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Synopsis:

·         High inflation rates in the economy: 9-10% during FY 10-11

·         RBI increased interest rates 8 times in this FY

·         Stock markets have reacted negatively (Sensex is down 10-11%)

Understand how and why:

I know I haven’t written anything since ages, but its better late than never. This one’s about something that affects one and all, some a little more and some a little yes. Yes, you guessed it right; I’m talking about the ugly monster, Inflation, which burns a hole in our pockets!

This financial year has been full of action with prices of everything skyrocketing and RBI constantly making a failed attempt to contain it. Inflation is hovering around 9-10% and the markets have reacted negatively (Sensex down 10-11%), perishing wealth of many. The common man has taken a beating from every corner. Let me explain the impact of high inflation on our daily lives.

Firstly, as we all know, prices of everything have gone up. From basics like onions, which were selling at Rs. 120/kg for some time, to drinking water to petrol to movie tickets, everything is costlier in comparison to the past few years.

Secondly, to contain inflation the Central bank raised interest rates, almost 8 times during this FY. Thus, money itself is expensive!

Some of you might wonder how does increasing interest rate help containing inflation and how effective is it? The answer to the first question is that higher interest rates make borrowing money costlier, because now a borrower needs to pay a higher amount as interest in comparison to earlier. This discourages many borrowers, who now find it expensive to borrow money at such high rates and thus reduces the spending. In short, it reduces demand.

How effective is the policy depends on whether inflation is caused due to supply constraints or excess demand. Supply constraints imply that the companies are not able to produce products at the same rate as the demand of those products. They are not able to produce sufficient quantity in time! Thus, in such a scenario, increasing interest rates is not of much help because it’s not solving the problem, which is of a supply constraint and not of excess demand.

If the inflation is on the rise mostly due to an excessive demand (positive outlook for a particular sector like realty or stock market or the entire economy in general), increasing rates helps to a great extent. However, at no point, any one policy alone is sufficient to control inflation.

Currently in India inflation is caused partially due to supply side constraints and partially due to excess demand. However, supply side bottlenecks are affecting inflation much more than demand factors. For example, a bad crop negatively affected the supply of onions and thus led to a tremendous increase in the prices!

Thirdly, due to high inflation and increased interest rates, stock markets have reacted negatively. Foreign institutional investors have withdrawn money from Indian stock markets due to high interest rates and inflation.

Now you may wonder why? There are several reasons for the same. Let’s take them one by one. One, inflation affects the raw material cost of companies. Cost of producing a good goes up due to an increase in inputs like labour, land, raw material, petrol, transportation, etc. Thus the profit margins of most companies reduce. To cover up for the reduced margin, companies hike prices of the goods they sell. Companies are not always able to pass on the increased cost of production onto the customer and have to thus bear a loss in profit share. This reduces the growth prospects of a company and thus its stock price reacts negatively.

Another reason for the negative reaction in the stock markets is that FII’s have withdrawn money from Indian markets. Their perception of the Asian economy has gone negative due to high inflation in almost every country. Most of the economies are interlinked with heavy dependence on imports and exports. A lot of economies have crumbled and have thus shaken the confidence in the entire region. Everyone is very cautious.

The two reasons combined have led to a negative reaction in the stock markets, due to which a lot of people have lost wealth, further aggravating the situation.

Though the Indian economy has done fairly well in comparison to other world economies, inflation has taken a toll on its growth prospects. What according to you should be done to contain inflation. Suggestions are welcome.

P.S. For those who wish to understand Inflation and it’s impact in greater detail, read Manish Chauhan’s post: What is Real Return and How Inflation eats your money

Airlines these days have become strict! I had to marathon to catch my flight and thanks to my running skills, i made it! It was one hell of a funny run. If anyone had come in my way, god help that soul. Lol

I’m smiling as of now, while writing this  hilarious incidence that occured today. I had smartly web checked-in last night and thus had the odasity to leave office at 4.30 pm for a 5.25 pm flight. My colleagues and friends expressed surprise but when i told them about my smartness, they were cool with it. What they and I did not realise was about my super smart move. I had not taken a print out of the web check-in ticket. If i had done that I was safe.

So after standing in the queue for 5 mins, i was informed about my super smartness. I had to run to take a print out. I ran so fast that other passengers started hooting for me…hehe, it was funny.

My troubles didnt end there. I could not find the mail. Thats when a Kingfisher staff came to help me like an angel. He took my ticket, gave me a boarding pass and asked me to rush.

Security check is no easy task. I rushed past everyone, excused myself, and rushed to the gate. The gate from where my flight was to leave was two floors down. I ran down the escalators and panting vigourously I finally made it.

One hell of an experience and lesson learnt, however, luckily not the hard way

Hopefully my next flight will be smooth. I wont be super smart now Take away: don’t be super smart! If you web check-in before taking your flight, remember to take the correct print out and only hand baggage allowed, so don’t stand in the queue at the ticket counter. Sayo nara

Has your car ever been towed away from parking lot or areas where there are ten other cars, but only your car got locked or towed??? If the answer is a yes to this question, this post is of interest to you. If the answer is no, i’m sorry to say but it soon will be…

The problem is not that the car is towed if its parked incorrectly, but the problem arises, when these people create conditions on purpose, so that someone or the other will get caught in this trap.

My car got towed away from in front of my building (you all know there’s no parking inside buildings in Mumbai and how expensive parking is!). First of all there is NO ‘No Parking’ sign anywhere in that area and secondly there is NO signboard which specifies how a car  is supposed to be parked, vertically or horizontally. So on what basis, did they tow away my car??? I want an answer.

Who is to be blamed for this discrepancy? Who’s answerable. To whom can I go and raise my voice to? I can’t argue with them, because they have my car in their possession. First thing on my mind is to get my car back! But I want to raise my voice, tell the whole world about it that it’s not fair and it needs to stop and hence this post! It’s like they have built dictatorship.

In Pune, Aundh area, they change the parking signs, literally every two-three months. Of course someone or the other will falter and bingo, they’ve got their pocket money! Who gives them the right to change the parking signs every now and then?  It’s become a full fledged business for these people to extract money in the name of  law! Is there no one else who has faced this issue? No one else who’s noticed this trick? I’m sure there are thousands like me who suffer every now and then! We all just need to come together and raise our voice against this dictatorship.

In Pune, there’s one road which does not allow two wheelers for some strange reason! The road is perfectly normal in size and shape and is not a very high accident prone area! Two wheelers not allowed on Mumbai-Pune Expressway is understandable. It’s for their own safety. But within a city, it’s not justified. Who looks out for sign boards “No two wheeler allowed”  within a city??? Specially if someone is new. And so this one of the two wheeler tragedies which I have faced. It’s just so crude! Had to shell out 200 bucks!

It’s very frustrating and I want to voice my opinion. I’ve even tried to argue with the cops that the sign board keeps changing every now and then and it needs to stop, but alas of no use.  If  any of you have been through a similar situation, you must all comment and come up with ways of putting this point across to these people. There must be a way to complaint against them. Help me find that route. Thanks and all the best to everyone including me for future disasters!!!

I’ve been thinking of writing from a long time, but the big city Mumbai never leaves me with enough time to actually sit down peacefully and pen down my feelings. However, yesterday’s incident compelled me to write. You must be wondering what happened, that I’m writing after 8 months!!!

Yesterday, while taking a 5 minute break from work, me and my colleagues went out of office for a walk. Kids who are usually cycling at this time, were standing near the gate gawking at something. We were obviously curious and thus went in the same direction to see what had grabbed the attention of those otherwise not so bothered kids!  A dog was roaming around on the street in a really pathetic and starved condition. I felt very bad and then inquired the guy standing at the gate as to why that dog was in that condition and where did he come from?

That guy informed us that the dog had been in the ditch for four months (I have absolutely no idea, where that figure came from!!!) and then he managed to find his way out of a small opening which leads to our block. In  fact, his head was stuck in the opening and that man had pulled him out.  He tried to feed him milk but of no use. The dog was in so much pain and had starved for soo long, that he couldn’t even drink milk or water. We could see each and every bone in that dog’s body and the painful yelps were giving me goose bumps!  The fact that the dog survived such starving conditions, was nothing less than a miracle. It literally seemed to some that the dog was taking its last few breaths!!!

That guy and other bystanders were feeling bad for him, but couldn’t do much except staring at him like he’s doing some amusing trick for entertainment. Standing there & pitying him is not going to help! I immediately informed Mayur, my friend and colleague who is also a former Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) volunteer. With no delay, he immediately contacted WSD for help. It took the volunteer an hour to reach the spot and take the dog with him. The moment WSD volunteer came and patted the dog with love and affection, we all felt assured that he’ll be taken good care of  and will survive.

The  important thing is, which touched me the most, until the WSD  volunteer came and took the dog along with him, Mayur stood there. He was busy arranging for someone to come and save the dog from that misery, making calls, trying to feed water to the dog, in short, just being there for him. He was deeply touched by seeing the dog in that state, it seemed he could  feel his pain.

In the end all I’ll say is that I am happy & content with the fact that the dog will be taken good care of and he’ll survive.

Recently I helped a lot of my friends in setting up their blogs on WordPress.  So I thought of writing this post to help others too. I’m sure there must be many more blogs to help you with WordPress but I’m trying to write from the perspective of a person who is an absolute newbie. Thus will take care to include and explain each and every step and keep it as simple as possible.

First let’s get it clear that you wish to start a blog, either because you are passionate about writing and/or you wish to make money from your blog. In either case as a beginner you’ll have many questions in your mind. I’m penning down some of the questions my friend asked me while I was helping her set up her blog. There may be many more and if I miss out on some, please add on to them so that I can cover them too.

1. What is WordPress?
2. How do I begin or how to operate it?
3. What should I write about?
4. How do I post articles?
5. How can I reach out to a large audience?
6. Can I change the look and feel of my blog?
7. What else can I do with WordPress apart from posting articles? Or What else can I do with my blog?

So if you are one amongst those looking to start a blog (Congratulations for a great decision) and are unfamiliar with the blog-o-sphere, welcome aboard.

I’ll take you through the entire procedure, step by step, starting from scratch. I’ll try my level best to explain everything (those who have more knowledge than others, please don’t get offended by extra explanations, just surpass them) since I did come across many who do not understand the basics. This is not surprising given the fact that even I was an amateur about a year ago when luckily I was introduced to the wonderful world of blogging and social media through a friend.

Well let’s begin step by step. In this post we will learn the basics of blogging.

1. What is a Blog? It’s just a name for a space on the web where you write to express yourself by writing articles. You can use images, media tools and objects to express yourself and it will be available on the net in a chronological order.  It is completely your space, personalised and represents you. So that you can write your heart out without any fear.
2. What is WordPress? WordPress is an open source application which allows you to manage content on  your blog. It has a lot of features to enhance the experience of blogging. For example, you can add your facebook, orkut, linkedin, twitter etc. profiles to your blog so that your readers can follow you and enables easy sharing. You can add pages, like About Me, Newsletter etc. as well as modify the look and feel of your blog. It’s a highly useful application and easy to use. Of course you may take some time to get used to it.
3. How should I begin blogging? You have to first sign up with WordPress and opt for starting a blog. Once you’ve done this, you’re ready to start. I’ll take you through the steps in the next post.
4. What should be my next step? You have to decide the purpose of your blog. Next in line would be thinking about your audience, i.e. who all will be your readers and what do you want to achieve through this blog? Do you just want to share your articles with friends or do you want to take it to a professional level where you start earning from it. It is also possible that you want to help your readers with some specific topic or subject. Whatever it is you should have clarity in your head. Once you’ve given it a deep thought and answered these questions, start writing and pour your heart out. Rest will follow.

Assimilate this much for day one, will take you through the steps of starting your blog on WordPress in my next post. Google any term you do not understand, else ask me!