Latest achievement: paid back a friend some money I owed him.
Let’s be clear I don’t have any loans now (apart from some 38+ Lacs for Home loan — which is collateralized so pretty much painless :: Just
that even if loan itself wasn’t a problem, the EMIs were 34+
K is like 34% of my monthly expense.
There is a thought that just clicked in my mind:
And let me be outright, the thought would seem pretty dumb and stupid, pretty irrational
and aggressive
“Can I close my Home Loan in 1 Year?”
Let’s do some math:
Loan amount: 38 L
Salary: 2—2.3 L/month
(24—28 L annually)
Monthly Expense:
1—1.2 L/month
Savings: 1—1.1
L/month (12—13.2 L annually)
Looking at the “Savings — annually” and “Loan amount” — seems like at current pace, it
would take me 3 years.
Factor in the investments that I have currently: 13 Lacs
So effective burden from loan: 38−13=25 Lacs
At current pace that would take about 2
years to reach.
Rough calculation would say: to reduce time to half (i.e. 1 year), I’d have to double the
input.
Apart from this target-1-year period, what other timelines am I acting under?
6 Months of probation
(May—Oct)
1 month of allowed bench
period
How long have I been on bench already? 24 Apr — 9 May = 15 days
That makes me think that: apart from having an urge to clear my Home loan, I should also
have some emergency fund which going by the books is: 6—9 months expenses OR for me: 6—9 Lacs.
As a first step towards building emergency fund that can also be used to pay home loan, I
would:
“If you learned today that you only had six months left to live, how would you spend your last six months on earth?”
(Read more about this question »)
I thought about this topic for about 30-40 minutes and I realized in such 6 months I would be busy repairing my relationships and I would be busy managing my finances (or debts to be specific and clear).
I could be more sensitive, respectful and careful in my relationships but I can't really try to mechanically try to fix them like a broken toy or gadget.
For my finances, I would really need to be watchful of where money goes and how I spend it.
My debts aren't exactly problematic because I have got them covered but I think about them for two reasons:
1. Debts are still Debts.
2. The money which I am spending towards EMIs could have been used towards creating a financial cushion, a safety net.
In this way, debts aren't the exact problem but poor money management is.
Also, what concerns me is if people (in my relationships) would be able to do well financially after I am gone (that thought is despite how broken my relationships are).
~~~
Having written this much already makes me feel a bit lighter 😀
I am thinking after I would have made some progress towards my relationships and finances, I would devote some time (or rest of my time) towards my spiritual wellbeing.
I would practice forgiveness. And humility. And also the other of ten Jain virtues…
Wish you well!
Thank you for reading!
Asking ‘Why’ five times to clarify my intentions and motivations, deeper reasons, personal values and motivations of why I do that what I do...
1. Why do you study ML (or algorithms, or whatever)?
To be able to crack interviews.
2. Why do you want to crack interviews?
To be able to get a project (before today: it was to get a better job)
3. Why do you want to get a project / job?
To earn money.
4. Why do you want to earn money?
To live a comfortable life… with, maybe, decent standards of living.
Well, no, I responded to question in two points in the above answer almost to the point of justifying my current situation and way of life.
So, I would rather say: “To live comfortably”
But then even now it seems to reveal an escalating loop in my thinking: “I am choosing an uncomfortable way of life to seek a comfortable life.”
And the grey area appears: I don't want to think of my way as the way of delayed gratification. Because no book on delayed gratification tells you how delayed it is going to be.
And then I recall my learnings from Buddhism and reckon “There is no such thing as comfortable life. Everyone suffers.”
5. THE LAST ‘WHY’
Assuming my last answer (“to live comfortably“) was okay and accepted.
Then I ask again “Why live comfortably?”
I am not getting any thoughts, other than thinking of myself as a hedonist...
I have been in a lot of mess, a lot of chaos, a lot of trouble because of one mistake, one habit – I don't mind my own business.
As I try to see its truthfulness, its validity, I see it in play in most (if not all) of my relationships and equations with other people.
Somebody comes to me with a problem and I tend to make it a personal task, goal to accomplish.
My maid asks for help in police verification for working in the society and I make it a personal mission – she may neither be that appreciative of my help, nor may be critically needing it.
Some girl in my society in first year of college asks for my help with Math and Python, and I make that a personal mission. Even when (same as before) she might neither be that appreciative of my help, nor may be critically needing it.
My mom calls me and tells me of some issue with some tenant, or some issue with water, or electric, or some tool or equipment, and I would be totally distracted from what I would be doing. Packing my things and leaving for Tri Nagar. And then when things are sorted, my mom would be telling me that “my personal intervention was not needed”. I then at such times think (for no reason) to myself “why did she call me then to rant?”
At the NGO I went to for the last two months to teach, I thought of it as a personal responsibility, and felt an onus for it to make sure that the kids there learn something. Even when their parents and the kids themselves don't see much value in it, though the kids cannot be blamed given their age. And this is not my assumption, I see it in absenteeism and falling attendance.
The same thing applies to my blogging activity – what do I have to do with Iran? What do I have to do with Bihar? What do I have to do with Bengal? What do I have to do with Delhi? Nothing, nothing and nothing – but I still write, I still blog, still waste my time and energy.
Then came the moment of realisation…
Yesterday afternoon, I was at Bikaner Sweets to buy some sweets and namkeen. There I saw an electric kitchen appliance that was frying samosas in an oil pool. I was totally excited to see that and could not hide my excitement. I asked “is that an electric appliance for making samosas?... Is that an electric appliance for making samosas?” Then the old bitter-and-sour man sarcastically remarked, “No, that's running on gobar-gas!” (Gobar: cow dung)
I went quiet. I thought about it. And put in my pocket the lesson he meant to impart…
~~~
Thanks for reading!
There are many things, many improvements that I can do in myself. One such area is “Soft Skills”. And let me clear: it is again a very broad term (“soft skills”) – what I meant by it was:
1. Communication skills
Communication with my friends (listening to them, taking interest in their stories), family, coworkers (how to talk to them while not losing your temper and while treating them as humans who could falter), managers (clarifying myself of their expectations, and clarifying to them of my limits or capability or capacity)
Another example of this poor communication was: When I analyzed my interview calls, I realized I was most of the time underselling my skills, myself. I used unconfident language even for questions I had good hands on and exposure.
2. Team Handling
How to decide:
• When to direct them
• When to guide them
• When to spoonfeed them
• When to patronize them
• When to escalate/reprimand them
3. Temper Management
When I am in a bad mood or temper: I tend to use bad language with people close to me (friends and family) - which further ruins my equation with the other person rather than improving it.
And it is totally the other way round with somebody senior to me (be it managers or be it someone in authority higher than me – at work or at home): I tend to go “spineless”. I tend to go defenseless. Becoming obsequious or servile.
4. Time Management
This could be an issue with my prioritization skills, or time management.
I don’t manage time that well. I do things that I enjoy for personal satisfaction rather than which are needed for the time, hour or the requester / manager.
For ex: I have been advised by friends and family against “wasting time on blogging”. I have been advised by my managers to not make the project “academic” and report on status (whether pass or fail) in a timely manner.
Before I start on this post, let me first clarify that there is nothing happening to me or to people close to me that requires a talk on such a grave topic.
And if I were to tell you (which I will in a bit) what actually triggered me to pick this topic, you would be like “I'm making a mountain out of a molehill”.
Have you ever thought or paid attention to how trivial we think of it to have correct details on our ID cards like Aadhaar or PAN maybe?
I haven't checked the exact details about the case that I am going to share but at a high level it goes like:
A girl about 7 or 9 years old is out of school at the NGO I go to teach at. And the reason I got from the instructor there was that she had some errors (Plural) in her Aadhaar card.
Her name was written as “Baby of Anita” – not her actual name. Her date of birth was incorrect. And her parents' names were put incorrectly in Aadhaar.
These details are not matching her birth certificate.
Because of this, she is not able to get admission in any school.
I tried to assist this girl and the instructor by giving them the details of people in my contacts who do Aadhaar Update as a profession but it was of not much use as I was anticipating. I tried to talk to Dhirendra ji in my society and he said he will provide me a number to call.
I doubt if it will be of any help to the girl or just another dead end.
I am basically out of words to express myself about what other consequences lie waiting for this girl ahead.
As I write this today, you have no idea how grateful I feel for my grandfather and my chachaji (younger brother of my father) – just for the proper documentation of my details!
~~~
Other things that I had in mind which we take for granted are the usual: air and water, simple acts of breathing and walking, ability to taste food, ability to see, etc.
The reason I see these things with such importance today is because I have been thinking about death lately. Thinking about death as a way to refocus and reprioritize my activities and life. And as I had some cough and cold today, I thought about what it must be like for people who are not even able to breathe properly.
From there my attention spiralled to other senses, and simple acts like walking, eating, being able to talk to people we have valued in our lives – and whom you could still talk to (for me, I was thinking of my grandmother).
~~~
And all of this also goes for essentials like: electricity, shelter and schooling – all of which I thought my caregivers owed me. I was wrong – I got them through the conscious choice of my grandparents.
It requires a bit of awareness, a bit of gratitude, a bit of appreciation to rise above the auto-pilot mode of living, above the daily rut of our lives and see, appreciate and feel thankful for what we have – rather than complaining about what we have not.
I guess that's all for today!
My message to anyone reading this would be:
Consider the things you take most for granted, the simplest of simple things – those actually might be the things which make life worth living!
Good morning!
In my 13 years of experience, I have worked under a lot of managers. To keep this post manageable for me to write and for the readers to read, I am going to stick to a few of those managers (and sometimes to their qualities, rather than to them as a person).
Let’s me start with my first manager, Deepika Saxena.
I was there at the NetEdge Computing in Noida for internship, and I wasn’t doing exactly well with the Android app that I was building. So one bright sunny day, around 10, 10.30, Deepika called me into the conference room. She sat on one side of the oval table and I sat on the other, but not facing each other, and like 1 or 2 chairs away.
Now she said something on these lines: “...We at NetEdge look for a few qualities in a person when we hire him or her and so do every other company. And let me tell you that you do have those qualities in you…” And she went on with that conversation, asking questions normally about work, about my college, education, my interests, family, health and other things.
The qualities that she mentioned were:
- Attitude: maintain a positive attitude towards work expected from you, and people you work with
- Competency: This is the most visible and reported quality in corporate world
- General Intelligence: Not everyone can know everything all the time, but you could cultivate the basic ingredient that makes you knowledgeable and that ingredient is general intelligence
- Commitment: Companies and managers like to hire people they see long term future with
- Humility: Deepika used to say a phrase to people and it was “There is always going to be some person better than you...”
~~~
One observation I had that’s work related from my time at NetEdge Computing (under Deepika) and at Magic Software (under Vikas Kumar Gupta) was that:
“In POCs and Projects with research like goals, you got to come back fast with response and development to a task / ask / or query – a little bit late and your manager or your client or your company may start to lose interest and start questioning the requirement itself.”
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned!
Dated: 2026-Apr-15, 9AM
This is a debatable post – reason being: I am not in touch with any of the people about whom this post is.
People very often have asked me “who my friends are?”
And I have fallen short of an answer for most of the recent years – my list would be like one or two people long.
For my years (2018-2022) in Chandigarh at Infosys, it was Anil Dahiya. He was like my friend, mentor, emotional support, my go-to person for most things but then he moved to the US from the Ford project and I moved to Delhi. I think I last met / hung out with him in 2021.
Well, I am happy as I am writing about Anil, otherwise I didn’t have him in mind when I was thinking of this post: I was thinking about Rohit Sud, Vikas Jain and Yajuvendra Gupta instead.
And so now I will make this post about four people instead of three.
Anil is like an idol to me, my role model.
I admire him most for his strength to face the painful, life-altering disease of Ankylosing Spondylitis. And I regret writing this because he had told me last time (in 2021-2022ish) that he doesn’t want the world (friends, family or at work place) to know that he has this illness because Anil doesn’t want their pity, he wants their respect.
In my hindsight from my time in Chandigarh, I only remember being friends with two people: Anil Dahiya and Rohit Sud (though Rohit had quit Infosys in Nov 2019 in about 1 year and 8 months to move back to Delhi – but I was in touch with him on calls – The only person I used to call).
The thing about Anil and Rohit is this: They both teach you the philosophy of YOLO (You Only Live Once) – though neither of them have done anything for their own guilty pleasures / mischievous things that I am aware of. They both maintained a very clear, clean and disciplined image in my eyes – partly the reason why I adore them so much.
They didn’t share their difficulties with me and in contrast, they guided me through my tough times.
~~~
I came to know Vikas and Yajuvendra from my past workplaces. Vikas from Webplant and Yajuvendra from Mobileum. So they are both known to me for over 10+ years.
What Vikas and Yajuvendra teach me isn’t YOLO precisely but both of their lives do teach things on similar lines.
Vikas and Yajuvendra believed in enjoying what they did – otherwise (with a very high chance) they would stop doing it (eventually if not immediately).
One of their qualities that has definitely rubbed on me is: straightforwardedness (which I realized lately is also a Jain tenet practiced in Daslakshan days).
They express themselves so clearly, in such simple words that it would be understandable even to a five year old.
They are both hard working and look after their families (wife and children – Yaju has two (now) grown-up boys and Vikas has a daughter, Shivanshi who might have entered school) as responsible people.
One very contrasting thing about Vikas and Yajuvendra is how they see money: Vikas is definitely money-hungry, while Yaju practices contentment. And this reflects very clearly in their interactions with others.
Religiously and community-wise also I am able to connect with them: Vikas is Digambar Jain, and Yaju (though not Jain) is a Baniya (same as Jains 😀)
~~~
PS:
All four are senior to me years, age and experience wise.
All four are married.
Three also have got kids – Rohit is yet to get there.
And I am a 34 years old bachelor.
Dated: 2026 Apr 10, 7.30 AM
Grandpa's birthday falls on 12th of June, and he turned 83 in 2012. He was born in 1928. Amma tells her age to be 7-8 years younger than him. Her UIDAI card has the year 1936.
Level 1:
Lalu None Rai (grandpa tells "all that he used to do was sit at the temple, next to the entrance to the main central hall")
Level 2: Ganwar Lal
Level 3:
3.1. Ugrasen Jain, he was the eldest of the three brothers. He had done BA, LLB.
3.2. Phool Chand Jain
Phool Chand Jain was grandpa's father. He passed away in 1978.
3.3. Maksoodan Lal. He was the youngest of the three.
HOMETOWN: Gohana (near Sonepat), Haryana
Son: Vinod Jain
Hem Chand Jain sold his part of the property (backyard and some neighboring portions) from the Haveli in Gohana to Vinod Jain.
Amma tells: Phool Chand Jain had asked your grandfather and Hem Chand Jain for their expectations from him as in "bol tu kya lega?". Grandfather said he does not want anything. Hem Chand Jain asked for backyard from the property.
Level 4:
4.1. Digamber Prasad Jain. He was the eldest in two brothers. He was elder by an year.
Studied BA, LLB (Civil), and later went to Tis Hazari Court, Delhi.
4.2. Hem Chand Jain [Lives in Tri Nagar, Delhi, India]
Phool Chand Jain had set up the house in Tri Nagar around the time of 1958, and grandpa and Hem Chand Jain settled here in Tri Nagar around then.
About Gohana
Gohana is a sub-division/tehsil, a town and a municipal committee in Sonipat district in the Indian state of Haryana.
Geography: Gohana is located at 29.13°N 76.7°E. It has an average elevation of 225 meters (738 feet).
Demographics: Gohana town is situated in Sonipat district of Haryana. It is a main sub-division of more than 300,000 populations now in year 2011, has its own municipality and a constituency for Haryana Vidhan Sabha. Villages in Gohana (Subdivision) are around 86.It is located in west from District Sonipat. From the district, its distance is 40 km. Earlier it was part of Rohtak district. [Ref: May 20, 2021 (Wikipedia)]
~ ~ ~
Gohana is a city and a municipal council, near Sonipat city in the Sonipat district of the Indian state of Haryana.
Gohana city is situated in the Sonipat district of Haryana. It is the main subdivision with a population of more than 300,000 (as of 2011). It has its own municipality and a constituency for Haryana Vidhan Sabha. There are around 86 Villages in Gohana. [Ref: Wikipedia, 2022-Oct-4]
Level 5:
Babaji's mother was a native of Sonepat, Haryana. Babaji's parents had lived in Gohana, Haryana.
Grandma's family lived in BADSHAHPUR (near Gurgaon), Haryana. Amma was ten when her family moved to Delhi in around 1947. Amma tells of the Hindu-Muslim riots happening around the city during that time of country's independence.
After marriage, amma moved to Gohana where babaji's family lived. Babaji was practicing in Delhi, and used to visit Gohana to see his family often. Four of six children had their birth in Gohana, only Rekha buaji and Manju buaji were born in Delhi.
Jainism and its influence on my grandparents
Amma has always been very religious and holds very strong belief in God and Jainism. She went to a Jain school as a child, and she didn't do schooling after fifth standard. At the Jain school, she was taught all the prayers, the rituals, the beliefs, rules and practices of Jainism. Her school wasn't a separate body, but in conjunction with the temple.
She has a small metallic tray that was distributed in her school on the occasion of first republic day of our country, Jan-26-1951.
Babaji's family had always held positions in the management of the temple. Phool Chand Jain was the president of the temple management body, and his cousin brother, Padam Jain had some prominent position in the management. Babaji's distant-cousin and Padam Jain's son became temple's cashier later.
Around in 1950, when babaji got down with serious illness, which he recollects as TB, Phool Chand Jain went to Ayodhya to bring and set up the orange-marble idol of Lord Mahavira in the temple. The central main idol is about 900 years old, from the times of TUGHLAQ'S rule in Delhi, 1200 AD. There is a saying, ‘the older the temple, the more are the powers in it'. The idol that Phool Chand Jain brought is kept in the left section of the temple, and at about three feet, the idol is the largest idol present there, the main idol is about two feet high. The main hall in the temple is itself not very large, with the three sections covering an area of about 8-by-4 meters-squared.
Manu Apartments
Mavilla apartments put up silver-jubilee banner, society was 25 years old (1987-2012).
As amma tells, the cost of the flat in Manu Apartments had come up to be 4 Lacs (0.4 million INR). That should be the cost to investor buyers.
30-40 years ago: babaji had registered in the court with a person for the land for the lawyers for some R200 and since then they had be giving the installments as were required until the flats were ready. He got lucky in the draw and got the first flat, the flat number one.
The flat now stood at 15 million INR as the base value for the owners. Otherwise, its present let-out sale price for a buyer will be over 30 million. That is 90 times the investment value for the flat 25 years ago.
Family Tree (Incomplete)
Dates of birth, marriages and deaths of other relations.
Name: Digamber Prasad Jain
DOB: 1929-Jun-12
Married to: Darshan Mala Jain
Date of marriage: 1955-Feb-7
Passed Away: 2021-Feb-19
Relation: Grandfather
Name: Darshan Mala Jain
DOB: 1936 or 1937. It could be Oct or Nov on the day of Hoi festival.
Married to: Digamber Prasad Jain
Date of marriage: 1955-Feb-7
Note: Maina mausiji was born on 20-nov as per what she gave in the government-papers in Gujarat randomly.
Relation: Grandmother
Name: Shail Bala Jain
DOB: 1956-Sep-5
Nickname: Maalo or Maalu
Note: Shail Bala died at the age of 6/7, in the first standard. She succumbed to the high fever of about 107 Fahrenheit; it had reached her brains. I never knew her name until I was 20, I had heard of her when I was third and her story had found a place in my head right around that time, but without any description of anything, no facts, nothing at all, and just a story.
Name: Viresh Chandra Jain
DOB: 1958-Nov-27 (0400)
Married to: Sadhana Jain
Nickname: Babbu / Sheru / Sheru Mohammed
Passed Away: 2012-Apr-24
Relation: Father
Name: Sadhana Jain
DOB: 1965-Sep-05
Married to: Viresh Chandra Jain
Relation: Mother
Name: Kumkum Jain
DOB: 1960-Oct-26
Married to: Anil Kumar Jain
Nickname: Baby / Kammo
Relation: Badi Bua Ji
Name: Yashvir Singh Jain
DOB: 1962-May-21
Married to: Seema Jain
Date of marriage: 1991-Dec-7
Nickname: Neetu / Notli
Relation: Chacha Ji (Uncle)
Name: Seema Jain
DOB: Sep-24
Married to: Yashvir Singh Jain
Date of marriage: 1991-Dec-7
Relation: Chachi Ji
Name: Rekha Jain
DOB: 1964-Mar-21
Married to: Rajiv Jain
Date of marriage: Feb-17
Nickname: Toti
Relation: Bua Ji
Name: Manju Jain
DOB: 1966-Nov-03
Married to: Salil Jain
Date of marriage: 1997-Nov-22
Relation: Bua Ji
Name: Ankur Jain
DOB: 1989-Sep-19
Relation: Cousin (Son of Kumkum Jain)
Name: Anu Jain
DOB: 1990-Sep-06
Nickname: Bulli
Married to: Tushar Jain
Name: Ashish Jain
DOB: 1991-Dec-18
Nickname: Bhala, Bhalai, Bhalu
Relation: Myself
Name: Prashant Jain
DOB: 1992-Jan-20
Nickname: Munna
Name: Shruti Jain
DOB: 1993-Sep-03
Name: Rashmi Jain
DOB: 1993-Apr-08
Name: Srishti Jain
DOB: 1994-Oct-22
Nickname: Gudiya / Gulgul
Name: Smita Jain
DOB: 1995-Apr-08
Nickname: Lily
Name: Sameer Jain
DOB: 1998-Jan-08
Name: Prachi Jain
DOB: 1999-Apr-29
Nickname: Puchchi / Poochi
Name: Anushka Jain
DOB: 2007-Jan-30
Nickname: Chhutki, Gudiya
Grandma's Family Tree
Grand Uncle's (Hem Chand Jain) Family Tree
He still stays in Tri Nagar (House Number 1142, Street 75) and is now a great grand father of the daughter of Mayank.
Well, everyone on face agrees that “corruption” and “greed” two are bad. And actually “Everyone” is an overstatement, so let's say “most of us”.
Let's be controversial for a moment and allow me present to you two people who view “corruption” and “greed” positively.
Dhruv Agarwal and Rohit Sud.
Dhruv Agarwal was my Tech Lead at Mobileum (something like 2015-2018).
Dhruv was doing a distance-education degree in MBA (Strategic Leadership) from IIM Lucknow. He used to board the office cab from Saket till Sector 48, Gurugram. That was about an hour long ride.
One point I remember he used to make was his stand for corruption as a positive driver of economics and society.
He used to say “if everything was priced fairly, there would no incentive for anyone to make extra efforts in accomplishing anything. The money that's passed under the table is an opportunity for people to make something extra”.
Secondly, he used to say that “if society was fare and just, and there were equal opportunities, then what does that translate to in a country with over a billion strong population. So basically, corruption is the tool by which you can expedite your case ahead of others in this pool of people for some extra bucks.”
~~~
Rohit is my old friend, know him since my school days. He would sometimes call me to cheer me up and to give me some gyaan on whatever problems I would be facing at the moment.
On one such calls, he advocated for “Greed and Corruption”.
So he told me this story: He visits a neighborhood barber's shop for getting a hair cut or hair do. And there after the service person (among 2-3 young men who work there) finishes his job, Rohit pays him 20 Rupees tip apart from the service charge. And next time when Rohit goes there, at first, there would be a race and excitement in those young men to serve Rohit. The service person would ask Rohit for tea or coffee, and make Rohit feel like a king (for the moment). All that for just 20 Rupees.
On the contrary, when I (till now) used to take any service, I would not pay any tip. On top of that, I would be bargaining for a lower price. And now here was my friend giving me gyaan on how to use greed, corruption and poverty of this country to our advantage.
~~~
The reason I am writing about 'Corruption and Greed' today is because I encountered how Uber drivers were trying to make a couple extra bucks out of Uber users by fooling them in one way or the other.
Way 1: The Uber driver would refuse to pay tolls out of his pocket and would ask you to pay for tolls. And let me tell you – sometimes the drivers seek for this toll money and other times they don't. Simple meaning – this ask for toll money from a bad bunch of drivers is illegitimate.
FYI: I travel between Inderlok, Delhi and Sector 79, Gurugram often.
Way 2: At the end of the ride, before the driver would close the ride, he would ask you how much money was the Uber app was showing when you booked the ride, and would ask you pay that much.
“Not closing the ride” on the spot is an important step for them, because otherwise actual amount would reflect on his and your screen.
Note: The predicted amount that shows in Uber app at the time of booking a ride is higher than the actual amount at the end of the ride.
Way 3: This happened to me to once around 10-14 days back. And then I also learned it's fix.
At the end of the ride, the driver showed me an invoice for a trip that was booked for some 65 Rupees. And the invoice said something like 130 (with all the tax calculation).
The way out of it is ask the driver to close the ride and then open the “Activities” section in the Uber app, it would show all the past ride details and how much you were supposed to pay for that ride.
Way 4: The driver might take an extra longer (in terms of miles) route and would make extra money for the extra distance.
~~~
Now, I don't want to leave you hanging there but I will draw a conclusion to this debate some other day. Right now, it is getting late and I need to go to sleep.
PS: I am reading (60% done) a great Chetan Bhagat book “Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, And Ambition”
I thought a lot about what to write, about whom to write in this meditation on “Honoring The Living”.
I had it in my mind that my grandmother and my mother are good candidates for this post, but as the days went by I reckoned that though my mother does possess some good points but I honestly can't bear her, I can't hear her speak, she makes me mad.
Another person I think of suitable for this post with whom I have a sort of love (or 'respect' would be a more appropriate word) -- hate kind of relationship is my chachaji (younger brother of my father), Yashvir Singh Jain.
So I thought I will make this post about my grandmother mostly, and write a bit about my uncle, and in the end, pay tribute to my mother with some kind words.
After my grandfather passed away in early 2020s, I thought there would be a lot of mess in the family around who gets what from babaji's assets, but there wasn't. And I think the reason behind that is my grandmother, for whom everyone cared and no one spoke about any redistribution. And things were kept and went on as status quo. It would definitely be a painful experience to go through if I have to sit in with my three bua(s) and uncle in a redistribution -- assuming I would be asked for in such a meeting.
Well, the two things that my grandmother teaches me are faith in god, and respect for duty.
In my view and visibility, religious values in my entire family (my parents, my uncle, and the three bua(s)) came from my late grandfather, and my grandmother.
I remember from my school days, my grandparents would wake up as early as five in the morning and would be first to show up at the temple while the sun still hasn't come out yet.
They would return by 7 - 7.30, and then my grandmother would make failed attempts to wake me, would make breakfast for my sister and myself to take to school, and would send us to school.
And let me tell you that what I was doing then was none of anybody's fault but my own doing: I remember being late to school every once in a while. Or finding myself standing in the defaulters during morning assembly for missing belt, missing ID card, unpolished shoes, untidy nails 😀
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My uncle epitomizes religious values, hard work and discipline (and none of those qualities have brushed on me till -- maybe -- even today)
After my grandfather passed away in my family at Mayur Vihar, my uncle is the seniormost male in the family/my closest circle.
He has been a pillar of support at different moments in my life.
Though I could spill venom for all the bad times and moments I had with him but this is not the right platform for that, here I come to honor.
And let me tell you one thing -- he is respected by many for a reason.
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My mother:
For one, like others (my grandfather, my grandmother, my uncle), my mother would be one of my role models in adhering to religious discipline and religious values.
She practices the Jainism way of life.
She could teach me cooking, in fact she has -- a couple of simple recipes like khichdi or aloo tamatar sabzi, for example.
I admire her cooking.
Started on Nov 25th, and completed on Nov 29th.
