Rental income has become the holy grail for a passive income source in the gig economy. And now there is an easy route…read on🚧. What are the options ? Subletting an apartment is not permitted by most landlords and hence to earn rental income you need to have ownership. You can buy a property in an…
Arjuna’s Penance – one of the largest bas relief sculptures in the world – how many stories can you decipher?
😏My photo does no justice to this magnificent sculptured wall; dating back to the 7th century AD, built under the patronage of the Pallava kings, located in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. This massive monument has to be seen in person. It’s a collage of characters from the Hindu mythology – Mahabharatha. Our guide Mr. Ali explained…
Pondicherry to Mahabalipuram 🚙💨…along the East Coast Road (Photoblog)
Four nights in Pondicherry – split between two hotels – 2 nights at Maison Perumal, a boutique hotel in the heart of Pondy and 2 nights at Ocean Spray, a sprawling resort close to a beach, on the East Coast Road (ECR) but 16 km away from Pondicherry. It’s perfect for a leisurely walk in…
Scuba diving in Pondicherry🚤
The scuba diving took place on 1st Oct 2019 and am writing about it a month later; the delay was in anticipation of receiving the underwater photographs from the vendor. We paid for the same, was promised via email 15 – 24 hours later; but not received them till date, now a month and counting….
Celebrating Karnataka: Beyond Bangalore🌱
1st November is celebrated both in Kerala and Karnataka as their respective foundation day. Another very visible point of commonality between the two neighbouring states is that the state bus transport division in both states carry the same acronym KSTRC – Kerala/ Karnataka Road Transport Corporation. Everytime we see this bus in Bangalore, we are reminded of…
It’s Diwali…💥💥
The harbinger of Diwali are the ads in the newspapers screaming Sale! People loosen the purse strings; each family and every member has a wish-list and all the postponed purchases are carried out. So what’s happening at home? Residing in a melting pot like Bangalore we can’t stop from getting pulled in by the surrounding festive…
BSE Ltd: The exchange’s blue ocean strategy is yielding results
Paperless MF investing – it’s something taken for granted by a digital native, but for a digital immigrant like me its nothing short of a miracle of technology. I shortlisted a few MF schemes for investment, but they were spread across different AMCs; I want the Direct plan, bypassing the agents; this means a visit…
Alphabet or Alibaba…it’s time to consider overseas equity in the portfolio 💰
I remember a query by a reader in an Indian financial daily – should he consider investment in an overseas fund for diversification? The reply from the financial guru was – no need as there were plenty of opportunities in the Indian equity market and only if he has exhausted the investment avenues in India,…
A glimpse into Auroville – The City of Dawn 💮
We took a half day tour of Auroville via a package called Auroville Impressions. Here’s what we got to see…🍀 Entry to Auroville is free (you have to pay for parking your vehicle at the visitor’s car park😁). Just to get a peek into the place, reach the Visitors’ Centre; see the presentation on Auroville;…
Lunching escapades🍽… places to eat in Pondicherry🍰
All holiday travel essentials include a list of – things to do and places to dine. We compile a list based on recommendations from friends, family, blog posts and then narrow down our choices. “In Pondicherry, you should eat at the Rendezvous restaurant.” was a recommendation from family member. “Cafe des Arts is a must…
Streetscapes 🏡🚶🏻♂️…Heritage walk in Pondicherry🚶🏻♀️
The best day for a heritage walk – Sunday. Evening would be more pleasant, but our guide insisted on a morning session. Essentials – wide brimmed hat to shield from the sun and camera📸. We were meeting our guide Mr. Ashok Panda in the lobby of the hotel Palais de Mahe in White town, also…
Maison Perumal: A Memorable stay at Pondicherry
Let’s start from where we left off in the last post – at Maison Perumal, Pondicherry… We arrived in Pondicherry tired and hungry from our walk at Gingee fort. Though in the heart of the city, Maison Perumal is located in a quiet lane; we made our way through the narrow road lined by cars and…
Bangalore to Pondicherry: A scenic road trip to the east coast🏖🚙
A distance of over 300 kms; approximately a 6 hour journey; less than the Bangalore-Goa road trip we had last October. We had no stops planned in-between and so the comparatively smaller distance meant a slow start, aiming to reach Pondicherry 3:00 pm; we decided to start out by 9:00 am. (We were late, starting…
Gingee fort: Our Fort(uitous) Encounter
Gingee fort – called by the British as the “Troy of the East” is a majestic fort located in the state of Tamil Nadu. We chanced upon it on our road trip from Bangalore to Pondicherry. Setting off from Bangalore by 9:00 am, we reached the town of Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu by 1:00 pm…
Pondicherry & Mahabalipuram by road …🚙💨 the Itinerary⛱
Puja holidays are finally here 💃. Standing in Bangalore, we look around, where can we go? There is Kerala and Goa on the west coast – been there; within Karnataka there is Mysore – been there; Wayanad and Coorg – been there; hill stations of Coonnor, Ootty – been there too. It’s time to venture…
Mahabalipuram: Getting a makeover for the VIP visit…and the Chinese connection
Mahabalipuram, 55 km from Chennai, situated on the east coast of the Indian peninsula, along the shores of the Bay of Bengal; this little town is seeing an unaccustomed flurry of people – security personnel, media, landscape workers. The residents are used to the tourists, both local and foreign – it’s a weekend getaway for the…
Robo Advisors to help you meet your financial goals…🤖
If you are a Preferred, Priority or Premier customer at a bank, you get a Relationship Manager, else you get the Call Center. Similarly depending on your investible surplus now either you can avail a Robo Advisor or an actual human Investment Advisor. But apparently people are quite happy with the Robo Advisor as seen…
Making changes 📝🦋
Addicted to the notification bell. Checking stats on the blog many times a day has become a nasty habit. There were many such compulsions I have come out of, only to land in new ones. Maybe I was able to come out of the prior ones, because I got into new forms of digital addictions…
Easy Indian meal (Set #7)🐟and a fish tale📖
“Following Fish” by Samanth Subramanian……what search terms do you need to enter into Amazon to throw up such a book? 🤔Any guesses?? It’s not a collection of recipes on fish; it’s not a Moby Dick nor a Finding Nemo kind of a story. It’s a travelogue as the author traverses along the coast of the…
Brands we love: The Titan saga⌚️📖
“The Tatas would never be allowed to make watches as this sector was reserved for public and small-scale industries.” said the license raj prevailing in the country. But they did and made it a resounding success….how? That journey is detailed in the book by Vinay Kamath – TITAN – Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand. Titan…
