Hope (In the times of covid19)

Amidst viral gloom,
Despair and doom,
Fed on glistening dew drops,
The bud pops...
This shall too pass,
Onto the other side, a dawn

A perfect 2020 !!

As I look back on the decades of 10s, I can only wish the decade of 20s will be as kind to me/us at the 10s were. 2010s is where we went through the tough road arriving at a very good destination in our lives. We settled;  thankfully got through the really tough times in early 2010s and settled – settled in the new culture, new jobs, new macro routines and new home. It was not (it still isn’t without) conflicts within our minds – there are times, when we feel we are where we shouldn’t be; and we aren’t where we should be, but, the guiding north star has always been one goal. And the 2010s were kind to us towards that goal. We believe now, we are in the vicinity of the goal – and I don’t have any doubt in my mind, that the goal is still afar and the difficulty multiplies as we get closer and closer. And all of us, particularly both of us, have to be in best health and wellness to be able to get there.

 

As we get into 2020s, our guiding star still remains – hopefully, we continue on our true north; we are going to be more deeply and intensely conflicted, with priorities, doubts and what is right and wrong. I just pray/hope that we continue to have that invisible hand that gently prods us to walk towards true north.

Wish you all a great 2020 and wonderful decade of 2020 !

Checklist for International transfer

Did this a long time ago, just jotted down a few things that I think are required for INternational transfer, based on my experience. I've heard it is quite useful for folks who are moving - here is the list.
---

International Relocation – some helpful checklist (engeetham@gmail.com)

1.    Work

a.    Check lateral/upward/downward move with position

b.    Pay consistency

c.    Relo benefits

2.   Be aware that this is a big change for the family – so  you may need to spend time here running around for the first two months – set appropriate work expectations

                                      i.        School, school district – understanding them etc

                                    ii.        House hunting

                                   iii.        Car-hunting; furniture and house-hold shopping etc

                                   iv.        Getting local driver’s license, SS Card etc

3.   Personal

a.    Financial/Bank accounts in India, in your name

b.    Consolidate accounts where possible, so that you have single point of contact; and reduce interfaces

                                          i.    Also consolidation will help in getting premium/preferred status and hence better service

                                        ii.    Set expectations with the banks there, that you need support from them twice a year (once for India tax year and the other for US tax year)

                                       iii.    Switch to email communication (from paper statements)

                                       iv.    Understand a bit on US taxation

1.      FBAR filing (with US treasury – need some additional info from Banks for this)

2.      8938 filing

3.      You pay US taxes on world-wide income (even MF dividends are taxable)

4.      Get an accountant in India who would file on your behalf post HP’s tax-assistance after year 1

                                        v.    NRE/NRO & Mutual fund investments

1.      If you are pretty clear that you are going to go for your Green Card, switch your accounts to NRE/NRO status of the bank accounts – will help you in 15% taxation in India due to DTAA (see 2.a.iii.2 J); or else you end up paying 33% in India

2.      (added v2) Also, if you don’t need money in India, just keep some operating amount in NRO account, and get an auditor (CA) to fill form 15A and 15B (iirc) and move most of your NRO (or RO) accounts to NRE – this would mean local interested don’t get TDS’ed. Also, you can repatriate the money, when you need them in the US

3.     (added v2) Some MF/PMS’s are not available for NRI – check and exit them, so that you don’t get into trouble later

c.    Brace yourself for “IT Audits” in India – which means, bring all your past IT history, bank statements etc – a copy of those – best is to scan and bring it as soft copy.

                                          i.    I learned it the hard way, since I’ve been audited for three consecutive years L

                                        ii.    There are tons of documentation required for these audits.

1.      Which is why post-company tax assistance, you want to get a good IT auditor/accountant back in India.

d.     Bank account in India in your wife’s name

                                          i.    Similar stuff as above

e.    Your local insurance and premium payments

                                          i.    ECS ? Checks ?

4.    (Added v2) PF and other retirement annuity (like Super Annuation)

a.    Exit them within the India tax year – the PF withdrawal is not taxable in India. In US, they are taxed on withdrawal at the applicable rate at withdrawal (all retirals are)

b.    So work with your CA (preferably US Based CPA), and get the right advice – I believe there is something like if you transfer (say) Nov 4^th – that is 183d in India and you get to file (primary resident) taxes in India and only residual taxes (under DTAA) in the US from Nov 4^th to Dec 31^st,

5.    Personal Items

                                    v.     Residence, Car, phone, gas connections (need to take care of all those)

                                   vi.    Even after 11 years, I’ve all of them going J (House is locked, car is driven once in a while, phone is in ECS etc etc)

                                                      i.        If your house is locked, pay all the bills via ECS or pay some 10k, for example, for electricity

                                  vii.     Your/Family past medical records, if you have them

                                viii.     Safe keeping of valuables – either in local lockers or in someone else house

                                                      i.        If in locker, rent paid in advance or managed

6.    Family

a.    Assuming you will all go for Green Card

                                          i.    Need all birth certificates (in absence of BC, for you/wife/kids, need notarized affidavits from respective parents)

                                        ii.    Need all your, including spouses, college certs (degree, marks etc)

                                       iii.    All your old/expired passports

                                       iv.    All your vaccination records

                                        v.    Your local (English) driving license

1.      If your wife/family member, drives there, great – but if not, it would be good to take classes there to get the sense of driving before coming here

                                       vi.    Ensure passport has the right first name and second names (key for applying for Social Security #s)

b.    For kids:

                                          i.    You need the vaccination records for school here

                                        ii.    Whatever books you could ship – the books here aren’t the same as in India (for e.g., comics like Asterix are not known here J)

c.    Bringing your parents or in-laws later on; if you plan to get them to travel here

                                          i.    Bring a copy of their passports etc; particularly, if you feel they’d be clueless about some of these requirements

d.    For house-hold, may want to specifically ship:

                                          i.    Idli grinder (we are South Indians, we have to do this J)

                                        ii.    Local blender (the blender here aren’t so tough)

                                       iii.    Pressure cooker, gaskets, spares

                                       iv.    Silverware, if you are interested in getting them here

                                        v.    Initial medicines for all

                                       vi.    If you have a computer there, just may be bring the hard-disk with you !

                                      vii.    Some of kids favourite play stuff (trampoline kinds J) – particularly if you get shipping assistance

7.    (added v2) Trust creation

a.    Finally it is very common to have trust created in the US. The reason being the lenders have lien over your assets if something were to happen to you. They get the first dibs to it, before your family gets it

                                          i.    You cannot have a trust in the US that covers international assets – you need to have one in the US covering US assets and one in India covering India assets

                                        ii.    So. If you want to add your assets in India to a trust, think of one right now

Quick Review - The Hillbilly Elegy

Finished reading/listening to the Hillbilly Elegy; I must admit, I was skeptical if I'll have the attention span to finish the whole book - but the newly minted long drive to work (total of 70-80min in a day) afforded to listen to the audio book.

Impressions: Riveting read - and gave a great insight into the Rust belt; for someone like me, who has recently moved to America and trying to understand the Trump phenomenon, it resonated with me; I could connect a lot of this to what happens in India, particularly in the rural areas...

I did sense a gap though;  while I understand some of the cultural ethos that the author has  talked about that pervades the Hillbillies lives, I'm not sure I heard the root-cause behind those? So, what is the source of, for example, alcoholism and womanizing for the hill people, even when the job and economic opportunities (like Armco) were still abundantly available ? I dont think I read the real root cause of that behaviour ? Is that the hill folks were still rooted in the Hunter-gatherer mentality that they weren't open to social progress (of equality with Women etc) ? Or was a moral code of family and monogamy not part of those - if not, why ?

I still cannot put a finger on, if you peel the onion to the core, what was the essential difference (in mindset, that led to the behaviour) between those Scottish-Irish Whites versus the whites from the North-east or big urban areas ? I believe, the lack of opportunities or dire economic situations came in much later in 90s; but it seemed anger, conflict, self-destruction were part of the DNA of hillbillies - not sure what is the anthropological reason to that.

Beyond my window !

Beyond the pane,
Onto the pouring rain,
Distracted instead...
...A beautiful stain!

("The laddie reckons himself to be a poet!")

Bollywood Tearjerker - Facebook Version

The Facebook ads in print, promoting it's version of internet is getting larger and looking more like a pre-election promise, our politicians make - free education, free health-care, better quality of life, et al. Four, yes four, effing full page advert today.

Intuition tells me that something this heavily marketed cannot be altruistic; and this is FB's step in the door, for untapped "billion", given the ad market in the west is saturated and is a duopoly, with Google getting the bigger pie.

Granted, no Corp works on altruism; but them why couch it on such tear-jerker human angle ads? Just call it for what it is: we provide free internet access, if you agree to access a very specific subset of sites and services that we allow for; and see if it violates/meets net neutrality principles. Don't couch it in effing Hindi movie scripts... it insults our collective intelligence !

(Here are couple of links from the very newspaper that carried 4 full pages of facebook advert:

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/nothing-free-or-basic-about-it/article8042334.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/crony-connectivity-and-internet-for-us/article8042342.ece
)

Facebook... France ... Flag !

Let me get this out the way first - what happened in France was heinous - in no way someone can justify taking innocent lives. I felt the same sadness and a deep sense of futility of hearing of the attacks, the same i felt when I first heard of the attacks in Mumbai (The modus operandi seemed to be the very same too; and that was lot closer to me, with my close family living in Mumbai). I just cannot imagine the sense of loss, the families, the community, the country is  going through and my heart goes out to them...

... and to the families, community and the country of Lebanon, who lost a number of innocent lives in the suicide bombing too. These innocent lives are just the same as the 19 innocent lives that were lost in the suicide bombing in Baghdad.

How do Governments make a call - Why is that if (like in early 80s, in India) the  loss of lives in India were internal law and order problem; and when the same is perpetrated by  French Citizens (as it seems to be) in France, is a world-wide terrorist problem? Who makes the call?

Forget the governments, how do we, as individual make a call? What galls me is this, how is the lives in Beirut and Baghdad any less valuable than the ones in Paris. How does facebook decide to have your profile pic in the  shades of French flag for the loss of 130 lives, and not have the same for Lebanese or Iraqi lives? While I feel a sense of anger and deep sorrow for what the French (and Lebanese and ... and ...) went through, I will not change my facebook pic.  I refuse to be a reason, even if it remotely, tenuously, makes someone somewhere less worthy or any less important.  What is that in our lives that makes us inured to the plight of  certain people, but jump to partake in the sorrow of certain others? Doesn't this mean that we are complicit in judging the value of certain lives lower than others...

...by doing so, haven't we made those impressionable kid in Beirut feel small, aggrieved and planted a seed to seek justice; perhaps the very genesis of terrorism?

Why are they still friends?

With most listed here, we have been friends for over 15 years, some for nearly 20+ years... So, here is what I really and sincerely and God-thankfully I appreciate in each of you

A: Be simple, be straight, be positive; and able to see the lighter side of everything. Able to not take oneself seriously and also permeate that level of comfort with friends around. I've learned to simplify things and that not everything needs to be complicated.

A: Simple. Wysiwyg - there are no filters. Peter Pan - although extremely wise, still not really grown :-) Completely true to what he does, with no half-way measures. He has inherently made me to learn more and sometime even teaching learning could be fun :-)

D: Introverted, very sensitive. Readily and without batting an eyelid will go one or 14km extra for a friend; that is his normal day. Dreams big, does big, but hardly makes a big deal out of it. Really has taught me, how to let go of the fort, wall and moat that I would build around me and not really talking about my issues

.

R: Silent, completely ego-less guy - he almost seems to be joyful in submerging his own personality for the good of people around him; always seemed to be truly happy in others' victories (except of course, in Tennis, it has to be himself and Federer). Somewhere, in this world, there are set of mums who are ruing that their daughter wasn't able to ensnare this guy.

R: Not so much in touch, but I believe, I'll just pick up where we left. Again - pretty grounded guy  -- knows himself quite well; will call it as he sees it; there are things that he has told me that has made me a better person today. There is a switch that lights the bulb and comes to you. He has done that several times to me - improving me; and I'm not even talking about work. This is personal.

S: Sincere, hardworking and a total introvert - he is one standing example that tells me that with an effort, we could rewire the brain; I still use these principles with my son. Loyal to the fault, even to the point, he has hurt himself, I truly wish he retires and enjoys life a bit more !

So THANK YOU Guys ! Sincerely !

Federer Reaches yet another Wimbledon Semi-finals

Roger Federer reached yet another Wimbledon semi-final. This would be his 43 Grand-slam semi-final appearance. In the quarter-final, he got through his match in straight sets – 6-2, 7-6, 6-2, with relative ease.

Federer, who had declined to a precipitous #14 in the world end of last year, has made some adjustments to re-invent the game. After hiring his arch-enemy and good friend Nadal as his coach last year, Federer has switched to two-handed back-hand. Although his inability to adjust quickly to two handed back-hand was cited as a reason for his ranking decline late last year, it seems the hard work with Nadal has really paid off. Nadal, who had retired in 2017 after a spate of injuries said, “Roger now feels very comfortable with the change. He already is a great player, I just needed work with his mechanics on high bouncing top-spin on his back-hand”.

His compatriot, Stan Wawrinka, who now commentates for BBC has not counted out Federer to win his 21st  Grand Slam – “Although Roger has won only one Grand slam the past 7 years, he is always in conversation, when Wimbledon comes along”. The ever hopeful Federer fans believe, if the other half opens-up when the play resumes tomorrow, this could be the year for Grand Slam #21.

Federer, who will turn 42 this august, said, “I’m glad I played well today – it was a tough match to keep up with a youngster like this, but I thought I served great, found the right spots and my two handed back-hand is coming together really well”. He further added he is motivated to play until next year Olympics at Budapest, where he is hoping to win one medal for his country.

Federer is also in mixed-doubles draw with his 15 year old daughter Myla Rose Federer.

In another news, Pete Sampras announced his retirement from the senior circuit. He jocularly mentioned that he just got tired of waiting for Federer.

Choices and being Insular !

This is about the Ms. Padukone's video that's making rounds as ‪#‎mychoice‬. As I'll be the contrarian, I don't want to promote the video by linking it here...

First off, giving the benefit of doubt, Agreed on what I think was the core message, but messed up due elitist urban perspective, surfeit with superficial symbolism. No one should be made to conform to someones template of right/wrong, other than it being their own choice; the only template I'm expected to conform is the law of the land.

But...

1. What is this got to do with woman or man? The dignity of choice and able to live with it (taking accountability of that choice) is both applicable to man and woman
2. And everyone's, man or woman- choice is never insular, we make choices for self, the significant others in our lives and the society we live in.

I understand in the current age of 15m of fame, the individual self appears more heroic and than the collective self;  It disregards fundamental tenets of decency, that every human being needs to be accountable to others, without losing their individual self... The "me, myself, I" message in the video is not something I'd want live by, or what I'd teach my kids to live their life by...

Battles !

Through the bracing cold mist,
Onto the unknown trysts,
Beyond this still chilly screen,
Awaits the life, yet to be seen !

This was written one very early morning, very misty/foggy that I couldn't see beyond 30m... But there was certain stillness to it; certain cool and calming presene... you could call it peace ! Although, you couldn't see beyond the 30m, it was not something that scared you !
just like the life, yet to be seen ! :-)

Songs, down the memory lane !

One night, just ahead of the weekend, lazing on the bed, I was just doodling on my phone... For some reason, I remembered this song... and as they say one thing led to another and there I was listening to a set of songs, with my commentary and whatsapping those to a group !

Here is the first song from that movie - Sharaabi - this movie was so slow to pick up and then picked up steam to attain a mini-cult status with lot of us in the mid-20s at that time... Inteha Ho Gayi Intezaar Ki... That movie... That song... Trip down (my) memory lane :-)

http://youtu.be/uourFnscU6Q

Here is one more. The mother is beautiful too. " O Mere Dil Ke Chain"

http://youtu.be/heXQRxM2Gro

And her is the Gujju bhai and ben ! Meri Bheegi Bheegi Si

http://youtu.be/K0THyu8oNlw

And... This one; The way she flirts with the camera is just awesome (no, i'm not talking about VIjay Arora).... Chura liya hai-YAADON Ki BARAT

http://youtu.be/-KgeYnMFBAU

And the next one, is just poetry..Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaye - Jurm

http://youtu.be/BAqgHmIwp00

And poignant...
To understand that poignancy, you should have been 17 year old, in early 80s, and watch Amitabh lose everything that he loves... That was Amitabh losing - the man who had it all and could do all ! O SATHI RE TERE BINA BHI KYA JINA:

http://youtu.be/OssRAVZhsRk

Although I love  Kishore"s version immensely, there is a certain classical allure of how she (Parveen Sultana) sings it. And here are both the versions. The lead-in music is more haunting... But judge for yourself which version is better... ( "Humien Tumse Pyar Kitna Yeh Hum Nahi Jante from Kudrat)

http://youtu.be/mgqY4XXNbd4
http://youtu.be/75JxottQK9E

Anyways, that's out for tonight... Will end it with a song, that is lyrically just lovely... And the rendition adds to the experience !!! "Pyar Deewana Hota Hai"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lslZptXok8o

:-)

Wired !

Through the

Labyrinths of anxiety,

Skirting the margins of fear,

Briefly stranded,

at the cross-roads of

Madness and lucidity.

Staring ahead,

he was awash

with an enveloping calm;

Of a future opaque.

Systemic Changes with quick fixes

A friend and ex-colleague of mine had written about judicial activism on his blog.  Reading that I had commented on his blog - which I thought might be an article by itself on this one :-)

IMO, the problem is systemic. We, as a culture, (largely and yes, I'm at the risk of stereotyping) do not want to be accountable to ours or hold accountable others to their actions. We need NGOs to fix things, we need judges to over-reach and get into Governance; In Mumbai when there are floods, there are typical stories about how the real Mumbaikar stood up to help their neighbours, year after year; however, no one is asking where the heck is the Governance, why the heck does it repeat every year, what has the Government done since the last few 100 times the same event had occurred.

We reach for quick fixes with an outlook, we will figure out a lasting solution the next time; and sometimes just trusting providence that it wouldn't happen the next time. I believe there are two key perspective that needs to be brought into finding the real solution:

First, we need to find a set of people who would govern better. This implies educating the rural and urban masses, the intent to vote every time and on every issue and actually do it and then hold the elected rep to their promises. This doesn't mean things would change quickly, but it is the toughest process we need to go through. 

Second, what we need to legislate and then govern;  in my view, the smaller-set of items we legislate, the easier it becomes to govern and also for the people to hold the politicians responsible for those. So, the answer may not be as simple as "free market" or "less bureaucracy" or "less constraints and regulations" but sure seems a good place to start. It just seems intuitive to me :-).

Instead, we go the opposite, we have so many rules and laws and continue to legislate more. We try and replace our personal accountability and integrity with public laws and rules. Then the set of laws becomes so  muddled that its implementation in a large and diverse country like India, with so many sub-cultures, becomes impossible; and becomes out of reach of common man and we look at someone else to help us get there - which is why we've so much of NGO and judicial activism. The problem with this approach is, it is inherently not sustainable... It is so dependent on the gray-areas and how the guy in the chair is going to interpret it. And how the next guy in the chair will over-turn it !

On a side-note, although I wasn't a great supporter of Kejriwal in their Lokpak incarnation, I do believe what he has decided now, is more sensible and the only way to go in a democracy. There is only so much awareness etc you can create in a revolution and being outside the system. The changes had to come, by being within the system - Anna Hazare and co, need to be part of the system of governance to change it. They cant be outside all the time and point what is wrong and add yet another piece of legislation to make it work. I'm pretty certain that Kejriwal is going to fail spectacularly in the elections, but I really hope he is in it for the long haul...

The systemic changes are tough and take a long time, but that is the only way to sustain it without quick fixes. Not saying quick-fixes aren't needed; every time we make a quick fix, we need to see what is the systemic change we've made to alleviate or eliminate the pain; the pain that the root-cause had created, in the first place.