खूबसूरती क्या है?

मैने खुदा से पूछा कि खूबसूरती क्या है?
तो वो बोले ::::
खूबसूरत है वो लब जिन पर दूसरों के लिए एक दुआ है
खूबसूरत है वो मुस्कान जो दूसरों की खुशी देख कर खिल जाए
खूबसूरत है वो दिल जो किसी के दुख मे शामिल हो जाए और किसी के प्यार के रंग मे रंग जाए
खूबसूरत है वो जज़बात जो दूसरो की भावनाओं को समझे
खूबसूरत है वो एहसास जिस मे प्यार की मिठास हो
खूबसूरत है वो बातें जिनमे शामिल हों दोस्ती और प्यार की किस्से कहानियाँ
खूबसूरत है वो आँखे जिनमे कितने खूबसूरत ख्वाब समा जाएँ
खूबसूरत है वो आसूँ जो किसी के ग़म मे बह जाएँ
खूबसूरत है वो हाथ जो किसी के लिए मुश्किल के वक्त सहारा बन जाए
खूबसूरत है वो कदम जो अमन और शान्ति का रास्ता तय कर जाएँ
खूबसूरत है वो सोच जिस मे पूरी दुनिया की भलाई का ख्याल

D se dosti,
D se dushmani,
D se dil,
D se dard,
D se dillagi,
D se deewangi,
But...........
D se itna bhi door na ho jana ke
H se Hamara saath hi chhut jaye.

Sawaal paani ka nahin, pyaas ka hai.
Sawaal maut ka nahin, saans ka hai.
Dost to duniya mein bahut hai magar,
Sawaal dosti ka nahin VISHWAS ka hai..

मैत्री

मैत्री हा असा एक धागा,
जो रक्ताची नातीच काय
पण परक्यालाही खेचून आणतो
आपल्याही मनाला जवळचा करून ठेवतो
आपल्या सुख-दु:खात तो स्वत:ला सामावून घेतो.

मैत्री करण्यासाठी नसावं
लागतं श्रीमंत आणि सुंदर
त्याच्यासाठी असावा लागतो
फ़क्त मैत्रीचा आदर

काहीजण मैत्री कशी करतात?
उबेसाठी शेकोटी पेटवतात अन
जणू शेकोटीची कसोटी पहातात.
स्वार्थासाठी मैत्री करतात अन
कामाच्या वेळेस फ़क्त आपलं म्हणतात.
शेकोटीत अन मैत्रीत फ़रक काय?
दोन्हीपण एकच जाणवतात.

मैत्री करणारे खूप भेटतील
परंतू निभावणारे कमी असतील
मग सांगा, खरे मित्र कसे असतील?

कधी भांडणाची साथ, कधी मैत्रीचा हात
कधी प्रेमाची बात, अशी असते निस्वार्थ मैत्रीची जात

या मैत्रीचा खरा अर्थ केव्हा कळतो?
नेत्रकडा ओलावल्या अन शब्द ओठांवरच अडखळला
मित्र या शब्दाचा अर्थ तो दूर गेल्यावर कळला....

Plenty at stake as top three sides go in to battle

As well as looking to wrap up the series 2-0, India will look to regain the No. 2 spot in the ICC Test rankings with a win in the second Test against England in Mohali starting Friday. Having briefly secured the second spot with a 2-0 win against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in October-November, they were toppled by South Africa who beat Bangladesh 2-0 in the two-Test series at home, towards the end of last month.

The three points gained will put India above South Africa, who will then have to ensure a series win against Australia, the No. 1 team, in their contest starting Wednesday in Perth, to hold on to second spot. However, South Africa have the chance to go top if they whitewash Australia 3-0.

Australia have held on to the top spot despite the defeat in India, followed swiftly by a 2-0 series win in the Trans-Tasman Trophy at home to New Zealand. They are currently 13 points clear of South Africa, and 14 of India.

A 3-0 series win at home against South Africa will give them four points and stretch the gap ahead of no. 2 to 21 points. Any series win, in fact, will strengthen their position.

The Australia-South Africa series holds a number of incentives for the players as well. The South African pace duo of Dale Steyn (No. 2) and Makhaya Ntini (No. 4) will look to improve their positions among the top five Test bowlers, given that Australia's Stuart Clark (No. 3) has been ruled out of the first Test. Jacques Kallis will also look to widen the gap between him and Daniel Vettori at No. 2 in the Test allrounder rankings.

Michael Hussey, currently No. 4 in the Test batsmen rankings, will also look to move up the charts, and narrow the gap at the top. But he will hope that both, West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul (No. 1) and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (No. 2) falter this December, in the series away to New Zealand and Bangladesh respectively

Your 6 transactions that the taxman tracks

When Priyanka Jhamanani (name changed) bought her friends' flight tickets for over Rs 125,000, the last thing on her mind was a notice from the income tax department.

Six months later, she was summoned by the IT department to explain the expenditure. Also, the notice asked her to meet an official and explain her source of funds.

"To catch tax evaders and prevent money laundering, the IT department has made a list of high value transaction. Notices are sent to consumers to explain these expenses, said K H Viswanathan, executive director, RSM Astute Consulting, a tax consultancy firm.

Experts explained that normally, the IT department sends notices to only those people whose yearly credit card transactions cross Rs 200,000.

But other than credit card companies, the Reserve Bank of India, banks, mutual funds and companies issuing shares and debentures need to file a report stating high-value transactions. This is done in form of an annual information report. Some even report the details every quarter.

Some of the yearly high-value transactions tracked by the IT authorities include:

1) Property purchase worth Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) or more;

2) Deposits of over Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million)in a savings account;

3) Purchase of bonds of over Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000);

4) Investment in mutual funds of over Rs 2 lakh; (Rs 200,000);

5) Purchase of shares worth Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) in a single company and;

6) Purchase of consumer durables like plasma television or expensive cars.

When faced with such a situation, you need to have all the documentation ready. "When IT called for an explanation, the person who has made such a transaction should carry all the documents supporting the source of funds. He also needs to carry his IT filings for the last financial year," said Kanu Doshi, a tax expert.

For instance, if the IT department calls to inquire on the purchase of a flat of over Rs 30 lakh, carry bank statement and documents that shows the loan amount.

"Make payments as much as possible through cheques or debit cards for large transactions and from an account that is your salary account. This will help to explain the source of money easily," explained Viswanathan. Further, if you have borrowed any money from a friend or relative for these purchases, take the loan in cheque. That would help clear any doubts.

To be on the safe side, mention all the high-value materials purchased while filing returns. This should include jewellery, expenditure on children's marriage, and others.

Sanskrit – a source of knowledge and wisdom or a dying heritage?

Sanskrit, like Latin or Greek is the world’s one of the oldest and few classical languages. In present times, it is written in the Devnagri script and its grammar was set out in 500 BC. It is listed as one of India’s 23 official languages. The total number of people who speak Sanskrit does not exceed 50,000, whereas it is also a second language to less than 2 lakh people. In whatever limited numbers, besides India, it is also spoken in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and some other areas of South and Southeast Asia. Like in the earlier mentioned counties, many Buddhist scholars in China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam also speak and use Sanskrit. This is supported by the fact that all scriptures of Hindus, Jains and Budhists are written and recorded in Sanskrit. Books of Puranas, with Bhagavad Gita as one of them, are one of the most interesting collection of stories about the Hindu gods and goddesses written in Sanskrit. The fact that Vedas, India’s two most talked about epics, Mahabarat and Ramayan, the works of Kalidas, etc were all written in Sanskrit shows that Hindu philosophy and traditions revolve around Sanskrit based writings. Sanskrit was a vehicle of creativity and development. The work done in Sanskrit is huge - Vedas laid the foundation of Vedic literature and all Sanskrit literature thereafter. Classical Sanskrit literature contains rich poetry, is found in Indian Classical Music and literature, as well as scientific, (Indian plants and animal species, Indian astronomy and ancient Indian sciences), technical, philosophical and religious texts. Sanskrit has been extensively used in religion and philosophy, in grammar, phonetics, etymology and lexicography. Astronomy, astrology, sociology, arts and aesthetics, politics and sex are well explained in Sanskrit language. Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages is considered as the “mother of all languages”, as many languages of world have either evolved out of it or have been greatly influenced by it. At the same time, Sanskrit language, it is believed belongs to the Indo-European, Indo-Aryan language group, as there are too many words in European languages that are similar phonetically and in meaning to those in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is related to Asian and South East Asian culture and philosophy, as Latin and Greek to European. Sanskrit originated from the same source as Latin, Greek and Persian, what we now refer as the Indo European languages. Sanskrit language has a wonderful structure - more perfect than the Greek, more abundant than the Latin, and more elegantly refined than either. It bears such a stronger resemblance to both - verb roots as well as forms of grammar, that it possibly could not be an accident that these evolved from some common source. Unfortunately, this link no longer exists. Though, there are people who suggest that Sanskrit evolved from either Dravidian group of languages or an earlier version of Sanskrit spoken in the sub-continent. But, some of the most widely used words common among these languages suggest that they all came from the same source. Evolution of different words in each language and possible connection with similar words in other comparable languages provides irrefutable evidence of their common origin. Sanskrit today has practically turned in to a ceremonial language, mainly used in Hindu hymns (mantras) and Bhudhists and Jain scriptures, but unfortunately, not brought in day-to-day use.

Fresh grads: Focus on job content, not salary

How the young working professionals and fresh graduates can prepare themselves for the current global economic situation.

The current job scenario
Earlier, there was a bit if arrogance in the fresh graduates because not one or two but three companies chased them. So, there was no seriousness about joining or staying in a company. Some of these graduates were very choosy because there were many jobs available. So, they took jobs for granted.

Attrition was high as they were hopping companies for small amounts. Those times are over.

What kind of jobs to take
I would suggest two things. My suggestion to them now is, choose a company that wants you and not the company you want. And, stay there. This is no time to jump around and experiment.

If you have a stable start in the beginning of your career, even if it is for a lower salary, it is okay. You should forego the idea that you would not work in Tier 2 cities, and that you would not work in lesser known companies.

You should look for job content that can add value to your experience. Only those who are doing well in the company will be kept in troubled times. Those who are not adding value will be under threat.

So, you choose a company where you can learn and contribute. When you are contributing, you are under less threat.

What companies look for during times of economic slowdown
When companies become very choosy during times like this, a fresh graduate has to be either from a good college or has to have good grades or good knowledge. When the chips are down, companies look for people who add value.

So, freshers should make sure that they learn to manage their own expectations. They should not lose heart. In some of the campuses, I see young people thinking their world has ended if they don't get a job. Don't get depressed.

Higher studies as an option
It is a risky proposition to go for a Masters just because you didn't get a job. If you want to add value to your qualifications, go for higher education.

Salary cuts
During the dotcom bust, many used to say, we will stay here even for a smaller salary. Maintaining a job became more important than asking for a raise. Once again, we see those times.

The next two quarters are very crucial. If the global economy continues to remain sluggish, it will be disastrous.

Banks cut home loan rates

Public sector banks on Monday announced that home loans up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000) would be given at a maximum interest rate of 8.5 per cent, while those between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh (Rs 500,000 and Rs 2 million) would be offered at 9.25 per cent.

Besides, the banks would not charge any processing fees and pre-payment charges for loans up to Rs 20 lakh, and would also provide free insurance cover, the Indian Banks Association said.

The package looks at reviving the demand in the housing industry.
# Interest rates not to exceed 8.5% for loans up to Rs 5 lakh
# Interest rates for loans between Rs 5 lakh and 20 lakh to be 9.25%.
# No processing fee or pre-payment charges, free insurance cover for loans up to Rs 20 lakh.
# PSU banks announce one percentage point cut in loans for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

However, it is not yet clear if the existing home loan borrowers will benefit from the special home loan schemes unveiled by state-owned banks on Monday.

Outlining the new housing loan package in accordance with the stimulus package announced by the government on December 7, State Bank of India chairman O P Bhatt said the interest rate under the two schemes could come down, but would not go up beyond the threshold limit of 8.5 and 9.25 per cent for a five-year period.

The offering under the packages would be made till June 30, next year, Bhatt said, adding that after the lock-in period of five years the borrowers could look in for free or floating rates that could change in accordance with market conditions.

To make the package attractive, the public sector banks would give the loans at a margin of 10 per cent up to Rs 5 lakh and 15 per cent for loans between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, and in either case, banks would offer free insurance cover, Bhatt said.

Leading private lenders, including ICICI Bank and HDFC, appeared favourably inclined to cut their rates, with sources saying the two lenders would study the PSU banks' package before taking a call.

Sources said any decision would be taken after ascertaining whether PSU banks are getting any government subsidy for implementing the package.

The banks have also decided to cut the lending rates for the micro and medium enterprises by 100 basis points.