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RAMC - Pitch to Land Owner

  If you (by yourself or along with other people) own 10 acres or more of agricultural land, which you don’t use and don’t plan to use for 1.        Your personal stay 2.        Industrial purpose 3.        Commercial agriculture as your source of revenue Here is a proposal you may want to consider. We are a rural assets management company (RAMC). Our focus is to manage agricultural land and related assets such that the value of the asset increases ecologically, socially and as a result, financially. We develop agricultural land into food forests and farmlands suitable for natural (aka regenerative, sustainable) farming including water bodies and spaces for living, working and recreation. Know more If you would like to participate in this effort with your land, this is how it can work. You enter into an agreement with the RAMC for development and management of your land. You may want to retain some land in your name, which you intend to use for your personal endeavors. Th
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How Much Will You Leave Behind?

If you are 40, save ₹ 1 lac pm, have a networth of ₹ 1 Cr, you are likely to accumulate assets worth ₹ 26 Cr at 60 assuming that your savings increase by 10% pa and your assets grow at the same rate.  Is this sufficient to meet your expenses post earning years?  Let’s say you estimate that your expenses are going to be ₹ 80k pm at current prices (your estimate is based on the assumption that you will not have to spend for your children, your lifestyle would not be as glamorous, you may decide to move to a smaller, quieter place etc). Assuming 10% inflation, your expenses at age 60 will be ₹ 5 lac pm. Continuing with the assumption that your assets grow at 10% pa and so do your expenses, you will have adequate money till the age of 100. If you estimate your life expectancy as 95 years, you will leave behind assets worth ₹ 96 Cr. This amount may not look as big then as it looks today, because your expenses would have increased to ₹ 16.5 Cr pa. After knowing this and given what we see tod
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Gold Standard

Let's say, I earn ₹ 100k pm. My father used to earn ₹ 8k pm at my age (30 years ago). Am I better off or was he?  Well, nominal values across time frames cannot be compared. They need to be adjusted for currency devaluation (aka inflation) to arrive at the real value. However, the method used to arrive at the rate of inflation makes it relevant for macro policy decision. Its applicability in micro decision making is questionable. Why so is a different subject.  Is there an alternate method to ascertain real value of money across 30 years? One  way is to use 'gold standard'. 'If ₹ 100k can buy the same amount of gold in 2020 as ₹ 8k would buy in 1990, they're equal. But the fact is that in 2020, I required approximately ₹ 160k (20x) to buy the same amount of gold as my father could have bought for ₹ 8k in 1990. Though we refer to this as increase in the price of gold, it is in fact, reduction in the value of the Indian Rupee. In other words, INR has lost 95% of it
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तू तो समझता ही होगा

,कई सालों से तुझे कुछ कहना चाहता हूं हर बार यही लगा कि इसमें कहने का क्या है, ये तो तू समझता ही होगा और जो तू ना समझना चाहे, तो मै कहकर क्या कर लूंगा ये तो हज़ारों सालों से सैकड़ों ने कहा है किताबों में कहा, कहानियों में कहा, गीतों में कहा, मालूम था फिर भी कहा तुझे समझना होता तो समझ ही जाता, मै कहकर क्या कर लूंगा। इतना क्या मुश्किल है समझना कि  जो अच्छा इंसान नहीं बन सकता, वो ना अच्छा हिन्दू बन सकता है ना मुसलमान इतना क्या मुश्किल है समझना कि बाप के किए की सजा बेटे को देना सही नहीं है और दसवीं पुष्त से हिसाब चुकता करना तो सरासर बेवकूफी है इतना तो तू समझता ही होगा कि जो खर्च ही ना कर सको उस पैसे के पीछे भागना पागलपन है कोई और यह पागलपन करें इसलिए तुम भी करो ऐसा जरूरी नहीं है ये तो समझने की जरूरत ही नहीं है कि अच्छा खाना, पर्याप्त नींद और हर रोज कसरत सेहत के लिए फायदेमंद है इनका ध्यान ना रखने से ना तो शान बढ़ती है और ना शिद्दत साबित होती है ये सारी बातें मै इसलिए नही कहता क्योंकि ये तो हर कोई जानता है और तू भी समझता है लेकिन इस समझ का सबूत नहीं मिलता तो मै सोच में पड़ जाता हूं फिर कहने क
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Hope Mall

If your children are under the age of 20, it is possible that you may be concerned about their future given the consumerism, social tension and climate change It's not unusual. Circumstances are such. If your own age is less than 40, you may have such fear about your own future as well.  9 years ago, when our children were very young, we too felt that the world in which we lived and the lifestyle was not good enough for our children. We worked hard to create hope and succeeded in creating a better world for ourselves and the kids. We've now opened up an 'Ideas and Paradigms' Store'. You can participate in webinars and workshops in our store. Our store is in the 'Hope Mall'. Hope Mall is an interesting place. Here, you be a seller, a buyer as well as an investor. Hope Mall has its own currency - H-Coins. All stores in the mall accept this currency. As a seller, you earn coins and as a buyer, you spend them. We have another shop - The Space of Hope.  Spaces of
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Career, Bright Future, etc

'How does growing up on a farm work out for a child?' doesn't have one answer. My son (15) and daughter (12) have both lived on farm since they were 6 and 3. Both are now capable of comprehending the fact that they've had a different childhood compared to what they could've had. Both of them have very different takes and ideas about their future paths. Isn't that how it is in all cases? Siblings with the same upbringing and circumstances do grow up to be different.  My daughter doesn't think much about this issue. She has the ability to live in the moment and make the most of it. I think it would be interesting to navigate through my son's mind a bit. He acknowledges that there are advantages of growing up on a farm, not going to a school and isolation. But the flip side troubles him too. Similarly, he acknowledges the importance of good food but loves junk food as well. He can't deny the need to have healthy habits but also can't stay away from
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स्वराज

Often understood as स्वयं का राज, I think it is स्वयं पे स्वयं का राज.  If the unknown, unidentifiable other defines what success means, what good life means while you often realise that these definitions aren't working for you, but still aren't able to break away, then you are ruled over by something outside.  Does that mean that you can arrive at definitions of your whim or मर्जी? Robert Pirsing, in his book 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', wrestles with this question: 'Is quality a physical characteristic of the object or a subjective understanding of the onlooker?' He arrives at an answer that quality is a third entity, which exists independent of the subject and object.  So are these definitions. Nature/God or the Universe already has these definitions and one ought to seek them. Once sought ought to live by them.  Many friends say, "I know this is the right thing to do, but it isn't easy to just give up on what is."  It maybe true
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