Belated new year eve

It came for me belated..i should say it came belated for us...

Blown away by destiny , I was not in India...for new year this time..
To find a next possible date to meet was the tough thing... but finally the day came.


It was a long awaited evening as we haven't seen each other still...
the evening which I had woven thoughts about it since months....the dress to wear, places to go , fine dining....and much more...

5 minutes past 5pm - I got down my apartment and there he was..
There it was... the red A red Nissan Micra..and he was standing leaning at the car front door...
with a sweet smile on my face i said "Hi"..
"Let's go...?"


He opened the door for me.. A reflex 'Thanks' came to my lips and with a silent smile inside I hopped onto the seat.
He walked past the front side of the car...I was looking at the shirt he was wearing...I kind of liked it.... may be I always liked checked shirts!!
It's just a car... not a closed room... I wondered why being alone with him - so close made me so nervous... or may be some kind of happy excitement it was...:-)

We didn't make any plans for today as what has to be done.. I kept wondering if he has already made plans about evening - the place to go, the dine in etc... The deal was that - we would plan the evening as it unfolds.

'You are the Blore girl - tell me where to..?'
'For a drive or halt?'
'Drive is good...we can drive.. '
Its raffic on Saturday evenings this time - in city... guess from he


Though late it came in with whatever I wished it for...except that the date was not the same.

This guy is just as I had thought... No pretentions.. or no fake hugs... the one I may run away from.

The HRA masala is not cooking well..!!

It's the time of the year where salaried people like me have to declare and submit proofs of the investments, hra, income etc....
I never understood the HRA concept in the initial years of my career ... never bothered about it too... as my salary package never reached heights to understand the concept of income tax.
Later with passing years finally got to know words like 80C, IT, HRA, PF... as had no escape from all this - once I entered into the big salaried world.

The HRA problem had got big for people like us last year - when landlord PAN was mandatory for rent above 2,00,000
It just got bigger -this year when the cap got reduced to a Lakh and everyone has to run behind the landlord for the pan number.
And this time its not cooking well for me... and its not going to get digested too.. for many of us...

Is this rule for really people like us who is without fail paying taxes to the government? This was an easier act to pass on to the middle class people like us.isnt it.? Now that whoever staying in a rented house - if they cant get hold of PAN card of landlord , they definitely gonna lose money to pockets of politicians. A new way to collect more tax without fail...and name it as fraud-less HRA declaration..

I had a larger dilemma in mind thinking what is this for.. is it for my good or bad.
Good in one way , Yes it prevents any fraud in this area where one could have declared a greater rent than actual one.. But what is the motive reducing cap to 1Lakh rupees? what in the world suddenly struck to the tax authorities..?
Why make new rules when you can't keep existing ones in right shape..?
Amidst all the masala's that is going on to achieve a central database with aadhaar card, voter id, ration card, gas connection, passport and pan card... are these new ways of testing patience of people like us...
When this news came - I was following people reactions - some were of the opinion let BJP government come and they will take off these tax headache for people like me.
what is BJP for me? and what good is congress doing for me?
I see no good in congress, bjp, or aap or any kind of political group...be any government the tax slab was never an issue for the government. It never got revised to a decent figure in the recent years... When Pranab as the finance minister revised it some years back a slight change to the slab - I felt happy and hoped he could have done better. And really envisioned to see some changes in the tax being paid by salaried people like us. No rule came in never that touched the big whale pockets and continued to focus on small pockets where it was easy to drain money.

I silently realise there is not much use with salaried job of mine.... Slog and work for a 100 rupee and there goes my thousands ....government silently snatching from me.. I sometimes wonder is this real democracy - "FOR the people"?
I would have happily given away the tax - if I was reaping benefits out of it.. at least by traveling in good roads , clean pathways, great hospitals, reduced commodity prices or something that benefited me in things I touch day to day.... Or i should say something at least that my children benefited from?
Instead I am angry now - as my money is going into some Swiss bank ... or into some political campaign or into scam pockets ... who is doing no good for me.

I work for my living, pay sales tax, commodity tax, vehicle tax, consumer tax, value added tax, service tax, income tax, road tax, professional tax, education tax, electricity tax, excise tax, custom tax,entertainment tax.... endless list of tax names wherever I am in this country... Isn't the list enough for someone like me to rage in anger...and start cursing the government and politicians...
Don't want to extent this post of mine - bursting out my anguish and frustration..
I wish if i had a better tax slab system for my country.....and i hope i can work towards that in some way.. and i long that a time comes where I happily pay these taxes..!!!!