tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61567152024-03-19T10:35:41.367-07:00minus43renamed :)Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.comBlogger233125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-26275121709629154692014-05-10T20:27:00.000-07:002014-05-10T20:32:34.832-07:00How to be sloppy and still earn 18% annual returns on your investment. Also tax free.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Now that I have your attention let me say that I really do not have any investment advice. This is a story of our (my wife and me) run-in with ill intentioned and incompetent real estate developers and the long wait for justice and the subsequent relief and joy on getting it. It is also about not losing our faith in institutions in India.<br />
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So what happened?<br />
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In 2006 after being in Bangalore for a couple of years we decided to buy an apartment and booked one with a builder. This was our first real estate transaction and we were really sloppy. We trusted the builder and the bank we took a loan from( or more like trusted the bank's franchise who sold us the loan). We did not go through the sale agreement in detail and did not put it through a lawyer nor did we believe we could alter it as we were told it is all 'standard'. We expected the bank to make sure that the agreement was a standard one. Nothing absolves us of that mistake but I am simply stating our though process. It turned out that we had signed a time bound payment schedule rather than a progress linked payment schedule. Any late payments would attract 24% interest. The sale agreement was completely lop sided. Delays from the builder's end would give us some notional rent of three or four thousand per month. The delivery date was pushed out after a few days of signing the agreement by 6 months. Again sloppiness ruled and we did not pay visits to the site to monitor progress. Everytime a payment was due a more than helpful franchise representative would show up and get things signed and deliver the payment to the builder.<br />
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After a while though we got worried. Talk about litigation on the project land was heard. Construction had ground to a halt. Then 2008 and the credit crisis hit. After releasing about 80% of the amount we stopped payments to the builder. A group of us met the builder several times each time to be met with hollow promises. Actually let me just say <i>lies</i>.<br />
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Some of us decided to seek legal opinion. We met some real gems. A highly recommended lawyer called us to his house in Jayanagar, read our sale agreement scolded us for being sloppy, said nothing could be done and promptly asked 1000 Rs as his consultation fees. Cash. With no receipt. A few wrong numbers later it looked pretty gloomy.<br />
<br />
Luckily we were among a bunch of people creating the most noise on the mailing list of all the project customers. Someone called us voluntarily and gave us a lawyer's contact. It was from a customer for the same project who had successfully gotten his money back after filing a case in the consumer forum.<br />
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This was completely out of the blue and I still remember that night sometime in the summer of 2009. Gloom was replaced by hope. We called the lawyer and went to meet him at his office.<br />
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We were surprised to find him in a small room in a rather old building :-) Full of files and legal books and a table with a computer and printer. Thankfully also an internet connection. We decided to get photographs of the semi-constructed project, the brochures the builder used when selling, agreements, bank loan statements etc. It was a painful process to deal with a lawyer who had an internet but was not very internet savvy and depended mostly on in-person time to work things out. e.g all the complaint drafts had to be worked out in-person when it could have been done on email. And he was quirky. But we did not lose patience and stuck with him. Eventually we filed <a href="http://kscdrc.kar.nic.in/asp/case_history.asp?case_type=Complaint&case_no=107&case_year=2009">a complaint</a> in the <a href="http://kscdrc.kar.nic.in/">Karnataka State Consumer Forum</a> and it was admitted in September 2009. We requested the money paid by us be returned to us with 24% interest (the same interest rate the builder had on the sale agreement for delays in our payments) and compensation for house rent that we had to pay because of the delay.<br />
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Our lawyer for all his quirks had promised us one thing. That he would take care of all the court proceedings and our presence would not be required except when really needed. This turned out to be of great value as the case dragged till mid 2013. This was an essentially open and shut case given that the court had already resolved one similar case before with the same lawyer and the same builder. The saying <span style="font-size: x-small;">कानून के पास अन्धेर तो नहीं लेकिन देर जरूर है!</span> is very true. So it dragged along with all due process and the understaffed courts and their inefficiency. The builder's responses were amusing. We were accused of lying, being investors and not consumers and so the case should not be in the consumer court, that all the delays were because of things outside their control or as they say in legal terms <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure"><i>force majeure</i></a>.<br />
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Eventually two other similar cases against the builder being fought by the same lawyer were combined with our case and in the summer of 2013 the court finally reached a decision and decided in our favour. The builder <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/firm-directed-to-hand-over-flats-to-clients-in-45-days/article4847256.ece">was directed</a> to hand over our apartments in 45 days or pay our money back with 18% interest and 15000 rent per month for every month from the day the case was filed to the day the payment was settled. And yes 5000 Rs towards legal expenses. Yes the court values lawyers at 5000 Rs :-)<br />
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We waited for 45 days. There was no communication from the builder for some time. Then just before the 45 day limit was about to expire we were offered to get our apartment registered. They had managed to restart construction sometime in 2012 and there was something there resembling an apartment. But it was far from completion with more land litigation being reported. Again I took photographs of he state of the construction and our lawyer responded asking for an occupancy certificate.<br />
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We then decided to file an <a href="http://kscdrc.kar.nic.in/asp/case_history.asp?case_type=Ex.Pet.&case_no=17&case_year=2013">execution petition with the court</a>. This is something you do to request the court to take punitive action when the opposite party refuses to comply with the court's order. Again we were accused of only being interested in the money and not the apartment. Once again sense prevailed and the court would have none of it.<br />
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Eventually the builder started paying us from mid February 2014. We received all our money in three separate installments. We closed our bank loan and were also able to pay off other debts.<br />
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The sweet deal is that all the awarded damages seem to be <a href="http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Dont-levy-tax-on-damages-payout-Panel/articleshow/16226519.cms">tax free</a>. I still need to file taxes so I ll keep my fingers crossed :-) So that is it. Annual returns of 18% and some more. So best investment ever if only in hindsight.<br />
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So next time some builder gives you or your friends the run around you know what to do. And yes be careful what you sign if you don't want to get into this in the first place. No one can take your money unless you give it so negotiate on the agreement before signing.<br />
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Thanks are due to the courts and our lawyer and most of all to the person who let us know there was a way out.<br />
<br /></div>
Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-2856089688805784202012-04-30T23:38:00.002-07:002012-04-30T23:39:28.951-07:00Interesting numbers about Income Tax collection in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Deepak Shenoy has <a href="http://capitalmind.in/2012/04/only-406k-taxpayers-earn-over-20-lakhs-dtc-report/">a post on the tax</a> number of tax payers in India earning above 20Lakhs being only 408000 (the report says 406000). He links a <a href="http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Finance/49_Final%20DTC%20Draft%20report.pdf">standing committee report</a> on the <a href="http://164.100.47.4/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/asintroduced/DTC%20%28110%20of%202010%29%20To%20be.pdf">Direct Tax Code Bill, 2010</a>. This report has some more interesting numbers. (See page no. 39)<br />
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Tax collection numbers<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Rs.1,48,073 crore</b>: Expected income tax collection for 2011-12</li>
<li><b>Rs 93,229 crore</b>: ie. 63% tax contributed by tax payers earning over 20 lakhs per year.</li>
</ul>
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Tax payer numbers</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>32.4 mn </b>: Total number of tax payers. ie. a measly 2.66 % of the population pays income tax. Compare this to the US where this number is around 25% or even more.</li>
<li><b>0.406 mn </b>: i.e. 1.3 % of tax payers earning over 20 lakhs. Out of 1.2+ billion people. This number seems too low. Two posibilities.. we are very poor and we also have a lot of black money.</li>
<li><b>28.84 mn </b>: i.e. 89% of tax payers earn < 5 lakh a month and pay 10.1% of total income tax. The committee recommends relying on self compliance for this group of people and exemption from filing returns so that the IT dept can concentrate on higher value targets :-)</li>
</ul>
</div>Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-59234534227858837852010-02-06T19:09:00.001-08:002010-02-06T19:12:31.030-08:00Noise, regionalism and a bad start to a Sunday<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAas18qPu_M3mTXb2kNg6efX6v8j9iI0aO85sP9-VyiWyTEJpAgETnSX8M7AwpHnQa_Bp7_Eqy59wuPY50iIN8NDC93yRGNKUcJYfFXJ0XIeXByEqn9BFbjxWjy2Y0iZcY_qJoA/s1600-h/shut.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 236px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAas18qPu_M3mTXb2kNg6efX6v8j9iI0aO85sP9-VyiWyTEJpAgETnSX8M7AwpHnQa_Bp7_Eqy59wuPY50iIN8NDC93yRGNKUcJYfFXJ0XIeXByEqn9BFbjxWjy2Y0iZcY_qJoA/s320/shut.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435333630951500386" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So I woke up early morning and was catching up on a movie. Suddenly I hear a loud speaker from the temple behind the apartment. This temple is a habitual offender and time and again has prevented me and others from sleeping peacefully early morning. This time I thought I had had enough and so went to the temple personally and asked them to switch off the music. They did, and after I was 100 mtrs from the place on my way back it started again. So instead I made it straight to the HSR layout police station.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the police station I found one guy sleeping, one awake. The awake one reluctantly asked me what was wrong. On hearing about my complaint he tried to wake up the other guy who scowled at him in Kannada probably asking him to not bug him anymore. When I insisted he write a complaint down I was asked "What is you native? Kannada nahi aata?".</div><div><br /></div><div>My instant reaction was to not answer the question and I kept insisting that he write a complaint down and he scribbled something on a register and told me that he will wireless the message to his staff and the matter would be taken care of and I should not worry. It has been about an two hours since then and the speakers are still full blast. </div><div><br /></div><div>The country of noise silences out the voice of its taxpayers in more ways than one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Picture courtesy: http://www.crestock.com/blog/design/propaganda-design-aesthetics-soviet-retro-posters-118.aspx</div>Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-46555653325278191552009-05-08T13:48:00.000-07:002009-05-08T22:12:33.172-07:00India's secret weapon of fast destruction<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45749000/jpg/_45749369_pressconf_afp466.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 466px; height: 200px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45749000/jpg/_45749369_pressconf_afp466.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />So news is that Yuvraj Si.. err <a href="http://shobhaade.blogspot.com/2009/05/pappies-jhappies-and-thappads.html">dimple darling</a> err.. Rahul Gandhi has invented a secret anti-terror weapon that he intends to empower villagers with and destroy terrorism in 15 minutes. The Indian Express carried a small news item about <a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/this-man-has-got-out-of-his-mind.../454897/">Rahul's revelations.</a><br /><br />The following is the excerpt <blockquote>"I am confident that this country can take on terrorism. Defeating it is no problem. If we empower those people in villages, we can sit back, relax and we will destroy terrorism in 15 minutes," </blockquote>Field trials of the weapon will first be carried out in Pakistan's NWFP and Afganistan since India's anti-terrorism laws do not allow untested WFDs or weapons of fast destruction. The US military has also expressed interest in using them in Iraq. Talk is that this weapon will usher in a revolution in global arms trade and will make India one of the major exporters. Herein lies the genius of Rahul Gandhi. With a single invention he will solve both terrorism and economic growth. Although some people missed this scoop in their stories they are still calling the particular press conference in which he made this revelation as a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8039424.stm">coming of age of Rahul Gandhi.</a> Of course if you are a Gandhi with political affiliation to the Congress, <span style="font-style: italic;">'coming of age'</span> translates directly to <span style="font-style: italic;">'ready to be a prime minister'</span>.<br /><br />However, some experts feel that if the weapon inventor also gets to be the prime minister of a country the weapon may start working not just on terrorists but also against the very people it was supposed to protect and may lead to a pre-mature end of the world's largest de-mock-racy, possibly within 15 mins of assuming office.<br /><br />PS: An interesting thing to note is the URL of the Indian Express article. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/<span style="font-weight: bold;">this-man-has-got-out-of-his-mind</span>.../454897/<br />Lets you know what the reporter/news poster really thought :-)Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-90065405831298301042009-04-03T18:25:00.000-07:002012-09-24T19:50:39.402-07:00Hurting sentiments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A while back I wrote a <a href="http://twitter.com/minus43/status/1373846801">tweet about the Pope's condom comment.</a> A friend advised me to be aware of "hurting sentiments". Unfortunately, I have never been able to reconcile freedom of speech and the hurting sentiments (HS) concept. Why is it that we need to worry about HS when hurtees (the ones whose sentiments were hurt) have collectively caused more harm to this world than some random bloke like me blurting out a random quote? I refuse to feel apologetic or to keep quiet for fear of HS when the other party has actually been responsible for physically hurting human beings (actively or passively).</div>
Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-33040939550610163902008-12-13T04:44:00.000-08:002008-12-13T04:55:45.813-08:00Conversation with MomThis was a few weeks back.. reproduced in Marathi..<br /><br />मी : आई चांगली बातमी आहे.<br />आई : काय रे?<br />मी : पगार वाढला<br />आई : छान अभिनंदन. आता फॅमिली पण वाढवा<br />मी : hmm...<br /><br />Parents never lose their focus :-)Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-26877805583243886032008-12-13T04:24:00.000-08:002008-12-13T04:36:09.570-08:00Conversation with random recruiter...Sometimes random recruiters call up and make your day :-)<br /><br />Not verbatim but pretty closely reproduced..<br /><br />R: Are you interested in positions in Microsoft Hyderabad? They have some openings in their Windows group.<br /><br />Me: No, I am not interested in moving to Hyderabad.<br /><br />R: Why?<br /><br />Me: What do you mean "why"?<br /><br />R: No just want to know what holds you back.<br /><br />Me: (Thinks about saying wtf) No I just don't want to move.<br /><br />R: Ok so in Bangalore we have positions with Yahoo. Do you want to try those out?<br /><br />Me: Umm no.<br /><br />R: Why?<br /><br />Me: (Concludes the person at the other end of the line is a moron since she knows I work at Google) Because I am already working with Google and do not think that the current market scenario is the best to move to Yahoo..Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-85586466539274262572008-11-30T10:50:00.000-08:002008-11-30T11:43:19.281-08:00We the Bumbling: Do our politicians not even understand self interest?Hours after <a href="http://minus43.blogspot.com/2008/11/whom-do-i-vote-for.html">one thought of voting for the BJP</a>, one hears that the Advani and Rajnath Singh <a href="http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/44114A5D839AF6BF65257511005180E1?OpenDocument">missed the all party meet</a> convened by the PM because they were busy campaigning in Rajasthan. I say Mr Advani, why are you trying so hard to turn voters away from your party? The best campaigning would have been to attend that meet and playing the role of the opposition leader by taking the government to task and contributing constructively towards an action plan. On the other hand Vilas<span style="font-style: italic;">rao</span> <a href="http://www.sakaaltimes.com/2008/11/30193803/Deshmukh-visits-Taj-with-Ram.html">takes actor son and director Ram Gopal Varma</a> to see the Taj devastation. Additionally, RR Patil, thinks <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Deputy_CM_RR_Patil_talks_himself_into_trouble/articleshow/3777209.cms">small issues keep on happening in big cities</a>.<br /><br />Really, why do politicians in our country like to stick their head up their own ass with such amazing regularity, across party boundaries, I must add.<br /><br />In other news, the Congress matriarch Sonia and the patriarch-heir, her son Rahul, are beating up all the incompetent mongrels that form the Government of India, <a href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081130/jsp/frontpage/story_10185804.jsp">especially the one named Shivraj</a>, bad dog, no home ministry bone for you...<br /><br />Update: And I forgot to mention <a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/major-unnikrishnans-father-snubs-kerala-chief-minister_100125568.html">how the Chief Ministers V.S. Achuthanandan and Narendra Modi were turned away</a>.Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-32961416569021360752008-11-30T04:06:00.000-08:002008-11-30T04:13:34.983-08:00Whom do I vote for?Do I vote for the incompetent Congress government that failed to act on intelligence related to Mumbai attacks (and other countless let downs) or do I vote for the BJP that sees terrorism through communal goggles and are also responsible for freeing terrorists during the Khandahar hijack incident (and other countless let downs)? For lack of a better option I think I may settle for voting for the BJP just to give them a chance again.Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-35831644857674024772008-11-22T12:26:00.000-08:002008-11-22T12:34:20.265-08:00Bail out Fail<a href="http://ibnlive.in.com/news/big-3-car-firm-ceos-beg-for-bailout-in-private-jets/78650-7.html">So big car company CEOs travelled to Washington in corporate Jets to ask for a bialout :-)</a> and several Congress members pointed out the irony. "Security reasons" pat came the reply. The logic behind going overboard on security for a top company boss typically is that if he/she gets harmed the business gets fucked up. However, in this case the business is already fucked up, isn't it?Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-32543019894997926572008-11-21T11:08:00.000-08:002008-11-21T11:16:34.985-08:00Friendly off the field...So much was said by our friendly Aussie cricketers about how they play real hard on the field and then off the field they are soft and cuddly teddy bears. I wonder in the midst of all the on field hard play when did they manage to sneak in their book writing hobbies :-)<br /><br />As luck would have it they got bowled out cheaply in the first innings against New Zealand. But again as luck would have it they are playing New Zealand. One of the few sides that can manage to under perform just about any sides. I say, hey New Zealand, show us a miracle, get the salt, the wounds are ripe for rubbing it in.. let your dear Aussie friends have it. I assure you I will gloat.Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-7084105662251488832008-10-23T08:09:00.000-07:002008-10-23T08:12:02.196-07:00George Bush & George W. Bush: Hunting Father and son spend some time bonding.<object width="464" height="388" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www2.funnyordie.com/public/flash/fodplayer.swf?5320a921" /><param name="flashvars" value="key=d8e838fb1a" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed width="464" height="388" flashvars="key=d8e838fb1a" allowfullscreen="true" quality="high" src="http://www2.funnyordie.com/public/flash/fodplayer.swf?5320a921" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br />I liked the slapping bit :)Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-33618267611648781102008-10-16T12:52:00.000-07:002008-10-16T13:21:13.270-07:00Raj FuckerayCheck out <a href="http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne130908incoldblood.asp">yet another interview with stupid answers</a> of our friend Raj Thackeray. In one of the answers he says<br /><blockquote>I read the order only a day later. It’s not that I disrespect the law. Joshi runs many institutes across the state, and if I had wanted, we could have created problems at most of them.</blockquote> and right in the next he says <blockquote>If you read the guidelines, it says that shopkeepers should have signboards in Marathi. The law has to be complied with.</blockquote> I need to say this to Raj and Bala Fuckeray that the <span style="font-style:italic;">marathi manus</span> is better off without you and your regressive politics and routine violation of law. You guys are scumbags of the highest order with brains made of cow dung which according to you is <span style="font-style:italic;">holy</span> but unfortunately does not make very good material for intellectual development in humans.Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-42295937269876943602008-10-16T12:45:00.000-07:002008-10-19T06:13:06.065-07:00Jet reinstates all sacked employees<a href="http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/oct/17jet.htm">Breaking news of the night</a>: Naresh Goyal purports to have fathered 1900 full grown children in a single night under zero political pressure. Does he really want us to believe that he decided to take back the sacked employees because <span style="font-style:italic;">he could not sleep at night?</span><br /><br />Update: Rediff: <a href="http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/oct/17air2.htm">'Sacked' Jet Air staffers taught Marathi lessons</a>Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-54005195716006439202008-10-12T06:48:00.001-07:002008-10-12T07:58:19.961-07:00Canonisation, Amitabh and NewsIt is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonization">canonisation</a> time over in <a href="http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm">Pope-dom</a>. The funny thing is that the Pope himself is involved in the process of the Vatican rubber stamping the sainthood of a person. The person can then be <span style="font-style:italic;">offically</span> worshipped without fear of persecution from the officials of course :)<br /><br />I say, the process is kind of bureaucratic, ain't it? I will stretch it further and say that it is also very elitist :) Why should the church decide who is a saint and who is not?<div><br /></div><div>Over in our land of Hindustan our daily lives are governed by bureaucracy but not our religion, you see! The Hindus are empowered! We can start worshiping whoever we want to. Everyone and every<span style="font-style:italic;">thing</span> is valid game.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have gods and also goddesses. (Yes really we are quite an <span style="font-style:italic;">equal</span> society that way when it comes to the male vs female thing nevermind the issues of <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/fsex.aspx">skewed sex ratios</a> though.)</div><div><br /></div><div>We even worship stand alone human organs, genitals to be precise. We maintain equality of the sexes in this too, worshiping both the <a href="http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/tantra/lingam/3535.htm">male</a> and the <a href="http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/erotica/yoni-worship.htm">female</a> organs.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes we absorb Gods from other religions too by simply declaring the other God to be an incarnation of one of our Gods as in the case of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_as_an_Avatar_of_Vishnu">the Buddha</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The really crazy amongst us have temples even <a href="http://movies.indiainfo.com/features/amit-temple.html">for film stars</a>.<br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div>Although I am an atheist, I feel this is where Hinduism beats the crap out of the monotheistic religions. We can deify almost anything when it comes to God and it fits well in our religion's (thankfully loose) framework. Regardless of the merit in worshiping someone in Hinduism it is ok for common people to canonize a person of their wish be it Amitabh Bachchan or a obscure sadhu baba.</div><div><br /></div><div>And it is only fit that if we can idolize Amitabh as a God, it is also the duty of our news channels to report over-enthusiatically throughout the day if the God has a stomach ache.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>PS: There is no restriction on who is worthy of deification althought there are cases where who can worship has created controversies e.g. we have sexist temples that do not like fertile women as worshipers over at <a href="http://www.sabarimala.org/">Sabrimala</a>. The website title says</div><blockquote>Sabarimala-The pilgrimage is a symbol of love, equality, and devotion</blockquote> with the following paragraph in the main page to justify the <span style="font-style:italic;">equality</span> <blockquote>Unlike certain Hindu temples, Sabarimala temple has no restrictions of caste or creed. The temple is open to males of all age groups and to women who have either passed their fertility age and those before reaching the stage of puberty.</blockquote> Their definition of equality is just a bit different.. all are equal.. but if you are a fertile woman, tough luck, our equality function is not defined over your set.</div>Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-17146124377157052482008-10-12T04:18:00.000-07:002008-10-12T05:02:28.136-07:00Sister Alphonsa is now "officially" a saintThe big news is out that the nun from Kerala, <a href="http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/oct/12saint.htm">Sister Alphonsa, is now a saint</a>. News channels that otherwise do not consider <a href="http://www.google.co.in/search?q=ganesha+idol+milk%0A&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">milk-drinking idols</a> worthy enough of being a miracle (and their coverage) are happily lapping up the news.<br /><br />It seems that the reporters conveniently fail to question the basis of the process of canonisation as spread of superstition. Seems like the <span style="font-style:italic;">official</span> stamp of the head honcho of the Christian world suddenly converts a superstitious belief into a miracle (in this case the curing of a persons deformity). Even if we assume for a moment that <span style="font-style:italic;">miracles</span> are possible, the bar for recognizing a miracle seems to be pretty low considering that the miracle involves curing just one person. My heart goes out to all medical researchers. They are just stupid suckers spending their lifetimes trying to find cures for our ills. Humanity should just shut the fuck up and reach out for the <span style="font-style:italic;">miracle</span> medicine treatment that the Vatican seems to believe in so much.<br /><br />I recommend just one small change in the process for canonisation based on medical miracles. The miracle treatment should be tried out by the Pope himself when he has trouble with his human body (that houses his saintly soul) and then if it works with him he should make it <span style="font-style:italic;">official</span>. I bet the Vatican will not be too keen to take on a process that involves medical trials :)Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-87163987058572807972008-10-11T23:53:00.000-07:002008-10-12T00:03:51.135-07:00No reporting on Amitabh's urine samples yet!I am surprised that our 24x7 media has still not reported on whether the Amitabh's urine and stool samples were tested.. we (the breaking news consumers of this country) know about the x-rays but we want more gory details... tell us about the enema too perhaps, with when, why and "How are you feeling now sir?" interviews. Sigh! Our favourite channels have let us down again :(<br /><br />How Bihar recovers from the floods is too mundane no?Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-68992275810714058412008-10-08T05:33:00.000-07:002008-10-08T07:06:06.108-07:00ReligulousThere is some pretty hilarious stuff out on religion recently. Checkout the trailer of <a href="http://www.lionsgate.com/religulous/">Religulous</a><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qB8fPJ6zds8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qB8fPJ6zds8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Waiting eagerly to watch it.<br /><br />Previously..<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9goLXFJzSik&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9goLXFJzSik&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-70196685021042922952008-07-13T15:41:00.000-07:002008-07-13T15:47:49.519-07:00I am thankful I did not study in this school :)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96X5BfGWkfeF0E6-_kSUlhIrVi1-A82_jUaCfnQfjjLEqTl6HerHJy5LjBMxGhPKZu0eJChzjvHtoCIWdJbItuaw5Xc9ONzn6ZjKAf_QidWQDnPHJEy0-lCZH7nWOjZ_Y4M2O2Q/s1600-h/IMG00051.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96X5BfGWkfeF0E6-_kSUlhIrVi1-A82_jUaCfnQfjjLEqTl6HerHJy5LjBMxGhPKZu0eJChzjvHtoCIWdJbItuaw5Xc9ONzn6ZjKAf_QidWQDnPHJEy0-lCZH7nWOjZ_Y4M2O2Q/s320/IMG00051.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5222633110416161842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOo_huFHjOdo4NqzMQuFycQlzQAcjVw_C6dLT1Tb0YMj0XfW5IdgJecRvRracaX3RFkFp6cDMDXLkYrPSIlYX1zht7u24Y2RqPDNfn8KX3sw7zqOFxRVZdzPVQKWbZKwXvWSvcA/s1600-h/IMG00052.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOo_huFHjOdo4NqzMQuFycQlzQAcjVw_C6dLT1Tb0YMj0XfW5IdgJecRvRracaX3RFkFp6cDMDXLkYrPSIlYX1zht7u24Y2RqPDNfn8KX3sw7zqOFxRVZdzPVQKWbZKwXvWSvcA/s320/IMG00052.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5222633108975532146" border="0" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/invalid.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/invalid.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;">These are pictures from a school where I went to cast my vote during the last elections in Bangalore :-)<br /></div>Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-45743645145306103672008-05-10T12:02:00.000-07:002008-05-10T12:08:30.889-07:00My first vote.Voted today for the first time in my life. Vote by elimination was the strategy and consequently circus artists in the BJP and JD(S) were out of the competition and the lesser(?) evil of the Congress was chosen. The experience in itself is pretty mundane. Possibly the day of counting will be more exciting as I await the result.Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-65903832781761547152007-11-07T21:11:00.000-08:002007-11-07T21:33:09.023-08:00What's wrong?<ul><li>We claim to be a "healthy" democracy. But people like Narendra Modi and Ananth Singh keep on eating away at this health. Meanwhile the political circus in Karnataka makes a mockery of democracy.<br /></li><li>West Bengal claims to have a communist government. Not that I am taking any sides but how ironic then of CPI-M workers fighting for an SEZ in Nandigram.</li><li>We are around 8% GDP growth rate. Our software exports are increasing. However, solutions for smaller technical challenges like roads that do not dissolve away with the first rain seem to elude us. A largely agricultural economy lies waste with farmers in almost all parts of our country impoverished and taking to suicides. When one passes through our country side it is a sorry picture of large numbers of people tending to small patches of land. Our rural economy continues to be largely inefficient, over employing and producing a lot lesser than it could.</li><li>We want to be like the Australia when it comes to cricket. But when an out of form Dravid is dropped the whole nation screams.<br /></li></ul>A lot is wrong. A lot should change.Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-9255662621638189312007-11-07T21:08:00.000-08:002007-11-07T21:10:56.048-08:00दिवाली की शुभ कामनाएंHappy Diwali to all!Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-39293221167445136532007-10-21T00:31:00.000-07:002007-10-21T00:39:33.915-07:00Festival time!दशहरे की शुभ कामनाऍ ! Happy Dasera!Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-84638643766172801912007-10-16T05:46:00.000-07:002007-10-16T05:50:28.087-07:00My First Kerala Ayurvedic Massage.So I just wrote an email to a group of friends about my weekend break in Kerala.. An excerpt from that email..<br /><br />masseur: Remove you clothes.<br />me: removed shirt and pant.<br />masseur: ties a "nada" around my waist.<br />me: what is this for?<br />masseur: this is for your special dress.<br />me: ?<br />masseur: takes a rather narrow rectangular piece of sheer white cloth and tucks it in from the front leaving the cloth hanging over my crotch. Then says "Now remove your underpant"<br />me: "aa, remove ..aa.. ok.". So I removed my underpants..meanwhile the white cloth covers up my naked crotch rather precariously :)<br />masseur: Goes around and pulls the cloth between my legs and tucks it in from behind covering the crack :) Then gives me head massage for a while..then asks me to lie face down on a traditional wooden massage table.<br />me: lie down gingerly.. taking care that the cloth does not move too much :p<br />masseur: puts oil here and there.. then unties the nada..pulls down the cloth..<br />me: Think to myself.. umm..hmm..ok.. nothing much I can do since he is anyways going to charge me a thousand bucks.. so I relax and enjoy the massage.. wondering how he manages to touch and massage ugly black asses of strangers :DNeeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156715.post-64035604518908562042007-08-12T23:41:00.000-07:002007-08-12T23:47:29.987-07:00Back in town!Me back in Bangalore after 5 weeks in Mountain View. Meanwhile stuff that Megha was working on secretly for a while, Amazon Flexible Payment System, <a href="http://omegabytes.blogspot.com/2007/08/blog-post.html">has been launched</a>. More later.Neeraj Bhopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06436013916916196631noreply@blogger.com1