Just an info to share

This might be known information to all, but still wanted to share it across. It is about how an Insurance Company works. What they do with the money we invest and how they manage to give us the returns they promise.

P.S--> The information furnished below is purely based on what i have heard. No research work has gone into this. So this piece of information may be totally true or totally vary according to insurance companies or individuals. Risk edukaradu rusk saapduramaathiri na, you can go ahead and read.

Consider an Insurance company that promises a return of Rs 125 in a period of 10 years for Rs 100 that we invest. The amount is divided into two, one for Shares and the other for Debt (Debt is something like Vaddi i.e they lend the money to the one who is in need, for some interest.). The percentage of division, of course is decided by the fund manager who is exclusively present for these kinds of work. Let us say Rs 50 goes in Shares and the rest goes into debt. So for the 10 years they will keep on investing the original amount as well the returns that they get, in shares and debt. And at the end of 10 years, say they get back Rs 200. but what they had promised was just Rs 125. They give us the money that was promised and the rest is invested in Debt. And it is a general rule in the world of Insurance that If the share market goes down, the Debt automatically increases and vice-versa. And there never happens a situation where one can see a loss in Debt (this is logical).

Marathon - First Prize

First of all i should appreciate the effort taken by Infosys folks for successfully hosting the Marathon. A lot of planning in the background and the effort put in to execute that was just commendable. The distance was just 4 KMs. We had run the marathon for republic day.
We had to go to a place which was some 2Kms ahead and take a U turn and return.Just before the race, i had only one thing in mind. At any cost, we should complete the Marathon. Urundu Urundavathu reach the finishing line. With this only target in mind, i geared up for the race. With no space in the front, stood in the end with just a few friends beside me. An ambulance and a sumo was supposed to follow us all throughout the race. Water and Glucose was kept at regular check points. This all was done considering the safety of the employees. Once the signal was given, i sprinted like a bullet. Not even a single break in between.When i had completed more than 75% of the race, i could still see few people huffing and panting to reach that distance. Well if all this had hapenned, then i would have been really happy. But nothing as mentioned above hapenned. I completed first but from the last. The 4 KMs had created a false impression in my mind. I realized this only while running. Only one part of this was true. I was standing in the last with few folks beside me. The signal was given and the race started. But all the folks standing first ran very fast. I was one of the few who were left behind. And i was the only person who stopped at the first check point to have water. At the second check point, i saw one of my friend who was in the same position as me. As usual had water at the second check point too. We both were not in a position to run so we both started walking joking and laughing all the way. We would have just completed 25% of our distance, a guy was making his return journey( He was the winner. Well he was a sportsperson. A hockey player. Right from the beginning, he ran at the same pace.). With just 300 metres to complete the race and with the finishing point in our sight, we started running the rest of the distance. The only solace that we got was a standing ovation from a few guys who saw us running the last few steps. Well my intention was fulfilled, i completed the Marathon with a bit of running and more of walking. And one important learning from this was, my stamina was and is very very less. Hope to improve that in the coming days.

Trip to Thiruvannamalai

A bit excited i must say. It is always fun to go with friends. Five of us(Me, Rajagopal, Aneesh, Prem and Anand) went to that place but i must say the final five was a surprise to me. Nothing but a bit of confusion before it was finalized that it was this five who were travelling to Tiruvannamalai. To say about the trip, it was simply superb. It was around 2 PM on Saturday (18/01/2009) that we started from Maraimalai Nagar. The ride was pretty smooth with a bit of hiccups in between, the road being the culprit. But for me, it was smooth throughout as i was sleeping for most part of the journey. We reached temple at around 4.45 PM. After standing in the queue for nearly an hour, we got a darshan of the Annamalaiannal. We got prasad, sorry eatables i must say because we looked at it that way. Heavily packed for having it on the way. After spending close to 3 hours inside the temple, we started our girivalam journey at around 7.40 PM. The other place that we visited was Ramana Ashram some 1KM from the temple, on the Girivalam path. A calm place to gain your solace. Was really awestuck by the number of foreign desciples who were there. I didnt know even who Ramana Maharishi was till i had gone there and there i was witnessing so many foriegners. The Girivalam journey resumed at around 8.40 PM after spending close to half an hour in the Ramana Ashram. It was around 17 - 19 Kms overall and the girivalam was 14 kms. A total of 6 Lingams, a Rama temple and Adi Annamalai temple to be visited on the way. The distance board totally misled us. Just when we would feel that we were near to completion, we would see read some board with another 2 KMS to complete. So it was like how much ever distance you complete, it would be 2 KMS written on the board. The final strech i was totally famished and just when i was thinking that i wouldnt be able to walk, a gentleman came to my rescue. He just uttered 3 words which bolstered my confidence level to a great extent. Well it was "MUDIYUM NU NENAINGA". His words just spellcast me to walk without any complaint thereafter. We completed the Girivalam at exactly at 12 AM nearly 4.5 hours after we started with 3-4 breaks in between and a visit to Ramana Maharishi Ashram. We started our return journey, the onus being on Anand. With all the pain, he drove all the way back. We stopped near Chengalpattu for our dinner or very early breakfast you can say. Reached home at around 4 in the morning. Overall it was a scintillating experience.

Some 3 learnings which i could never forget:-
- One Only Money is respected everywhere be it temple. Because when i had put a 10 Rs note on the darshan plate, that pujari gave me the prasad of ash and kumkum whereas none of the others got it. Only then did i realize this.
- Two, Eyes sorry boards always mislead us. So experience each and everything before concluding. It was about the 2KMs that i had mentioned earlier.
- Third, on the lighter side. Rajagopal vaayala mattum thaan vada suduvan. While we were walking, he was saying "On the way back, no one should sleep. The FM should be in full sound. Prem it is your duty to not let Ravi sleep." Do you know who was the first person to sleep. It was none other than Rajagopal. and the second one to follow was Prem. And he would get up in between and would blabber something and again sleep off.

At Loss of Words

Mr Terrorist - I am alive what more can you do?

Mr Politician - I am alive despite you.

I am a Mumbaikar.

These words mean a lot, written by a survivor. One could imagine the pain and trauma that these poor people might be going through. But it is very disheartening to know that these selfish politicians using it to their advantage when India should have stood united. One says "Such things do happen". Probably an alien who was never an Indian, just a animal who didnt have the sixth sense and didnt understand the impact of the killings. These are the persons who should have been at the Taj.

Alarm bells ringing all over India. It is time for some proactive action by our Government which should take some stringent steps to avoid such mishaps in future.

Hope the world stands united to remove terrorism.

With Due respect, A SALUTE TO ALL THE BRAVE OFFICERS who have laid down their lives and to all those who made it sure that Mumbai is safe from the hands of those bastards. My sincere condolences to all those who have lost their lives in one of the worst attack.

A request to all the Indians:-
Please do pledge in and do your bit to help our own brothers and sisters regain their normal life.

Bidding Farewell to God of Off-Side

India's most successful captain, the God of off side, one who changed the face of Indian Cricket has retired and will no more be seen in the International arena.

What a life of Cricket he has had. DADA as he is favouritely called by all, made his debut against the Australians, but fell short of runs and was thrown into a shell for 4 years. But despite this, he made a strong come back by hitting a century against England in his Debut Test match at Lord's in 1996. There has been no looking back since then.

He made a revolution in the Indian cricket when he took over the reins of captaincy from Mohamed Azharuddin. Just when it looked as if Indians would win no more matches, he led the team to the famous win against the Australians at home when the Indian team beat the World champions and won the historic test series 2-1.

He led the team by example, nurtured and extended his fullest support to all the younger players, showed his aggressiveness when needed the famous being when he removed his shirt at Lord's Balcony when India thrashed England by chasing 326 in Natwest Finals in 2002, just because Andrew Flintoff had run bare chest in India.

After being dropped from the team in 2005, he re-emerged from the ashes by hitting an half century in his come back match. From then on, despite the consistent criticism showered on him, he has replied patiently by scoring heavily in most of the matches.

Few moments which is close to my heart:-

- The rain of sixes during World Cup 1999. He would stand confidently after hitting a shot. This exposed the pain and agony in the eyes of any of the opposition.

- His 183 scored of 158 balls against the Sri lankan's. What a stunning performance.

- His every stand as an opener with Tendulkar, especially when the duo stood together for 196 against the Kenyan's. Though it was against minnows, it was a treat for the eyes. Their highest being 258.

- Removal of his T-shirt in the Balcony of Lord's when India chased 326 for victory.

- His recent century against the Australians in Mohali, his 85 in Nagpur and though i didnt want this kind of farewell to Dada, the most saddest a duck in his final innings.

The final innings when he walked in for fielding and received a salutation from his teammates, would have been watched by many with a heavy heart. India's most successful captain, having won 21 tests and 76 one day internationals under his captaincy, scoring more than 18000 runs, 11000+ runs in ODI and 7000+ runs in Tests, averaging more than 40 in both forms of cricket, he definitely has proved himself as a worthy cricketer who in the history of world cricket would be placed as an successful cricketer and captain.

As God had said, it is time for celebration as one of the most successful cricketer has taken the toughest decision of his life and we all should support him.

Today as he sits back and takes a deep breath to see how his cricket life had been, it would surely give him some peace and satisfaction.

Though we would get no more of the lofted sixes, the square cuts and the square drives, you would still be remembered at heart as one of the greatest cricketer India has produced.

GOOD BYE DADA.