Life as I find it

We all are dependent on something or the other, so what is this big deal about becoming independent? It is about being responsible for ourselves. For some it may mean moving out of the parents house and surviving on their own. For others it may be about paying off education loans and moving on to professional lives. For still others it could be about getting rid of jobs we don’t like and becoming free, but still surviving comfortably.

Some facts remain common:

1. Financial independence
2. Having sufficient time
3. Having the freedom to work toward dreams rather than survival
4. Having a nest egg of money for emergencies
5. being happy with the way life is working out.

This blog is chiefly about how to go about acheiving this elusive goal. About overcoming perceived handicaps and going around them, when there is no direct over coming possible.

Its about trusting our strengths and being aware of our weaknesses.

I get loads of bright ideas. In fact, I’m famous for them, but there are so many things I begin, but don’t continue. I have a game plan which seems to be working somewhat. I have stopped beginning stuff that will need effort over time to flourish, unless I work out a time plan on how that effort is to be acheived.

Slowly, I’m integrating stuff I’ve abandoned into this time plan as well, so that my back log of wannados goes down. Of course, I don’t really deal with everything. I simply chuck a lot of stuff which still sounds tempting, but there is no way I can fit it into a 24 hour day with other priorities already making demands.

This gets my life mre organized, and surprisingly, I’m acheiving far more than before, but with much less stress. I’m pretty sorted on what I should be getting into when I have some time free, as well as stuff I need to drop all I’m doing and get down to, so that I don’t miss it.

Things I have managed to deal with successfully:

1. Improvements on website: I have created a schedule for stuff like writing, improving/editing, creating graphics/fiddling with templates, link building, ads and other money making things, and so on. I have also created a sequence fort he sites I own, so that I don’t end up doing one area everytime and ignoring the others. Plus, I can now do as little as one page every day and pick up where I left off on the sequence rather than making numerous new beginnings.
2. Blogging: I have created a variety of blogs for a variety of interests. They are really things I want to write about, but its never going to be good blogging unless I can get some kind of a rythm to it. I now have scribefire installed on my Firefox, which lets me easily publish to any of my many blogs anytime from my browser itself. Needless to say, its a handy reminder that I should be writing, and I end up writing far more.
3. I take some time every day for my work related emails. Its not a fixed time, but depends on the mails that have come in, but a minimum of twice a day is routine.
4. I take time off for physical work and home related stuff which I make sure I do everyday, and also make sure it doesn’t intrude on other times. Keeps the home and business neat and well-tuned and actually lets me have more time for creative stuff.
5. I take time to fool around. General forums, discussions……..surfing around for stuff that interests me… and I combine it with my blogging time sometimes when something inspires me and results in an immediate post through scribefire.

Needless to say, my life is getting more and more manageable, and I hope I don’t take this for granted and slip unnoticeably into the old chaos and hurry and panic routine.

Yesterday, my mother-in-law got a phone call from “Bajaj Electricals” which is a well known company in India. She was asked three questions (which she answered wrongly). Her answers were declared correct and she was invited to claim a gift vouchers from some “Bajaj office” in the evening. It sounded like she was getting to select from a variety of goods up to a value of Rs. 4,000/-. She was busy and my husband and I went instead. What we found was a royal scam.

We were supposed to land up in the basement hall of the Great Imperial Palace Hotel in Teili Galli in Andheri (6th Sept 2007 - in case anyone wants to investigate this further). We entered to find a variety of couples engaged in different degrees of conversation with salesmen of varying degrees of aptitude.

It all began with a smooth talking salesman writing a lot on bits of paper creating flowcharts and lists and sweeping them away to create more on new pieces of paper. We were explained how Bajaj has plenty of ventures like Electricals, motors and god knows what else, and now there is a new one - Highland Holidays. This of course was total bull shit, as none of their papers had anything to do with Bajaj beyond its being the surname of one of its founders.

I think its an obvious scam when the name Bajaj Electricals was directly used by them to generate a sense of credibility. Then came too good to be true offers on holidays (which may or not be real, but certainly smelled like a rat). We were offered 8 days a year for 10 years for an “initial investment” of Rs. 42,000/- Needless to say neither of us were about to part from our cash. which eventually got negotiated to a “mere” Rs.14,000/- for 6 days for 5 years.

What got me itchy and suspicious and getting on google search immediately on returning home were these things:

1. The phone call itself pretended to distribute gift vouchers for Bajaj Electricals for three correct answers, but offered them even when the answers were wrong
2. We are not listed for any schemes, contests or anything, and the organizers had no clear answer for how they got our number.
3. Nowhere on the location was any banner related with Bajaj (which is the name we were expecting to find) to be found. We honestly stumbled upon the event while enquiring about it.
4. Bajaj Electricals, the name used to draw unsuspecting people to the event - was in no way related to it, nor were any gift vouchers from Bajaj electricals distributed.
5. For a company that seemed to have gone through great effort to book a venue and organize individual presentations for participants, there was not a single piece of printed paper they actually gave anyone. No visiting cards, no printed documents of schemes, no nothing - not even mobile numbers.
6. It was clearly specified that the “outstanding offer” was open only right then, and the answer had to be yes or no on the completion of the presentation - no going home and taking a day to think or anything (more likely - no investigating this company for reliability)
7. The “gift vouchers” were for a holiday for two at one of some specified locations, where we still would be expected to be paying money.
8. The “presentation” itself was more like street haggling, where you are offered higher investment opportunities and when they are refused, cheaper ones come up.
9. Why would any reputable company have an investment opportunity open for an evening where a decision is to be made without looking at any offer document, without any verification, office address, official representatives, or even simple visiting cards? The way I see it, if they can’t afford a basic official set up, my investment is unlikely to be safe with them.
10. Strangely, even their “managers” who came in to dramatic effect with approvals of surveys, and special offers, etc. didn’t even bother to provide surnames. I have yet to see any professional investment related thing being presented or negotiated without any written documentation or proposal of the exact offering and terms for consideration before investing in it. No official venue, no visiting cards, nothing.
11. For an investment related event taking place in a hotel, not even tea or coffee was offered. We were asked if we wanted water.
12. In short, they were simply trying to his susceptible people and get money out of them as fast as possible.

The sad part is that I found some middle class couples and one really aged one taking these offers very seriously. I hope for their sakes that this offer goes against all logic and turns out to be genuine.

PS: A reader Kalyana has shared this link to an article from the Deccan Herald where Holiday Homes was asked to refund payment by the consumer court.