Nandi Hills !!

The past Sunday (17-April-2011) me and my friend Nagaraju have travelled the most famous named Hills near to Bangalore - The Nandi Hills again on my super bike CBZ Xtream...

Nandi Hills or Nandidurg is an ancient hill of southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state. It is located just 10 km from Chikkaballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of Bangalore.

It is 4,851 ft (1,479 m) above sea level. It is located close to the newly constructed Bangalore International Airport, the second largest in India. In addition, the hills are located about 20 km from the National Highway (NH-7) just after Devanahalli Town.

We have started from our house at Electronic city around 8 AM....We have taken Silk board and then Marathahalli towards Outer ring road so as to avoid any traffic in the city and it was the shortest path as well, even though it was a Sunday the traffic was pretty good on the outer ring road...We reached K.R.Puram bridge where I've been thinking to have a photograph every time I visit the area....But this time I have not missed it...We have taken few snaps and then started towards Hebbal...We then travelled on to Hyderabad National Highway 7 and took left at just after Devanahalli to reach Nandi Hills...

There are many stories about the origin of the name Nandi Hills. During the Chola period, Nandi Hills was called Ananda Giri (The Hill of Happiness). Another story is that Yoga Nandeeshwara performed penance here, and so it was named after him.

Nandi is also commonly called Nandidurga (Fort) because of the fort build here by the then ruler Tippu Sultan of Mysore, the prisoners, to whom death sentence was given, were pushed down from this cliff only.

It is also perhaps called Nandi Hills because the hill resembles a sleeping bull (Nandi). There is a rest house where Tippu Sultan used to come for rest.

Another theory holds that the hill gets its name from an ancient, 1200 year old Dravidian style Nandi temple situated on this hill. An ancient, lord Shiva and Parvathi temple also adorns this hill. They are really beautiful carvings...

The Ghat road to which the Nandi Hills has to be reached is really enjoyable if you are a good driver...There is parking for 2-wheelers and for 4-wheelers there is option to travel on to some more distance...

Lot of monkeys are there, if they see anything is with you they will follow and ask you to give it, even snatch it from you sometimes :)

We parked our 2-wheeler after the Ghat ended and took the tickets to enter. The first after entering the fort entrance is the Tippu guest house...It was small - old house around 5-6 rooms which we can see from outside, is an ancient monument as well....After reading the information near Tippu guest house we came to know Nandi hills are famous for many river origins, 2 of the river origins are Palar and Arkavathi..Then we walked through different gardens and trees to reach the Koneru...

It was a big Koneru and a nice view...Then we walked towards the temple and then the hill as it was really nice...views of the surrounding area was really beautiful...If you get to go in winter and that too around 7 AM, you can see the beauty of the place...

Even it was summer we went but the air was cool and superb...we had our lunch at one of the hotel back side of the temple and sat in a garden for 2 hrs and started towards the parking...on the way were lucky to see a yellow colour snake..It was really very very beautiful...Before we took a snap of it, it crawled faster in to the trees...

We reached parking and without starting the bike travelled 8-9 kms of the Ghat road as it was completely down slope….Had few snaps on the way and reached birth place of Tippu Sultan, Devanahalli ... It was a small fort and purchased Chakotra which I have seen while going to Nandi Hills....Chakotra is a good fruit in summer which I ate earlier but this one is quite a big one I've seen to take it to my home town Hyderabad...

Once we crossed Hebbal flyover towards K.R.Puram, we have seen there was a small pond called Lumbini Gardens where we passed our time for some time.

One thing I forgot to tell you…there are lots of grape gardens after entering the Nandi Hills road after Devanahalli…..Also a railway track where we had small photo session!!

We reached around 7PM back to our home at Electronic City...My friend cooked food as I do not know much cooking...we ate and took rest for the day so as to start Monday back in Office!!

Below are Few pictures...More pictures click here

Chakotra / Jeruk Bali / Grapefruit / Pomelo / Dabbakaya .............

Chakotra / Jeruk Bali / Grapefruit / Pomelo / Dabbakaya:

Today I’m writing on Chakotra / Jeruk Bali / Grapefruit / Pomelo / Dabbakaya which is an exotic large citrus fruit that is an ancestor of the common grapefruit. I have purchased this fruit near to Bangalore International Airport when I’ve gone to Nandi Hills on Sunday 17-April-2011 so that I can take it to my home in Hyderabad so that my family enjoys it as I’ve planned to go on a 3 days weekend due to Good Friday……It is Infact very larger in size (Mini Football) than the normal sized once than the once I’ve seen on the Internet after purchasing the fruit….I’ve eaten this earlier but those were normal sized once like Dabbakaya size (Normal Pomelo)…It was almost 2-3 KGs in weight…

The pummelo's botanical name is Citrus grandi, meaning "great citrus [fruit]." It would be natural to call the new pummelo variety a "greatfruit". It originated in Asia and is grown in many eastern countries including China, Japan, India, Fiji, Malaysia, and Thailand. It is also now grown in the Caribbean and in the United States, in California and Florida. Although it is most commonly known under the name of pummelo, depending on the region where it is grown, it is also called the pamplemousse, pomelo, Bali lemon, Limau besar, Chakotra and shaddock.

Pomelos are produced from the pomelo tree, which is a tree that can grow to heights of up to 50 feet. Additionally, the pomelo tree produces very attractive, fragrant and large white colored flowers. These flowers are often used in Asia to make perfumes. Because the pummelo fruit is related to the grapefruit, it has a taste that is tangy. However, pomelo fruit is sweeter in taste than the grapefruit. Actually, pummelo fruits do not grow in grapelike clusters.

There are different sizes of this fruit available depending on the place and variety they are grown….

Nutrition Facts:

Good source of Phytochemicals

Good source of Vitamin C

Fat free

Fruit Facts

Chakotra / Jeruk Bali / Grapefruit / Pomelo / Dabbakaya is indigenous to Indo - China, Thailand and Malaya, spreading across over to other hot countries.

In recent years, the grapefruit has become established in India in hot regions.

Characteristics

Colour: Grapefruit comes in many varieties, determinable by colour, caused by the pigmentation of fruit with respect to its state of ripeness and genetic bent. The most popular varieties cultivated today are red, white, and pink hues, referring to the inside, pulp colour of the fruit.

Flavour: Flavour ranges from highly acidic and somewhat bitter to sweet and tart.

Fruit Tips

How to Ripen: Keep the fruit at room temperature wrapped in a paper bag.

What to look For: A grapefruit should be firm, yet slightly springy when gentle pressure is applied.

The fruits should be heavy for their size indicating that they feature a higher concentration of juice. Overly rough or wrinkled skin should be avoided.

Grapefruit is juicier when they're slightly warm rather than cool, store them at room temperature.

How to Store: Store them in the refrigerator for two to three weeks for future use.

Health Benefits

Grapefruit forms a core part of the "grapefruit diet", the theory behind being that the fruit's low glycemic index speeds up the body's metabolism.

Chakotra / Jeruk Bali / Grapefruit / Pomelo / Dabbakaya is excellent to be consumed in fever as it is quenches thirst and removes the burning sensation.

Grapefruit has shown to have beneficial effects in diabetes. Grapefruit provides a quick remedy for fatigue.

Chakotra / Jeruk Bali / Grapefruit / Pomelo / Dabbakaya is valuable in stimulating bowel; the pulp when wholly taken supplies healthy bulk to aid bowel action.

Should you invest in dividend-paying mutual funds?

Hi Friends……This is an Article written in 2007 but applies to all times for Finance Planning…Hence sharing with you all……

Life was easy once upon a time. Mutual funds were mutual funds and there were not many options to choose from. You had money and a mutual fund company had a scheme. You put your money in a scheme of a particular mutual fund and earned returns on it.

That was once upon a time. Now you have a dime a dozen mutual funds and each fund has scores of schemes. You have mutual fund schemes in the market today that offer you a number of options.

Like a growth-oriented mutual fund, a mutual fund that offers you dividends (an amount that a mutual fund distributes amongst its investors from the profits it makes) at regular investments and a mutual fund that pays you dividends only to reinvest the same amount and give you more units of the same.

So what do you as an investor do? While there are numerous schemes with very attractive names that fight for your attention in the marketplace, here I will confine myself on helping you analyze the most popular dividend-paying MF scheme and a growth-oriented MF scheme. That is, which of the two is better?

When I began my journey into the mutual fund industry I too was excited whenever a dividend was declared. The reason was that, I thought, I did not have to sell the units of the mutual fund scheme that was declaring a dividend. People, too, used to come to me and say that they wanted to buy a scheme declaring a dividend.

But slowly I started to learn all about mutual funds by asking all sorts of questions. And there were so many related to dividends. It took a while for me to realize that dividend is not something more or extra that a mutual fund was giving its investors, but a part of the investors' own money being returned to her/him in the form of dividends.

·How to pick the best mutual fund scheme

Remember that any mutual fund pays dividends out of the gains it generates. The effect of this is that the fund size reduces by the amount of money distributed. This is also reflected in the drop in the net asset value, NAV, of the dividend option (by the amount of dividend per unit distributed).

Let's understand this better. Say a mutual fund collects Rs 100 crore from its investors and on this amount makes a profit of Rs 20 crore. At this point the NAV of your unit increases from Rs 10 to Rs 12. If your mutual fund declares a dividend of Rs 2 then the value of your units will automatically come down to Rs 10 (Rs 12 less the dividend of Rs 2) on the day this takes effect.

In effect, the mutual fund returns your own money back to you.

But we also need to understand that when a dividend is declared, a lot of new investors put their money in the mutual fund with the intention of getting the dividend. This is possible because there is a gap between the date when a MF scheme declares dividends and the actual date when the dividend reaches investors' bank accounts.

Some funds may do it purely to attract more money from new investors. The rationale is that dividend is a way to distribute profits generated at regular intervals, especially when markets are overheated and there are not so many good opportunities to invest.

From my experiences in dealing with a lot of individual investors and also different types of mutual funds, I have found that a majority of investors still do not have complete understanding about dividends declared by a mutual fund. The tax aspect adds to the confusion. Now let me throw some light on this issue so that it enables you to take a more informed decision.

For simplicity, let me limit my scope to the equity-oriented mutual funds. To qualify as an equity-oriented mutual fund, the minimum holding a fund needs to have in equities is 65 per cent and above. That is if a fund collects Rs 100 crore then at least Rs 65 crore or more needs to be invested in equities.

When investing into any mutual fund scheme investors are required to select one among three options -- growth, dividend payout or dividend reinvestment.

·How to invest in mutual funds

I have read in a lot of places where advice is given that if a person requires regular income s/he should opt for a dividend scheme. There is no rational basis for this advice in case of equity-oriented mutual funds.

The reason is that there is no set schedule of payment of dividend. Also how much dividend will be paid is not predictable. And if a person needs cash flow, s/he cannot depend on the unpredictability of when and how much dividend will be declared for her/his regular need.

If this is not the reason for not opting for a dividend scheme, then what is?

Here I would like to ask a simple question. Why do you invest money in a mutual fund in the first place? Is it for dividends or for returns? If your answer is returns and that is your objective, then the decision to select the option should be based on the objective of making maximum return -- be it either through the dividend option or through the growth option.

To enable us to make the best decision we need to understand the taxation aspect involved when a mutual fund scheme declares dividends.

Investors should opt for an option that minimizes their tax liability. Currently dividend income from equity mutual funds is tax-free; also there is no dividend distribution tax.

Secondly, long-term capital gains (all gains arising after sale of units held for more than one year) too are tax-free.

In such a scenario, if the investor plans to invest for a period of less than a year then dividend option seems better (as you won't have to pay in tax in case you sell your units). But here, let me point out that equity as an asset class is for long term investing (say a 5 year horizon is good in current scenario). So, investing in a mutual fund for less than a year does not make financial sense because returns would be lower.

Hence if you are a serious investor into equity mutual funds your horizon should anyways be greater than one year and hence growth option would be more suitable as long term capital gains tax is nil.

·Good ELSS funds to save taxes

The fact that under the dividend option the fund keeps on declaring regular dividends and no such payments accrue under the growth option might suggest to some investors that the former is better. However, if we compare returns from a dividend reinvestment scheme to that of a growth scheme, there would be no difference in the final returns.

But in case of the dividend payout there would be some difference because the money is returned to the investor in the form of cash. It would depend on what the investor does with this cash.

Also, there is one more very relevant issue. In an ELSS (Tax saving mutual fund where you cannot withdraw money before 3 years from the date of investment) scheme, if you select the dividend reinvestment option you will be locked in for life.

In this option, instead of paying money to you in the form of dividends the mutual fund puts back the same amount in the same scheme and gives you equivalent number of units.

The reason is that when the dividend is reinvested new units are issued. These units would be locked in for a further three-year period from the date of issue (remember this is an ELSS scheme with a three-year lock-in period).

And as dividend continues to be given within the next 3 years on the new units you received, you will find yourself locked in for life.

In conclusion, the truth is that it does not make much difference which option you choose (provided you are a long term investor), from the return point of view.

The author is a Pune-based specialist in financial planning. He can be reached at vetapalems@rediffmail.com.

Disclaimer: The intention of the article is only to make investors aware of the mystery surrounding the dividend option in mutual funds. Investors must evaluate their individual objectives of investing before they decide on which option best suits their objective.

Original Source: http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/aug/09fund.htm

Story of Bhasmasura to Beat inflation by investing in equities of companies whose products you buy!!

In Hindu mythology, Bhasmasura was a demon who, after praying to Lord Shiva, received a boon that anyone whose head he touched with his hand would immediately turn into ashes (bhasma). Shiva granted this request, but Bhasmasura , the ungrateful demon that he was, attempted to touch the head of Shiva with his hand. Shiva fled and somehow managed to reach Lord Vishnu for help.

Lord Vishnu took up the disguise of Mohini, a beautiful dancer, and appeared in front of Bhasmasura. Mohini was so exceedingly beautiful that Bhasmasura immediately fell in love with her. Bhasmasura asked Mohini to marry him. She told him that she was very fond of dancing, and would marry him only if he could match her moves identically. Bhasmasura agreed and they started dancing.

Bhasmasura matched the disguised Vishnu's move for move. Smartly then, Mohini struck a pose where her hand was placed on top of her own head. As Bhasmasura imitated her, he was tricked into touching his own head, and immediately turned into ashes.

So, how is a mythological story connected to a common man like you and me?

Inflation eats away a major part of the returns that your investment generates. So, if your fixed deposit (FD) gives a return of 8% and the rate of inflation is 8%, you are actually earning nothing on your investment. Then, how can we defeat this Bhasmasura named Inflation? Shiva turned to Vishnu for help, whom do we turn to for safety?

Vishnu in our case is equity /stocks of the same companies that make these goods that we are buying. Let us see how. Say, you love the soaps manufactured by a particular company and so does everyone else you know. The more people buy that soap, the higher the profits for that company.

These profits the company shares with its shareholders in the form of dividend. By buying even a single share of that company, you can take home a part of this profit. Look at a bank, if it is offering good rates for lending and deposits and more and more people are flocking to it, chances are that it might generate handsome profits. Buying shares of this bank will ensure a share in profits for you by means of dividend.

Inflation currently stands at around 8% (March 2011 inflation forecast as per RBI is 8%), whereas equities have typically given 18-20 % returns in the long term. Even if you take inflation at 6%, 20 years from now something that costs .Rs 10,000 today will cost Rs 32,071! If you invest the same Rs 10,000 in a fixed deposit at 8%, 20 years from now it will be Rs 46,610.

Wait, before you run to the bank, just hold on for a minute while we deduct taxes from those returns. If you fall in the highest tax bracket of 30%, the figure of Rs 46,610 shrinks to Rs 29,736 - less than what inflation did to prices.

So while you thought you will beat inflation, in reality, you lose your capital. Now, if you choose to invest this Rs 10,000 in equities today, 20 years from now that money could turn to Rs 1.63 lakh, even at a conservative 15% return! Very few investment options have the capacity to generate such inflation-crushing returns . And this is the Mohini avatar that will help you kill the Bhasmasura of inflation.

Story Source: Economic Times

Invest in good Mutual Funds i.e. Equity Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) if you are not aware of Equities for both Tax benefit and also good returns…check their past performance and also the fund managers record….

** This is only an article and suggestion, Risk lies with the Investor…..