, everyone greeted the prince and introduced their wife’s, they were beautiful and all the kings were proud of their wife’s. The Prince was ashamed to introduce his wives, so he decided to marry another girl.

The prince married again and now he is very proud of her and shows off her to other kings, but was worried that she might leave him and marry another person or king.

Few days later, he met a beautiful girl and fell in love with her, so he married again and adorned her with richness, treated her to delicacies, took great care of her and always gave nothing but the best.

Now the prince was happy and his kingdom is also very happy, Years passed and the prince was near to this death and was very worried that he will be all alone in the next world and wanted someone to come with him.

The Prince

So he decided to ask the 4^th wife, whom he loved so much to accompany him in this death. The 4^th wife responded, Even though you have taken good care of me and gave me nothing but the best. I cannot follow you and ran away. The prince was shocked and but did not lose hope.

He asked his 3^rd wife, who also replied ‘you have used me as a 'thing' to show off, now that you will die, I will remarry and live happily” and she walked away. The prince was dumbstruck.

After sometime, he asked his 2^nd wife, “You have helped me in difficult of times, please help me one last time” But she replied, “Even I cannot help you this time, you are on your own now” and left him.

Then suddenly, he heard a clear and sharp voice, “I will come with you “, he looked around to see his first wife standing there. At first he did not recognize her, as she was very weak, looked very old, she did not look after herself and dedicated her life to King and his kingdom. The Prince realizing his mistake said , “I should have taken care of you as you are the one who kept me and my kingdom safe and happy all this time without even uttering a single word”,  “I am sorry” and never woke up again.

If we observer carefully, everyone is married to 4 wives, they are Physical Body, Wealth/Money, Family/Friends and Soul

The 4^th wife can be compared to physical body, where a person spends most of his time in adoring and providing finest clothes etc. but in the end it will leave you behind

The 3rd wife can be compared to Wealth, Money, Status Quo, Pride, Assets etc, These things will be taken or enjoyed by others when we die. It might be passed on to children, family or anyone

The 2^nd wife can be one of our family member or friends. They will not come with us when we die, even though they are the closet to us when we lived.

The 1^st wife is our soul, No matter where you go, it will be follow us and everyone chooses to ignore it for the sake of the other things like money, material and Pleasure.

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul. -Oscar Wilde

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Money and SALT Part 2

Richie started first, saying 

“I have many Cars, many Bungalows, and Huge Bank Balances “.

I have earned all this in just 5 years. I don’t think so you guys would not have even dream't of these things. I can buy whatever I want , I am never in trouble because I always buy my way through any difficulties, I never have to answer to anyone ,In fact everyone answers to me, I am like King and can do whatever I want and can buy whatever I want. ‘I have married the most beautiful women in the world and have world class security, body guards, you name it and I have it.

Middlie interrupted, so do you have a helicopter?

Richie said, ‘Yes’, ask me not what I have, and ask me what I have not.

Are you happy? A Clear but low voice was heard. It was said by poorie.

Poorie thought to himself about Richie as 'annoying and full of crap', so wanted to put an end.

Richie said, 'yes', 'of course' why you ask such a stupid question, I am happy because I have everything.

Poorie responded, “Really!”, ‘I don’t think so’.

Are you happy because you have enormous wealth? 'Or' Are you happy because we don’t have that much?

Are you happy because you can buy whatever you want to buy? 'Or' Are you worried because someone would buy it before you?

Are you happy because you married the most beautiful women? 'Or' Are you worried because you could not marry the person you love.

You have security guards because you are worried about your money and life and I believe it is not just because you have money, you have them.

Please answer my Questions Richie? Asked poorie, with a confident voice

Richie was dumb stuck, Poorie then said, look, you can buy anything you want but you cannot buy love, peace of mind. Look at me I am at peace, I have nothing but still I am happy.

Richie was mad at poorie for asking such question which showed him in a negative way. He responds “So are you happy?”, ‘You have nothing’, In fact you have ‘no life at all’, what good is that?. How can you say that you have succeeded in life?

Poorie was about respond when Wisie said, “Well, Well”, ‘I see you guys are having fun’. That’s good. Dinner is ready, let’s eat and then we can continue with the fun. All three followed Wisie to the table where dinner was served, Wisie specifically instructed each one to sit at certain place. Richie and poorie ate with some discomfort and Middlie enjoyed eating the food, but none spoke about it to Wisie.

After the Dinner, Wisie gathered all in the hall and asked,

How was the food?

All three unanimously said, “It‘s good”.

Richie and poorie did not want Wisie to feel bad as he had done so much for them.

Wisie then insisted and asked Richie directly, Let me know the truth, Richie initially hesitated and said I think, "It tasted salty", Wisie turned towards Poorie, he also initially hesitated and later said, there was no taste in the food it was like dull. Middle responded, No No, the food was really good.

The food severed to all is the same, isn’t it? , Then why do you think each one had a different taste?

The students were quiet and were looking at each other. Then Wisie explained that.

“Even though all had same food”, one key ingredient was difference on each one‘s food.

‘Yes’, you have guessed it right, the key ingredient was “SALT”.

“SALT to food is like money to life, when you have more, food will not taste good and when it is less, Again food will not taste good, but only having adequate ,it will taste better.”

You cannot eat salt for food or eat food without salt.

So remember do not run after money, do not give away everything. Earn to live and not live to earn. All three understood what Wisie meant and lived happily ever after.

NOTE: Please assume the food as Indian food with rice and its varieties

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Paper Rupee Currency – A Thing for Collectors

The currency used in India is 'Rupee' and has on it 'a promise by the Governor of the Reserve Bank", and that says the paper or note that you are carrying is worth what it says. The promise on the note or paper is significant because it the responsibility of Reserve Bank in preserving the value of the rupee. The currency in India is printed on paper. Therefore a paper is converted into amount or value just because of a promise by the Governor of Reserve Bank on that paper.

Paper currency was first developed in China; it solved many problems posed by metal coins. It is easy to transport, manufacture, and lightweight to carry. The paper required for printing Indian currency is still being imported from other countries. In Order to become self-sufficient, a state of the art banknote paper mill in Mysore is being setup by Reserve Bank.

India is self Sufficient in printing capacity of the currency notes, it has four Printing Presses throughout the country, two of which are under Government control and other two are under the control of Reserve Bank.

• Nasik (Maharashtra) and Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) - controlled by the Government; 
• Mysore (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal) - controlled by the Reserve Bank;

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) needs to prints currency not only to replace soiled and mutilated notes, but also need to print additional currency to meet the needs of the economic growth. How much or what amount to print depends on the many factor like growth rate, Inflation rate, etc.

Amount of currency printed = Replacement requirement + Economic growth requirement of the country

The most important factor to be considered is the while printing currency is security features to prevent counterfeiting. It is the responsibility of the people that they should be aware of these security features so that they can tell a forged note from a genuine one. Believe me, it very difficult to differentiate with naked eye. RBI has launched several awareness campaigns to educate the Public on the security features and uniqueness of Rupee.

Few securities Feature of 500 Rupee Note

If we have this information, then the people who intend to make counterfeit notes will also have, so RBI resolves this issue by making the replication of the security features technically complex and prohibitively expensive, and also by incorporating some additional security features that can be detected only by sophisticated gadgets and equipment.

January 31, 2007, RBI introduced the “Clean Note – Stapling of Note Packets” Policy. According to it, writing on the watermark window of bank notes is punishable under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act 1949. It also asked banks/organizations/individual’s to do away with stapling of fresh / re-issuable / non-issuable note packets and instead secure them with paper bands.  There was one instance in 2002 where RBI pulled up a public sector bank for continuing with the above practices.

Furthermore, RBI instructed banks to ensure that the notes that they issue through their ATMs are also pre-checked for genuineness and cleanliness. That is why most of times when we withdraw money from ATM; you will get new/fresh notes.

Managing the paper currency is a tedious process. The major reason is the speed at which each note is being transferred from one person to another person, I.e. Changing of hands and the second is the ease at which counterfeits notes can be made. The average life span of a paper currency note is expected about 1 year, Also it has become quite cheap and easy to print fake paper currency.

We as people most of the times write something or other in the notes, this is punishable offense. Because of this habit as I may call, the notes are not clean and it will be returned to Reserve bank, As more and more currency are being returned to Reserve bank due the non-Cleanliness of the notes, Reserve Bank increases the amount of currency to be printed and this will in turn decrease the value of the money, also the cost involved in printing move goes up. 

“The more you print, the less is the value of the money”.

In 2008, Zimbabwe government printed more currency to save their economy and result was... 100 billion dollar note was worth only 3 eggs

According to the Reserve Bank of India, we are second largest producer as well as second largest consumer of currency in the world, next only to China. Therefore huge costs are incurred in producing such a large amount of currency.

One of the Options considered by Reserve bank of India is to replace the paper currency with plastic currency. Since plastic currency is stronger and durable when compared to paper. These notes would have an average life span of 5 years compared to one year for the paper currency notes, it is also ‘near to impossible’ to make counterfeit notes. Printing of plastic bank notes is very expensive and high end technology and equipment’s will be required. The disadvantage of plastic notes is it could be harmful to the environment as it is made of plastic. Therefore recycling and disposal of plastic notes will be added responsibility of general public and governments.

Click here to read an article "why the Canadian bank Plastic notes which is nearly impossible to make counterfeits notes" .

Australia was the First to introduce the Plastic currency, A Video on how the plastic currency is manufactured.

Reserve bank of India’s Press release on October 2002 is that, it had “no proposal to introduce polymer/plastic notes in place of paper notes”. Click here to see the Press Release

But in 2009, RBI announced its plan to introduce plastic currency notes. And now nearly after 2 years, the Indian government is set to introduce plastic currency in Pilot basis or trail basis with 10 Denomination notes (100 crore pieces of Rs 10 polymer notes). 

 Let’s all hope the pilot launch of plastic currency is successful in India and soon the paper currency of Indian Rupee will be a collectors thing.

References
http://www.rbi.org.in

“I was born intelligent, Education ruined me”

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Four Friends Episode 3

In the other Bus, Abhay sits beside a window, and Dilip tags beside Him, Abhay looking outside from window saw the college building and started to wonder ,” what would be my future”,  Is this it??, this is what I am destined for.

Dilip shook him and asked what happened.” Are you thinking of what Varun said earlier?”

“No” Came the reply

Then what is bugging you? , You look that you have lost something

No”, just look at the college, this is what we have chosen, now sure how our future would be! I am worried what will happen to us 5 years from now.

Worry about getting home now, Dilip said with his arm around Abhay

Remember one thing, “Diamonds are found only in coal mines”, so be happy, you know you could be the diamond in this coal mine… Joked Dilip

The Bus turned the corner and Building could no longer be visible. But Abhay was still lost in thought. He was thinking about what Dilip has just said, “Diamonds are found in Coal Mines”. So I could be the diamond here. No I will be the diamond here. Yes I will be the diamond here and feeling confident, turned to Dilip

Dilip was looking at Abhay said “’I know that you want be the diamond’, but Coal also got is worth. You need to give credit to it also. Don’t just throw them away, without the coal, diamonds wouldn’t be there. And Remember one thing, people will come and find the diamond only if they found the coal mine first.”

Abhay nodded his head in agreement to what Dilip said and looked out of the window and slowly lost himself in his own thoughts. Dilip was beside him looked at Abhay and said to himself I need to be careful when I talk to Abhay, he takes everything to his heart. Dilip looks around to see if he can find someone to talk too.

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Money and SALT Part 1

The story is about three friends, Richie, Poorie and Middlie. They were good friends and each one had their own ambition. Richie wanted to become the richest man in the world at whatever cost. Poorie wanted everyone in the world to be happy, so he always donated whatever he had to whoever asked him. Middlie wanted to be happy and did whatever he could do it to make other happy without his happiness being sacrificed.

They had their differences in opinion when they were doing a task together and always went an elderly person called Wisie for sorting their differences, and Wisie always took the side of Middlie. His actions angered the other two and wanted to prove their point to Wisie, So they have decided that they will meet after 20 year here at the Wisie one, who will be the most successful in their life with their Path to righteousness

They said goodbye to each other and went ahead with Zeal and determination to proclaim that their path is the best one and other two has been wrong.

(Round and Round circles)
After 20 years, at the place of Wisie

A plethora of cars came and a Limo which was 6th car in the line stopped in front of the Wisie house, Suddenly a number of people came out of each car and surrounded the limo, they were carrying AK47 and was looking here and there, By looking at the them , once can say that they are body guards, A person came out of the limo who was well dressed in suit got down and went to the rear side and opened the door, out came Richie, a first look at him would say that he is the richest man in the world, he was first to arrive and Wisie looked at him and said "Welcome Home"

Suddenly, Out of the dust created by the cars, a beggar came in with his eyes shining brightly and looking satisfied and greeted Richie, Richie Shouted back ,

"Get Away from me" !! , "you are dirty and stinking, you will spoil my clothes",
 "GO away”! "If you want money stand outside",
 "Go go Away",

and then he shouted at his bodyguards,
 
"Men”, "what are you looking at?? "
"Get this man out",”Drag him out"

Wisie soothed everyone's nerves and looked at the beggar closely and recognized him as Poorie and welcomed inside.

After sometime, a well-dressed man entered the house and greeted the Wisie, and introduced himself as the Middlie.

After looking at his friends, Richie confidence grew hundreds of times of being successful and Rich and was eagerly waiting for an opportunity to talk about his Richness.

Wisie was happy as everyone has achieved what they were after. He said, “Let us celebrate this occasion”, I will cook the best food in town. The three boys who always liked the food cooked by the Wisie and would cherish the food rather than eating at Town hotel, so they did not deny the request from Wisie.

Richie got his opportunity he was looking for and said "As it will take some time to cook, let us share what we have achieved in this 20 years while you cook. And all agreed to it

Richie started first ...Coming soon

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Four Friends Episode 2

The first look at the building of the college will tell that owners are interested make only money from their college rather than helping the students in building their strong career. Mahi, Dilip came to the college thinking that the college will be progressing like anything… and thought it is Progressive Engineering College rather than the SEC. The building was under construction and classes were taken with good amount of background noise. 

Fortunately or Unfortunately for the students, the college was around 40 km from the city and it made them interact which each other more often as there was no place nearby where they could go and cool their heels. The surrounding of the college was full of mango farms which were heavily guarded. So the students did not have any choice but sit around the big stones and chat.

The Lectures and professors of the SEC were from either retired from established university or Newbie’s starting their career in teaching. So there was good blend of youth and Old in the teaching staff of the college.

Varun was happy that he will not have to face ragging because that was first batch for that college, as it was newly established. Varun was chirpy and had a nick name ‘English Boy’ since he responds to anyone question put to him in any language in English only. He was good at making friends and always pulls everyone in any discussion.

“Oye English Boy, come here” called Mahi. And everyone in the bus acknowledged it.

Varun who was gasping for breath from running to catch the bus, Gives Him a Stare.

Mahi, if you are done with that (staring), come here now.

Varun quietly moves around the bus and Sits on vacant place near Mahi, “please do call me like that, and that too in front of everyone” in low voice to mahi.

“As if you are the prime minister of India and you feel ashamed of it, Comn, Everyone one knows that you are ‘THE English Boy’ in the class”…… giggles Mahi.

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