My Musings

How I became "RICH" You too can become RICH ICICI bank had, till recently, a system called "Quantum Optima Deposits". The system worked like this: Your savings account was 'divided' into two - operative and non-operative. The operative a/c would normally hold upto 15,000/- and if it exceeds this by way of your subsequent deposits, the excess amount (over and above, say, 12000.00 would be diverted to a new QOD a/c. If you withdraw from your operative a/c, the amount will be supplemented (reverse sweep) from the most-recent QOD a/c. Over the years, I had accumulated about 14 QOD accounts, for amounts as low as 252.00 and 259.00. I tried my best to get these QODs closed and have just one FD for the whole amount. The interest for these QODs were 5.5% whereas, ICICI was giving about 7% for its FDs. I was losing 1.5% interest for no fault of mine. Repeated requests thru Net banking failed to elicit any response. Last week I took the trouble of visiting my branch (...

* THE RATNA CAFE Are you a fan of Idli - Sambhar? Or Sambhar-Vadai? If your answer is YES, the place you should visit is Ratna Cafe in Thiruvallikkeni ( Triplicane), Chennai. You are not a fan? Then it is a MUST-VISIT for you. This eatery is more than 50 years' old. Chennai people will swear by this eatery for that delicious Idlis. I was told that here in this eatery, they do not supply Sambhar in cups as practised in other hotels. Then how do they do it? "You have to go there personally to see for yourself", they said. "Okay," I said. Me and my wife proceeded to Thiruvallikkeni, Pycrofts Road. Deviating from Idlis and Ratna Cafe, let me tell you that Pycrofts Road (Bharatiyar Salai) that runs East - West is a treat for book lovers. Its platform/pavement is chockfull of books, old and new, on all subjects under the sun. Verily it is a paradise for book worms. There are many regular book shops on this road, and some publishers also. You can see hundreds of ...

Koils in Madras. This (16th July 2006) evening 5 PM, we (myself and Vijaya) embarked on a minor tour of "Koils-in-Mylapore." We went to (1) Shri Veera Anjaneyar Koil, (2) Shri Adi Kesava Perumal Koil, (3) Shri Vedhantha Desikar Koil (both near the Chitrakulam, Mylapore. The (2) and (3) are very ancient koils. On our walk back home, we went to Shri Karpaka Vinayakar Koil, near our house. We walked non-stop for over 2 hours but the experience was most satisfying. An evening well spent, in stead of couch-potatoing in front of the dumb TV. The place, streets and lanes, the houses around these Koils must be over 200 years' ancient and is a sight to behold. Remember my earlier mail two years ago on an ancient house in Mylapore, transporting us back in the Time machine? Today, we re-visited that place, but not that house. I like to visit such places of heritage, which mirror our culture. Day before yesterday (14th) we went to Shri Ramakrishna Mutt, and Shri Saibaba Koil ...