Impressions of Southern India
India has changed a lot since we last visited over ten years ago. There were far fewer hassles (except at the railway stations where touts still abound) and we didn’t even get scammed (unlike in Delhi, many years ago, when we got scammed twice in our first ten minutes)! The shop keepers didn’t badger us too much either. Maybe the southern indians are just more laid back than their compatriots in the north?
We flew into to Chennai (Madras), travelled down the coast to the southernmost tip of India, then up the west coast to Cochine before heading inland via the hill stations, across to Mysore and Bangalore and back to Chennai.
The first thing we noticed was that there are a lot more ‘late model’ cars on the road, jostling for space with the hundreds of motorbikes and tuk tuks (auto rickshaws). They all drive like maniacs; forget malaria…the roads are the biggest danger. The humble bicycle is still popular but traditional rickshaws are much less common.
So, it seems in general the indians are getting richer; though there are still slums in evidence. However, we didn’t see a lot of beggars and, on the whole, people looked well fed.
The mainstream were very well presented. It is common to see ladies dressed to the nines, sitting sidesaddle on the back of motorbikes, dodging cows and routinely risking their lives, in the crush of traffic. How do they stay so beautiful amongst the grime?
The men are also smart with their trendy haircuts and freshly pressed shirts. It made me laugh; when we were in the Maharaja’s palace in Mysore, whenever the queue passed a mirror all the young men would take out their combs and do their hair!!
The place is still pretty dirty with rubbish everywhere but, due to general hygiene standards improving a little and the advent of anti-bacterial hand wash (so you can sterilise your hands before you eat), we didn’t get the infamous “Delhi Belly”. In fact, the food was wonderful; especially the delicious masala dosas (fermented rice pancake stuffed with a savoury mixture) which are only available in the south. The curries are fiery hot and had our seven year old in tears one night!
Travelling down the east coast and through the countryside of Tamil Nadu, we saw a lot of massive universities, newly built. There were many specialist fields in evidence including high-tech engineering colleges and medical universities. (Medical tourism is another growing industry.) With their young population and their “you tell us what you want and we’ll make it happen” entreprenurial attitude, the indians are setting themselves up to take the world by storm.
(We have outsourced our accounting work to a company in Bangalore (read “The 4 Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss), and this was certainly their attitude. Their pricing is very competetive too. Watch out..they’re after your job).
Cricket is still wildly popular and most locals can name the entire Australian cricket team and the NZ team to boot!
It’s a shame, but inevitable, that with the rapid modernisation of India, some of it’s endearing quirks are disappearing. Reading the daily newspapers used to be hilarious, but nowadays there is hardly any mention of “sleuths.” The odd amusing terms are sometimes used…I was once referred to as “your good self” and an email reply from one hotel was signed “Love and Regards”!!!
“Love and Regards India. We’ll be back“
Namaste
Curry for Christmas Dinner
Hello all and a very Merry Christmas to you and your families!
Just to let you know I will not be updating this blog for a while as we are off to India for four weeks!
We’re planning on spending Christmas day in Pondicherry, which is an old french colony; visiting a wildlife park where you can help wash elephants, spend some time chilling out in the tea plantations of Ooty and cruise the back waters of Kerala in a houseboat which has been converted from an old rice barge, amongst other things. The houseboats come complete with a helmsman and a cook!
I know, if you have been reading my blog at all you will say to yourself, “haven’t they just moved to Australia from NZ?” and “isn’t travel just a big doodad?”
The answer is yes of course, but travel is a passion of ours and we could never give it up. You gotta live! Also, travelling in Asia is as “cheap as chips” and we won’t be staying in flash hotels or eating in expensive restaurants. We’ll be travelling by train or bus (hopefully not on the roof!).
Our son (pictured) is looking forward to having curry for Christmas dinner! He’s a great traveller.
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and I’ll let you know how we got on when we get back in late January. Don’t forget to tune back in then.
All the best for 2010!
Namaste.
Illusions ~ Deepak Chopra
“For nearly a hundred years, we have known that the material world is an illusion. Everything that seems solid – a rock, a tree, your body – is actually 99.99% empty space.”
~Deepak Chopra
Lovely picture by _Max-B
Change Your Perception; Change Your Life
Did you realise that you have the power to change your life by changing the way in which you view the world?
We view the world based on an internal map of rules that we have developed over the years. This is comprised of personal experience and beliefs we have gleaned from parents, friends, teachers etc.
Some of our rules are based on what society has determined is the correct way to behave, and are necessary to ensure we can all live and prosper together. This is our reality. We use this framework on which to base our decisions.
You can have two people with contrasting views, who both feel that they are right. This is because they have contrasting perceptions of reality. They see the world through different coloured lenses and they think their perception is ‘The Truth.’ However the term truth has no singular definition on which philosophers and scholars can agree.
Events, of themselves, are not good or bad; right or wrong, they just are. It’s the way we view them that makes the difference.
Because what we focus on expands, our perceptions of reality and thus our experience of reality, attracts more experiences that validate that perception. In other words, our thoughts lead to actions, which lead to results which cause us to prove ourselves right.
A life changing and empowering way to view any negative event is to ask yourself is, “what is good about this?” You may find this a hard question to answer at first and may not come up with anything positive, however keep asking yourself the question and your mind will give you the answer. The seeds of success are often hidden in adversity.
Learn to question your perceptions and assumptions. Become aware of the way in which you are seeing the world. Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. Changing your perception puts you on the path to deliberate creation of your life.
Fun photo by -RobW-
CashFlow 101- How to Play It
In I Don’t Want to Retire Old and Broke I said how I decided to follow Rich Dad’s philosophies on real estate to escape the rat race and become financially free.
The very first step is to get financially educated. Put down that glossy magazine; throw out that new boat catalog and learn to read financial statements. To be successful in life you need to know how to look after your money.
We actually went as far as employing a successful property investor (who had the same approach as Rich Dad) to mentor us for a while. He helped us find our first rental properties in Auckland. It’s imperative that you start right if you want to build a successful property portfolio.
We also bought the game “CashFlow 101″ , an educational board game which Robert Kiyosaki built to help teach the concepts of passive income and financial freedom, to get you out of the ‘rat race’ forever.
The game takes a bit of figuring out in the beginning. Make sure you have a calculator! As you progress you learn about income statements and how to fill in a balance sheet, and the difference between assets and liabilities.
Firstly, you get given an occupation. You may draw an airline pilot, a nurse or a janitor etc (a tip here..the higher paid occupations have high expenses too and aren’t necessarily the best job to have cash flow wise). The game pieces are coloured rats; you throw the dice and the rats go around the circle (rat race), picking up opportunity cards (much like monopoly…which was Robert’s favourite game!) until you make it onto the fast track, where money is plentiful and life is easy!
The ‘opportunity cards’ are frought with peril…getting downsized, having children, the compulsary buying of doodads (money wasters like wide screen TVs or eating at expensive restaurants) can suck up all your income However, there is the chance to make a lot of money on property, shares and business!
This game can take hours to play and until you learn its lessons, it can even take days! However, once my husband made it out of the rat race and onto the fast track in the first ten minutes! (I recall he did this by having very low expenses and drawing a card which allowed him to buy some cheap shares. The next card allowed him to sell them for a huge profit so he could purchase a high cash flow business which, in turn, gave him a large passive income that covered his outgoings. Financial freedom)!
Playing this game regularly changed our spending and investment habits for life. It’s an entertaining way to learn about finance and turns a ‘dry’ subject into a motivating and fun experience.
Make sure you heed the warning on the box as, in real life, you must deal with sharks as well (tell me about it)! It says:
“Some people have gotten so excited playing this game that they have gone out and made foolish decisions. This game teaches the foundations of wealth. We recommend further education as well as always seeking competent advice before making any financial decisions.”
You have been warned!
Beware of Your Dreams
“Beware of Your Dreams Lest You Achieve Them,”
my father used to say.
It wasn’t until many years later that I truly understood the meaning and importance of his words. In place of ‘dreams’ put ‘ thoughts’ and you have The Law of Attraction!
If you hold something in your mind, visualise and feel it in your being for long enough, it will manifest itself into your life. If you believe it you will see it!
So, now you know this don’t dwell on anything that you don’t want! Things are not brought into being by thinking about their opposites. If you want to be healthy don’t concentrate on sickness; if you want to be rich don’t think about poverty. Don’t put anything into your mind that you don’t want to perpetuate or experience.
For more on this subject I would recommend reading “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace D. Wattles. “The Secret” is also excellent, concentrating on The Law of Attraction.
“The pre-dominant thought or the mental attitude is the magnet, and the law is like attracts like, consequently, the mental attitude will invariably attract such conditions as correspond to its nature” ~Charles Haanel
PS My father always dreamt of owning a large sheep and cattle farm. For a boy brought up just north of London, this was indeed a grand vision. He took a ‘ten pound passage’ on a boat to Australia in his early twenties; later moving to New Zealand and working as a farm labourer until he built up a down payment for a small farm. These days he farms 7000 acres of land in the South Island of NZ. Dream achieved!
Paint Your Own Life
“Life is a great big canvas
And you should throw all the paint on it
You can.”
~ Danny Kay
Colourful picture by ajagendorf25
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