SBI to send staffs on leave to dig fraud

Following a string of frauds that have rattled several financial institutions in recent months an easy and important measure for detection of fraud which has been a customary practice in MNC banks, has been adopted by India's largest lender State Bank of India. The easiest way for a bank to catch a crooked officer is to send the person on leave and ask someone else to do the job. Walking on the same path, SBI has told all its officers to take a compulsory "preventive vigilance leave" for at least 10 days in every financial year.
While reviewing high value frauds, the committee had found out that they had been perpetrated by officers who had a reputation for being dedicated and hardworking. There are the employees who did not avail of any leave earned by them. The frauds only came to light when such employees went for training or took leave for some other reason.

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Funny Street Signs, Banners ang Grafitties (It happens only in India)

A compilation of funny street signs that i found on You Tube

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Forget Sex Education... How 'bout a lesson on Peeing Etiquette for Dummies?

There has been much debate about necessity of implementation of sex education in schools and though I have my two cents of wisdom on the issue, i shall cover it some other time. This post is about something more important to all of us. Its about something we all encounter in streets and probably girls are more vocal against the activity in public areas. I'm talking about PEEING! - there you go i've said it. Yup, you have read it right. No need to wipe your glasses clean and read it again. Frankly, why should i care more bout something which one performs in the privacy of his or her bedroom or any other place which isn't THAT PUBLIC than something that we Indians (largely the males) have made something of a social event. By now i know most of you have have understood what i'm trying to convey. For those who haven't yet got it, they should visit the local railway station, bus depo or even empty corner of the street and do some deep breathing exercises there. The sight of army of men standing (and if i may add, of all ages) and peeing (also to mention the severe stench) their way to the state of zen and almost to the point of spiritual bliss would make them learnt.
What makes me feel sick 'bout the issue more than anything is the unity among indians in this case. Here we don't have any barrier of class, caste, religion, financial strength etc. The corporate youth of 26 well dressed in Coutons and Park Avenues can be seen standing in the same line with a Thelawala. This has made me believe that definitely we are skipping something. Maybe something like a lesson on "Peeing Etiquettes for Dummies". Afterall we are doing heluva fine job of making babies on large scale without proper sex education. So i think Peeing is the thing we need to be taught in schools, colleges and even universities. Now don't you dare to think that i'm going to criticize only the guys. No sir/ma'am. The ladies are almost equally sinned. The condition of ladies toilets are equally shocking. With pool of pee around the commode, its a herculians task to reach near it and do your thing. I won't go for the details for the obvious reasons. However, i must add that as a part of research for this post, i heard that there are plenty of women who prefer peeing on the toilet floor than in the commode. That's so gross ladies. And this phenomenon is common even in high class malls, shopping complexes and multiplexer all around the country.
Before ending this rant, i would like to present to you two real life incidents that really made me think that 'civilised' can't be the word to describe some of us Indians.
Situation-1 I was returning to my hometown by a train and suddenly saw a lady from a well to do family asking her little daughter to pee inside the local train compartment. At first i was shocked and almost dumb. Then i quite harshly said that it was not a proper thing to do. Her family members tried to argue that after all it was a kid. I mean come on. . Being a kid is no excuse to pee ur heart out at any god damn place.
Situation-2 This one is more shocking. How would you feel if you see someone coming out of his/her big, shiny, clean house to pee on the street, just opposite the house? Shock, anger, helplessness may be some of the reactions that i felt when i saw a little girl coming out of her house to pee on the streets quite a number of times. But i can't blame that lil creature . What kind of dumbass parents are those who let their children pee on the street for no apparent reason?

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Book Review : The Secret Adversary

Kolkatans are enjoying their share of winter this year (while keeping their fingers crossed!). So just like others i planned to enjoy this winter holiday season . And after thinking for sometime, i decided nothing else can be as satisfying as reading a good book. Now i should be honest to you all, especially when i've been a good boy the whole year, and this is the only time when the good old Santa gives the reward to good boys (yes. . yes. . to girls too). Now i really pride myself of being a bookworm. But the thing is for the last 8-9 months, i've haven't read a single book (i mean storybooks, novels, etc. ) So though its true that i like reading books, i've a big list of books that i've yet to read.
Now i like novels bout detectives and criminals among other genres. And one of the most famous and best selling authors of the genre - Agatha Christie's works were pretty much untouched by me till now. Now the question was to decide which novel to read. Since i already had decided not to spent any money on the book this time, my options were quite limited. So i went to www.gutenberg.org and downloaded my first ebook - 'The Secret Adversary' by Agatha Christie.
Since it was my first experience with Agatha Christie's work, i was not expecting anything.
The story introduces two young adventurers - Tommy and Tuppence who were both childhood friends and desperatly looking for jobs in 1920s post war period London. Together they start a joint venture for doing adventures (i.e., going anywhere and doing anything however unreasonable for the correct price). A person overhears them and from there the mystery begins. Added some rogue 'comrades' from Russia, a secret document and an omnipresent mastermind crook who goes by the name of Mr. Brown whom no one has seen, & the plot thickens. However the presence of plenty of coincidences in the novel put me off a tad. On the other hand the main characters of the novel Tommy and Miss Tuppence were like a breeze of fresh youthful breeze. Undoubtedly they are cutest detective couple that i've ever read bout. The sheer energy of Miss Tuppence and her optimism while the slow but steady approach of Tommy makes them a deadly combo. Honesty i kept guessing about who could be the real crook till the end of the novel.
So in my opinion if you have not read this novel, you surely should. But don't expect anything more than a light young adult read with too many coincidences. The novel is a perfect read for winter noons or cold nights.
My rating for The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie is 2.5/5

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Smoking is Injurious to 'Wealth'

The picture of charred black lung on the cigarette pack is hardly a deterent when the smokers crave for some quick nicotine fix. But from now, the smokers will have to bear more than Rs. 10,000 a year excluding the cost of cigarettes! This is the amount added to Life Insurance Premium of smokers. Since it is a fact that nicotine addicts have higher chances of contracting pulmonary & heart diseases, it makes sense to charge more for the high risk. Now for instance a 40 year old smoker has to 'cough up' Rs. 25,670 (approx) a year for a Rs. 50 lakh cover under Kotak Preferred Term Plan while for non smokers it is just Rs. 15,000. So if health problems in future don't motivate smokers to give up smoking, definitely the 'cost' of smoking will help them kick the butt.

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