Time is 9:46 PM

I am back to my seat and three guys come to announce the best live action award. The category doesn’t sound familiar, but sounds important. Whatever !

The Oscar award for the best live action short film goes to will tell you later.

By the way, did I tell you – Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire are tied at two awards each. Lets see who wins the battle of the Oscars. My heart goes for Slumdog Millionaire but my brain for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I hope my heart wins.

9:52 PM

Hugh Jackman is back and is busy talking of “Change That Has Come”…..He is talking of Mamma Miah and the musical. He is now singing, dancing live “Mariah….” from Mamma Miah…along with guess who – Beyonce Knowles!.

Oh My God!

This is the first time I am seeing him on stage and Hugh Jackman is phenomenal.

A Musical Oscars indeed. All the performers from Mamma Miah look so beautiful including Beyonce Knowles

Time is 9:59 – Time for a break and some grub – Salads, bread crumbs, light mayonnaise and lots of water. Not so spicy, right ? So uncommon for an Indian like me. Isn’t it ?..anyways, time to move on

Five actors including Cuba Gooding Jr. comes onto present the Best Supporting Actor.

The Oscar goes to the Late Heath Ledger for The Dark Night and the family (his mom,  dad and sister) came to receive the Oscars. All three of them spoke and accepts the award. An emotional moment, indeed. May his soul Rest In Peace

Who will win the Best Actor award ? – Mickey Rourke ? Wait for some more time and you will get to know that…

10:13 PM -

The best documentary award goes to James Marsh, Simon Chinn for Men On Wire. The winner shows some magic on stage. Very creative!

10:17 PM

The best Oscar for the small documentary short film goes to Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki – Another Indian film. Wow! This probably is the best year for Indian cinema at the Oscars for a long, long time to come. Hey, this is Icing On Cake!

Popularity: 30%

Mumbai is a city of vibrant dimensions and people. It is a city where all the genders live together whether male or female, but then why does Mumbai forget some people who are also a very part of the society. They have the body of a man but the soul of a woman and their claps form the symbol of their community. They are those people who are fighting for their identity as the third gender. They are known by many names like “Hijras”, “Chakkas” or most commonly known as “Eunuchs” all over the world.

Eunuchs are not a sudden discovery in the world. They have been there in the pages of many historical events. They have been shunned and boycotted by the so called “Normal people”. They are forced to beg on signals, do menial jobs or work as sex workers. They do not get good jobs even if they are highly educated because they are considered as a taboo to the society. We talk about illiteracy, poverty and other problems faced by the society, so why aren’t these people taken into consideration.

Today these individuals do not get suppressed easily. This community is finally getting out of its shell. Many of the eunuchs are surprisingly graduates from esteemed universities. The best part about this community that the whole world should learn is the “UNITY AMONGST DIVERSITY” amongst these people. They do not divide themselves on the basis of religion and they accept everyone with open arms even if one works as a sex worker or has AIDS.

In our world, we fight in the name of religion and kill each other forgetting that we belong to the highest community that is humanity.

Eunuchs are also humans and not an abnormal being. In order to prove this to the society some eunuchs have formed an NGO called “Sakhi Char Chowghi Trust” to bring reforms in this community. It is really sad to know that this is the one and only trust working for this cause.

It is a completely different experience to speak to the organizers of this trust. The determination and enthusiasm of the eunuchs is highly motivating. They just behave like normal people working for a good cause. They believe that they all are woman, but are trapped in the body of men. They want to be free from this fake identity and be what they actually are. But then why is the society ignoring them or not accepting them.

They long to be a part of the society they long to be heard they have a voice, they have opinions and demands, then why during social, political, and economic discussion regarding the city they are forgotten. That is why these people are relying on them selves to make a difference and to break the barriers around them.

The society does not accept them but they have accepted the society with due respect. One of the organizers of the NGO quoted

Ae Zindagi Gale Lagale, Hamne Bhi Tere Har Ek Gam Ko Haske Gale Se Lagaya Hai

She also said,

We have no enmity against the society inspite of all the atrocities we have faced because of them. We are also human beings and a part of this god gifted world

It’s high time that we all leave are orthodox beliefs behind and open ourselves to a wider horizon in the world.

We cannot ignore a whole community of human. Instead we should “Ban Ignorance And Not Human Rights”.

Image Credit: RahulDLucca

Popularity: 13%

If you invest in tax saving schemes right now, you can get your money back early. For example: If you have planned to invest in Fixed Deposit which can’t be withdrawn for 5 years, if you deposit today you will get your money back in 2013 December and you can use this money for tax investment again. Where as if you save it in March, you will get it back only in 2014 March and you will have to again go in search of cash.

Most of us spend all the cash in hand all through the year and try to find some cash in March. If we don’t find cash in March then your tax plan will go wrong.

Some people are of the opinion that even if I save on 31st March it will still come under this financial year, but this is not clever thing if you are trying to invest in Tax Saving Equity linked funds (ELSS) or Public Provident Fund. You will stand to loose 4 months of interest free income.

Some of us will wait till the year end to submit the medical bills or bills of books purchased for research etc. There is a chance of bills getting lost. It’s better to submit these bills every month to the concerned department in your office.

What about the investments I have made in the financial year ?

Before making any tax saving investments, it is always better to review the investments you have already made in the current financial year. In case you have made investments through Systematic investment planning (SIP), or already contributed to PPF, add all the amounts and plan for the remaining amount.

Get your calculations right:

• For employees there is PPF and it will anyway come under Section 80C. Some employees also would have taken health insurance, life insurance, or group insurance policy. First calculate the amount you have already paid towards premium.
• For those who have taken home loan, calculate the EMI you have paid for all the months. See the interest and principal component in that. You can get the principal paid on the loan exempt under Section 80C. You can claim exemption on interest up to 1.5 Lakh per annum.
• Also take into consideration, the tuition fee you have paid for your kids (allowed only for 2 kids).
• Take into consideration all the above and then decide on the amount for which you have to do tax planning.

• After all your tax planning is done if you are falling under 10% tax bracket and tax payable is not less than two to three thousand, it’s better to pay the tax instead of making investments only for saving these two or three thousands.
• Accounts folks in your office would have already informed you the amount of tax payable. Once you have calculated the amount invested so far, return from the amount invested, and the amount to be invested, all that you need to decide is to where to invest.
• If you don’t have the appetite to take risk invest in National Savings Certificates and Bank Fixed Deposits and if you are planning to invest for long term, put your money in Public Provident Fund.
• If you have the ability to bear risk, invest in Tax Saving Funds or ULIPs.

Instead of investing your money at once, it’s better to choose SIP and invest in 5 equal installments.

Image Credit: Kevin

Popularity: 26%

I often wonder when I read about the bailout packages dished out by Governments all around the world to aid banks and other financial institutions that are on the verge of bankruptcy especially the amount of money spent in bailouts in last couple of months is staggering. I am even surprised that there was not a single protest from anywhere and these financial criminals go unpunished. It is the common man who is going to bear the burden of additional tax and increased debt.

Why should tax payer’s money be used for bailing out greedy banks and corporations that have done business only with profit as motive and no concern for morals or ethics and absolutely no concern for the consequences for their acts. Putting public money in corporate coffers is just not acceptable. Financial crisis that has happened is a man made crisis done through substandard policies, deregulation and greed. I can understand putting in public money for natural disasters like earthquakes or folds. Governments all over the world have spent trillions of dollars on bailouts already

This kind of bailout is ABSURD!

We must collectively protest this .This is real money, my money, your money, our money which is hard earned paid in the form of tax.

Why should banks and financial institutions which never cared about the creditworthiness of people who lined up for loans or the soundness of derivatives business be rewarded. We should not allow government to write checks on tax payers’ account. This measure will increase the budget deficit by a significant amount, with no guarantee of recovering the amount and not holding anyone accountable for the misdeeds they have done.

What is the signal you are sending to the corporate world and investors through these bail outs? Do your businesses as you like and we will reward you for the blind errors you might commit. Is this the right way?

As far as I am concerned, there should be a thorough probe into the events that have led to this disaster and every CEO, Executive or Government who were part of this financial carnage should be jailed, their assets sold and put in a bailout fund.

It is time to wake up and realize that greed is the basis for all the financial disasters and find a way, may be strict disclosure norms, increasing the transparency in strategic decision making, making one responsible for his actions and

Few weeks back Finance Ministers of several Asian, Europe and Americas countries met and decided to act rapidly on the financial crisis

And now stock markets are being artificially manipulated by bailouts by governments.

When corporations see that the demand is coming down , it is natural for the stock to take a beating. But every other day we see CRR, SLR rate cuts which means our money is loaned back to us and the market stages a rally of any significance. FIIs and Badla traders slowly and routinely remove their money from our markets to invest elsewhere leaving the retail investor in a fix.

It is certainly not a good thing for a responsible, saving, taxpaying citizen, with no defaulted loans or credit card debt to compensate for the that Wall Street gamblers will go bust on their stupid and greedy bets, over-leveraged and poorly managed businesses with huge losses.

Let me tell you some interesting fact. Lehman has set aside $2.5 billion as bonus for their employees even as they went bankrupt for the great performance they showed in pushing the bank to bankruptcy.

What do you call this?

Popularity: 31%

We continue to see the world the way we are.  How else do we explain our inability to see the best in others and share it to bring out the best in everyone? Lucky are the few who can do that today. For the rest of us, here is something to ponder on…

Here is another simple exercise that I encourage you to try. If you are primarily right handed, use your left hand (or vice-versa). If you are ambidextrous, use your foot. Try writing from A through Z and 0 through 9 using both hands. See the difference? Now tell me how long have you been writing – since you were 4? 5? or even 10 years old. Plenty years of experience right? So why do you have so much difference - after all, except for your hand, everything else is the same – same brains, same heart, same eyes, same paper and the same pen.

You can now start the plethora of excuses or you can just sit back and open your mind for a few minutes.

So now, let’s come back to the sloppy and shoddy part of the world. The idiot who was slow at the traffic signal, the stupid kid next door who makes a dime all day, your avoidable neighbor who troubles you with all stupid questions, the inefficient supermarket clerk at the counter who delays your exit by 10 minutes, maybe your dumb sibling who really isn’t so gifted. It really doesn’t take long.

Now, for those of us who think we are oozing with brilliance – Did you ever wonder that there could always be someone who is much better than you, at your own game?

And the same sloppy and shoddy lot - perhaps there would be at least one thing that they can do better than you.

Case in point, my friends – It’s a big world – it needs everyone.

If it wasn’t for them, you would be bogged down with things that you cannot do ever so effectively. So much that you would sooner or later become one of them. I am not asking you to accept inefficiency. All I am asking you is to be considerate towards others. All sciences say have the right man and the right machine at the right job. Truth is there just aren’t enough right men at the right jobs – Want to think again? Right jobs for the right men!

If you think you are amongst the 5% most brilliant people earning for the other 95% in this country, in this world -Remember, you are the exception. Not them!

It’s just a perspective – try it the next time and let me know. I would love to hear from you!

Popularity: 13%