Historical Blunder

We All Know TAJ MAHAL As Symbol Of Love

But The Other Lesser Known Facts are:
1. Mumtaz Was Shahjahan's 4th Wife Out Of His 7 Wives.
2. Shahjahan Killed Mumtaz's Husband To Marry Her!
3. Mumtaz Died In Her 14th Delivery!
4. He Then Married Mumtaz's Sister!

Question Arises WHERE THE HELL IS LOVE!???!

Give it a thought!

Why Godse Killed Gandhi?

Sixty one years after the assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a ‘mahatma’ to many but really a cunning politician who had mastered the art of manipulating the Indian National Congress and offering simplistic solutions to the most complex problems, apart from coercing others to toe his line by abandoning food, the story of his murder continues to elicit both curiosity and passion. He was not the first leader to be felled by an assassin’s bullet, nor is he the only eminent Indian, or South Asian for that matter, to fall victim to an elaborate murder conspiracy.

But Gandhi’s assassination was different. Not only his killers were Hindu, they killed a man who had by then come to be regarded at home and abroad as an “apostle of peace” and symbolized the unique doctrine of ‘non-violence’. In those early days of freedom, it was unthinkable that anybody would dare raise a finger, leave alone a gun, at Gandhi. Yet Nathuram Vinayak Godse did the unthinkable, with more than a little help from Narayan Apte, Vishnu Karkare, Gopal Godse, Madanlal Pahwa and Digambar Badge. Godse assassinated Gandhi on January 30, 1948, approaching him during the evening prayer, bowing, and shooting him three times at close range with a Beretta semi-automatic pistol. Immediately after this, he surrendered himself to police. Nathuram Godse, Apte and their accomplices look remarkably relaxed during the trial, unconcerned about the possibility of being sentenced to death – eventually Godse and Apte were hanged; Karkare, Gopal Godse, Pahwa were sentenced to life imprisonment. They never regretted their deed.

Those were terrible days. Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan were struggling to keep body and soul together. Many of them had lost their loved ones in the partition riots — women were raped in front of their husbands and children; young girls were abducted; men were disemboweled; trains arrived laden with dead bodies; people fleeing marauders were set upon with ferocious brutality. Madanlal Pahwa, a young refugee, Malgonkar writes, “reached a place called Fazilka, in Indian Territory, and discovered that another refugee column in which his father and other relatives had set out, had fared much worse. They had been attacked by Jihadi mobs: ‘Only 40 or 50 had survived out of 400 or 500…’.” Delhi was flooded by nearly one million refugees, all of them desperately looking for food and shelter. They were distraught and traumatized, unable to figure out why their lives had been turned upside down in so gruesome a manner. Nor could they understand the rationale behind protecting Delhi’s Muslims. What left them aghast was Gandhi’s insistence that Hindu and Sikh refugees should be sent back to Pakistan and Muslims who had left India be brought back. It didn’t make sense. Nor did the vicious blood-letting that followed. Meanwhile, Pakistan had launched its mission to smash and grab Jammu & Kashmir and was demanding that India hand over Rs 55 crore, its share of the cash reserve inherited from the departing British colonial Government.

After independence Gandhi used to start Satyagraha on every issue which went directly against the interest of India. Gandhi started hunger strike against sending of troops to Kashmir after Pakistani invasion. He was in favour of ahinsha Satyagraha against Pakistani invaders. In west Punjab, lakhs of Sikhs were killed and their body dispatched by train. In reaction to this, Sikhs started to retaliate here. Gandhi started hunger strike again to prevent it.

The proverbial last straw was Gandhi’s threat to go on a fast to force the Government of India to accept Pakistan’s demand of Rs 55 Crore. In all fairness, it needs to be recalled that Jawaharlal Nehru was opposed to the idea: He famously declared that giving the money to Pakistan would mean providing it with “sinews of war”. The old man was not listening: In the end, Gandhi had his way although people were aghast. But did this gross act of injustice to the people of India and the callous disregard for the sentiments of millions of refugees — half-a-million people perished in the violence, 12 million were rendered homeless — justify Nathuram Godse’s action? What inspired Narayan Apte, son of a well-known historian and Sanskrit scholar, to decide on January 13 (the day Gandhi declared he would go on a fast to press Pakistan’s demand for Rs 55 crore) that he must turn into a killer? What was Madanlal Pahwa’s role in the conspiracy? And why did Badge turn approver?

Godse is often a misunderstood character. He is referred to as a Hindu fanatic. It is often hard to understand Godse because the Government of India had suppressed information about him. His court statements, letters etc. were all banned from the public until recently. Judging from his writings one thing becomes very clear – He was no fanatic. His court statements are very well read out and indicate a calm and collected mental disposition. He never even once speaks ill about Gandhi as a person, but only attacks Gandhi’s policies which caused ruin and untold misery to Hindus. Another interesting point to note is that Godse had been working with the Hindu refugees fleeing from Pakistan. He had seen the horrible atrocities committed on them. Many women had their hands cut off; nose cut off, even little girls had been raped mercilessly. Despite this Godse did not harm even single Muslim in India which he could easily have. So it would be a grave mistake to call him a Hindu fanatic.

Then what was the motive behind Godse’s act??? Nathuram Godse was a learned man, very sharp and intelligent – editor of “Agrani” (one of the most famous newspaper of that time – with Nana Aapte). In his last editorial of “Agrani” which he changed overnight – he said “Gandhi must be stopped – at any cost” and he justified why Gandhiji’s assassination was not only inevitable but also a delayed action and that should’ve happened LONG AGO.

He knew exactly what he is going to do. In Nathuram’s Words – “Assassination is never as easy as picking up a rifle and pulling the trigger, assassination is never an accident. Yes, murder could be an accident but not assassination. In this case of Gandhi, it could never be…”

Did he tamper with an important era of history?? He said – “I differ with the word era. It could be a page, a leaf of history. Certainly not an era. If we don’t turn this page today, the rest of the pages of the history of our nation will remain unwritten, blank…”

By seeing the nature of the assassination in public space and Godse’s act of turning himself over to the Police, we can see that Godse did not do this for personal reasons. He very well knew that he would be hanged and his name would be disgraced as Gandhi was considered a saint. And again Godse could have ran away and escaped punishment. But he did the reverse. He called a police officer and courted arrest. Before we proceed it would be wise to understand the backdrop of the assassination. The central government had taken a decision — Pakistan will not be given Rs 55 Crores. On January 13 Gandhi started a fast unto death that Pakistan must be given the money. On January 13, the central government changed its earlier decision and announced that Pakistan would be given the amount. On January 13, Nathuram decided to assassinate Gandhi.

Also according to one source, after the state of Pakistan was formed administrative problems started to crop up. Therefore Pakistan came up with a proposal to link East Pakistan (the present day Bangladesh) and West Pakistan. According to the plan a road (you could say an area) 10 km wide would be linking the east division with the west. Now the RSS activists feared that if Pakistan requested Gandhi to sanction such a proposal then Gandhi would readily agree and the Mahatma’s would be the final word as he was the father of the nation. They knew that Gandhi was Pakistan’s best lobby so they had him eliminated through Godse. I wonder what would have happened if we had allowed a road to be built across our country. I just can’t imagine.

In the Hindu Rashtra daily dated 9/7/1947, Godse had given the following message to the fellow Indians. “Brothers! Our mother land has been cut into pieces. The eagles have torn her skin into bits. Hindu women are being raped in the middle of the road. How long can we tolerate this? It’s a shame that lakhs of Hindus live like refugees in their own country. Women being raped burn my heart.”

He warned Gandhiji “Gandhiji! By approving the Pakistan partition, you have stabbed the nation. Unless you change your activities, you must face harsh consequences. We consider the dividers of our nation as traitors our nation.”

In Nathuram’s words – “I don’t refute Gandhi’s theory of non-violence. He may be a saint but he is not a politician. His theory of non-violence denies self-defence and self-interest. The non-violence that defines the fight for survival as violence is a theory not of non-violence but of self-destruction. The division of the nation was an unnecessary decision. What was the percentage of the Muslim population as compared to the population of the nation? There was no need for a separate nation. Had it been a just demand, Maulana Azad would not have stayed back in India. But because Jinnah insisted and because Gandhi took his side, India was divided, in spite of opposition from the nation, the Cabinet. An individual is never greater than a nation. But Gandhi has stared considering himself greater than the nation.

We never opposed a Muslim prime minister. In a democracy you cannot put forward your demands at knife-point. Jinnah did it and Gandhi stabbed the nation with the same knife. He dissected the land and gave a piece to Pakistan. We did picket that time but in vain. The Father of our Nation went to perform his paternal duties for Pakistan! Gandhi blackmailed the cabinet with his fast unto death. His body, his threats to die are causing the destruction — geographical as well as economical — of the nation. Today, Muslims have taken a part of the nation, tomorrow Sikhs may ask for Punjab. The religions are again dividend into castes; they will demand sub-divisions of the divisions. What remains of the concept of one nation, national integration? Why did we fight the British in unison for independence? Why not separately? Bhagat Singh did not ask only for an independent Punjab or Subhash Chandra Bose for an independent Bengal?
At the time of Partition, when Suharawady surrendered only due to political pressure, but only Suharawady, not his followers…they went on with the massacre. Gandhi started his fast; the Hindus put their weapons down. I still remember that day. A poor Hindu told Gandhi, ‘I am putting down my weapons because I don’t want your death on my conscience but I am staying alone with my family in the Muslim area. That night, before leaving Hyderabad I visited his home. The whole household was screaming, weeping, his only eight-year-old son had been killed by the Muslims. He had no weapon to defend himself. He threw his son’s body on my lap and said, “Take his blood to your Mahatma. Tell him, if he goes on fast again, he can finish it by drinking not orange-juice but my son’s blood.” I could not say anything. Gandhi was the Father of my Nation. For a moment, I was tempted to pull out the Muslims from their homes and chop them down. But I controlled myself. Violence for self-defence is justified; otherwise it is an ill-cultured act. I returned to where Gandhi was staying but he had already left by car. Of course, there would have been no point in meeting him… he would only have prayed for both the killer and the victim.

I am going to assassinate him in the open, before the public, because I am going to do it as my duty. If I do it surreptitiously, it becomes a crime in my own eyes. I will not try to escape, I will surrender and naturally I will be hanged. One assassination, one hanging. I don’t want two executions for one assassination and I don’t want your involvement, participation or company. (This was for Nana-Apte and Veer Savarkar as they were against Gandhi’s policies too; Godse wanted to assassinate Gandhi all by himself and took promise from Nana Apte that he will continue helping Veer Savarkar in rebuilding India as a strong free nation.)
On January 30, I reached Birla Bhavan at 12 pm. Gandhi was sitting outside on a cot enjoying the sunshine. Vallabhbhai Patel’s granddaughter was sitting at his feet. I had the revolver with me. I could have assassinated him easily then, but I was convinced that his assassination was to be a punishment and a sentence against him, and I would execute him. I wanted witnesses for the execution but there were none. I did not want to escape after the execution as there was not an iota of guilt in my mind. I wanted to surrender, but surrender to whom? There was a good crowd to collect for the evening prayers. I decided on the evening of January 30 as the date for Gandhi’s execution.

It was 4.45 pm when I reached the gate of Birla Bhavan. The security staff at the gate was scrutinising the crowd entering and I was a little worried about them. I mingled with a small group of people and sneaked inside. It was 5.10 pm when I saw Gandhi and his close associates coming to the prayer place from his room inside. I approached the passage from where he was likely to climb the steps of the lawn, in such a way that I was covered by a few people.

Gandhi climbed the steps and came forward. He had kept his hands on the shoulders of the two girls. I wanted just three seconds more. I moved two steps forward and faced Gandhi. Now I wanted to take out the revolver and salute him for whatever sacrifice and service he had made for the nation. One of the two girls was dangerously close to Gandhi and I was afraid that she might be injured in the course of firing. As a precautionary measure I went one more step ahead, bowed before him and gently pushed the girl away from the firing line. The next moment I fired at Gandhi. Gandhi was very weak, there was a feeble sound like ‘aah’ (There are proof that Gandhi did NOT say “Hey Ram” at that time – it’s just made up stuff) from him and he fell down.

Those who were close to me saw the weapon in my hand. They rushed away from the spot. Gandhi had fallen to the ground, I was standing and the crowd had formed a ring around us. After the firing I raised my hand holding the revolver and shouted, ‘Police, police’. For 30 seconds nobody came forward and I scanned the crowd. I saw a police officer. I signalled to him to come forward and arrest me. He came and caught my wrist, and then a second man came and touched the revolver… I let it go…”

Trial and execution

Following his assassination of Gandhi, he was put on trial beginning May 27, 1948. During the trial, he did not defend any charge and openly admitted that he killed Gandhi. On November 8, 1949 Godse was sentenced to death for the murder. Godse’s legal team was savaged by critics for not introducing considerable evidence that their client was mentally unbalanced and/or manipulated by others. Among those calling for commutation of the death sentence for both defendants were Nehru and Gandhi’s two sons who felt that the two men on trial were pawns of RSS higher-ups and, in any case, executing their fathers’ killers would dishonour his memory and legacy which included a staunch opposition to the death penalty. Godse was hanged at Ambala Jail on November 15, 1949, along with Narayan Apte, the other conspirator. Savarkar was also charged with conspiracy in the assassination of Gandhi, but was acquitted and subsequently released. Godse stipulated that his ashes were not to be deposited in a body of water according to Hindu dictates, but rather were to be held in storage until they could be deposited in The Sindhu after Pakistan had been reunited with India. For years, his brother kept Godse’s ashes over his fireplace and held an annual salute to “the hero martyrs” on the anniversary of the assassination.

Yes! I Killed Mohandas Gandhi and I am Glad I Did It!

That is what Gopal Godse says. Gopal Godse spent 18 years in prison for his role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. His brother and one other conspirator were hanged by the neck until dead. But it was all worth it, says Gopal Godse. Gopal Godse proudly recounts his role in plotting the assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1948.

only when I sleep live

only when I sleep live
by: Corrs

Jago Grahak Jago - Love or Arrange?

Arrange marriage expenses: 2lac on wedding arrangements + 4lac on jewelery ..etc ...
Love marriage expenses: 100/- fr stamp + 50/- for notary +20/- for photos!!
paisa apka, pasand apki.... faisla apka! jago grahak jago!! apne lover ke sath bhago!

We get back what we give

A little boy got angry with his mother and shouted at her, "I hate you, I hate you." Because of fear of reprimand, he ran out of the house. He went up to the valley and shouted, "I hate you, I hate you," and the echo returned, "I hate you, I hate you." 

Having never heard an echo before, he was scared, and ran to his mother for protection. He said there was a bad boy in the valley who shouted "I hate you, I hate you" 

The mother understood and she asked her son to go back and shout, "I love you, I love you". The little boy went and shouted, "I love you, I love you," and back came the echo. 

That taught the little boy a lesson: Our life is like an echo. We get back what we give.


Via: Gems of Wisdom

#oneletteroffmovies

Twitter had an interesting trending topic this weekend, #oneletteroffmovies. It’s amazingly hilarious, if you take the title of a popular movie and change a letter if you have the brains. Not being satisfied with the stupid responses lately on twitter, I compiled my own list of #oneletteroffmovies (though also including some from twitter).
Some NC-17 content also awaits you in the list, so read ahead at your own risk. You have been warned.

1) My best friend’s weeding
2) Beauty and the breast
3) Mobsters, Inc.
4) Fight cub/ Flight club
5) Top gum/ Toy gun
6) Jurassic pork/ Jurassic dark/ Jurassic bark
7) Malice in wonderland
8 ) School of cock
9) French Kids/French piss
10) Porn on the fourth of July
11) Fat and furious/ fast and curious
12) Apocalypse, wow/ Apocalypse, how
13) Terminator 2: Judgement gay
14) The deported/ She departed
15) Full mental jacket
16) No country for bold men
17) Boy story/ Joy story
18) Shaving private Ryan (Although Shaving Ryan’s privates is a better title)

Just a couple of hindi movies as well :

19) Jab we met becomes: Jab me wet (Okay, technically it’s two letters but who cares)
20) Gandhi becomes Aandhi (Okay, technically it’s not a hindi movie but who cares)

Tell me which ones were the best, and which ones were humorless. Also add some more in the comments, if you can come up with a #oneletteroffmovies list as well.

Read more: http://www.anujrathi.com/#ixzz0j5vQGP8J

My nomination for the first Lufthansa A380

My nomination for the first Lufthansa A380: "The A380 the new Lufthansa flagship, a special experience, the Lufthansa A380. Find out more about the fascination of a new era in air travel. Take part, Raffles, Downloads, Photos, Video, Gallery, First Flight in 2010."

Ajit Jain: The Indian in Warren’s Investment Buffet

Via: indoamerican-news.com

OMAHA (Outlook): Warren Buffett certainly knows a thing or two about making the right investments. In 1986, when Indiaborn Ajit Jain gave up his job as a consultant at McKinsey for new challenges at Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett was quick to recognise the worth of his new colleague. In his letter to shareholders at the investment holding company last month, Buffett wrote: “Very quickly, I realised that we had acquired an extraordinary talent. So I did the logical thing: I wrote to his parents in New Delhi and asked if they had another one like him at home. Of course, I knew the answer before writing. There isn’t anyone like Ajit.”

Berkshire Hathaway’s third major insurance operation is Jain’s reinsurance division headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and staffed by 31 employees. “This may be one of the most remarkable businesses in the world, hard to characterise, but easy to admire,” Buffett said. “From year to year, Ajit’s business is never the same. It features very large transactions, incredible speed of execution and a willingness to quote on policies that leave others scratching their heads. When there is a huge and unusual risk to be insured, Ajit is almost certain to be called.”

Such lavish praise from the man Forbes magazine branded the richest in the world in 2008 has once again set tongues wagging: Does the 79-year-old ‘Oracle of Omaha’ intend to appoint Jain as his successor?

To some, Buffett appeared to signal as much when he went on to add “a final post-script on BHAC (Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Co)”. “Who, you may wonder, runs this operation? While I help set policy, all of the heavy lifting is done by Ajit and his crew. Sure, they were already generating $24 billion of float along with hundreds of millions of underwriting profit annually. But how busy can that keep a 31-person group? Charlie (Charles Munger, vice chairman, Berkshire Hathaway Corporation) and I decided it was high time for them to start doing a full day’s work,” he wrote.

Speculation that Jain will fill Buffett’s shoes has been gaining steam for a few years now. In 2006, the International Herald Tribune carried a story with the headline: ‘Ajit Jain has Buffett’s ear—and may have his job when he’s gone’. Indeed, Jain is among a handful of candidates seen most likely to succeed Buffett. Other potentials often cited are Richard Santulli, who runs NetJets, an operator of private jets; David Sokol, chief executive of Berkshire’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings; and Tony Nicely, chief executive of the company’s GEICO car insurance unit.

Jain’s assistant Beverly Ward told Outlook that he was travelling and unavailable for an interview. But given his past responses to similar media requests, the selfeffacing Jain would have likely declined to comment had he been available. “Mr Jain doesn’t usually do interviews,” Ward explained. In 2006, while declining to comment on similar succession speculation, he had told the IHT in an e-mail message that showcased his self-deprecating humour: “It is undoubtedly the case that any disappointment I have caused you by declining the interview is far less than the disappointment I would have caused you by granting it.”

Author Robert P. Miles has a stack of books on Buffett to his credit. In one of these—The Warren Buffett CEO: Secrets from the Berkshire Hathaway Managers— Miles describes Jain as the “accidental manager”. Born in India in 1951, Jain earned his engineering degree at IIT, Kharagpur. “Even though I enjoyed being an engineer and looked forward to engineering as a profession, I very quickly realised that engineers— certainly in India, but also here in the United States—end up being shortchanged. I was working six days a week and making a quarter of what people in sales and marketing were getting paid. So I figured that if I couldn’t beat them, I’d join them,” Jain told Miles.

At the urging of one of his supervisors in India, Jain went on to study at the Harvard Business School. After getting his MBA in 1978, he joined McKinsey and Co as a management consultant. Fed up with his job, Jain quit in 1981 and returned to India. Following an arranged marriage, it was Jain’s wife, Tinku, who pushed him to return to America, where his former employer McKinsey promptly snapped him up.

In 1986, at the urging of his former boss, Michael Goldberg, Jain joined Berkshire Hathaway. The rest, as they say, is history. Jain is second only to Buffett in his revenue-generating abilities at the company. In the spring of 2001, Buffett wrote in his annual ‘Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders’: “It is impossible to overstate how valuable Ajit is to Berkshire. Don’t worry about my health; worry about his.” Miles notes that Jain is known for “closing the largest sale in reinsurance history, but no deal is too small for him. He will still get in his car to capture a $1 million insurance agreement”.

He describes Jain’s small office as cluttered full of papers and documents at the time of their meeting. “Ajit is very frugal— maybe even more so than Buffett. At the time of our interview, he hadn’t replaced his secretary in three months, and was retrieving his own e-mail and booking his own travel reservations.” In an interview with Outlook, Miles described Jain as a regular guy. “Ajit is a kind man, someone who you would enjoy having a cup of coffee or tea with,” he said. “He is obviously a brilliant man, having graduated from IIT, but not all intelligent men are friendly like Mr Jain.”

Industry insiders describe the relationship between Buffett and Jain as extremely close. Miles says the two talk on the telephone every day, usually in the afternoon. “They talk about the insurance risks being considered and the appropriate premiums to charge. Many of the deals Mr Jain does are one-off or one of a kind insurance policies that only Berkshire Hathaway has an appetite for. Deals like insuring the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, or Pepsi $1 Billion Dollar Chimpanzee Challenge or (baseball star) Alex Rodriguez’s $250-million disability insurance contract,” he says.

“Do first-class business in a first-class way. Work hard. Be smart. Manage little,” is how Miles describes the common ground between the two. Jain is not easily distracted by chatter about succession plans at Berkshire Hathaway. But Buffett’s frequent praise for Jain only helps fuel the speculation. When asked outright at a press conference whether he intended to appoint Jain as his successor, Buffett quipped: “I still do talk to him every day.... That’s how I get smarter.”

- By Ashish Kumar Sen

How Insurance Agents Cheat Customers?

Via: indianmoney.com

Consider a situation you pay 500 rupees for a pen which has the name “PARKER” on it. You go home and take out the pen to write. It comes as a shock to you when you see that this pen has a refill of Cello Gripper inside. You start fuming and rush to the shop and yell at the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper says that he never guaranteed you about that pen and you never asked for a guarantee, and shows the board which reads “goods once sold cannot be returned or exchanged”.

You may say that this situation is an exaggerated one but this is somewhat very similar to what happens in the insurance industry when claims of policy holders are rejected.

All the organizations in the world have a rule book which decides the actions that all the employees have to perform and which differentiates DO’s and Don’ts and insurance companies are not an exception to this. Each and every country has a regulating body to monitor and regulate the insurance companies. In India the regulating body is IRDA (Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority). As it happens in almost all businesses even this industry has got some disputes and many times in the news paper we see policy holder suing his insurance provider. Now there may be many reasons for such a thing happening and one of the factor which is widely accepted and debated is the role of the insurance agents. There have been many reports where the insurance agent has not provided the complete information or unwanted information or mis-informed the prospective customer in order to close the sales. As a result of this policy holder is at the receiving end when his claims are rejected by the insurance companies.

Some of the reasons why the insurance agents lie to prospective customers are;

• Insurance agents are only bothered about commission that they will be getting once they get the deal done.
• They do not have the full knowledge of the product that they are selling hence they end up giving false information to the customer.
• They are afraid of the awkward questions that the customer can shoot at them while they are explaining about the product to customer.
• They are under the pressure of their boss and are trying to reach the sales targets.

Although we have given some of the possibilities these cannot be generalized. It cannot be concluded that all theinsurance agents are alike. There are some who have taken their work seriously and have come up in this field, but we cannot disagree with the fact that the attrition rate is pretty high in this particular field which leads to companies recruiting people very often and which results into this situation.

There are various situations during which the prospective customer is foxed by the insurance agent. In this article we will be discussing some of them and try to find out the ways by which we can overcome such situations.

Good morning sir, I’m calling from X company. Recently we have launched policy named…….

We all receive such calls day in and day out. The only answer that the receiver should say is “I’m not interested”. Have no doubts the lady speaking on the other side will have a very sweet voice but our concern is we are the ones who will be investing our hard earned money. A basic rule put down by IRDA is that to sell a policy you should have passed the exam conducted by the same body. Now the person who is speaking over the phone with the client may or may not have this certification and most of the times it’s seen that they don’t have any certification. They will just try to persuade you to accept to the offer and collect all the details of your credit card number. If you give all the details you will blame yourself whole life for doing that. The person calling us may not have any certification and hence experience and will not have the full knowledge of the policy that she is selling to customer. In the process they end up over promising or adding some of the features or do not give you the full details.

Sir you will be getting back 5% of the premium amount in the first year….

This will be also one of the greatest lies and the most often heard by customers. Not only this along with this agents will add up sentences like “you are the selected one” or “our company is giving this offer only for this month” or “limited period offer”. Agents will say anything and everything to lure the customer which in reality will be far from the truth. This will be utter lie more than 90% of times. We know that insurance agents get commission for business that they have got for the company. Commission is decided on percentage basis. For example an agent sells a policy of 3,00,000 rupees and if the commission is 2% then he will be getting commission of 6000 rupees. Now if the premium that customer pays for the first year is 10,000 rupees and agent has told the customer that 10% of premium is refunded, and then the amount will be 1000 rupees. Agent won’t mind paying one thousand when they can get 5000 rupees because of that one policy.

Sir you just need to sign here I will manage all the other documents…..

This is one of the dialogues which insurance agent says. He will take your sign and then move. But have you seen the offer document, illustration sheet, prospectus etc. if no then there is always a possibility that you may have missed something which would obstruct you from claiming the insurance money later. Never ever just sign on any piece of paper that the agent gives you. Go through all the documents that he is showing you make sure that you have read all the clauses that are printed and then only go ahead and sign.

Sir you pay the first premium now. I will get all the documents tomorrow and get your signature….

If the insurance agent tells you this then you may have a loud laugh at it. Do not agree to all that he says. What if tomorrow he comes to you with documents in which it has been printed that your insurance cover is for 4 lakhs whereas on the previous day agent had said that it would provide cover of 6 lakhs. You may feel that these things will never happen, but there have been many instances where such cases have occurred and the policy holders have taken a legal action and have got justice. This would take a lot of your valuable time and energy. That’s the reason it is always better to prevent than to cure.

Sir this policy covers even you treatment charges…..

There are health insurance policies and they cover your treatment charges. Insurance agents sell these to customers and this is the only dialogue that they tell them. If the customer knows about insurances then he will surely ask agent about all the diseases that this particular policy covers. If in case you get any disease not covered under this policy then you will have to shell out your own money for the treatment. Hence it becomes very important for a customer to know of all the diseases that policy covers. What is the use of taking a medical insurance policy which does not cover diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, brain tumor etc and your family has had a history of diabetes. It is very important because there are various policies such as Mediclaim, GIC’s medical insurances policies which does not cover a host of diseases ranging from asthma to hypertension. Customer should go through the fine print very carefully.

Now-a-days idea of just opting for insurance cover is getting outdated. Due to want of earning more and more money and advancement of financial system there has come an investment which will take care of both your investment and insurance cover, its ULIPS (Unit Linked Insurance Plan). Let’s look at some of the things that agents say while selling ULIPS.

Sir this plan will give guaranteed returns….

This sentence is used to attract the customers because agents know that customer will definitely fall for this sentence. One thing the customer needs to understand that there are more than ten investment avenues that will give you guaranteed returns, the reason why you have opted to invest here is you want more returns and insurance cover. Customer must enquire about the premiums paid to existing customers. If it’s not suiting your investment objectives then opt for another plan or approach for another service provider.

Sir this plan has given 36% returns over last four years.

At the outside the percentage looks damn good and attractive for a customer to opt for this plan. But they have to be careful and not fall for the percentage figure, because what he is saying is the total returns given over the four years. Using a concept called as CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) you can easily say that agent is fooling you.

(1+i)4 = 1.36

1+i = 1.0799

i = .0799 or 7.99%

Once you dissect the figures you get to know that all he is saying that plan is giving you returns of 7.99% per year. Most of the investment avenues assure you more than this one.

Sir you can stop paying premium after three years….

The truth is that the period that agent is referring here is lock in period and an investor can stop paying the premium even before three years. ULIPS are considered to be long term investments and agent is telling customer that he may stop paying premium after three years which is against the investment objectives.

Some preventive steps that customers can take are

• Make your agent explain the fine print to you. Fine print contains all the terms and conditions and if the agent can explain you all that and if you are satisfied then go ahead with the plan. Customers have the right to learn all the properties or characteristics of the products that they have been offered.

• Best thing is to buy the policy from an experienced agent.

• Note down all the documents that have to be produced by the customer in order to claim the policy money.

• Remember if you don’t get justice here or feel that you have been cheated by the company or agent then you can go to the redressal committee.

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Bus Day @ namma Bengaluru

February 4th, 2010 was observed as the first Bus Day here in Bengaluru. And is scheduled/planned to happen every month on the 4th.

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What is this Bus Day?

It is a daylong event promoting ‘Public Transport’ in the city of Bengaluru on February 4th, 2010. It is an event calling all the citizens of Bengaluru to use the ‘Public Transport’ on Feb 4th for all their daily commute in the city.

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What is so special about bus day?

Bus day is suggested by few enthusiast citizens (members of Praja as well). The idea behind Bus day is to observe the changes which can be brought in the city in following respect · Environment · Traffic Situation · Health of individuals · Perception

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Success Story: (experts from DH)

Pollution levels dropped on Bus Day

There is clearly a need for more ‘Bus Days’ in the City as the first such venture by the BMTC on Thursday saw a marked slump in the level of pollutants in the atmosphere.

An analysis of ambient air quality levels before, during and after the ‘Bus Day’ was conducted. The KSPCB mobile laboratory was stationed for eight hours on February 2, February 4 (Bus Day) and February 5. The monitoring was carried out from 10 am to 6 pm on all the days.

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Additional Info: Poster (Click) | Bus Day Route map (Click)