The very needed attitude of verifying

In today's fast paced and ruthless world, people usually tend to agree with the stated without any questioning of the fact. When the sales guy in the saree shop shows a 9 yards saree and says it is 9 yards, you trust his word and choose the design and colour to buy. When the investment deposit form says Rs.25000 invested at 13.32% p.a. gets you Rs. 41650 in 5 years, you trust the calculation. When shop sales guy says the table I am interested in is 4 by 3 feet, one tends to strike a match with our requirements in mind and move to other factors.

But, in days of ignorance, marketing and plain lies, you should not trust what you hear on the face of it. In the first instance, when my mom came home and tried the saree, it was 8 yards, not the nine the shopkeeper confirmed it was. His defence on returning, everything we sell is 8 yards as 9 yards. Do look at the below picture: a part of the deposit form from Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd.: 

Turns out the actual rate of interest in the cumulative option of 5 years is 10.75% p.a.compounded annually, not the high 13.34% p.a. by which I was actually attracted to the scheme (13.34% is simple interest and why would any sane person look for simple interest in a cumulative scheme?). In the third case, the table shown to be was actually 4 by 2.5ft and not 4 by 3 ft. It looked suspicious measuring it by my eye and I asked for a tape to measure it. It was only 2.5 ft by width. The sales guy only had a sheepish smile to respond with.

Such are the various cases of buying in today's world. It usually was in finance, a phrase called "Buyers beware", but in today's case, almost every single fellow is up to tricks fooling customers.

The concept of trust cannot be blindly held. A more sane logic of he is the expert of things and we should trust him also does not find meaning nowadays. The shopkeeper knows that the worst case for him is that he will have to reverse the sale or better, exchange it when they complain. There is a perverse upside to the seller at the cost of the buyer. There are not many ways to get over it as of now, except to be aware and verify things, however untrustworthy you may seem to be.

A mandatory pain in their arse sanity check is necessary before buying to prevent a pain in your arse at a later point in time.

The After effects!!

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/10/13/apple-patent-censors-objectionable-messages/

With Apple patenting an application for blocking sexy/filthy text from the phones, I guess the number of words having alternate meanings is only going to increase...

Just like when we were young, Rubber meant eraser; Ass meant Donkey; Gay meant Happy; Straight meant Linear; Making Out meant Logical Deduction; Laying meant Setting aside, Cock meant Rooster; Pussy meant Cat; Stag meant a male Deer, A Tit was always for Tat.....

On the taxiway

Now, I am on the taxiway waiting for the other aircrafts to take off. Once the runway is clear off them, I hope to get the Air traffic Controller's permission to take off on the runway. But I dont know where to take the plane. I am happy that I have loaded the plane with enough of good stuff that will be useful to me for a long time. I know the plane will have to travel not only during the daylight, but also in the pitch of darkness and hopefully in the right direction. As of now, the plane is on its schedule to go to a maintenance hanger and wait there till some charter's the plane for use.

One night stand

Based on accidental experience, I can say that one night stands are the most exciting and fun things one can indulge in...

But the risks are way too much and I plan to avoid getting into this business irrespective of how many ever of my friends get into these on a regular basis...

By my definition, a one night stand is a buy today sell today/tomorrow stock trading strategy, but I dont know why investopedia (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/onenightstand.asp) gives it a different definition (The equivalent of a chicken in the market http://www.riyaz.net/blog/stock-market-wisdom-from-chicken-little/)

A good date

I knew my day would come again. I was waiting for this day for a long time now. Finally it came today. I got a chance to go out with her. I heard about her in the evening and I instantly knew she was the one. Almost perfect. Exactly what I wanted. But I had been with one perfect one some time ago. Memories started coming back about how nice, enjoyable and hard times we had with one another. But that relationship had ended. This was different. Different place, different situation and a new chemistry. And it all began. Took me some initial time to get to know her. She was very enthusiastic, more than what I had expected. I soon got to understand her talk and her ways. The chemistry developed...slowly but steadily. We travelled far and long on the highway to go to a restaurant. After completing dinner, it was well past 10.15pm and we started back on a dark road and we travelled through the cold breeze at good speed back to our place. Indeed, had an amazing day. Wish I get to go out with her more often and spend more time with her.

Tada yori takai mono wa nai

"Tada yori takai mono wa nai. - Michihiro Matsumoto" I see this at the end of every mail from my Finance Management professor. This is what he signs off with. So today, I actually checked out what it means. It means "Nothing is costlier than something given free of charge." I read it and thought about it for a minute. Hmm... nice thought. So in other words, the time, affection and stuff I give to my near and dear ones are priceless. Hmmm... nice thought. And then I checked out an article with the phrase on the top of the search results. This quote was used to signify that "There is no such thing as a free lunch". It is going to cost you and cost you very dearly. The article refers to the uncountable number of free investment advice one gets in television, magazines and on websites and says that if you blindly follow all this free stuff without any due diligence, it is going to cost you dearly. I dont know whether this Japanese phrase was used as a pun or it really means this meaning. Wow! I am amazed by the double wisdom of this phrase.