Dont know if you folks follow TED, but if you haven't already checked out, check out this link you would be amazed.
India needs more of such practical people than bookish knowledge.And it definitely needs people who dream big and go after it. Its a pity that Indian community somehow becomes complacent quickly and is very risk averse. You go and tell someone you wanna try something new and 90% of people would say why do you want to take risk when you are properly settled, blah blah blah.. But what is life without taking risks for what you believe in? As a community we need to encourage people to take risks, better themselves and reward even those who failed while taking risks. We need to change our mindset and help, encourage the people who want to make a difference in the world.
I've become immune to the feeling that I should continue to work in the same field as what I spent my schooling in. More and more I realize that given a chance and if I were properly exposed earlier in life, I would've not chose engineering :) (dont get me wrong, i love engineering, it equipped me with lovely skills that i can use in daily life and i see most people struggling with them). i seem to miss the social aspect completely. i dont feel i am being useful to society directly. compare me to a doctor or a dentist or a nurse (who needs much less education than we do) and getting that constant feedback from the people you directly serve. i think thats lovely. what i think i am trying to say is that personal satisfaction of feeling that what you are working towards matters to some one is truly amazing.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Italy tour - Vatican
Vatican is the smallest country in the world and probably the place every Christian wants to visit at least once in his/her life time. It is also very rich, population growth of almost zero % (it is +ve due to swiss guards who can have kids). They have their own currency, their own shopping malls (with no taxes), their own army, and almost everything you would like to have in any affluent country. By the way Vatican is the smallest country in the world.
Allocating a day should be more than sufficient in Vatican, unless you want to waste time in the lines and / or want to explore the city in full details. It is a great city, take time to absorb the beauty and grandeur. Don't haste here. If you can afford, take a guide with you and get every thing explained. It has very interesting history.
Here are the places we visited and my opinions on those places.
Vatican Museum
Probably the largest museum in the world (so they claim), it has more than 1500 rooms. These are private collections of popes (about 200 of them ). I wonder how rich the Popes must have to even get such a large private collection. It is full of frescos, wall hangings, paintings, sculptures, beautiful corridors. It would take almost 11 days to go through the museum even if you spend only 10 mins per room :). You have guides who walk you though the highlights of the museum. We just took one of those tours. They are expensive but save you loads of time since you can get to skip the usually very long line in front of museum. The guide was very engaging and explained various paintings, sculptures, their history and some not so great things that you would like to share with kids :). Overall it was damn impressive.
One of the ceilings had a great painting which I thought was an etched sculpture on the top. here is the picture of the same. Apparently this a common technique in painting (called French style or something)
St. Peter's Basilica
No doubt the grandest of all the churches you would ever see, this is the largest church in the world. It is so damn huge that it takes a while to walk from one side to another. It has the famous Dove window by Bernini, the works of Michelangelo (piata and some paintings) and beautiful St. Peter's Center altar. If you look down you can see underground rooms (think Angels and Demons). Oh yeah you can also see where the Camerlengo sets himself on fire in Angels and Demons :) It is beautiful to the extent you would loose interest in all other chapels and churches :)
Sistine Chapel
Home of the famous Michelangelo's fresco, it is considered, probably, the most sacred chapel in the world. It is pretty small when compared to other churches and chapels you would find around, but the fresco and the meaning that he wanted to convey is awesome. It conveys genesis, 9 part fresco and some other total christianity related stuff that I didnt understand much. This is where the cardinals select next Pope. By the way, you cannot take any pictures since Kodak owns the copyrights to the fresco :)
St. Peter's square
Its so huge that you can accommodate about 200,000 people at once. Its probably one of the best sights you can ever get. It is in almost a circle, with an opening at one end to let people come in and at the other end is the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. All around you would see tall cylindrical pillars and a beautiful corridor. In the middle is where you find another fountain, beautiful as everything around it. (this is where a dead guy is found in Angels and Demons).
Allocating a day should be more than sufficient in Vatican, unless you want to waste time in the lines and / or want to explore the city in full details. It is a great city, take time to absorb the beauty and grandeur. Don't haste here. If you can afford, take a guide with you and get every thing explained. It has very interesting history.
Here are the places we visited and my opinions on those places.
Vatican Museum
St. Peter's Basilica
No doubt the grandest of all the churches you would ever see, this is the largest church in the world. It is so damn huge that it takes a while to walk from one side to another. It has the famous Dove window by Bernini, the works of Michelangelo (piata and some paintings) and beautiful St. Peter's Center altar. If you look down you can see underground rooms (think Angels and Demons). Oh yeah you can also see where the Camerlengo sets himself on fire in Angels and Demons :) It is beautiful to the extent you would loose interest in all other chapels and churches :) Sistine Chapel
Home of the famous Michelangelo's fresco, it is considered, probably, the most sacred chapel in the world. It is pretty small when compared to other churches and chapels you would find around, but the fresco and the meaning that he wanted to convey is awesome. It conveys genesis, 9 part fresco and some other total christianity related stuff that I didnt understand much. This is where the cardinals select next Pope. By the way, you cannot take any pictures since Kodak owns the copyrights to the fresco :)
St. Peter's squareIts so huge that you can accommodate about 200,000 people at once. Its probably one of the best sights you can ever get. It is in almost a circle, with an opening at one end to let people come in and at the other end is the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. All around you would see tall cylindrical pillars and a beautiful corridor. In the middle is where you find another fountain, beautiful as everything around it. (this is where a dead guy is found in Angels and Demons).
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Italy tour - Rome
Landed as Rome Fiomucino airport. Immigration check was a breeze. Went to tour information, bought Roma pan and took a train to Rome termini. From there took a local subway to Cavour station to check in to Hotel. We were so tired that we just crashed until evening. In the evening, we went out to a walk starting from Piazza del Popolo down to Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, and then to the subway metro station to take it back to Cavour station.
Piazza del Popolo is a very beautiful plaza for people to meet, socialize, flirt and generally relax. As any place in Rome, it is full of scultptures, a beautiful fountain, and a great views around.
We went down walking in the streets and entered a good looking restaurant, and we had one of the best pizzas ever. Even though the food was a bit expensive, it was very delicious. After the dinner we went walking in the streets of Rome until we reached Spanish steps. As usual it was great with sculpture, another fountain and plenty of people just sitting around sharing a great time. Plenty of love birds and roadside romeos having fun and generally in a great moods. From there we just walked down to Trevi fountain.
Getting to Trevi fountain is damn interesting. You would go through small gullies, narrow pathways, and some dark ones too. You keep wondering if you are on correct path and voila there it is, buzzing with people, unbelievably crowded and just plain engrossing that you would forget the crowd around you. Absolutely stunning. Designed by Lorenzo Bernini (who is also responsible for bunch of fountains around), it is a must see if you are visiting Rome. Spend a bunch of time there, relaxing, just admiring the beautiful scenery.
Next day we started on our day long walking tour of Rome starting at Colosseum. There is no doubt about Colosseum being one of the seven wonders of world. Built around 70-80AD, it is by far the best historical monument I've ever seen. I was jaw dropped marveling its architecture. Imagining it filled with 50000 spectators hooting for the gladiators fight truly amazes you. I was totally baffled by their ingenuity in designing the colosseum, with almost every detail worked out. They even had lifts to get the animals up when gladiator is not watching. They had aquaducts coming in to fill the arena with water to make it entertaining for folks. Romans were bloodthirsty folks. Even though I am amazed by the architecture, I was kind of taken aback by what it is used for :)
From Colosseum we strolled into Roman Forum. This is where the action during Roman civilization used to happen. This place is full of arches. If a king wins a war, they build an arch for him. I have no idea why they build an arch instead of something else like a building :), but thats what Roman's did. It has Basilica, a market, the senate, a court, a church and best of all it is in a valley so that the people in palaces on Palentine Hill can just look down their balcony and see what all is going on. Oh yeah! it also has the place where Julius Caeser got stabbed to death :) (Et tu Brutus...). We strolled through the arches, the building and finally reached Palentine Hills. By the way if you were wondering how they built it, they got slaves from Africa to "help" them build it ;)
By the time we reached Palentine Hills we were a bit tired and hungry too. So, we just roamed around to see how big their palaces were. Interesting on the other side of the Hill is where circus maximus is. This is where they used to have charriot races. I think Romans used Hills for their homes and the valleys for socializing. Great concept. Circus Maximus is not really worth all the walk to it.
After seeing all these great monuments, we set forth to see Pantheon, the building that inspired hell lot of others including Jefferson's memorial in Washington DC. It is well hidden from the main roads. But the magnitude of the building is just awe inspiring. Its so hard to imagine that they could build such beautiful and strong buildings centuries ago (while the new ones that we construct now will probably not withstand a strong wind,lol). Pantheon is amazing, the art inside is beautiful and of course as with any other monument in Rome, it has a beautiful fountain in front of it. Dont forget to have a gelato near Pantheon, it is amaaziiinnnggg.
We went down walking in the streets and entered a good looking restaurant, and we had one of the best pizzas ever. Even though the food was a bit expensive, it was very delicious. After the dinner we went walking in the streets of Rome until we reached Spanish steps. As usual it was great with sculpture, another fountain and plenty of people just sitting around sharing a great time. Plenty of love birds and roadside romeos having fun and generally in a great moods. From there we just walked down to Trevi fountain.
Getting to Trevi fountain is damn interesting. You would go through small gullies, narrow pathways, and some dark ones too. You keep wondering if you are on correct path and voila there it is, buzzing with people, unbelievably crowded and just plain engrossing that you would forget the crowd around you. Absolutely stunning. Designed by Lorenzo Bernini (who is also responsible for bunch of fountains around), it is a must see if you are visiting Rome. Spend a bunch of time there, relaxing, just admiring the beautiful scenery.
Next day we started on our day long walking tour of Rome starting at Colosseum. There is no doubt about Colosseum being one of the seven wonders of world. Built around 70-80AD, it is by far the best historical monument I've ever seen. I was jaw dropped marveling its architecture. Imagining it filled with 50000 spectators hooting for the gladiators fight truly amazes you. I was totally baffled by their ingenuity in designing the colosseum, with almost every detail worked out. They even had lifts to get the animals up when gladiator is not watching. They had aquaducts coming in to fill the arena with water to make it entertaining for folks. Romans were bloodthirsty folks. Even though I am amazed by the architecture, I was kind of taken aback by what it is used for :)
From Colosseum we strolled into Roman Forum. This is where the action during Roman civilization used to happen. This place is full of arches. If a king wins a war, they build an arch for him. I have no idea why they build an arch instead of something else like a building :), but thats what Roman's did. It has Basilica, a market, the senate, a court, a church and best of all it is in a valley so that the people in palaces on Palentine Hill can just look down their balcony and see what all is going on. Oh yeah! it also has the place where Julius Caeser got stabbed to death :) (Et tu Brutus...). We strolled through the arches, the building and finally reached Palentine Hills. By the way if you were wondering how they built it, they got slaves from Africa to "help" them build it ;)
By the time we reached Palentine Hills we were a bit tired and hungry too. So, we just roamed around to see how big their palaces were. Interesting on the other side of the Hill is where circus maximus is. This is where they used to have charriot races. I think Romans used Hills for their homes and the valleys for socializing. Great concept. Circus Maximus is not really worth all the walk to it.
After seeing all these great monuments, we set forth to see Pantheon, the building that inspired hell lot of others including Jefferson's memorial in Washington DC. It is well hidden from the main roads. But the magnitude of the building is just awe inspiring. Its so hard to imagine that they could build such beautiful and strong buildings centuries ago (while the new ones that we construct now will probably not withstand a strong wind,lol). Pantheon is amazing, the art inside is beautiful and of course as with any other monument in Rome, it has a beautiful fountain in front of it. Dont forget to have a gelato near Pantheon, it is amaaziiinnnggg.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
New Year Resolutions
I dont remember the last time I had New Year Resolutions, but I did a list for this year. May be this means I was not satisfied with my performance last year. Anyway, here they are:
- Get in touch with my old friends and keep in touch
- Start a blog and pose questions soliciting ideas from others on how to solve them
- Try to set up a competition in SCH schools that promote entrepreneurship amongst school children
- Keep in touch with Trichy folks and keep abreast of NITT-USA group
- Go to gym at least 3 times a week
- Write blogs regularly
- Buy a home
- Read a book a month
- Get to know more about photography
- Become a small business owner and get it successful
- Read news at least twice a week
- Help at least couple of friends/family members achieve their goals
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Italy tour summary
This post has been long overdue. Not sure why I had it in the drafts until today...
=============================
Recently I've been on a tour to Italy and it was awesome. Just a few days in another country can teach you so much more than what you can read in books for a month. I intend to write all about what I learnt, what I observed and what I felt. To start off I will summarize my trip in this blog.
We have been to Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Florence and Venice. Let's start with Rome.
Rome
Of all the cities in Italy I visited Rome was the best. Just walking down the street and you would find a fine blend of history, modern life style and beauty. We visited colosseums Circus maximus, Roman Forum, Palestine Hills, Trevi fountain, Piazza del Popolo , Pantheon etc.
Colosseum is truly amazing. walking down there you can literally feel gladiators fighting, The Roman crowd cheering and admire the engineering that went into it. Imagining this 2000 years ago would just blow you off No wonder it made into Seven wonders of the world.I was so engrossed in its architecture and marvel.
Roman forum and Palatine Hills are close by and this is where most of the action during Roman times happened. They had markets, courts, churches, public stages which can be used to further ones cause it was indeed truly democratic. You literally walk the same place Julius Caesar walked. Just on the top of the hill are the palaces of the kings. From their balconies they can see almost everything going on in the city.
Rome is full of Pianos, Roman version of plazas when people can meet, talk, have fun. Almost all or them have beautiful sculpture around. pantheon's architecture inspired numerous buildings across the world including Jefferson's memorial and Lincoln memorial.
Vatican
The smallest country in the world but undoubtedly one of the richest per capita. It's museums and churches are testimony of the riches the country enjoys. St. Peters square is so huge that it can accommodate about 200,000 people at a time. and it is surrounded by amazing architecture.St. Peters Basilica, Sistine chapelare just so gorgeous that theydeserve all the credit they receive.Vatican museum is full of sculptures,paintings and frescos, very gorgeous.
Naples
Probably the worst city we visited. The only season to visit Naples is to go to Pompeii and see the Natural museum where they have the display of things excavated from Pompeii. The location in which Naples is amazing. Mountains on one side and ocean on the other. It does provide some beautiful views.
Pompeii
A city that was destroyed in 76 AD , it was frozen in time by the lava from Mt. Vesuvius that engulfed it. Pompeii in its peak time must have been way ahead of other cities. they had markets, churches, amphitheatre that can host 50000 people and from anywhere you get awesome views to Ocean. The most interesting part is their street cleaning system. They drain water down the streets.
Florence
Home of Uffizi, Academia etc but we truly felt Florence is hyped. Except for David and couple of other paintings in academia they can close it. Uffizi gallery was good but it doesn't deserve so long lines. City of Florence is very small and there is hardly a time you would need to take a bus. Duomo was very interesting and there are some good Piazzas around.
Venice
Truly a marvelous story and city, built an a lagoon that is sinking, it offers a great experience that is unique to this place. Cruise down the Grand Canal, walk in the streets of Venice , visit Murano glass factory and have fun at San Marcos. These are the things to doin Venice.transportation is damn slow on water buses called Vaperetti. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the slow life style.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Year End Tax Saving Tips
Ok! So it is year end. Everyone is in festive moods. Great! Lets have some fun with friends and family. Sit around the table and talk about all the crazy things that happened this year. While doing so lets also discuss about taxes, tax saving tips. Remember we have until December 31st to make adjustments and be wise about saving taxes.
First thing we need to do, of course, is to see how we fared so far in the year. Since it is almost end of year, any recent pay stub should tell you how you are faring so far. Check your pay stub to see your income. Get a rough estimate of taxes you gonna pay. You can find the tax table here. Once you got that, here are some of things you can do to save taxes.
Increase your IRA contributions
I know bunch of folks who feel that contributing to retirement is a waste of money. In fact I met few people who think they wont live long enough to see the fruits of 401K. Well, whatever reason they give, it ultimately boils down to the fact that they want to see hard cash right now in their hands rather than years later. Few people think they wont have enough bank savings if they put the funds in 401K. It might be so, but you have to check your assumptions with the facts.
Check your savings/checking accounts and see how much you saved over the year. If the amount is 3 times your monthly salary, it is excess for a single person, and if it is more than 5 times your monthly salary, it is excess for a family person. Money lying around in bank is almost useless money. As Warren Buffet says "cash is probably the worst investment." Contribute part of that savings to your IRA, let the money grow. More often than not, your employer matches the contributions and hence you get free money. Contribute something, a little, whatever you are comfortable with at least to get that free money. Dont you go buy clothes from Macy's if they have BOGO offer. So why is this different? Put money in 401k and save taxes, grow your money.
Clean up your closet
How on earth would cleaning your closet help you reduce taxes? The trick lies in what you do after you clean up. I am sure you accumulated bunch of clothes over the year and you no longer wear few of them, or you feel they are old and hence dont use anymore. Most people just throw them into dumpster. Such a waste. There are people who might actually think that those clothes are luxury. You may want to consider donating them to charities like Goodwill who would donate it to people in need. You would indirectly be helping community, reducing waste, be more environment friendly and get tax deductions on your contributions. Make sure you get a receipt from them. I did this exercise last year and guess what why contributions came up to? A whooping $463. I never realized when I donated, but after a while when I was filing my taxes thats how much I got after calculations. I donated my old clothes, shoes, stereo set, key board, some electrical appliances, books etc.
Consider volunteering work
Volunteering not only gives tremendous personal satisfaction of helping community but can save taxes for you. Any work that you do for volunteering is tax deductible. Any mileage that you drive for volunteering is tax deductible. There is a charity which arranges for rides for senior citizens who cannot drive themselves. Think of them as your grandparents and give them a ride to the grocery store, airport or wherever they want to go. It is very very refreshing and you get to hear their amazing stories.
Consider selling your investments for loss
This might sound crazy to you and of course this is not applicable to all. If you have an investment portfolio and you see you did well in couple of places and not doing so well in other places and you doubt your recovery, may be it is time to sell those and take losses. All losses are tax deductibles. You can compensate the gains you made on other parts with the losses.
I deliberately left out ideas like claiming job search expenses, student loan interests, etc since there is not much you can do now. These can anyway be taken as tax deductibles even though you dont do anything now. I will summarize tax preparation check list in another post some time soon.
If you have a tax saving tip, do share it with us, so that we can grow as friends together and get maximum tax benefits out.
Happy holidays folks!
First thing we need to do, of course, is to see how we fared so far in the year. Since it is almost end of year, any recent pay stub should tell you how you are faring so far. Check your pay stub to see your income. Get a rough estimate of taxes you gonna pay. You can find the tax table here. Once you got that, here are some of things you can do to save taxes.
Increase your IRA contributions
I know bunch of folks who feel that contributing to retirement is a waste of money. In fact I met few people who think they wont live long enough to see the fruits of 401K. Well, whatever reason they give, it ultimately boils down to the fact that they want to see hard cash right now in their hands rather than years later. Few people think they wont have enough bank savings if they put the funds in 401K. It might be so, but you have to check your assumptions with the facts.
Check your savings/checking accounts and see how much you saved over the year. If the amount is 3 times your monthly salary, it is excess for a single person, and if it is more than 5 times your monthly salary, it is excess for a family person. Money lying around in bank is almost useless money. As Warren Buffet says "cash is probably the worst investment." Contribute part of that savings to your IRA, let the money grow. More often than not, your employer matches the contributions and hence you get free money. Contribute something, a little, whatever you are comfortable with at least to get that free money. Dont you go buy clothes from Macy's if they have BOGO offer. So why is this different? Put money in 401k and save taxes, grow your money.
Clean up your closet
How on earth would cleaning your closet help you reduce taxes? The trick lies in what you do after you clean up. I am sure you accumulated bunch of clothes over the year and you no longer wear few of them, or you feel they are old and hence dont use anymore. Most people just throw them into dumpster. Such a waste. There are people who might actually think that those clothes are luxury. You may want to consider donating them to charities like Goodwill who would donate it to people in need. You would indirectly be helping community, reducing waste, be more environment friendly and get tax deductions on your contributions. Make sure you get a receipt from them. I did this exercise last year and guess what why contributions came up to? A whooping $463. I never realized when I donated, but after a while when I was filing my taxes thats how much I got after calculations. I donated my old clothes, shoes, stereo set, key board, some electrical appliances, books etc.
Consider volunteering work
Volunteering not only gives tremendous personal satisfaction of helping community but can save taxes for you. Any work that you do for volunteering is tax deductible. Any mileage that you drive for volunteering is tax deductible. There is a charity which arranges for rides for senior citizens who cannot drive themselves. Think of them as your grandparents and give them a ride to the grocery store, airport or wherever they want to go. It is very very refreshing and you get to hear their amazing stories.
Consider selling your investments for loss
This might sound crazy to you and of course this is not applicable to all. If you have an investment portfolio and you see you did well in couple of places and not doing so well in other places and you doubt your recovery, may be it is time to sell those and take losses. All losses are tax deductibles. You can compensate the gains you made on other parts with the losses.
I deliberately left out ideas like claiming job search expenses, student loan interests, etc since there is not much you can do now. These can anyway be taken as tax deductibles even though you dont do anything now. I will summarize tax preparation check list in another post some time soon.
If you have a tax saving tip, do share it with us, so that we can grow as friends together and get maximum tax benefits out.
Happy holidays folks!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
New Digital SLR Camera
I wonder which SLR camera to buy. My constraints are around $600, mostly automatic, just for a beginner in photography, not too bulky so that I can carry it with me on travel easily.
The ones under consideration are:
Wondering if any of you have any idea on which one to buy.
The ones under consideration are:
Wondering if any of you have any idea on which one to buy.
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