My sister who lives in the US is following the tightly fought race (or should I say fight) between Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama for the diamond in the crown i.e. the seat of the President of the United States.
I am a political ignoramus I should say though I read the one or two newspapers online each day. So, (to make me understand what she had heard from her husband) she went about explaining the key issues of each candidate.
The major issues they both have been arguing on have been
Iran
Iraq
National Security
Climate Change
Illegal Immigration
Healthcare
Abortion
Economy
If we sit and read through each candidate’s remarks, we can suppose that they both are vouching for the same thing but have worded their views differently.
As an outsider viewing the political debate between the two strong contenders of US, I feel that they have sidelined major issues like what they would do about the poverty prevalent in many countries or about the various diseases tormenting many people all over or about the drug abuse teenagers or younger people are using.
I also feel why only concentrate on Iran/Iraq? Why not try to help other countries who don’t have an oil source and who need all the help they can get from a economically superior country like the US.Anyways, I feel these tactics are used to make the election sensational. This is just my point of view though.
This brings me to my other wondering. If Mrs Clinton becomes the president, she would be the first woman president that’s a great achievement definitely. However will Mr Bill Clinton become the” FIRST MAN”? As far as I know there is no such post till date. The BBC has stated that he would become a president by proxy. Its like giving attendance to someone who is not present physically (Reminds me of my engineering days).Well in India, Is our president’s husband called the “First man”? Or is he also a proxy president. We should be happy though, that our country has the first woman President.
If we look around we can come across the many wonderful achievements accomplished by women like President Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil.
It’s Women Empowerment All the Way!! Kudos!!
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Friday, 25 January 2008
Buying a house in Bangalore !
A Dream of every Bangalorean is to buy a good house in the Jayanagars, Basavangudis ,Koramangalas of Bangalore. I am also one of those aspiring millions.
The first step in trying to find potential buyable properties is to get in touch with a good real estate broker. Believe me there are more brokers in Bangalore than the number of houses or sites for sale.This is the most difficult step as more than one broker deals with a single property.
Having found a good broker, we have to go about looking at the houses he shows us.I just dont understand, how their brochures are showing such beautiful houses and the ones shown to us are such crap.And every broker you meet needs some advance upfront which I quote " can be deducted from my commission Sir ".This is mostly a non refundable amount as the chances of finalising a house with just one broker is almost nil.
If by chance, the broker comes to know that you have lived in "foreign" for sometime, then every seller is assured again I quote " Dont worry sir....you will be paid full in cash!!! You dont have to worry about the money at all..Everything will be in one payment".Hearing this the seller raises his price by another 20%.
Fine..After all this hassle and after a lot of coffee and transportation charges to the broker, we settle on a property and now it is the time for 'The Discussion' where in you will meet the seller.The broker , who by the way is taking money from both parties, tries to play a part where both the seller and buyer think that he is talking on their behalf.Ok deal is agreed upon and the seller insists that he be paid a certain amount in black which by the way wont be shown on the deal papers.This is called 'In Black'.They say this will help the buyer save money off Stamp duty.He has forgotten that his quoted price for the property has led the buyer to almost file for bankrupty.
Anyways, it is the time to receive a copy of the property documents.A list of the given documents is given and we produce the copies in a bank for security check.More times than not, the documents have 101 discrepancies and mostly they dont contain the name of the person whom we met as the Owner.
If you are lucky, the papers get approved by the bank, then we have to collect the originals from the seller ( another big delay) and then we have to apply for a loan.This is another hurdle.The bank will now try to find out if there are any problems with the said property and will try as much as possible to find some reason to avoid giving you the loan.They very much like the word DEVIATION i.e. what is the percentage difference between the plan and the actual building.You wont believe it but sometimes the builders have a deviation of more than 100%.
After the bank is assured of the percentage deviation is less than some 5%-6%, they go ahead and approve the loan.The loan amount is released after like a month.
Everything is set and now we have to register the property in our name.Take as much cash as possible as there is a lot of bribe to be given.
After everything CONGRATULATIONS on paper now you own the property .Ofcourse there is still the Khatha which will take more than a year to be released.
All the above processes take lets say a minimum of 6 months to a year and consists of a lot of travelling, stress, hassle and not to avoid the constant nattering of those so called brokers.
I sometimes wonder if it is really necessary to go through all this just to buy a house in Bangalore.But my answer always is " ITS BANGALORE, ITS HOME !!!"
The first step in trying to find potential buyable properties is to get in touch with a good real estate broker. Believe me there are more brokers in Bangalore than the number of houses or sites for sale.This is the most difficult step as more than one broker deals with a single property.
Having found a good broker, we have to go about looking at the houses he shows us.I just dont understand, how their brochures are showing such beautiful houses and the ones shown to us are such crap.And every broker you meet needs some advance upfront which I quote " can be deducted from my commission Sir ".This is mostly a non refundable amount as the chances of finalising a house with just one broker is almost nil.
If by chance, the broker comes to know that you have lived in "foreign" for sometime, then every seller is assured again I quote " Dont worry sir....you will be paid full in cash!!! You dont have to worry about the money at all..Everything will be in one payment".Hearing this the seller raises his price by another 20%.
Fine..After all this hassle and after a lot of coffee and transportation charges to the broker, we settle on a property and now it is the time for 'The Discussion' where in you will meet the seller.The broker , who by the way is taking money from both parties, tries to play a part where both the seller and buyer think that he is talking on their behalf.Ok deal is agreed upon and the seller insists that he be paid a certain amount in black which by the way wont be shown on the deal papers.This is called 'In Black'.They say this will help the buyer save money off Stamp duty.He has forgotten that his quoted price for the property has led the buyer to almost file for bankrupty.
Anyways, it is the time to receive a copy of the property documents.A list of the given documents is given and we produce the copies in a bank for security check.More times than not, the documents have 101 discrepancies and mostly they dont contain the name of the person whom we met as the Owner.
If you are lucky, the papers get approved by the bank, then we have to collect the originals from the seller ( another big delay) and then we have to apply for a loan.This is another hurdle.The bank will now try to find out if there are any problems with the said property and will try as much as possible to find some reason to avoid giving you the loan.They very much like the word DEVIATION i.e. what is the percentage difference between the plan and the actual building.You wont believe it but sometimes the builders have a deviation of more than 100%.
After the bank is assured of the percentage deviation is less than some 5%-6%, they go ahead and approve the loan.The loan amount is released after like a month.
Everything is set and now we have to register the property in our name.Take as much cash as possible as there is a lot of bribe to be given.
After everything CONGRATULATIONS on paper now you own the property .Ofcourse there is still the Khatha which will take more than a year to be released.
All the above processes take lets say a minimum of 6 months to a year and consists of a lot of travelling, stress, hassle and not to avoid the constant nattering of those so called brokers.
I sometimes wonder if it is really necessary to go through all this just to buy a house in Bangalore.But my answer always is " ITS BANGALORE, ITS HOME !!!"
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Seen it all, Done it all.....
Here goes.
Firstly let me tell you why I wanted to be able to blog.
I read somewhere that ( when I say somewhere it is in Aamir Khan's blog site) Aamir Khan had decided to be a regular blogger.So that made me think ( for a sec ) , if a busy actor like him could find the time to blog, why not a , at home based full time mum like me , find the time to do the same.
I got my bearing right and found a site where in I could blag uhuh I mean blog for free and set up an account and chose a template and this and that wow...that took a lo........ong time [ ok 2 mins] and well Here I am!!
Now It is the time to decide about what I have to post.
When I sit back and think about what I want to write, I get what is called the writer's block. Ok may be it is some one else's but still it blocked my mind.
I am sitting here chewing on whats left of my nails..reminds me of Ganguly when he was the captain and India was almost on the brink of a huge loss :D...Sad that they made him sit for the ODIs.I liked him though but this is cricket....where talent has no place!!!.
Coming back to my thoughts, oh I have many at this moment , I try to think how I can sort them out and transfer them onto this white sheet of paper Oops ...my bad!!! on this white space on the blog..
I have always been told that I am a woman with a lot of words..thats made me sound old...
I consider aging to be ambiguous...some people just grow plain old and some others wisen as they gracefully age....though I have not met a lot of the later category.....I guess I am going to be the first one in that category :)
Oh this writer's block whoseever it is , is not helping right now..My son is crying and my hubby wants his dinner...
I guess I am not as free as the busy actor Aamir Khan is after all...
Firstly let me tell you why I wanted to be able to blog.
I read somewhere that ( when I say somewhere it is in Aamir Khan's blog site) Aamir Khan had decided to be a regular blogger.So that made me think ( for a sec ) , if a busy actor like him could find the time to blog, why not a , at home based full time mum like me , find the time to do the same.
I got my bearing right and found a site where in I could blag uhuh I mean blog for free and set up an account and chose a template and this and that wow...that took a lo........ong time [ ok 2 mins] and well Here I am!!
Now It is the time to decide about what I have to post.
When I sit back and think about what I want to write, I get what is called the writer's block. Ok may be it is some one else's but still it blocked my mind.
I am sitting here chewing on whats left of my nails..reminds me of Ganguly when he was the captain and India was almost on the brink of a huge loss :D...Sad that they made him sit for the ODIs.I liked him though but this is cricket....where talent has no place!!!.
Coming back to my thoughts, oh I have many at this moment , I try to think how I can sort them out and transfer them onto this white sheet of paper Oops ...my bad!!! on this white space on the blog..
I have always been told that I am a woman with a lot of words..thats made me sound old...
I consider aging to be ambiguous...some people just grow plain old and some others wisen as they gracefully age....though I have not met a lot of the later category.....I guess I am going to be the first one in that category :)
Oh this writer's block whoseever it is , is not helping right now..My son is crying and my hubby wants his dinner...
I guess I am not as free as the busy actor Aamir Khan is after all...
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