Financial Year Review : 2019-20

I am writing this post sitting at home by doing work from home amidst the Covid-19 outbreak lock-down in the entire world. There is an unprecedented situation outside with the whole world coming to a standstill. There are many positive points as well for people like me, but for vast majority of the population, this is not good.

Thoughts on last year:
1) There was not any extra ordinary event or decision. Things went just fine without any good/bad.
2) Failed endeavours of the year included any investment in real estate. I put some efforts for buying land/flat, but nothing materialized. Closest ones were via Deva Da.
3) My total outstanding 'to be received' loan amounts are below, along-with NPA
   A) Deben Moha -  INR 70,000/- (No interest loan)
   B) Dada -              INR 3,38,231/- (5% SI)
   C) Tapan -             INR 90,934/- (7% SI)
   D) Monu K S -      INR 520/- (NPA)
   E) Aakarshan -      INR 400/- (NPA)
   F) Trish D -           INR 3000/- (No interest loan)
   G) Pranjal K -       INR 50,000/- (2% monthly SI is not considered here for ease)
            Total -          INR 5,53,085/- 

4) Total investment in equity via Sharekhan is 1.25 lakh for the last year. My total investment in Sharkhan stands at 6,05,000 now. Because of the pandemic, my portfolio is at 45% loss as on today's market.
6) The income still is mostly concentrated on salary (around 84%). Since I have a huge amount in Savings account (mainly for marriage and Car purpose), I must try to have better interest rate. Also, considering the liquidity/bankruptcy issues with banks, it is better to have money spread across several bank's accounts
7) The income from Market (only dividend as I didn't sell single equity last FY) has only increased by Rs 2000 around.
8) The income from PPF interest has crossed 50K which has been my target and that's why I transferred 1.4 Lakh on the very first day of this (2019-20) FY.
9) Since I didn't open any new FDs (only renewed) and the FD interest rates are continuously falling, FD interest earning should decrease. However, there is an increase of a few thousands which might be because of the spillover FDs from last FY that got matured in this FY.
10) I bailed out Dada, Moha, Trish and Tapan and I felt good on all those accounts. What's the purpose of money if you can't help others (and also earn interests  in a rate greater than that of Savings accounts)?
11) The mixing of Xomidhan money has been a pending issue and finally I was able to sort the matter. The internet banking for Xomidhan has been activated. I am just waiting for a physical paper and we are good to go. This is such a relief and I will be able to differentiate both the accounts now.
12) I wanted to calculate the total cash used in the FY. But in Dec-Jan, I didn't calculate the month-end cash flow and hence calculating now will be cumbersome.
13) Keeping upkeep (that includes habitat) expenses below 10% is credible. Although people might think me weird for staying in Mahipalpur
14) Since I decided, there will not be addition of new FDs, I must list down my current FDs as on today (9 April 2020)

A) INR 1,00,000 - ICICI - 7.0% - 24/06/19 to 18/07/20
B) INR 1,00,000 - ICICI - 7.5% - 31/01/19 to 12/03/20
C) INR 1,00,000 - ICICI - 6.35% - 30/11/19 to 02/12/20
D) INR 2,66,703 - ICICI - 7.10% - 10/04/19 to 04/05/20
E) INR 2,00,000 - ICICI - 7.5% - 04/06/19 to 04/07/21
F) INR 5,50,000 - ICICI - 6.85% - 02/11/19 to 02/06/21
G) INR 75,000 - SBI - 6.0% 01/03/20 to 26/03/21
H) INR 90,000 - SBI - 5.7% - 29/03/20 to 09/04/21
I) INR 60,000 - M&M Finance - 9.00%- 18/03/19 to 18/12/21
J) INR 2,00,000 - In MAA's bank account
K) INR 1,00,000 - In MOINA's bank account
                     Total --- 18,41,703/-

15) Liquid Money (as on 31 March 2020)
A) ICICI Savings Bank - 17,00,384/-
B) Cash in Hand -                   1,677/-
C) SBI -                             2,77,086/-     
                     Total --- 19,79,147/-
16) The entries in the 'Other' section of Inflow table consists of interest amount by Pranjal, tax refund, annual interest of PPF account and some unknown credit with APY(?) mentioned.

Inflow Table:

	Salary+Food wallet	Reimbursement (Office, others)	Loan Repay(includes EMI interest)	Interest (Savings Account)	Interest (FDs, PPFs)	Market (Equity, MF)	Others	Total
April	132394	7818	1000			617		141829
May	131756		20000			50		151806
June	132393			13105	5780			151278
July			14418			433	6500	79851
August	493346	4000	400			1170		498916
Sept	141105	11500		14709		661	8110	176085
Oct	141106	1200	10300		36711	276	1000	190593
Nov	141106	1800	3971			193		147070
Dec	141105			16616	7498	593		165812
Jan	141106		33673			26	5000	179805
Feb	124235	2000	8673		7443	909		143260
Mar	170485		25673	14715	9692	7691.02	52070	280326.02
Total	1890137	28318	118108	59145	67124	12619.02	72680	2306631.02
Pct%	81.94%	1.23%	5.12%	2.56%	2.91%	0.55%	3.15%

Outflow table: 

	Upkeep	Food	Personal	Family	Investment	Transport	Travel	Gift	Recreation	Tax	Loan	Total
April	14471	4859	480	1820	149447	0	39641	8438	520	18969	1520	240165
May	16171	6507	542	1470	54447	205	330	1190	2521	18969	0	102352
June	15211	2398	2212	1220	25657	2327	381	2747	1141	18969	10917	83180
July	15281	1922	50	2062	173703	620	5838	3231	0	121845	3971	328523
August	16377	3605	0	1004	52167	571	1000	10000	1117	31908	10000	127749
Sept	15591	3070	1366	3461	12167	740	10501	2500	2331	23408	3400	78535
Oct	16020	3241	0	46018	22167	710	23508	500	2690	23407	300	138561
Nov	15847	3018	4365	743	42256	1416	0	1180	4858	23407	73500	170590
Dec	17956	833	4436	132	83645	747	28324	6128	605	0	345024	487830
Jan	15548	4748	104	745	33630	1263	2360	107	1050	0	5000	64555
Feb	18130	2605	500	156	44853	1105	1025	12500	6927	7592	0	95393
Mar	15541	2386	0	2125	109853	1388	21753	0	3104	9342	0
	192144	39192	14055	60956	803992	11092	134661	48521	26864	297816	453632	1917433
Percentage	8.33%	1.70%	0.61%	2.64%	34.86%	0.48%	5.84%	2.10%	1.16%	12.91%	19.67%	83.13%

Thoughts for next year:
1) Since the internet banking of the Xomidhan account is 'almost' ready, I must transfer all Xomidhan money to the new account and de-clutter my Savings accounts.
2) Be a trader, not a long term investor. Please sell some of your stocks and your market earning should be 2-3 % of entire earning.
3) No more FDs please - stick to previous promise.
4) Diversify liquid money into multiple savings account, importantly in banks that offer higher interest rates for Saving Accounts and has lesser risk of going bankrupt unlike Yes Bank (say)
5) Try to have a real estate investment. Better if it comes with a provision of home loan that will give me opportunity to save income tax
6) Talk to a CA if I am missing out any component/strategy for saving tax.
7) Increase expenditure - don't be a middle class. Robert Kiosaki is fine. But investing on health, cloth, happiness, knowledge is a better idea only.


NB: I completed this post on 7 April night with calculation of all FDs and Liquid money, plus the plans for new year. But I could not publish as the insertion of the two tables gave HTML error. I continued the effort on 8 April; while doing refresh in between, everything vanishes. That was effort of 3 hours at least. How crap am I !

Year review of 2019

On the last page of my 2019 diary I termed the year as plain and non-eventful, with much to regret, but nothing to rejoice. I believe that has set the tone for the remaining portion of this post.

1. Let me start with office (which usually contains the word career). In the first half of the year lot of work travel happened and I visited several new places (details below). I wrote about the significance of 28 May at many places (I will enter into Rahu dasha as per Astrology), but things actually got worst after that date. The second half of the year was dominated by work pressure mainly related to Skill India Portal- UAT training and the fights with IBM/IT teams, and the false news of RPL getting INR 2000 Cr. I witnessed the most pathetic digital transformation project in my life. Situations went so far that that I had to appoint others to talk to IT team since I used to get so negative by merely seeing them. This is also a big failure on my part not to be able to control my emotion.
On a holistic level, the insignificance of my role as Deputy Head frustrated me most times. I even questioned my managerial skills, emotional skills etc. Things went to far that I hold talk with Gurpreet on 6 Dec. When she asked which team I want to move, I had no answer. Probably the problem is neither manager nor my reportees, it is the organization.
The year also witnessed the positive transformation of Surajit (remember his first entry with HR?), marriages of Nitasha and Amandeep, farewells of Aayushi, Mohit, Punam, Sonali, Vipul, Ankita, Nitasha(soon) from the team. In fact the fight for resources with HR is one highlight of last year. The pathetic leadership of Manish and MSP, super arrogance of Tamanna continued and made me anguished many times during last year.
On good things - I managed appraisal first time for direct reportees amicably, my engagement in the cluster led project led me to CII and Amazon's fulfillment centre apart from additional knowledge, got opportunities for travel and attending nice meetings (for example the one by International Justice Mission).
Did I try any other job? Only notable attempt was for Amazon via Arun. He helped a lot; but my luck does not appear before 13 failed attempts. After October, I started thinking I might like to close PMKVY and then explore.

2. On Personal fronts, below are the few mention-worthy events:

   A) Moina joining PWC in Guwahati is definitely the biggest development on family front. No progress on her marriage front yet; but the fact that she got into PWC, fulfilled many of my childhood wishes for her and that made me extremely happy & proud.

  B) Getting selected for the Anubhav Lecture series and attending the entire course is the biggest event of 2019 from my personal development point of view. The learning was amazing; it prompted me to dream big again. 

  C) On personal branding front, the year started on an unfortunate note, when I wrote an article in interview format with Pranjal to be published in Assam Tribune- never happened. Then, on the initiation of Deepjyoti, Manikangkana wrote an article for her new section in Niyomiya Barta. The response was good. I also published 2-3 updates in Social Media towards the end of the year on CAA/Detention Camp. 

  D) The '169 Days' project did get an exciting start after my April visit (where I met couple of ex ULFA militants, gathered paper cuts from 1991) and train journeys (where I wrote 2-3 chapters at one go). After much struggle (with the crack provided by Vijay) I was also able to install Scrivener, the software used by Chandrima. The second half of the year was a complete waste. I put much dependency on meeting kidnapped persons before writing a new chapter, which cost me heavily. Except Mr. Pal nobody bothered to meet me and I became a victim of procrastination. I need a ne
w strategy now, I am desperate. 

Waiting to exercise my democratic right

  E) For the non-profits, I devoted some time for Xomidhan this year. The Nagaon trip for reviving Xomidhan’s bank account(remember waiting for the bus moments),  multiple visit to Mahipalpur and Green park branch to finally revive the bank account (still internet banking is pending), the monthly call and regulars stats- all are positive developments. The year ended with the launch of ScholarAssist and celebrating a decade of Xomidhan’s existence. Nothing much on the library, except buying books from Gujarish- Books for All on 10 Nov 2019.

  F) I have written on multiple pages of the diary last year about my fucked up personal life. What I meant is the marriage thing. It has two parts - the estranged relationship with Trish and not able to establish any new relationship for marriage. It was the biggest debacle of the last year. I even opened an account in Jeevansaathi.com, later deleted. Phulen initiated conversation with one woman at PGI who never bothered to revert; Pranjal tried another, who said sorry. The conversation with Trish stopped between, then again started. I have observed she has 'kind of' accepted the reality. But she is still unable to digest the fact that I must get married or date someone else. Something 'change' needs to happen, I believe. In this context, I got to know Bishmita, who became a good friend. The coming year of 2020 is crucial in this topic. I must act - I am old enough now.

3. On Finance front, here are the top developments:

           A. I invested 1 lakh with Tapan's Pronamo Light with 7% simple interest. The EMI was supposed to start from 15 Sept'19 - no update still. Although I was impressed with his documentation, I think that was not a good decision.

           B. Pranjal returned the first installment with profits. I invested 50 K again.

           C. The repair of the Wagon R consumed around INR 27,000/-

           D. The Sharekhan trading continued throughout the year. My PSU  and Anil Ambani company stocks doomed- I lost lot of money. To understand more on trading, I attended Power money free workshop. Although the concept looked promising, I could not gather the courage to invest around 30K+  and one week of time. I need to learn more on theory of trading- that's what I learnt.

                E. The year ended with Dada's desperate request to provide loan to him at 5% simple interest. I even went to bank physically to process the money transfer (as I had lost wallet in Ramnagar and no card with me). I hope this does not turn out to be NPA as point(A) above. Both of these are super risky investments as I don't have any strategy to make the loan repaid.

          F. In Appraisal, I was rated 'High' just below 'Star', got around 9% hike and my CTC crossed 25 Lakhs for the first time.

4. Health:

Although the year started with very bad health condition, most part of remaining year went well. I only wrote about bad health on three instances- just after appraisal (loose motion and fever), high BP while coming from April home trip and during first week of August just after the Itanager trip when I skipped office for a day. However, there are two big developments of the year on health front. Firstly, I finally visited an urologist for the red mark on penis head and the skin issue. I did a few tests, made a follow-up visit, continued the medication for several weeks- it has improved, but no full cure. Later during health check up, the Medanta doctor told that is skin issue and dermatologists need to be consulted, all fine from urology perspective. In these visits, I will never forget undressing my private part in front of someone. However, the biggest achievement or health performance of last year was the completion of RCT on my lower jaw tooth and having the cap at Smile Dental clinic in Mahipalpur after around 5-6 seating. Considering my fear for dentist, I could not help myself patting on back for completing this activity in 2019. 

5. Important Dates:

•        13 Feb – First line of the novel; maybe the stoppage of Airtel dongle (from NegD) helped-:)
•        19 Mar - Coming of summer- bathed with cold water for the first time
•        30 Mar – Visit to national archive, NM library and planetarium- all alone for book research
•        16 May – Shubham’s farewell dinner at Lemontree hotel
•        23 May – Modi won again, becoming stronger,  in 2019 Parliamentary election
•        24 May - Visiting NIT Durgapur after more than a decade (Tea Board the next day)
•        23 Jun – Mathura trip with two MPs, then disaster at Shivaji stadium metro station
•        19 Jul – Situation at office went so frustrating (with high BP) that I took a day off; met Vikram, Abhijit Da at ONGC. Anubhav lecture series from the next day
•        13 Aug - Visited Supreme Court of India for the first time for office meeting (Mr. Ranjan Gogoi is CJI)
•          14 Sep – Visiting the inside of a construction site for RPL opening ceremony of Credai
•       20 Sep – Meeting Krishan Pal- first interview of a kidnapped person for my book
•        5 Nov -  Facilitating the meeting between Pranjal and Rajib Da at Secular House; I wrote in diary this day would be the start of an ambitious initiative; now 3 months later- it's taking shape
•      12 Dec - Journey from Ghy Airport to Agia amidst CAB protests 

6. Travels undertaken : When lot of work travel opportunities came in the first half of the year (mainly to fight my weekend boredom), I had to decide which place to visit. Then I decided to give a meaning to the travels and made a travel chart 'Zing Travel Express'. That was my attempt to make travel interesting and meaningful. Below are the places I went outside NCR:

1)      Mumbai visit to attend GC of BFSI, stayed with Moina, met Gagan with his family, met Kanad after years and the long chat, entered BSE building for the first time, stay extended as I booked right ticket for wrong dates, felt very sorry. Couple of Mumbai trips later as well, including the one where I met Mr. Krishan Pal; another where I went IIT Mumbai.

2)      Coimbatore visit to attend GC of  Textile SSC, visited Isha foundation, then textile mill for first time.

3)      Ajmer- Jaipur trip, writing novel in Satabdi, visited the only Brahma temple at Pushkar, Ajmer sharif, and of course the sudden barefoot college visit.

4)      My first ever visit to Madhya Pradesh - monitoring visit to Bhopal and Raisen.

5)      First visit to Bihar (Vaishali, Patna, Darbhanga via Muzzafarpur & Hajipur)

6)      Chennai trip – visiting mining site for the first time, L&T office and meeting Anshuman at beach

7)      The Tawang trip coupled with the home trip. Lot done in this home trip.

8)      The short Lucknow trip- could not meet the kidnapped IAS guy, but wrote a chapter in the train.

9)      Home trip on Office expenses, visited Darrang etc (BD’s sad face while saying goodbye).

10)   Varanasi visit with Aakarshan, visiting many temples and ghats, conversation over drink with Aakarshan - he is a nice guy.

11)   Itanagar trip to attend Kisan Sampada Workshop, going via Satabdi, coming via Lilabari

12)   The home puja trip - the unforgettable get together of JNM 2000 metric batch, establishing contact with Bikas again, visiting Goalpara jail and watching the detention centres 

13)   Bangalore trip and the NESA get together with Agru, Saurav, Rupak and Swakshar.

14)   CAB protest home trip, The journey from Ghy to Agia, Moina’s marriage, the failed meetings.

15)   Chandigarh trip to meet Rajinder Singh and the way he ditched at last moment, bloody fucking attitude by Phulen, great hospitality by Saahil and his family, awesome meeting Piyush of Anubhav.

16)   The journey to Ramnagar, Nainital and Jim Corbette park with Moina, Disha and Sheetal.

7. People- new, old, leaving

1.       Anil Sahai, new, Sentio Advisory, the troublemaker at office with old Assamese connection

2.       Hitesh Da (revived, stayed at my place on his Delhi visit)

3.       Rajib Da(became very close when he took drastic decision to return to Assam)

4.       Kaushik Ray, new, with his NDA dreams

5.       Arshi Adil, Piyush, Ankita, Anupama and all others in Anubhav lecture Series

6.       Interns at office – Anju, Ayushi and Yash

7.       Bishmita Dutta, new, became good friend

8.       Amal Da (revived from Asomiya Pratidin Jagriti Yatra connection)

9.       Bikas Das (revived, how can I forget they fed me in their rented house after SKCs chemistry tuition)

10.   Utpal Da, new, the person who wants to unite all Nath Yogis of the world

11.   Manish Joshi, Shubham, Megha, Dibakar (emotionally) - they left and became less relevant in 2019
12. Leaving for heavenly abode - Jethi (Jiten's mother), Surya (Ramen's brother)

8. Recreation:

1.       Watched plays by Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia in January

2.       Watched the play 'To Poidam' by Badungduppa at New Delhi theater festival

3.       Movies- Badla, Joker, Dabaang3

4.       Learning Manadala Art- maybe I should revisit this someday. I realized how much I don't know.

5.       Watching Surajit’s prog on 1 Aug and having dinner at Pot Belley with office people

6.       Watched Xatriya at IGNCA after attending the book launch of Achyut Daaas 

7.       Watched 3 Assamese movies this year ---Kanchanjanga completely alone at night (not as recreation, but to deflect myself from stress), Ratnakar where I paid the ticket prices of 6 people, and then Aamis, the most talked about movie of the year.

8.       Watched Abhigyanam Sakuntalam, in Kashmiri language at JNU, met Tankeswar Da with Rajib Da.

9. Notable Public Event of the year 

a. Citizenship bill dominated the year; the year was started with AGP coming out of Sarkar on 7 Jan and protest all around; the year ended with protest while CAB becoming CAA, but AGP betraying people of Assam. Huge protests all around Assam - unprecedented, unimaginable!

b. Big decisions taken by Modi Govt - first strike at Balakot followed by Pulwama attack which eventually made Modi win election; scrapping Article 370 after election result was a bold move as well.

c. CJI Ranjan Gogoi ended his tenure by pronouncing judgement on Babri Masjid demolition case.

10. Last year review thoughts and for next year:
In last year review post, I wrote- Moina's marriage, post-election big-bang something, work on the book, more public writing. Nothing has happened on the four fronts, except 3 chapters on the book promise.

For next year, I have no hope from myself. Period.