Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation

Life Insurance against your property purchase

Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation… really? In my experience there is a push from the insurance company selling you their insurance products.

Disclaimer: The below expressed views is purely my personal views & I strongly believe in it.

Getting back to the topic, most of you who have purchased or in the process of buying a house/ flat would surely want to cover your life to make sure you protect your dear ones after you. Almost all the bank would have a tie up with some insurance company & they would hand over an insurance application form along with loan application.

I fully support, getting life covered against the value of your property. Let me share my views & options you have with an example.

Mr. You buys a flat for Rs.1.2 Cr & takes a loan of Rs.1 Cr. Risk coverage required Rs.1 Cr. Assuming loan tenure is 15 years @ 10% interest rate

Mr. You has 3 options a) Not buy life insurance b) Buy an insurance by paying 1 time premium c)Buy a simple vanilla term insurance paying yearly/quarterly premium. Which one of these options should you choose?

Option a):  Only if you are well cover which is not the case in most of the time. So, it boils down to option b & c.

Option b):  An estimate of 1 time premium would be Rs.2 Lakhs to be paid on Day Zero for Rs.1 Cr life cover

Option c):  An estimate of Rs.15k/year or even less (check policybazaar.com) for simple term insurance

Pros & Cons of option b

1.       1 time premium is heavy on pocket but easy as bank gives you a loan for this & meets the objective.

2.       On a flip side- you end up paying EMI of Rs.2150 per month (Rs.25800/year, Rs.3.87lakhs for 15years) for this Rs.2 Lakhs premium that you paid on day zero

3.       In option b, your risk coverage is caped to balance principal outstanding (let’s say you kick the bucket when the loan outstanding is Rs.75 lakhs, insurance company will settle Rs.75 lakhs to the bank, all your nominee will have to do is inform the bank & sign few documents).

Pros & Cons of option c

1.       You end up paying yearly or quarterly premium, you risk in case you miss paying an installment.

2.       Not so heavy on pocket as you are paying this each year & also the premium is much lower (approximately Rs.15k/Year, Rs.2.25Lakhs over 15 year not on Day zero but in installment)

3.       If you think you can’t remember paying premium regularly on time, you can opt for ECS (saving account or even Credit card)

4.       In the event of death, your nominee submits claim with insurance company, insurance company pays your nominee Rs.1 Cr & nominee will pay Rs.75lakhs out of Rs.1 Cr claims settled to the bank & close the loan.

I am not an expert & may be my assessment is incorrect. Please do express your views or disagreement if any.

I sincerely request everyone reading this to do an independent evaluation and action based on what suits your requirement best.

Vision of Mr. Blind

Vison of Mr. Blind

I still recall the day; a blind man shared his vision with me. Almost a decade ago when I drove my mom to her Bank & I saw this old blind man selling Jhola bag. I went to him & asked, how much does the bag cost & he replied Rs.50/- (less than a dollar). It was a very ordinary looking bag but a strong one & nothing fancy about it. I paid him a little more than his quote & walked towards my mom. My mom asked me why I needed a bag like this & how much I paid for it.

It’s been 10 years & the bag is still going strong. I use is normally when I go on my bike to any stores nearby. This Jhola bag is now dirty & I guess it’s time to discard it & get a new one.

Now, let me share few statistics of the usage of the bag. On an average I used this bag thrice a week (once on weekday & twice on weekends)

10 years X 52 weeks X 3 avg = 1560 times in 10 years

Meaning, 1560 plastic bags less consumed by 1 single person. Imagine what would be the contribution every one of us can make as a team.

Even if one third of India’s population shares Mr. Blind’s vision, it would reduce ~624billion plastic bags consumption in a decade.

Well, I am not here to tell you the negative impact of plastic bags & the pollution it creates. I am here to share The Vision of Mr. Blind, which we ignore blinding ourselves in everyday life.

#Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is not just about cleaning your city but more about not creating mess.

Thank You Mr. Blind for showing me the path

Carry a Bag & don’t ask for Carry Bag

I am doing my bit, Are you?

Weekend Bike Ride to Manchanabele dam

Manchanabele Dam

It was a nice Saturday morning & as usual I had my camera, my bike & myself ready for a morning bike ride on my Bullet. Different route & a little bit of off road is what I was looking for & I headed towards Magadi road. The road after the NICE road junction is very good with less traffic, so I could hear nothing other the thump from my bike. As you start riding on this road you would not miss seeing mountains on either sides of the road. Savandurga Hills is the one you would see on your left & this is a nice place for a trek as well & if you do trek this hill, then the view from the top of the hill is spectacular.

Little further from this place you would come across a place called Manchanabele dam. It’s a less known & not so popular, small water dam approximately 40Kms from my place Chandra Layout Bangalore and the dam is built across river Arkavati. This is a nice place for bird-watchers with plenty of resident and few migratory birds. This Dam is build for the irrigation purpose & now it also provide water to the Magadi Town. This place is good for your week end drive & is very refreshing. Please avoid swimming in the back water, just enjoy the nature. I have heard that Kayaking is conducted here but have no much details on Kayaking.

You would have to take permission from BWSSB to enter the DAM but I didn’t have permission letter so checked with a local how do I get to see the river, he directed to a route which was complete off road & I loved it. About 2kms off road biking will you reach the river bed & there you can see the spectacular view of the river & a temple in the middle of the river. Yes to add to this view you have beautiful birds & I was all game to shoot few of the birds & capture them on my camera. After enjoying nature & capturing the birds in my camera, I was hungry & headed back to Magadi road to find a decent place for my breakfast. I knew there are not many place to have breakfast. I had 2 options one head back towards home & find a place to have breakfast or to head towards Magadi & check if I find a nice place to eat something.

I decided to explore & try out my luck, a little further on my ride I found a place where lot of locals where having food. This place was more like a house which was catering to the local requirement. I thought it was a good idea to stop & see if the food was good. The place was clean & they were serving my favorite Tatte idli with chutney :) I had 2 plates of Tatte idli.

After eating heart’s content I started my ride back home. Boy!!! it was a nice way to begin the weekend?

New Year Resolution

I never understand the concept of waiting for new year to make a new resolution. If you really want to change something in your life or make change in your society you live in, why the hell do you need to wait for this particular day for making a resolution. I feel these resolution are made more to provide an update on FB or some other social network & wait for your friends to react to it & feel good. If this is what is expected then you are not making any resolution but just seeking for attention from other just to feel good.

Anyways I wish you all good luck for this new year 2011 & if it's not too much to ask then please avoid or reduce use of plastic.

A tribute to Sangolli Rayanna

I am sure most of you staying in Bangalore have seen a statue covered with a colorful plastic sheet in Khoday circle. Ever wondered whose statue it is? Yes, it of Sangolli Rayanna. Before I proceed further let me give you a brief history of Sangolli Rayanna.

Sangolli Rayanna born on 15-Aug-1798 was a prominent freedom fighter from Karnataka. He fought the British till his death. Rayanna was born in the small village of Sangolli, he belonged to the Kuruba Gowda / Dhangar caste and a warrior in his time. He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma.

When the British wanted to secede the kingdom to their empire by putting forward the doctrine of lapse as Rani Chennamma’s son was adopted, the queen refused to secede her kingdom after her husband’s death. She was aided by Rayanna and fought British bravely but was defeated and imprisoned.

Sangolli Rayanna continued to fight the British. His land was confiscated, and of what remained of it was heavily taxed. He taxed the landlords and built up an army from the masses. He used guerrilla tactics to attack government property; burnt land records and extracted huge sums of money from notorious landlords and bureaucrats. Rayanna is considered by many historians as the pioneer of guerrilla warfare in India. He continued this warfare till 1829.

The landlords along with the British forced his father in law Laxman to cheat Sangolli Rayanna. When Rayanna was having a bath, the British army attacked. By that time Rayanna's sword was in Laxman's hand. When Rayanna asked him to give the sword, Laxman gave it to British army and they arrested Rayanna. Finally, he was captured by treachery and hanged in Nandagad in Belgaum district. His last wish was to be born again to fight against British & drive they away from our sacred soil.

Today, Sangolli Rayanna is fighting to get rid of this plastic sheet wrapped completely from top to bottom since more than a year at Khoday Circle. I guess he is still fighting these bureaucrats who cut the ribbon & garland the his statue.

Captured on Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 in one of the leading News paper
Addressing press persons, the former minister and adviser to Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Pratishthana H.M. Revanna said that the journey of installing statues of Sangolli Rayanna would begin at Kolhapur. The statue would be taken to Nippani, Belgaum, Kittur, Dharwad, Hubli, Haveri, Ranebennur, Harihar, Davangere, Chitradurga, Hiriyur, Shira, Tumkur and Nelamangala before reaching Bangalore.

This statue which would cost Rs. 70 lakh, will be installed at Khoday Circle near Bangalore Railway Station at a cost of Rs. 1.5 crore. It will be taken to the venue in a colourful procession. Mr. Revanna said that the statue was being installed to commemorate Sangolli Rayanna’s sacrifice. The statue will be unveiled in August (which year?)

Bureaucrats!!! What are you waiting for? Release the plastic sheet & let every Kannadiga see their hero & pay respect to the great Sangolli Rayanna.

Jai Hind Jai Karnataka...

Shivagange: Awesome Bike Journey On The Republic Day 2010

It all started with Karthik throwing up this idea when he called me on 23rd Jan to check what I am doing on Republic day 26th Jan. Sarvesh (common friend) was keen on going to Shivagange to check out, if his stamina has improved or not for this trek. How were we supposed to go there? Obviously it had to be on our Bullet. Another friend of ours Anup owns a Bullet Machismo & I ride a Bullet Electra. So, it was decided that all 4 of us will head to Shivagange on 26th Jan on our Bullets.

Anup, Karthik & Sarvesh were to come to my place early morning 6am on 26th Jan & from there we were to head in 2 bullets. Guess what, Sarvesh had a party previous night & bunked at Karthik’s place & woke up “early morning” 7 or 7.15am ;). I woke up early morning & my bullet is ready to roar. Could not wait any longer so I decided to head to Karthik’s house at Malleshwaram & take NH4 from there. Now Mr. Sarvesh says we will not take NH4 instead will take Magadi road. Magadi road stretch till Sunkadakatte is bad but Sarvesh insisted that we take this route & not NH4.

8 O clock it is & we kick start our bullets & head to the Shell petrol pump to fill in fuel which took about 10 mins & we were back on road again. All the way till Sunkadakatte I kept feeling that why did we take this route. The journey actually started just after Sunkadakatte, NICE road junction, believe me it was a wise call to take this route all thanks to Sarvesh. The road is wonderful & is almost empty; we could clear hear the rhythm of the thump & feel the fresh air. We were in no rush & were enjoying our ride each mile. Well it was time for our next pit stop, yes to fill in our stomach. Unlike Mysore road you have very few food joints on Magadi road so we had to search for a decent place. We found a darshni, Anup & Sarvesh ordered for Idli Wada & Karthik & I ordered for Masala Dosa. Take my word Idli & wada is the safest bet in south India when you are not sure of the place where you eat. Both Karthik & me ate half of our masala dosa & left it ordering idli wada for us too :) . It was about 9.30 or 10 & we started again. The scenic beauty was getting better & better with big mountains on either sides & blanket of green trees. Maintaining a good speed & a few stops to capture the scenic beauty in our cameras we reached Shivagange at 11.30. Parked the bikes in shade & we brought few water bottles from a stores before we started to trek up the hill.

Shivagange is one of the most well visited tourist attractions in Bangalore. The temple is located on the top of a hill & the view from an altitude of approximately 4500ft is mind blowing. This hill has four faces, and it looks like Nandi from the east, Ganesh from the west, Linga from the south and hood spread Cobra from the north. It has two famous shrines dedicated to Lord Gangadeshwara and Goddess Honnadevi. There is also a fresh water spring called Pathala Ganga between two monolithic rocks. On top of that there is a small Nandi and a small spring which is like Ganga coming out of it. The temple, Shivagange is a combination of two names, Shiva and gange. That’s how the place named Shivagange. The water which is found here is considered to be as holy as the River Ganga from Kashi. It is located on the top of a hill. You will find a statue of Nandi at the top of the temple. Tourists from all over come to this point to worship Lord Shiva.




The trek was nice & tiring too as it is sharp 12 in the noon when we started to trek & it was a very sunny day. Off course you will have to watch out & be careful of the monkeys who are really smart to take away your food effortlessly. The hill top view is awesome & you can relax for some time & eat the junk food if your appetite is good. The only thing that I felt bad was about how irresponsible people are about keeping the place clean & not litter, every step you take & walk up the hill you will find plastic. Why can’t we pay respect to Mother Nature & do our little bit in keeping the place clean? All said & done this place is a good visit & more so coz of the company & the ride on our bullet.

We walked down the hill & reached at 4 in the evening tired & hungry. The sugarcane juice & cucumber sold is just superb. Washed our faces & attended natures call at the rest room at the bottom of the hill.

4.30 It is & we kick started our bullets & head back to the road again. Other than a small stretch of 4 to 5 kms the road is peaceful & very less traffic in this route. The other route that you can take to reach Shivagange is through NH4 & a deviation after 8 kilometers from Dabas Pet. The whether in the evening was nice & was getting cooler. We did quite a few distance & reached a dhaba to refuel :P. I don’t recollect the name of the dhaba but the food was pretty decent. Karthik & Sarvesh had one mug of beer each as they were riding pillion. Anup & I were to ride the bike so no drinking & driving/ride. Before we head back on road we were served butter milk which was good, I just had a sip though.


It was about 5.45 or 6pm & we started our journey back. Anup who was ride fairly slow the whole day suddenly was in full josh & was ride at a decent speed, I guess it was butter milk :). Yes, it was getting darking as the day was passing & night catching up. The journey back was even better coz the roads were smooth & our bikes were happy with the ride. We came back to Karthik’s house at 7pm & I reach my home at 7.30 near Vijaynagar. In all we did about 200Kms & all of us had good time.

All I can say is, the ingredient for this great trip was good place, good roads, great bike “The Royal Enfield Bullet”& last but not the least a superb company :)

Election Selection - Voters Choice

This morning 23rd April i wake up & I wondered which candidate should i vote? Is there any one who is capable of making a difference? Would my vote make a difference? As i thought about this i realized that i am actually selecting the best among the worst. So, should I vote today or not? If so whom should i vote? Later i decide to vote but whom is still a big question. So, before I head to the polling booth I logged on to the Internet to check what is the track records, education qualification of few of the candidates. Guess what i find on the web? "prisoners" have no right to vote.If this is the case why is a person who has 11 or more criminal records allowed to contest for election. Later I head to the polling booth to cast my vote & find few party workers who are trying to influence every voter they meet as they check their names in the voting list "Sir/Madam please vote for BJP, JDs, congress etc". Finally i enter the polling booth where i was to cast my vote. Now here I find a person a bank employee working there & gave me a paper with some number written on it which was to be handed over to the lady next to him. This lady takes this piece of paper & puts in the ink on my finger. The time finally came when I had to make a choice. Good or bad? well i don't know but yes i did cast my vote. As i head back to my car I realized that my decision of voting a particular candidate was made at the last 2 to 5 mins before I casted my vote.Am I the only guy who made his decision at the last min or are there many more like me? Now, you tell me if you casted your vote, did you make your choice in the last min or you knew whom you wanted to cast your vote well in advance?