Most eventful Birthday of recent years

 My 39th birthday witnessed the most eventful birth day of recent years. 

The day started with the prolonged happiness of becoming a mama. Moina and Tapan decided 1 Aug as the delivery date, in spite of my suggestion of 31 July. However, God has different plan. On 30 July, I accompanied Nina and Rodali who were going for a recording at NKTv. On the way, Maa informed Moina is facing pain and has been hospitalized. I left the studio and reached KGMT nursing home a few minutes before Moina was transferred to the OT. With God's grace she delivered a baby boy of around 3.8 Kg at around 1-50 PM on 30 July. I stayed at Dada's place since the next day had other plans.

The first task of the birthday is to attend PhD coursework class. Happy to be sitting on class after 10 years. As part of mandate of IIT PhD, I need to acquire 24 credit points i.e. 4 lecture subjects within the next one year. In this semester I have taken two - Renewable Energy System (EN661) by Pankaj Da and Globalization and Sustainable Development (HS609) by Dr. Agnirup Sarkar. It was a different feeling to attend 9 AM class with kids of energy/mechanical engg background on my 39th birthday trying to recollect laws of thermodynamics. 

The second experience is the ferry ride to the Guwahati city. I need to visit Pranjal (Goenka Hospital, Bharalumukh) and Moina before reaching the IIT campus again to take 5 PM class of HS609. Driving Dada's car through Maligaon traffic would be a nightmare. Finally, I decided to try ferry ride from Majgaon ghat and that turned out to be an awesome decision. 

Met Pranjal and Pinky just before Pinky was taken to OT. Happy but tense faces! By afternoon, I got the news of they becoming parents of another baby boy. I would always remember Pranjal's dialogue - both Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri share 2 October as birthdate. Shastri's occasion remains lesser known as Gandhi completely dominates the day. Who will become Gandhi and who will become Shastri for 31 July- Pranjal's apt question!

At KGMT, I got to see my bhagin. The relationship with mama has been special always. Now, Moina giving birth to a bhagin for me,Wow! In the business of life, we fail to appreciate these beautiful moments. I have no doubt in my mind that these moments would never come back.

The return journey from KGMT to IIT is via Uber, ferry, bike lift with a stoppage at JB's to buy a chips pkt that Nina told. By this time, I decided some portion of the birthday must be celebrated with wifey as well i.e. return to Agia on the same day.

The second lecture by Mr. Sarkar was boring, unstructured, unprepared, but it contained many concepts that I already know (unlike laws of thermodynamics), hence I enjoyed. I hope I would be able to pull through both the courses. May God Bless me on my birthday!

Although I planned to return to home via bus, luckily, Majani bai and Bhini were also returning after dropping Dhunu for her college life. I accompanied them from Dharapur- good chat, good food and reached home at 9-50 PM.

At bed, I met my wife, completely overburdened by the household chores. I told her, on the day of special occasions, one needs to rise above her/his personal issues and needs to live the moments only for the dear ones. This is how relationships gets stronger. Then she hugged me and my 39th birthday came to an end.

Thank you God. I think you have kept a good place for me, and I will try my best not to disappoint you. 

What astrologers are saying for future

Dear Zing, 

Last Monday Shri Bhakta Dev Sharma, the astrologer came to share the 'KUSHTI' of R'dali. He made some important observations about R'dali, you and your wife. You must be worry about a few facts as you plan for future. 

About Rodali, 

Rahu and Ketu are not good for her. The consequences are skin disease, injury, anger, cough etc. No 'groho' is 'tungot' for her. However, until 11 years of age she will be in 'sukra' dosha and things would be fine. After that 'chandra' dosha will start which signifies extrovert kind of personality with miscellaneous thoughts, in Assamese 'chanchal'. But her study, beauty, performance art skills (gondhorbo bidya) will be excellent. She will be doing love marriage, maybe after 25 years of age. She has 'tripap' at the ages of 10, 16, 28 and 34. Overall, there is nothing much to worry about.

The biggest worry,

Given by Deepak Sharma in Aug 2010

is about your wife. I was appalled to know Nina has been under 'tripap' for last 10 month, will come out of this chakra, post her birthday. She gave birth during this period. Had I known this earlier, I would have got scared like hell during her delivery time.  Even after coming out, Nina's future does not look good until she turns 38. She might be subjected to financial fraud, the astrologer warned multiple times. The moot point is, this is another lonely battle for you in terms of finances. Nina will surely contribute to your life in all other ways, but except, maybe, finances. Accept the fact, be happy and move ahead. Check a good health policy for her. 

For you Zing, 

you are in the superb period of your human life with Shani devta 'tungot' since your birth. Anything you touch should turn into gold in this age. It seems 'chandra' has a presence in my life, and hence I think a lot. I kept asking the same question- things are fine in general. How could 'extra-ordinary good' will happen to Zing? I think this is a question beyond the syllabus of the 'gonok'. 

Long pending decision (no more aspiration) to replace the old WagonR

Can't forget the beautiful memories 

The WagonR which was bought 2 days before Dada's marriage, is slated to expire its 15 year registration period on June end 2023. The real attempt to sale the vehicle was started in Nov-Dec last year, and the best offer was 1.2 Lakh. Since I was the only financer, I paused that activity to welcome R'dali. The next round of serious attempt started from February onwards. Since no good offer was received for direct selling, I decided to go for exchange, and got quote from Poddar, Bimal and Bharti Motors. Bimal provided the best deal @95K and I booked the car, which was supposed to get delivered in May first week. I expected the most from Poddar as Abhijit (Jiten Sir's son-in-law) was there, but, got pathetic response.

In the meantime, Indrajit Nath (who helped us purchase the existing Wagon R) of Bharti showroom got in touch with Deuta and offered 1L. I was still reluctant to shift from Bimal; but, Bimal guys informed me on 4 May'23 that they can't provide 95K now. I didn't waste even an hour to book with Bharti Motors on the same day and slated a delivery on the 5th. 

I was reflecting how crazy I were to have a car as a teenager. I saved every little penny to buy a car. I don't how and when that craziness totally disappeared. Although I put some money as down payment in the old WagonR, the new one is the first car in my name. Even I was reluctant yesterday to put my name. With time, I have become a totally different animal, don't know good or bad.

All rented families welcoming the car with Maa

Decision Points before buying this car/model:

1) Money is limited and I am the only financer. For old car exchange, the company has to be Maruti.

2) The purpose of this car is to be located at Agia. I don't want a scene like Digbijoy where he drives an  Innova in B'lore and family members travel in public transport at home. In all possibility, I need to buy another car as soon as I need to relocate out of Agia. I am expecting another need to invest in another liability very soon. 

3) A tall car is needed for Maa, at least because of her vomiting tendency. She is comfortable in WagonR. The other Maruti models I explored were Breeza and S-presso, but rejected later.

4) In WagonR, I chose for VXI, as this model has the basic stuff such as power window, AC and sound system, and more fuel efficient with 1000 cc engine. The higher ZXI+ model is 1200 cc, and I didn't fine any worthy things to invest 1 Lakh more considering the point#2 above. 

5) The red color is chosen to tell people that old WagonR has been replaced with the new (kidding :)). To the Agia public, I don't want to induce change. Of course, I would have thought differently, if my close circle resides in the same place and I am part of all their car specific conversation. Not being put under peer or social pressure has helped taken a thoughtful decision. 

Sudden meeting with Samaguri neighbour

Points to remember in future:

1) The Bonus part is extra and should not be associated with accessories or exchange value

2) The 5-year extended warranty is not much needed and can be waived-off. Anything and everything they are pushing can be opted out. The insurance, which is 1 yr first party and 3 yr third party, can be taken from the dealer while buying. 

3) The price of Maruti genuine accessories is on the higher side.

4) The naked price will be same at all dealers. Some might quote the naked price including some features (eg- 5 year warranty). The negotiation happens on the other few items, but the overall impact is not that huge. 

5) Total money I spent from pocket: INR 5,50,152/-

The last financial year (FY 2022-23)

 Analysis of the inflow and outflow of last FY:

1) In Inflow,  (a) the noteworthy mention is the share of 'Loan Repay', which is 33.1%. For a person completely dependent on Salary, this is a good sign. (b) There are lot of entries in 'Other' category, which is prompting me to change the categories for next year. (c) The amount I received via Mediclaim (INR 82413/-) for Miss AA Devi is something new for me and thankful to CSoD. (d) The earning from Market is still below 1%, and its a shame.(e) the start of rental income is a huge thumbs-up. (f) the interest from PPF stood at around INR 72K, which 6K per month.

2) In Outflow, (a) the reduction in Fixed Asset is a great relief, (b) The transport expenses saw a jump after I relocated, (c) the loss of money under Travel for the UK tickets is such a shame, (d) the pending money for buying land was cleared, (e) I paid 7.14 Lakh in taxes to government, (f) Food expenses are still below 2% and that's not a good sign, (g) the rubber sampling experiment was worth trying, (h) opening the Sukanya Samridhi account for R'dali is an event I longed for, (i) the 2.5 Lakh investment in house construction was worth considering the probable return in future although it might take more than 4 years.

How I fared against what I aimed at the start of this FY:

1) Regular income from immoveable property is still a distant dream. The search for land near Urpad stopped after I found the land near graveyard is in the name of Deuta, and applied in Basundhara.

2) Still I don't have any policy on equity- when to sell, what to buy etc.

3) Haven't been able to explore 80D and the current health policy. Shame on me!

Plan for next FY:

1) In the excel file:

    i) Making some change in Outflow tracking. Letting go Travel and Nina, and included a new category for Miss AA Devi. Travel will be merged with either personal or recreation. Nina will come in Donation or with context.

    ii) In Inflow, bank interests- Savings and FD will be merged. Dividend and amount from selling market will be one column as I hardly sell stocks. With Others, will try to bring a relevant category

    iii) The Sharekhan settlement money to be subtracted from the expense sheet, although in the Sharekhan Trading sheet, it may remain as it is.

    iv) Since Homeloan deduction is compensated by the contribution by Dada and Maa, I should only mention INR 17/- in the Outflow section. This is not tracked for the amount, but for the activity.

2) Action items:

    i) Get clarification of the EPF and VPF thingies. Currently there are 2 accounts under one UAN. What's the significance of VPF?

    ii) Focus on health policy - know more, open if necessary. 

    iii) Explore ULIP, maybe one will be interesting. 

    iv) No opening of FD in Zing's accounts. 

3) Keep the focus on the immovable properties and agriculture projects. 

Row data - Outflow:

	Fixed Asset	Food	Personal	Recreation	Gift/Donation	Transport	Travel	Investment	Nina	Tax	First/Uniue	Total
April	21000	2825	511	2138	4959	5300	5628	1252960	5407	61170	32500	1394398
May	22100	6863	853	4729	388	615	32654	18430	23665	61170	5000	176467
June	2727	4996	18375	5226	2818	1288	8372	296430	18775	61182	50000	470189
July	15527	6900	112036	710	15155	6970	50000	18430	17705	61170	0	304603
August	1251	3176	100539	360	2711	6700	0	28430	61044	61170	16485	281866
Sept	1586	3800	53562	260	17541	5550	2455	88484	460	56923	24936	255557
Oct	2586	7526	911	790	1148	4400	0	56430	28409	56923	4490	163613
Nov	9064	6298	1231	510	1612	2260	0	47430	26298	56923	0	151626
Dec	27747	2606	20514	1780	4109	6800	200	88430	13650	56935	8154	230925
Jan	501	18313	775	3200	4026	3500	0	20510	61119	57443	92034	261421
Feb	2000	5230	2134	1120	4890	3520	400	334930	10940	57512	0	422676
Mar	8302	5208	11393	280	1348	9640	205	55430	0	66369	33056.8	191231.8
Total	114,391	73,741	322,834	21,103	60,705	56,543	99,914	2,306,324	267,472	714,890	266,656	4,304,573
Percentage	2.46%	1.59%	6.94%	0.45%	1.31%	1.22%	2.15%	49.58%	5.75%	15.37%	5.73%	92.54%

Row Data - Inflow:

	Salary+off rmbrsmnt+mediclaim	Market (selling of equity, Dividend, MF, settlement etc)	Loan Repay(includes interest, if applicable)	Interest (Savings Account)	Interest (FDs)	Others
April	225230	840	708673			20000	₹ 954,743
May	225230	3110	11173				₹ 239,513
June	225218	1145	538673	3538	16000	55000	₹ 839,574
July	225230	1829	58673		2770	16790	₹ 305,292
August	225230	2742	38673			3325	₹ 269,970
Sept	229477	11323	8673	8438		39935	₹ 297,846
Oct	232907	1318	8673			15569	₹ 258,467
Nov	229477	2196	8673				₹ 240,346
Dec	229465	8805	33673	10954		200	₹ 283,097
Jan	228957		34698			1450	₹ 265,105
Feb	288746	2917	83656			5500	₹ 380,819
Mar	284913	4976	8673	12622		5500	₹ 316,684
Total	2850080	41201	1542584	35552	18770	163269	₹ 4,651,456
	61.27%	0.89%	33.16%	0.76%	0.40%	3.51%