Jeyaganesh's Blog

I don’t know much about financial management and obviously its importance.  Had a subject in my college about finance management. I used to sleep in that class. But nowadays I feel it is very important to manage finance. But conventional way of book keeping is not attractive to most peoples especially peoples travelling all the time.  This post is for such people and who have internet access most of the time. Ability to use own memory as a buffer is added advantage. I am big fan of google, its products are beyond perfect. they dont offer free application/product/service for financial management. But we can do it with google docs, gmail quick links with little effort.

Our focus is personal/family finance management.

Google Docs Steps:

1. Goto google docs from your gmail.
2. Create New -> Form
3. Give name for form (e.g. Expense Details). One spreadsheet will be created in the same name for viewing datas
4. Add required fields (Date of Transaction, Time of Transaction, Paid to, Amount, Description)
5. Save the form.
6.  Email the form to your gmail ID. Don’t forget to  check “Include form in email body”.

Gmail Quick Links part:

1. By the time, you may have received the email with the form.
2. Goto Settings -> Labs in gmail.
3. Enable the “Quick Links”. Save the changes. Quick links area will appear on the left corner of the gmail.
4. Now open the received mail with the form.
5. Now click “Add Quick link” link at quick links area. Name the link appropriate name like “Expense Details”.

Just click the link “Expense Details”. The respective email will be brought to foreground even from the abyss. Enter the details. Submit the form. Simple. Quick links avoids the pain of searching the form for entering expenses details. Now your gmail has a form to enter the time to time expenses in addition to checking emails. I’ll check my mail more than four times a day. So it is very helpful. We can email the form to any people. With little coordination we can make family finance management interesting.

All you have to do is enter the expenses whenever you get the time to surf. At background the details will be logged into the spreadsheet created for the form. You can do the tallying part at end of the month or week. You can have different forms (Income Details, Debt Details). The form fields are not limited to just text boxes, you can have checkboxes, text areas, etc.

I m exploring how to automatically generate balance sheets and cash flow statements within google docs. I will update this post if I find how to do it.

Google is getting smarter and intelligent day by day. I was typing a mail to a supplier to provide specifications for a good. It was long mail and two files should be attached to it. while typing the body i totally forgot the two files. Actually i was typing without much concentration. When i clicked “Send” gmail sensed the “find attached” phrase in the body and displayed the message

“Did you mean to attach files?

You wrote ‘find attached’ in your message, but there are no files attached. Send anyway?”

I got this reply “No file attached in the mail” from the destination many times. Some brains have inability to auto-correct from previous mistakes for specific routines.  It is a really useful and cool addition for such peoples.

This is related to my previous post. I thought I was the only one affected by ticketgenie.in’s dispatch [or courier delay in delivering] of IPL tickets. Is it not their responsibility to ensure the delivery on time? I got five emails and 3 phone calls regarding the same problem from different persons. One person enquired how to get the refund. No way man!. For all the cases, they are not able to get proper replies from Ticketgenie either through email or phone. I googled “ticketgenie ipl tickets” and shocked to see number of  complaints from other buyers which topped the list. It seems no one [who selected courier option] got the tickets on time.

P.S : I am yet to receive the tickets for April 1st match. Well done DTDC. Keep the good work.

Navigated to kkr.com for buying tickets for match between KKR and DC scheduled on 01/04/2010 and clicked ‘buy tickets’.  My Browser was redirected to ticketgenie.com.

I selected the courier option out of two options provided: 1. Home printing — have to claim the original tickets from the match venue, 2. Courier option — tickets will reach your home 3 days before match schedule through Blue Cart Courier. Instructions in website clearly mentioned the tickets will be dispatched through Blue Dart Courier. And once dispatched, the docket number of the courier will be e-mailed to the buyer.

The match schedule and my schedule in Kolkata — for official purpose — happened to be in the same week. Also for IPL version 1,  I desperately tried to attend KKR match at Kolkata. But I missed. Since they [Ticketgenie] promised it [ticker delivery] will reach me in 3 days in advance (i.e.) before 29/03/2010, I booked the tickets. At that time, my departure from Trichy to Kolkata is not planned.

But it happened that I have to be there in Kolkata on 26/03/2010. This makes my selected courier option void because I given the delivery address at Trichy.  I emailed to Ticketgenie requesting for the change in delivery details. But no prompt and proper reply is given by them. I tried calling them, they simply said “Email the details and we’ll see what we can do.”

Then my departure date came and I am now here in Kolkata watching the same match in TV.

Today morning I called Ms.Shruthi, ticket dispatch division, Ticketgenie, Kolkata and enquired about the ticket. They said they already dispatched it on 27/03/2010 through DTDC couriers.

“Then why you not properly replied my emails and not sent me the docket nos.”

“Sir that is Bangalore peoples work.  I’ll give u a number. Please speak with him regarding this.”

“That doesn’t matter anyway. I can’t get the tickets now. I am already in Kolkata. Is there any other way to watch the match? I got the printout of the e-ticket and my photo ID with which I booked it.  That is what required for Home printing option, Right?  Can I change it to that option now? “

“No, that is valid only when you selected the Home printing option while booking.  If you selected that option, we could’ve holded the tickets with us and u can redeem it at the match venue. You have to buy new tickets at the counter if that your tickets are not with you.”

“Then you… ok, they must’ve sent me at least the docket no. at right time.  At website it is mentioned the courier will be Blue Dart but now you sent it by DTDC courier.  Why?”  I know about their incompetency [DTDC couriers] and experienced it many times. If it mentioned other than Blue Dart, I could’ve changed the plan.

“For that you have to speak with them. Please note down the no. sir”

Man! Her voice was so sweet. I noted down and called the other person.

“Sir, I just spoke with Ms. Shruthi regarding a ticket for the match scheduled today. I selected the courier option while booking. But I haven’t yet received the tickets to my address. Even if it reaches the destination today I can’t go and fetch it. Tell me the alternative solution to watch the watch”

“Ok sir. Give me your contact number and booking reference number. I will give you a call after discussing with my boss within 15 minutes”

After TWO HRS he called me

“Sir, the concerned person for that matter is Ms. Shruthi. You have to speak with her.”

“I already spoke with her. She is hopeless. Alteast give me your manager number. Let me see at least he understands the situation”

“Sir you have to speak with Ms. Shruthi and you are not supposed to speak with anybody else.”

“GO TO HELL MAN.” His voice was also too bad.

I disconnected the call and spent another hour firing DTDC courier for still keeping the fucking tickets with them – which they are supposed to deliver it two days before.

Life will teach you many things even if u r not willing to learn.  Some of the lessons we regret and some we cherish. I don’t know what to do with this lesson.

Aaaaw. DADA is rocking in this match. Six. Six. Six… Go to hell Ticketgenie, go to hell DTDC, go to hell …………………………..

Unfortunate Ganguly and Shahrukh. They are going to miss me.

There is so much speculation on “How much Mayawati’s  1000 rupees Garland worth.”  Some says it comes around 2-5 crores.  some says it might have crossed 22 crores.  Today morning, I read a news stating “Maya received another garland worth rupees  18+ lakh”. BSP officals also said “This is the reply for opposition party’s stand on 1000 rupees garland.”

Garlands made of money is mainly rewarded to Street Performers doing different tricks. It implies here  Street Performer is choosen as C.M. by some innocent peoples. Crab always return to Sea, irrespective of how many times you restored it from there. What poor peoples do when they are provided  with decent money, one time, just for a single vote when they are still craving for food. Those peoples are not in a position to think more than present tense and can never come out of past tense. So keeping them poor is also an advantages for next election.

Can’t believe they spent 200+ crores for the rally. At least she should have spent that money by giving free Television as TN C.M did to keep the peoples busy watching T.V. Because peoples awareness is not good for politics. Forgot to mention about her statues everywhere in U.P and its worth.

Here is a story that you may have heard it many times before. But hearing it at right time and right context is something different. This is a mail forwarded by my friend “Srinivasa Raghavan”. Thanks to him. He may sent it to me causally like many other forward mails, but it affected me. So I thought it is worth publishing it here.

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Moral: Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!

Sure we must save our tigers. but how? Hats off to Aircel for this initiative. Will this message reach the poachers effectively. Are these poachers not aware of this dwindling numbers?. Of Course they do and they just don’t care.

In two ways tiger’s life is endangered,

1. Poaching
2. Killing for safety

For first case, we can fight only with law. Laws should be stringent to fight against tiger poaching. Forest department officials should take the necessary steps. But “What to do if safety fencing itself eats the plants”

For second case, surely awareness is necessary but not for people sitting before computers, living at cities and apartments where no tiger is living and think they saved the tiger species by just enrolling in the website. Awareness should be given to village peoples living nearby forest areas about procedures to follow if encountered a tiger.

what wild animals do when we keep on occupying their living space?

Yesterday I went to see this movie. Came out awestruck. Though we have seen movies like this and such effects in many hollywood movies, this is different. Plot is very close to us. Good try by Selvaraghavan. He got 80% success in it. Maybe remaining 20% was left because of financial crisis they experienced while finishing the movie. Before seeing this movie I too thought this is going to be a pure copy of multiple hollywood movies, influenced by some people.

Indians has special mentality, they will appreciate the work done by outsiders, turn down our own people’s. This is kind of movie which we have to embrace and encourage. This is real entertainment.

Big comedy was in last week’s SUN TV Top 10 movies, Aayirathil Oruvan was in 3rd place and Vettaikaran was in 1st people. Can’t digest such ratings. How the hell, on what basis they are rating the movies.

Must watch movie, on theatre.

Today my blog completes one year of its existence. I am very happy coming this far. Still there is lot left out to improve and lot to write. But I can see the improvement. Initially to write a post even with one paragraph it takes more than 1 hour. Now the time became very less.

I planned to write a lot at start but on course of time the damn writer’s block and busy schedule kept me out of it . I remember one piece of writing from the book “Alchemist” by paulo coelho and i want to mention it here.

“At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie”

I know the above reasons are just justifications for my incapability . Now I decided to write whatever comes to my mind and not to afraid of making mistakes. Oh Yeah. I can do it.