PAN: Thou art so important!

Permanent Account Number (PAN)

The Government is all out to curb black money and you, my reader, will not be spared even if you are an average Joe. There are a barrage of instances where usage of Permanent Account Number (PAN) has become mandatory, above a certain threshold amount. All these changes are going to be in effect from 1st January, 2016.

It requires no telling that quoting of PAN in all financial transactions will effectively create a trail of transactions which the Income Tax Department can easily look into. This will also help the tax officials determine if you are paying enough tax as well.

The media reports pointed to the simple fact that quoting of PAN is essential for any form of transaction exceeding Rs.2 lakh, regardless of the mode of payment. Other than this, there are several other instances as well, where starting 2016, PAN has become mandatory. All the instances mentioned below come under Rule 114B of the Income-tax Act. Following is the brief list:

1) During purchase/ sale of immovable property exceeding Rs 10 lakh

2) While making a time deposit with any financial institution like Co-op banks, Post Office, Nidhi and NBFC

3) At the time of opening any form of bank account except opening of a no-frills bank account such as a Jan Dhan Account

4) For payment of hotel or restaurant bills exceeding Rs 50,000 at any one point through any mode of payment

5) PAN should be quoted for purchase of bank drafts/ pay orders/ banker’s cheques exceeding Rs 50,000 on a single day

6) Cash deposit exceeding Rs.50,000/- in a single day.

7) For purchase of foreign currency or cash payment related to foreign travel exceeding Rs.50,000/-

8) Payment in excess of Rs 50,000 for purchase of mutual fund units

9) For opening a demat account

10) Purchase or sale of shares of an unlisted company for an amount exceeding Rs1 lakh per transaction.

11) Payment exceeding Rs.50,000 for purchase of Debentures/ bonds

12) Payment exceeding Rs.50,000 for purchase of RBI bonds

13) Payment exceeding Rs.50,000/- in a year as life insurance premium

14) Cash payment aggregating to more than Rs.50,000 in a year towards cash cards/ prepaid instruments issued under Payment & Settlement

Other than this, the the Pension fund regulatory body PFRDA too has decided to use PAN instead of Aadhaar for validation of new customers  registered online under the National Pension System scheme.

Given the increased prominence of PAN, individuals should be very alert as to where they are using their PAN numbers. It is a common culture in India to use PAN as an identity card in each and every place, at the slightest requirement. Therefore, there have been instances in the past, regarding theft of PAN numbers, especially those used while booking railway tickets.

PAN is your identity and I am sure you don’t want your identity to be misused.

 

The Fifth Mountain

You know you are a moron when the whole world praises a certain book, and you don’t understand a jack of it even after you read the book twice over.

 It’s an international bestseller. Reading enthusiasts swear by it and it’s a cardinal crime to say that you haven’t read that book.

The matter compounds to dizzying proportions when the book in question is Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.

The moron here is me. And thanks to the peer backlash, I decided never to read Coelho’s work for the fear of not understanding philosophy. But people change over time and so did I.

Exactly, a decade later I ended up with another triumphant work by the same author. The title of the book was The Fifth Mountain. This deviation was due to compulsion, as a friend of mine went to the extent of betting that person’s life, on the fact, that I would appreciate this book.

I read and reread and reread. Not due to lack of understanding but exactly the opposite. The book seemed to be a treasure trove of commentaries meant for the weaklings.

For my own sake and yours, I have decided to list some of the most beautiful lines from the book.  Mind you, I didn’t care to put the required punctuations in the excerpts. For me, it’s a compilation to which I can return whenever I need to be inspired.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
When a man journeys towards his destiny, often he is obliged to change path. At other times, the forces around him are too powerful and he is compelled to lay aside his courage and yield.

There are moments when tribulations occur in our lives, and we cannot avoid them. But they are there for some reason. And for what reason? This is the question we cannot answer before, or even during, the trials. Only when we have overcome them do we understand why they are there.

Every man hath the right to doubt his task, and to forsake it from time to time; but what he must not do is forget it. Whoever doubteth not himself is unworthy- for in his unquestioning belief in his ability, he commiteth the sin of pride. Blessed are they who go through moments of indecision.

A mans fate has nothing to do with what he believes or fears.

When we delay problems, they continue to grow.

The best warrior is the one who succeeds in transforming an enemy into a friend.

Custom exists to maintain the worked in order. If we meddle with it, the world itself will perish.

They did not accept the challenges of life, so life no longer challenges them. You are running that same risk; react, face life, but do not stop living.

Life is made not of desires but of the acts of each person.

The best is the one who is most like a rock. Without drawing its blade, it proves that no one can defeat it.

I our prayers we always try to say where we have erred, and what we should like to happen to us. But the Lord already knows all of this and sometimes asks us only to hear what the universe is telling us. And to be patient.

All life’s battle teach us something. Even those we lose. When we grow up, you’ll discover that you have defended lies, deceives youself, or suffered for foolishness. Id you’re a good warrior, you will nor blame yourself for this, but neither will you all own your mistakes to repeat themselves.

It’s normal to feel fear at certain moments.

The Lord demandeth of people only that which is within the possibilities of each of them.

A man must choose. Therin lieth his strength: the power of his decisions.

Even more difficult is defining a path for onself. He who maketh no choice is dead in the eyes og the Lord, though he go on breathing and walking in the streets.

Why does he who made the world prefer to use tragedy to write the book of fate?

Everything hath its reason for being; thou needest only distinguish what is temporary and what  is lasting.

Fear exists until the moment when the unavoidable happens. After that we must waste none of our energy on it.

The meaning of life is whatever I wanted it to be.

Courage is fear that prays

If I stop to reflect, I’ll conclude I’m incapable of accomplishing what I desire

Sometimes it s necessary to struggle with God

The brave are always stubborn

Man must choose-and not accept-his fate

Each one has a name from birth but must learn to baptise his life with the word he has chosen to give meaning to that life

The enemy is only a pretext to test our strength

A warrior is always aware of what is worth fighting for. He does not go into combat over things that do not concern him, and he never wastes his time over provocations.

A warrior accepts defeat. He does not treat it as a matter of indifference, nor does he attempt to transform it into a victory. The pain of defeat so bitter to him; he suffers at indifference and becomes desperate with loneliness. After all this has passed, he licks his wounds and begins everything anew. A warrior knows that war is made of many battles; je goes on.

Tragedies do happen. We can discover the reason, blame others, imagine how different our lives would be had they not occurred. Bit none of that is important: they did occur, and so be it. From there onward we must out aside the fear that they awoke in us and begin to rebuild.

Do not twice commit the same error. Never forget the reason for thy life.

It’s always necessary to know when a stage of one’s life has ended. If you stubbornly cling to it after then need has passed, you lose the joy and the meaning of the rest. And you risk being shaken to your senses by God.

Give Me A Heart …

O Lord, give me I pray:

a remembering heart for the things that have happened
an attentive heart to what I have heard
a forgiving heart for what has hurt
a grateful heart for what has blessed
an open heart to all that may come
a trusting heart to go forth with You
a loving heart for You and all Your creation
a longing heart for the reconciliation of all things
a willing heart to say “Yes” to what You will.

– Leighton Ford

A glimpse of Myanmar in Mumbai

I had a packed schedule last week, thanks to my near and dear ones deciding to drop by. Though I must admit that it’s always a joyous affair to have your close ones around, even though, along with it comes additional running of errands, hectic travel plans etc.

Since these folks visiting me were not very new to Mumbai, it was quiet a daunting task to think of new places to take them around, this time. I whacked my brains to come up with all possible combinations, but it was all shot down, one after the other.

For once, even Google and Facebook decided to abandon me of options!

Finally when I had almost given up and was on the verge of putting out a no brainer – it’s too hot outside so let’s stay in – my friend in a passing statement mentioned the possibility of a Pagoda somewhere near Bhayandar.

I must admit the first reaction to this chance revelation was a hearty laugh. Please don’t get me wrong here. My reasoning was on the grounds – where will one find space for a Pagoda in a place like Mumbai and its suburbs.

I WAS TOTALLY WRONG HERE BY SEVERAL MILES 😛

The Global Vipassana Pagoda (made on the lines of one of the famous Myanmar pagoda) was a delightful shocker. Situated hardly a kilometer away from Essel World, the pagoda IS a welcome relief in this chaotic city.

Though we all decided to hit the road, the other option to reach there, by a ferry still seems appealing to me, simply because of the boat ride.

Only the main or central pagoda is completed as yet. Smaller ones and allied facilities are under construction. Nevertheless, a must visit.

The center of the Global Vipassana Pagoda contains the world’s largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars. The height of the dome is approximately 29 metres.

Hope these pictures manage to convince you to add this place in your must visit destinations in the Mumbai site seeing list.

Now without blah blahing much let me show you some of the beautiful structures that I saw there.

Warning: Tha date stamp present on some of the pics are wrong

Pagoda entrance

Ornate Ceiling

One of the smaller structures present on the either side of the main Pagoda

Design on one of the pillars

Center of attraction

Buddha

A part of the Center hall, which can accommodate 8,000 people at a time

Tip of the main structure which is a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar

I love the carvings on this door

Motif

Entrance ceiling

Just Read

Be Strong
Smooth roads never make good drivers…
Smooth sea never makes good sailors.
Clear skies never make good pilots.
Problem free life never makes a strong & good person.
Have a tough, but winning day ahead.
Be strong enough to accept the challenge of life.

The DARK side of fb

Please read the disclaimer before you start reading this post. Scroll down.

I am an eternal optimist when it comes to hoping that everything will be fine after a fight between two people. That is, especially when the fight is regarding a pic on fb – the one in which everyone is smiling, as if all the dudes and ladies out there, wanted to prove worthy of ads of all tooth paste brands available in the country.

What’s sad is, with V Day just round the corner, a so though perfect couple starts to biker about a pic, in which a particular bf seems to be all happy to be with his gang of friends. However, the gf thinks otherwise. The reason- he has got his hands around the shoulder of this particular thin lanky girl in the gang! 

The gf assumes that her boy is double dating while the guy says the girl in question has been his friend for the last so and so number of years..blah..blah..

I am sure with this the seeds of doubt are successfully sown, even if the gf comes around to believe what the guy said.

This is the latest example, where I have seen a fight over something what was said, posted or commented over a networking site.

Thanks to fb, we are literally living out our life on the social network without realizing the dark part of the game. I wonder why no one is ever sad on fb, in terms of a statement or pictures. Everything thing seems to be blissfully fine in this wonderland. Atleast that’s what my wall suggests when I wade through the updates. So I am just wondering, are we intentionally trying to act cool or is it that the fbians are on their way to Nirvana.

Considering that everyone is out to maintain their social image and cool quotient, I have learnt that a simple comment or pic is enough to ruin a lot of frail human relations. So watch out!

Think, read and reread twice before you put anything up on your wall, I mean the fb wall.

 

Disclaimer: In terms of writing, I like fb and not facebook

I blog because………

I blog because I have an innate desire to rant

I blog because I wanted to kill time by writing something random

I blog because I know I can write anything and get away with it

I blog because all of a sudden I realised that I am forgetting the use of several words

I blog because I wish some grammar Nazi will point out my mistake with regards to use of propositions, conjunctions and punctuations.

I blog because I know a nut like you will be reading this