Friday, August 31, 2012

Axed by Tax

I was flipping through some information along with a cup of tea in the morning, and came across something that made me read it twice. It says that there are 8 countries where the citizens do not have to pay any income tax at all. A knock on the door disturbed me, from further exploring the details on that. I opened the door and the watchman handed over a slip to me which detailed the property tax due that I am supposed to pay. Argh! Now, how irritating was that?                                                
                                                 It really annoys me when I think about all the kinds of taxes( any thing that we do has some or the other tax component to it) that we pay and few us are even more scared of the word tax itself. Many of us do not even know how many different taxes we end up paying directly or indirectly. And most of us, do not even question or bother about it. We all know that the central and state governments of India are the authorities that levy tax. But, do we know that there are close to 13 different types of taxes levied by the central govt and 19 different types of taxes by the state govt apart from some minor taxes which go through the municipalities? It really was disappointing to know that there are so many types of taxes axing our hard earned money. I am not against paying tax, but then I have to know that the taxes are being put to good use, for the development of the nation. Every citizen should get to know as to where and how the tax paid by him/her is being spent. Therefore, I have decided to inquire and understand about the tax that I pay every time. Let us be more aware of the taxes that we are paying on various spends. That's the least that we can do to start off with. And, eventually we can bring in some change in the way we look at and pay the taxes. I certainly cannot dream of India joining the league of those 8 nations where there is no income tax, but we certainly can work towards having our taxes utilized for the betterment of the nation. Hope to see an India where the tax payers are happy and not axed for every transaction. Jaago Kardata Jaago!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Justice prevails, but how long to execute?

Not everyday would we wake up happy with news that talks about taking someone's life, but yes it is one such day for me and I do not have any inhibitions in expressing this. The news in itself might have given relief to all those who have lost their dear ones to the cause. Many courageous police & army officials along with few innocent people have lost their lives in the 26/11 incident. Finally, the verdict is out and the convict Kasab is awarded the death penalty. Though it is very sad to understand that it took four long years, to get to this verdict on a brutally insane terrorist. The terror act had many visuals and live video footage and yet it took so long to arrive to this conclusion on this case. I wonder, if the case took so long to get the final sentence, then how long would the execution take? How long shall we have to pay our hard earned money to the government of India (in the form of so many taxes) to provide shelter and feed that terrorist? There are so many under-privileged people below the poverty line who are not getting any benefits from the taxes that we pay and it is sad that a terrorist who raped the country's pride is getting all his needs fulfilled. I am not in favor of the death sentence myself and believe that any person has to get a chance to realize his mistake, reform and live the rest of the life in a more meaningful way. However, in this particular case it would be our foolishness to expect any reformation or realization even on the remotest grounds. The magnitude of the terror operation that was carried out was huge and the impact of it on the entire nation is shattering enough to declare it to be an act of waging war on the nation. Yes, it is no less than a war and we have to fight back hard.
                                                      India as a nation and a land to the great leaders like the Mahatma Gandhi is considered to be one of the most peaceful countries across the globe. That doesn't mean that we have enormous levels of patience to endure these kind of terrorist activities and as an answer to the 26/11 incident, the sentence given out has to be executed on a priority. It has been a kind or rather foolish act on our part that we still believed in the human rights and all other such jazz in having this case dragged for such time, I would rather say it is our inability to speed up the system to get the justice. At least, in cases which have affected and impacted the dignity & pride of the entire nation, should we not take things on priority? The whole nation has awaited for this justice so long and hope it doesn't take too long to have it executed. Let it not become so late before the trust on Indian Judicial system perishes.

P.S: So far the cost of keeping Kasab in his cell has proved to be Rs 25 crore. Shame on us.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Invincibly Dangerous Moonwalker.

                                        Its been a little over 3 years now and the very thought of his untimely demise shakes up so many emotions leaving my eyes moist and gets me dumb for a while. There are many people across the globe who would still not be willing to accept this fact as they believe him to be invincible and immortal. Invincible, he really was. He truly had a charm that has influenced the world largely and it can never forget or get over him. Michael Jackson (MJ) was a legend in a true sense. Today, on his birthday many feelings surface in his remembrance. His mesmerizing moves including the great moonwalk can never be forgotten and every act of his, has inspired many souls around the globe. He undoubtedly is a universal phenomenon and in Guinness' terms is the most successful entertainer of all time. The king of popular(pop) music has contributed so much to music, dance and fashion all his life and has become a dominant figure of the world music.

                  Many artists across the world are today a result of the inspiration that they drew from the ever charming legend of all time. MJ has been into many controversies, but I do not really bother to comment on them as the generous work that he did and his contribution to the world in many forms is what should be remembered at this hour. Any person who can influence such a portion of the world population deserves much better. It is really an honor that we were able to share his timeline. His hard work and determination has taken him to a place where people started worshiping him. It really takes so much effort to achieve what we really want to. On this day, and everyday I appreciate the fact that we have few individuals who inspire us time and again, to move forward and achieve all that we want. Thank you Michael for inspiring us.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Great to be back, finally!

It has been a long while that I chose to stay away from my blog, actually for no specific or great reason. Thanks to my laziness and the ever growing responsibilities at hand. No matter whatever be the situation, I would still admit that I was not able to manage myself against the time and hence, all the other reasons would actually not matter. I have previously mentioned in one of my blogs that its the same 24hrs in a day that we all get, however it depends on how well we manage ourselves against that time attributes to the accomplishments. After a lot of struggle and a kind of block, I have recently realized what I have been losing by staying away from my blog (nah! ad-sense is not what I am referring to). I have realized that I am actually loosing out on my favorite pastime - writing, and loosing out on the small research part, which I used to do to present my writings in a better way. As said, its better late than never, I open my eyes right away and decide to plunge on the writing instincts again. Let my affinity towards my passion grow and hope to come up with nice and entertaining posts on a regular basis. And yes, it is an awesome feeling to be back, seeing the words  rolling on the screen as my hands rub the keys on the board. It truly is amazing and why did I shy away from it all this while? Let me not ponder over that anymore and instead resume my work as a blogger to deliver some creative posts thereby get closer to my goal of life.