Of ignorance and the lack of it

The first two years of my professional life I paid my Income tax knowing almost next to nothing about it. I didn't even know the bare basics. What is taxable income? What are the tax slabs all about? What are deductions? What is the difference between paying the income tax and filing the Income Tax return?  And such. Partly because the company did everything for me. I was paying more than necessary but I was not bothered.

One good thing though, I somehow always filed it, which helped me in buying a car for myself. Last year, after quitting my first company and shortly after joining my new company I started reading extensively about it, all thanks to my new organization for keeping me in the free pool.

I found innumerable articles to read in the interwebs relating to the topic. When I asked around I understood that so many IT professionals, more experienced or as experienced as I, did not know much about these things either. They were pretty much in the dark as I was.

I feel this is one case where people do not have to be ignorant. It might take a while to figure out, but it is very easy to understand the basics; and this is a learning for life. As long as we have an income, like it or not, we are obligated to pay a tax for it. Anybody can understand the basics and anybody in India can file their returns online themselves through the website https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/.

Ever since I cultivated a penchant for it, I have helped so many of my friends and family to file their returns- some through clarifying their doubts and for the more lazy ones even doing it end to end. I also got refunds for myself, for the years some mistakes were made in calculations, using the two year window period rule. And the Income Tax Department has been kind enough to return the refund amount plus interest for the period.

Weird though it may sound, I feel a new found liking for this time of year, something I did not have before, and kind of look forward to filing my returns. Waiting to receive the Form 16 from my company.

Another unpublished article

Had sent the following article to the supplement called Nxg (Next Generation) of the daily newspaper The Hindu for a column called "Think Tank" which features articles on new trends and such. This one didn't get published and I thought I might as well post it here.

Ever considered retiring early? If you think that you are still studying or have barely started off your career and hence it is not prudent to think along these lines, read on. The notion caught some people's attention when it was mentioned in the Hindi movie, " Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", where a lead actor pursues this goal; the crux of the movie is that we should enjoy life for what it is every now and then though. Regardless, looks like the idea of an early retirement is soon to become cliched with many classes of working professionals.

Several professionals who have the drive and passion for the profession early on in their career do not have the same later on. If anything at all is culpable towards this disposition, it is perhaps the challenges that are part and parcel of some professions which often than not, make it difficult to attain work life balance; this could very well be one of the reasons that the workforce of some professions such as the IT and the hospitality industry is so young. The few for whom the passion for the job outweighs everything else, do endure.

Many people who think of retiring early are now looking at the relatively young age of 40 to quit on their profession and start something else anew; and planning for one could mean anything to anyone. For some, it could mean travelling the world, while some simply love the idea of not having to wake up to a schedule; for some, it is about spending time with family, while for others it could mean cultivating new interests, to explore the unexplored. As a contrast, many pursue their hobby on a more serious level.

Pursuing one's hobby after retiring early comes with its own set of intrinsic advantages. Though it is ideal if one chooses his or her passion as their profession, it sometimes happens that people lose track of themselves in the hustle and bustle of life and enter the rat race with what is less than one's true calling, willingly or unwillingly; and hence taking up one's hobby pensively offers a chance to redeem oneself.

Such hobbies include Photography, Writing, Stock market trading, Gardening, Translation, Interior Designing, Event Management, and many, many more. The list is endless with possibilities. I have heard of professionals who have even taken up agriculture with their ancestral land in their native places. The congenial aspect of this is that, one can add value to the hobby by virtue of bringing to the fore the technical prowess or any other quality that one accrued along the way of their profession. Making your hobby pay off through freelancing means that one can leisurely work even at home at a convenient time and saves a lot of time on commute. Apart from that, it offers the freedom of being one's own boss.

Needless to say, planning an early retirement comes with the territory. It requires an individual to more than put his or her financial house in order. It is pertinent to be practical; after all, at the end of the day there are bills to be paid and financial goals to be met with including planning for a regular retirement, which often prove eluding even in the presence of a regular source of income and when there is a disruption of that, there is definitely an overhead with planning for an early retirement.

So if an individual ever considers an early retirement, the sooner he works towards this resolve and the younger he is, the better it is. He needs to be pragmatic about things such as his investment portfolio and the returns from it, his savings, his expenses, his short term and long term financial goals, backup plan in case of unforeseen circumstances which may make things go south, how inflation will affect his life during his silver years and how to deal with it and so on.

Early retirement or not, here's to living happily, professionally and otherwise!

- Akihtra is an IT professional with a penchant for Personal Finance and the elusive Income Tax

Traveling alone

I just realized that I really like traveling alone. One can always ask, what kind of travel?

When it comes to travelling alone it is always those low profile, low on adventure kind of travel that I like. I would prefer the other kind of travel only if I had some good company. Now that I have moved to Chennai, travel has almost become a non-existent phenomena and even a sudden trip to my native seems exotic.

These days life seems so busy that there is hardly any time to plan a trip, one that involves travel and I don't see things improving any time in the near future. But when I was in Bangalore I used to travel by myself almost every other weekend to Chennai. I did make some good friends in the railway station- other lonely travelers such as myself and they did provide me awesome company, but mostly I did travel alone.

My reading habit was also in a pretty good place back then since I had ample time during travel and I happened to read a lot of books during this period, especially the ones that I had always wanted to read.

I took the night trains mostly since it saved time and meant I could spend more time at home. But travelling by the Shatabdi Express from Bangalore to Chennai and vice versa, now and then was real fun. Though it seems like a tourist train and the route doesn't offer much in terms of sightseeing, they were always very relaxing, soothing journeys. Aboard the train, apart from looking out, I read a lot, had a lot of time to key in some article or the other, made calls to friends and family. I was never bored and the occasional, tender Sun ray which fell on my book (the thought of it gives me an Utopian glimmer even now) made me relax even more.

A whole trip all by myself? Hmmm, I guess not. To be honest I am scared to take a whole trip by myself in this blessed country of ours, thanks to the safety standards for girls. It scares me, and I believe rightly so. So as of now, I will simply stick to saying that I like travelling alone and in that, a one way journey here and there. I wish I travelled more now- more meaningful travels which involve visiting some new place or the other. I believe travel is one of the pure joys of life and a luxury in itself; and one that should not be found wanting in one's life.

A write up

Had written down the following lines for a lending library; felt like posting it here:

Books are always a delight! They transport you to unknown places, introduce you to unknown people, take you to new horizons, give insights into unknown lives, and affect us in ways which even we can’t comprehend. Some books inspire us while some encourage us or sadden us or make us happy and there are some which simply overwhelm us.

While how we feel when the book concludes is one thing, the wholesome experience of reading a book is entirely another. While e-books seem to be the norm of the day, some things are meant to be enjoyed the classic way. Imagine a rainy day at home, and you on a nice cozy sofa engrossed in a book of your choice. Imagine your experience as you revel into the content of the book over a cup of hot ‘filter’ coffee, and a hot savoury snack, as you turn the leaf of each page, anxious to know what comes next in the book, all the while enjoying the fine print of the book as you knowingly and unknowingly take in the crisp odour of the paper. Is there a way to define this experience? Yes, it can only be defined as pure bliss.

Please choose your pick from the books listed below. They are available with <> Lending Library. Go right ahead! Dive into new frontiers and immerse yourself in the absolute delight which is the habit of reading.

Two cultures

I have developed a liking towards the Japanese culture! Many aspects of their culture and country such as the silk Kimonos, the Japanese tea ceremony, their obsession with the 'sakura' (cherry blossom) tree, sake, the Japanese manga and cartoons ('Inu Yasha', 'Dragon Ball Z', 'Cardcaptor Sakura'- to name a few), their love for the Tuna fish, charcoal fish, the importance they attach to the presentation of food, the low tables, absence of chairs, their liking for golf, their fame for cutting edge technologies, the fact that they have a train like the Shinkansen, their sense of perfection (just my opinion) and many, many such things that I can't even remember right now, have always intrigued me.

Guess I was exposed to this truly unique and mesmerizing culture ever since I can remember but like most things near and yet so far (in my mind that is), realization dawned on me only recently! When my college offered basic foreign language courses, I elected to learn Japanese. The course was called “Basic conversation in Japanese” and was offered by ABK-AOTS DOSOKAI, Chennai Centre.

In spite of having a very good instructor, I never managed to learn many Japanese words beyond: sashin (photograph), sakura (cherry blossom; redundant, I know!), nihon/nippon (Japan), nihongo (Japanese language), daigaku (University), and such; and a few sentences such as “watashi wa my-name desu” (meaning “I am my-name", “desu” is just a way of bringing closure to the sentence I was told) and “Hai. Wakarimashita” (meaning, “Yes. I understand”).

My Japanese teacher back then told that Japanese is a lot like Tamil (my mother tongue) when it comes to sentence formation. I was surprised when she said, “Think in Tamil when you initially form a sentence in your mind and then translate; don’t think in English”. In fact, I was surprised when I started watching some South Korean serials (with English subtitles of course), surprised that there were some words that were so similar between Korean and Tamil. ‘Omma’ in Korean means mother. It rang a bell coz in Tamil, it is ‘Amma’. ‘Appa’ in Korean means father. It is the same in Tamil as well; and then there are the words ‘Aigoo’ (Korean) and ‘Aiyoo’ (Tamil), which have a similar meaning and pronunciation.

I was surprised that there is any similarity between these languages at all, considering that they come from different parts of the globe. True that life is never devoid of surprises! I was not exposed to the Japanese script during the course. I heard from a friend who was attending weekend classes that it takes a four year course to completely learn the Japanese script. Whew!

The fact that some of the Japanese liked Tamil movies like Chandrelekha, Muthu makes me glad in a teeny-weeny sense of the word. Of course only a Jap can feel all these elements of their culture in true depth and sense, but the fact that I like it too somehow gladdens me and feels like it has given me refreshing perspective.

Italian

Another culture which fascinates me in equal measure is the Italian culture. Talk about Italy and one's mind instantly thinks of places such as Venice, Milan, Florence in Tuscany, Rome and Sicily (was it the Godfather movies from which I first heard this one?).

To talk about the Italian cuisine alone, this one post would not do (ever watched David Rocco's cookery show called Dolce Vita?; when I learnt later that the term dolce vita means "the good life" I thought it sounds so cool!). With the pastas alone being example enough to speak for the Italian cuisine, it is hardly surprising that Italian cuisine is as famous as it is across the globe. With their innumerable football teams, their innumerable fashion designers, fashion labels, the people (Leonardo da Vinci, Amerigo Vespucci, Marco Polo for some and err, the models?) this shoe shaped country sure is interesting. I am not familiar with the Italian language, though I am a little familiar with the accent (wink). Recently I wrote about the Italian word 'ciao'. Well, as of now, that is the one Italian word I use extensively.

Personally I want to say with all earnestness, that I believe to study and understand the history of my culture and my people, even if I were to give up everything else that I am doing right now and go for it, my one lifetime would not suffice; so what I intend to do (if at all) with these new found likings of mine, remains to be seen.

Corporate SIM

Buying a corporate SIM sure is easy. All you have to do is take a photocopy of your Identity card with your organization to get one. Mine being a postpaid number I kept paying bills online once a month and all was well. I moved back to Chennai from Bangalore and so I wanted to deactivate my number and be done with it.

But the outstanding amount was 1300+ bucks (unbilled amount). So I called up customer care and sought a way to resolve the matter. They asked me to wait till the billing cycle is over and pay once the bill is generated and then close the connection immediately. And then I forgot about it; completely!

After some three or four months I came to know that I had to pay some 1200+ bucks- the actual bill plus the rental for three months which calculated to about (249 rental + 99 bucks internet plan) *3.

It is funny that mobile phone service providers who literally sit on your head asking you to take this offer or that, or who constantly keep reminding you of their presence somehow chose to keep mum about it. Maybe coz I wasn’t using the number anymore? (!!). But to be honest, I don’t remember receiving emails of my bills either.

Though the amount doesn’t account anywhere near being called huge, I told myself for the umpteenth time that I should be more careful with (my own) hard earned money. When I asked around, I heard of people who received bills after almost a year of having stopped using the SIM and being asked to pay hefty amounts.

So, if you have a corporate postpaid SIM, be extra careful about it; if you don’t want the SIM be sure to deactivate the number promptly.

An insider’s perspective

In light of the recent comments (rather mean!) from some of my relatives, family friends and such about an IT job, with some merely gossiping about it, some declaring that IT jobs are a bad thing to have happened to India and that expenses on rental properties, bank loans' rates, real estate costs, etc have all gone up, thanks only to the IT jobs, while a few going as far as to state that IT employees are software coolies, I would like to add some aspects of what it is to hold one:

• Cool outlook: Though it is ironic that every Tom, Dick and Harry lands up in an IT job (the job being something totally astray from his/ her chosen field of education), it is still lucrative to the eyes of many.
• Good infrastructure: The infrastructure of the IT offices is by far among the best, perhaps next only to the Hospitality Industry. Undeniably, one of the best aspects is that you go to office before the “Suryabhagavan” shines with all his glory and you start from office well after Sundown. And of course the office is air conditioned (thanks to the fact that on prolonged usage computers emit heat). What better way to beat the heat eh?
• Onsite opportunities: Chances of being sent abroad on deputation are high in an IT organization since most IT firms cater to clients abroad. If you work hard enough and most importantly, if you are lucky enough, you get to ‘see the world while you are still young’, like they say.
• Employee centric policies: Since it is a people intensive industry a lot of attention is paid to make most of the policies as employee centric as possible as compared to several other industries. Though there are outcries here and there saying that there is no Employee Union as such, most policies are still employee centric.
• Pay packages: One might genuinely believe that he/she is offered a pittance for a pay and might even be modest enough to say it. But then to people, of course that person is either joking or being too modest. Not particularly anyone's fault if an IT job is construed to be that high paying. Besides, a little mystery has never hurt anyone, has it? So, one can afford to let it pass I guess; just saying.
• Banking: Two words- ‘Corporate’, ‘Salary Account’, are enough to ensure that banks are only too happy to serve you. Opening an account, taking loans, applying for a credit card etc are much easier if you are from the IT industry and in most cases, you are more favored than a government employee.
• Tech savviness: When people around you have cool gadgets and are tech savvy, you tend to acquire a little of the trait. And societal compulsion (!) mandates that you indulge in acquiring a few of the latest gadgets yourself in order to appear so.

The list is endless with possibilities- most professional ethos, positive work atmosphere, austere disciplinary standards (ombudsperson), young workforce (good or bad debatable, but for me good), flexible work timings and work from home options (not always though), flexible work wear (again, not always) and many such things. There are of course several occupational hazards such as hectic lifestyle, lack of an organized lifestyle and so on, but it is true of many other professions as well.

To the fellow IT job holders! The next time your friendly neighborhood aunty (not Spiderman!) is kind enough to sit judgment on the fate of all IT employees come next recession, you might consider flaunting any of the above mentioned aspects of the job. Or should you rather ignore her for the better? It’s your call.