Can be Improved - Soap story

When ever I start using new soap, it leaves with me question to dispose of the leftovers (scrap pieces that can not be handled ! so goes waste) .... there are many ways people has written all over the web for reusing these leftovers to make new soap bar or liquid soap for hand wash or putting into a nylon bag ...

but that is not the ultimate solution, how this situation can be improved ? is there any better way to remove this wastage (all over world) ?

can the concept being changed itself to eliminate the root cause ?

one of the design modification which i can suggest of is ... to modify the base design of soap bar itself ..

see image below, which indicates recycled paper insert at the core of soap bar, which is embedded at the time of manufacturing itself, now after use, when u reach upto this paper core, u will still be able to handle the piece and leftover is simple paper which you can through of .... if needed it can be thin water proof coated paper so that it lasts in water use. and one more advantage this will have, it will provide strength to the remaining to hold in hand, as the soap become think it becomes difficult to hold in hand and normally collapses, the insert will provide adequate strength to it.

what do u say ?

any other idea ?

How to decode Rediffmail link

Many times if u received some link in rediffmail, it is encoded by rediff in some format which may not be accepted by proxy giving security warning message, so here is macro written to convert it to actual URL.

So here is what u need to do :-

step 1) Copy and paste the following two code snippets into module section of VB editor window

=== copy above below (without these lines)===

Sub Convert_Link()

' programmed by mdp

Call FR("%3A", ":")
Call FR("%2D", "-")
Call FR("%3D", "=")
Call FR("%2F", "/")
Call FR("%3F", "?")
Call FR("%5F", "_")
Call FR("%2E", ".")
Call FR("%26", "&")


Call FR("http://www.rediffmail.com/cgi-bin/red.cgi?red=", "")

End Sub

Sub FR(F_What, R_This)
Cells.Replace What:=F_What, Replacement:=R_This, LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder _
:=xlByRows, MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False, ReplaceFormat:=False
End Sub

=== copy above code ===

step 2) save this file with some name
step 3) when u receive link through rediff account, copy link to this excel sheet in any cell and press run macro button, then it will show convert_link program name, run that program, which will automatically replace this link with decoded link, copy this link and paste into ur browser :-)

so enjoy :-) cheers !!

Existing home loan transfer case study

Home Loan Case Study:
Loan amount 20 Lacs, existing ROI 10.5%

Home loan with a IDBI bank which charges 10.5% interest rates. Also they allow part-payment facility only once in a quarter (maximum 25% of outstanding principal in a year) + IDBI has trick to say that if you do your part payment at 15th of the month, it will get effected from next month !! so they make sure to charge you for the next 15 days of interest !!!!

Option 1: Transfer loan to HDFC home loan scheme of 8.25% for first two years

To fore-close existing loan IDBI BANK charge is %, therefore for loan of say 20 Lacs,
fore-closure charges of IDBI = 2% of 20 lacs = 40,000 Rs.
10.3% service tax on the same = 4,120 Rs.
Total fore-closure charges = 44,120 Rs.

Application to HDFC
Processing fees = 10,000 Rs.
Stamp duty = 0.2% of 20 lacs = 4,000 Rs. (+tax10.3%412 Rs)=4,412 Rs.
Total cost of application = 14,412 Rs.

Total cost of loan fore-closure + transfer = 44,120 + 14,412 = 58,532 Rs.

So if one keeps the EMI same as previous bank then sure he will save ~7 installment which is equivalent to ~2,30,000 Rs. which effects into reduction of my loan tenure and net effect even after re-paying cost of transfer he will be able to save ~1.7 Lacs.

So what benefits you get

• Flexibility of part-payment, & as it is paid effect on interest taken care of (note IDBI is not doing this)
• You can see loan details on-line (for IDBI, they are not still ECS also, so no way u can know abut ur home loan status, unless specifically asked and for that u need to go there)
• Get minimum benefit of over a lakh of rupee which is worth considering
• IDBI - no ECS available so u need to give lot of cheques signed !!!! post dated .. and if there is a mistake then !!!! of course u need to pay off for that !!! HDFC - no doubt they provide ECS

so do let me know ur views on this ....

cheers !!

Import images to PowerPoint Automatically

In our day to day office work it is a regular task to make management presentations and obviously to do this we need many many images to be placed in powerpoint file.

What if we can do this at click of button :-)

So I have made a program which will do this work for you automatically.

Here is some automatic macro program to help you uploading pictures automatically from your hard disk into a PowerPoint presentation.

Follow the simple steps to have this macro in your book1 and then assign some shortcut so as to insert pictures automatically to your PowerPoint presentation.

STEPS
1) Copy the source code given in this post in between two lines
2) Open a new blank PowerPoint presentation with any name you like
3) It will ask you to click to add new slide - do it
4) Goto the Tools menu --> Macro --> Record New Macro
5) It will show default macro name as "Macro 1", just select OK
6) Now select STOP macro record button
7) Now press Alt + F11 to goto the Visual Basic editor
8) Expand the left window upto Module1 level by double clicking it
9) You will see Sub Macro1()
10) Select all code there and paste the code below in that window
11) Close the Visual Basic editor
12) Now press Alt + F8 buttons together to get macro Run dialogue box
13) Select the macro "ImageUpload" and press Run
14) It will ask for filetype (Default is JPG), press OK
15) It will automatically insert all images in the folder in which this Powerpoint file is placed

DONE :-)

Make such master file which contains this macro with any name you like say "ImageUplod.PPT"

Copy this file to any folder that contains images to be uploaded to PPT file, then rename it as you like, then open and run the macro to import all images at a stretch.

I know it is bit difficult to do this for very basic level people so they can just leave me a comment with email ID and I will send compiled file to them over email.

Also I have made complete code which adds a button toolbar, so just press a button and import images type, this will be posted by me in next week.

Cheers !!



Copy the code below :

'===============================================================================
Sub ImageUpload()

Dim wb As Presentation
Set wb = ActivePresentation


Dim strTemp As String
Dim strPath As String
Dim strDir As String
Dim strFileSpec As String
Dim oSld As Slide
Dim oPic As Shape

strFileSpec = InputBox(Prompt:="Enter type of image files to import", _
Title:="ENTER FILE TYPE", Default:="JPG")
strFileSpec = "*." & strFileSpec

strPath = wb.Path & "\"
strFileSpec = "*.jpg"
strDir = strPath & strFileSpec
strTemp = Dir(strDir)
Do While strTemp <> ""

Set oSld = ActivePresentation.Slides.Add(ActivePresentation.Slides.Count + 1, ppLayoutBlank)
Set oPic = oSld.Shapes.AddPicture(FileName:=strPath & strTemp, _
LinkToFile:=msoFalse, _
SaveWithDocument:=msoTrue, _
Left:=0, _
Top:=0, _
Width:=100, _
Height:=100)

With oPic
.ScaleHeight 1, msoTrue
.ScaleWidth 1, msoTrue
End With

strTemp = Dir
Loop

For NumSlide = 1 To ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
ActivePresentation.Slides(NumSlide).Select
For Each Picture In ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.Shapes
Picture.Select
Picture.LockAspectRatio = msoTrue
Picture.Height = 450 'Change this numbers to fit your needs
'Picture.Width = 500 'Change this numbers to fit your needs
Next
Next
End Sub

'===============================================================================

Review Sony Cybershot DSC-750

At the beginning of New Year 2009, we thought to buy something to preserve memories :-) and the obvious choice was a digital still camera.

After doing some research regarding different make and specifications of the cameras, in consultation with friends who own them, we came to a fair idea of buying a SONY digital camera with specifications more than 5 Mega Pixels and having Lithium-ion battery pack.

So keeping these base specifications in mind my nephew and me went to Chinchwad station E zone store. Many models & options were available from different companies, but as decided we went on looking only for SONY models. After a small research we found that SONY Cyber-shot DSC-750 model with 8 Mega-pixel and 3X optical zoom with price tag of Rs 7300/- which was well within our budget as well as they offered 6~60% assured discount coupon based on scratch cards. So we thought of doing some more research for getting better price.

We moved down to Das electronics store, but in vain as it was offering at the same price for that model and without any scheme or discount at all!

So we moved down to Big-Bazaar (Chinchwad). At the counter the salesman (Mr. xxxx) told us the price tag of Rs. 7300/- We enquired for any discount scheme available on this camera? Mr. xxxx replied that there is no discount scheme, but you are getting this camera worth price of Rs. 8400/- on such a low price! So we turned back from the counter saying that E-zone has better offer than Big-Bazaar(though both have the same parent company, The Future group), at least we will get minimum 6% assured discount coupon. We just walked away 2~ 3 feet, and Mr. xxxx called us saying that "Sir you will get an IRON free on this purchase"! We got surprised and asked him why he did not tell us about this before we leave the counter? He just laughed for that...

We thought to come back there again if we don't get better deal from Pimpri market, so we moved down to Pimpri market. My prior experience is that you get better deals in Pimpri. We moved on to two-three major stores in Pimpri and to my surprise Big-Bazzar offering was the best!!

So we came back to Mr. xxxx counter at Big-Bazzar and asked him to bring the IRON and camera. While talking to him we said him that you should tell people about the Big-Bazzar offers as soon as customer comes to your counter and not when he leaves the counter, and this is bad practice. Suddenly something happened to him and he started shouting that I told you the offer but you did not hear it!!! So we got annoyed and told him that we will complain to his floor manager about this. He said that instead you telling floor-manager he himself will call him and explain!

He immediately called the floor manager Mr. Rahul Devangan. As soon as manager arrived he started telling him about the incident, in a way that he liked to tell. I interrupted and asked floor manager that whether he will listen to the customer or the salesman? What is correct strategy, but the salesman kept on pushing his story. So the floor manager was quietly listening to his story. After he finished his story, I explained the floor-manager the whole incident and asked him that you can loose some customer due to such behavior and we could have lost good deal!! Mr. Rahul Devangan immediately accepted that this is terrible mistake and apologized for that and also assured that he will make sure that all customers coming to that counter will get first hand correct information.

So happily we moved out with new camera. Outside Big-Bazzar there was a huge queue to enroll in lucky draw, so we also went ahead and enrolled ourselves in the lucky draw.
So please wish me luck to get grand price and do inform floor managers of the malls about any such incidents happening to you. They are there to help you and increase customer satisfaction!!

Keywords: Sony Cybershot DSC-750, Sony Cybershot DSC-750 purchase, Bigbazaar experience

Using mcert Gift Voucher to Recharge Vodafone

If you have bought or got

Vodafone Talk Time Gift Voucher Rs.500 (mCert) 

from either Standard Chartered Credit Card Website or from somewhere else then here is 

the process to activate it and  recharge your 

Vodafone prepaid or postpaid number

Read on how to encash this voucher on
http://howzbuy.com/mcert-gift-voucher/

www.TrekBook.in - India's number one travel & trekking blog with one million hits

www.FindTours.in - Newly launched website to get last minute travel deals

www.HowZBuy.com - Your guide for purchasing

Master and VISA card offers for India 2015

You must be having either Master or VISA credit and debit cards ...

its better to keep an eye on their websites for the offers provided time to time for Indian market ..

VISA India website showing the offers please visit
http://www.visa.co.in/offers

Master card India website showing India exclusive offers please visit
http://www1.mastercard.co.in/content/moments/india/en/offers.html


if you have SBI debit card please visit SBI India offer 2015
https://www.sbi.co.in/portal/web/personal-banking/debit-card-offers

if you have standard charterd credit card get your India offers at
https://www.sc.com/in/credit-cards/offers.html?pid=S:MNAV:N:IN-P:CCR-M:O-R:TXTLNK-L:MNAV-O:PLA-D:141028-10001958

Kotak offers 2105
http://www.kotak.com/kotakoffers/

Bookmyshow offers 2015
http://in.bookmyshow.com/offers/

paytm offers
https://paytm.com/offer/

10% off on ebay for mastercard debit and credit cards valid till 31 dec 2014

http://deals.ebay.in/partner-offers/master-card/index.html

10% off on ebay for mastercard debit and credit cards valid till 31 dec 2014


Coupon code EBAYXMAS10

so enjoy your shoppin on ebay india till 31 dec 2014 and have a happy year end

surprisingly on mastercard india website offer is different

http://www1.mastercard.co.in/content/mc/offer-exchange/moments/india/en/india/shopping/ebay.offers.html

showing 7.5% off on ebay india ...

never mind .. since offer on ebay says 10% offer I believe that u will get 10% using the coupon code mentioned on that website.

Gold Deposit Schemes - Pune - Maharashtra - India

India is one of the largest importer of GOLD in world .. and our passion towards gold will never end :-)

Every household will have gold collected over years ...

So in case you are thinking of generating some money out of collected gold then there are various gold deposit schemes available in market, however point to be noted here is that if you deposit gold then goldsmith will use it for making ornaments and selling it .. hence u will not get gold back in the same form that u hv deposited ! so if u r ready for that then only these deposit schemes are to be though of.

One of the good scheme that I came across is by P. N. Gadgil and sons (पु.ना.गाडगीळ ॲन्ड सन्स), there stores are available in Pune, Amravati, Dhule, Mumbai, Nasik, Sangamner, Satara and Solapur.

With options of depositing collected gold from 90 days to 365 days to investing like SIP with small amount of gold purchase per month they have various schemes available ...

I am adding here snap shots of the schemes they have displayed in their shops for reference purpose, you may please like to go to shop to check for current offerings (since they might change from time to time)

The most interesting and important thing is that they also hv started online subscription ...
http://shopping.pngadgilandsons.com/plans/

now question is that why i am writing about only this jeweler and not about other schemes .. first and foremost thing is that PNG is know to be since over 100 years for their authentic gold jewelry .. they are know to be best for the honest transactions and trustworthy .. which is most important thing when u buy gold ..

i checked about other schemes also which are advertised .. however after visiting there personally and discussing felt that they are not that worthy for ... (not writing names here but readers will understand)

you may like to visit their webpage at
http://pngadgilandsons.com/?page_id=3095

I liked the SIP option which u can collect some gold and take advantage of fluctuating prices .. then keep that gold as fixed deposit (gold FD) and earn interest say till ur sons or daughters marriage and convert gold to ornaments at the time of marriage .. this way u can keep collecting it slowly over years .. average the rate of buy .. and still earn some interest (~5% per annul) on the  deposited gold.

think on this beautiful investment option ...

happy investing in gold ...

cheers !!

Standard chartered Manhattan platinum card and titanium card experience

I have been using Standard chartered Manhattan platinum card and titanium cards since ~7 years and experience is always good.
Initially I got this offer of both cards for one time fees of ~4000 Rs which I felt was too much .. however over the years it has proven that it was good decision to go ahead with these cards giving me immense cashback month after month ...

Standard chartered Manhattan platinum card provides me the following benefits

• 5% cash back on credit card expenditure from supermarkets & department stores (this cashback I am enjoying each month since  I need to buy my monthly glossary from super stores)  
• 5x rewards when you use your credit card to pay for:Hotels, Dining, Airline ticket reservation, Fuel (now here since  I could accumulate points over years, I got Rs. 1000 as direct cash credited to my account so far and a gift voucher of Flipkart worth Rs 2000)
• for fuel filling I am using their Titanium card (which I got as supplementary card for my wife) which provides me Rs 50 cashback on buying of fuel worth Rs 2000 and the service tax reversal of 2.5%
• Maximum cashback per month is INR 500 which means best possible per year cashback is Rs 6000

Coming to the other card Super Value Titanium Credit Card which I have got as supplementary card alongwith the main card

• 5% cash back on fuel at all petrol pumps in India. You’ll also receive a 2.5% surcharge reversal and 2.5% cash back on the transaction amount, be it BPCL, IOC, HPCL or Reliance (this does help me since I keep on fueling my car time to time providing me Rs 25 cashback per Rs 1000 spent, not bad at all !)
• 5% cash back on all telecom payments including phone bills across all service providers, be it Vodafone, Airtel, MTNL , Reliance, BSNL or TATA Indicomm ( I am using this for my BSNL payment, providing me Rs 50 cashback for every Rs 1000 spent ....)
• 5% cash back on all utility bill payments, allowing you to save more on electricity, gas and water (electricity bill and water bills are unavoidable ? so why not pay using this card ? giving you cashback as well as u can pay it later ..alongwith ur card payment .. giving u benefit each month)
• Minimum transaction amount for cashback eligibility is INR 750 .. 
• Maximum cashback per transaction is INR 100
• Maximum cashback per month is INR 500 which means best possible per year cashback is Rs 6000

So I think using both of these cards save me a lot and that too for spending that are unavoidable like bill payments each month ....

wanted to share this experience as a guide to save money ...

its not necessary that u use these cars only .. u can use other cards available in market ..however for one time fee and no annual fee thereafter i found these cards to be lot cheaper than other cards in market ,,.and thought to share my experience with all ...

I can pay the card bill from internet and hence no need to write a cheque ... that's another advantage ... the same I am paying using ICICI banking facility which again earns payback points for me :-)

hope this information helps u saving money !

cheers !!

happy bill paying !!

Kotak Trump credit card offer now closed

Look at the best cashback cards on Google and u will get Kotak trump card providing 10% cashback on dining ! its very lucrative proposal na ?

Look at their website
http://www.kotak.com/kotaklpbank/SEM_trump.html

This is what they say on their website
Earn back cash up to 10% on your entertainment expenses
Now you can convert 10% of your expenses on movies, plays, and refreshments at various multiplexes, restaurants and so on. This benefit is available all year round in every part of the country on your Kotak Trump Gold Card.

Hence last week I enrolled on their website asked for call back.
since i did not get any call back in weeks time after enrolling 2 times on the Kotak website today I called to their customer care helpline on 29/11/2014.

Kotak customer care told me that now Kotak Trump card is not offered by the company, on which I asked them to remove the information from their website, however they told that it is maintained on website for the existing customers of trump card !!!

funny answer indeed !! they can mentioned that card is only offered to the old customers and not open for new enrollment !!!

anyway .....

happy shopping !!!

Flipkart Steal Deals stolen before they are open for sale ! just a buzz !!

Flipkart so called 6th oct 14 sale looks like just a buzz ... i visited the website at 8 am in morning from the time the sale has started

All the deals advertised in the local news paper shown under the steal deals offer were showing Out of stock

Karbonn mobile A5 i for Rs 99
Transcend JetFlash 360 16 GB Pen Drive
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 P3110
Zync Z99 Tablet
Kodak Pixpro FZ151 Point & Shoot Camera

all of the above products were out of stock at 8 am !!! how can this happen ? or it is just a mimic to get more visitors on 6th oct ?

see the snaps below showing flipkart steal deal offers stolen from the place from the start of sale !!

see out of stock at 8 am today 6th Oct 2014 !! Samsung galazy tab out of stock !!

out of stock again !!!

I love flipkart and have done shopping on the same its great website indeed, but then they do not need to do such things to gain more popularity ... rather go for genuine offers which customer can grab ....

or other possibility is that since all the people are trying to hit the website since morning .. servers might have responded like that !! who knows ... but they know that they will get so many hits and servers must be ready to face the traffic !! I am saying this since the notify me by email was also not working .. it was showing "An internal service error occurred."

look at the news on indiatimes mentioning the same thing which i have put on my blog yesterday morning hour as soon as the sale started
http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/flipkart-hosts-the-big-billion-day-sale-website-crashes/article1-1272259.aspx

they have also mentioned that on so called Big Billion Day prices of some products were selling higher than the competition !!

I think what they could have gained throughout years building reputation can get touched due to such false attempts .. better they keep pace what they are doing the best and we will keep on loving flipkart ....

on DNA india they have told this day as Flopkart !!!

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-flipkart-turns-into-flopkart-on-big-billion-day-sale-2024058

one thing is true that some of my colleagues bought things that were not planned to be bought !!
they just got carried away by the big boom created by flipkart ... someone bought camera ... and someone shoes !! for no reasons .... anyway ... I think better that flipkart thinks in future .. ohterwise in no time the competitors will take over like snapdeal and amazon india.....

cheers !!

Groupon india - do not buy

Groupon india - my recommendation, do not buy deals from this website.

https://www.groupon.co.in/

 I do not remember how i came across this website, however firstly i checked that this is website with international presence, also the deals on this website are awesome hence got attracted towards !
normally i buy things from ebay india or flipcart and has never ever faced any issue at all :-)
so believing that this international presence groupon will also be equally good i went to buy a deal.

its my standard practice to check any website reputation over internet before going ahead and hence i did some research (see below links), and in spite of such bad experiences posted by users i could not resist myself to buy a deal on groupon India website !!

see some reviews from users for groupon india
http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Groupon-co-in-reviews-925642273

national consumer complaint forum
http://www.complaintboard.in/complaints-reviews/http-www-groupon-co-in-l249137.html

http://complaintreviews.com/groupon-complaint-cheated-into-paying-money/

so i placed an order for Electric lunch box, before placing order i signed in using my FB account.
it asked for mobile number and kept on sending me validation codes .. after entering third time validation code, it confirmed the mobile number !

after i placed my order on 29 June 13, my order book was not showing order placed !
now see the chronology showing events and u will know what they do
29/6/13, 9.31 pm - i sent mail that after placing order on website, the deal is not reflected in my order book
29/6/13, 9.44 pm - immediate response from support (rohit singh) saying order is confirmed and issue resolved
30/6/13 10.31 pm - in 24 hours got feedback form asking to rate how rohit has resolved my complaint ! (so efficient, in 24 hours they are also asking for feedback)
6/7/13 6.17 pm - i sent them email saying lunch box not in working condition and also seller has not filled in warranty card nor he has given any bill for the item !
6/7/13 6.18 pm - auto response from groupon india
6/7/13 6.26 pm - response from mr. rohit singh

"Sincere apologies for a bitter experience you had to face when shopping with us. Thanks for letting us know, this is of course not the experience we want our customers to have. As discussed, please allow 24-48 hours for us to work on the issue and settle it affably."
Now here he has said "as discussed",however there was no discussion with me in this matter!
7/7/13 2.20 pm - i went to groupon india website and filled in feedback form ! where they have written that they take all feedback seriously and it goes directly to CEO !
9/7/13 10.09 pm - i sent mail to rohit singh asking on status of my complaint
9/7/13 10.16 pm - again went to groupon india website and sent feedback to CEO !!! ha ! ha !!
10/7/13 - groupon india deposited 100 rs to my account as compensation !
11/7/13 - see my rating given to their feedback form
-----------feedback given with rating Bad ----------------
1) vigorous followup needed
2) solution provided is very bad, what will i do with 100 rs deposited, there is no option for me to use this money, it means i hv to spend more money on group on which i would never ever do now.
3) 100 rs gets expired in one year !!
4) ebay and flipcart are 1000 times better, since first they do not send faulty product to customer and in case this happens replacement done, not a 100 rs trapped money which once can not use
----------------------------------------------
when i tried to track my previous requests for which they had given official tracking numbers, i found that all the requests are deleted by them !! https://grouponindia.zendesk.com
i did not believe that a company with international presence can do such thing for mere 600 Rs product !!!

From this experience my strong recommndation is not to go for buying any deals on groupon india website.


lessons learnt - "before buying any deal, do check reputation of website, seller on internet"

cheers !!