Frini Dafa's blog

"Gold price continues to increase. Should I buy more gold?" This is a common question lingering on many of our minds. Sensex is not doing great. Parle G and more companies are considering to lay off their employees in thousands. The automobile sector is struggling with sales. If you open the newspaper, there is only negativity in all industries. There is no hope even for market experts. It is as if someone had turned the clock back to 2008 when the last recession began. It only makes sense for someone to invest in gold now, for only the bullion value keeps increasing. Should I buy more gold? The answer is Yes and No. Yes, if you want to buy gold. Its time for a monsoon wedding. The upcoming season is full of festivities. Janmashtami celebrations just got over the previous week, and with the new week, people are ready to celebrate Vinayaka's birthday. It will be followed by Navratri, which is elaborately celebrated in the Northern parts of India. So if you...

Join GPay and earn cashbacks Ola cabs have recently tied up with Google Pay (popularly known as GPay) to make payment for your cab rides. After you book a trip with Ola cabs using their mobile app, choose Google Pay as your payment option. For your first ride with bill amount over Rs. 100, you will receive Rs. 75 assured cashback. If you are lucky, you can earn up to Rs. 900 as cashback on your next 9 rides through scratch cards. So far, I have earned the first Rs. 75 assured cashback and Rs. 35 for upcoming 3 trips from scratch cards.  Don't have Google Pay ? Open this link on your smartphone to join with my invite and start transferring money. You will receive Rs. 51 cashback on your first payment using GPay. The best part of using GPay is that you don't have to transfer money from your bank account to your wallet for making payments. All payments are made directly from your bank account to receiver's bank account through UPI interface, and that too, free of c...

Have you filed your tax return? Government of India has extended the last date to file your return till August 31. So if you haven't registered your taxes yet, you have about a week to do so. Being a novice when it comes to filing taxes, I searched for an online tax filing website to help me with filing my tax return, which should be easy, quick, and free of cost. I went through several online-based companies which claimed free filing of the tax return. However, most of them offer only primary return with a single source of income for free. If you have capital gains from a mutual fund or other sources of income, you have to subscribe to their paid version! For a lot majority of ordinary people, equity shares are traded in a minimal quantity. In most cases, the subscription cost to file the tax return does not even cover up their earnings! That's when I discovered clear tax. Cleartax allows you to scan your Form 16 or you can also opt for entering the details manually ...

 Screenshot of SSG About a week ago, I installed StepSetGo android app on my mobile to keep myself healthy and get rewarded for the same. I have now reached level 3 and have earned 100 SSG coins so far. For non-starers, StepSetGo is an innovative app which pays you for, well, just keep walking! For every 1000 steps you take, you will be rewarded 1 SSG coin. If you take the same 1000 steps outdoor, your accumulation gets accelerated by 25%. For the first three days, your earnings are capped at 5 SSG coins per day. Your consistency in walking a certain number of steps each day will take you to the next level, upon which your cap will be increased further in multiples of 5. In addition to this, you can also increase your earnings by referring your friend to SSG. For every friend who joins SSG and completes his first 5000 steps, you will get 5 SSG coins as a referral reward. Each day, SSG also rewards you up to 4 reward coins through daily reward option. All you need to...

I am not really sure about when I first heard CRED , a one-stop solution to all your credit card bills. But when I heard about it, I found the idea to be fascinating. If you have multiple credit cards with different due dates and due amounts, you can understand what I am talking about. CRED is a member-only app that offers exclusive rewards for, well, paying your bills on time through their app. The developers have used UPI mode to pay your bills, which means all your payments get reflected in your credit card account in near real-time. As with every newbie, you will enter your details for registration. CRED will then check for your credit score through Experian and Crif and issues your credit score as a welcome reward. From then on, you can continue to accumulate points by making bill payments. Each rupee paid as bill amount gets adds the same as your CRED coin balance. You can then use the CRED coin balance to claim rewards. You can also set up the CRED app to check your m...

I grew up reading Agatha Christie, R. K. Narayan, and the likes. So when Chetan Bhagat became sensational, at first, I could not comprehend why. By the time I chanced upon Five Point Someone, almost everybody had read it already. After reading the first few pages, I still could not understand why the book became a bestseller. Later that day, when I finished reading the book, I could sense a difference. Still, it was indescribable. All I can say was that Chetan Bhagat did not just write the book. Until that point, reading is a hobby practiced only by a few. His five-point someone changed all that. With his page-turning writing style, Chetan took reading to the masses to the point that many new generation authors propped up following his success. Every bookstore started selling pageturners. Classics took a step back. When Brewbakes opened their outlet at Jatani, wife and I decided to try out. What surprised us in the Restro was not just the food, but their priced collections of boo...

Gentle and incessant drops of rain have brought some respite from unbearably hot outdoor. The weather became too enticing to go out for a walk. This was also a time for wildlife to venture out in search of food and shelter. When I spotted a baby snail trying to go across the road, perhaps in search of its family, I could not resist myself to lower down and take a close-up picture.  A baby snail trying to go across the road. A dog-faced water snake after having a satiating meal A walk further along the path led to another surprise. A dog-faced water snake, most likely non-poisonous one, was taking rest along the edge of the road. A small bulge on its stomach part says it just had a satiating meal and do not like to get disturbed. The reptile neither tried to intimidate me, nor was it afraid of my presence when I went closer to take this photograph. Multi-shades of green A walk further led to this small tree with multi-shades of green. At first g...

An average person speaks between 200 and 250 words per minute. In semantics, these words are called as utterances (between the pauses) which are further split into phonemes. Converting speech to text or action has a newfound interest, thanks to technological development such as Alexa. Instead of passing a text-based command, now one can place an order to Alexa-like applications using voice commands. Data and data analysis is the drivers of future technology. Collecting audio samples from various speakers in different language forms an essential part. These words are then converted into a machine-learning algorithm to identify a pattern and make an intelligent guess of what is spoken. So if I say, "Alexa, please add this to cart," the pre-trained voice algorithm takes my voice command, comprehends and executes an action, which in this case is to add a specific product to cart. For successful implementation, these algorithms rely so much on collecting high-quality data...

Popular folklore goes like this. Once there was a mighty king who ruled from a trendy and wealthy place. One day the king felt bored with ruling and decided to go to the forest for hunting and sport. After spending a few months in the woods during which he lived like a nomad, he returned to the kingdom. While walking back on the streets of his city, he felt a terrible pain in his foot. To soothe himself while walking, the king ordered that many cattle be killed and their skins are used to cover the entire city roads that lead to his palace. A commoner was watching the king as he passed the order to his courtiers. He walked up to the king and said, "Your highness! I understand your concern. But may I suggest an alternative plan which will not only provide relief to your aching legs but also saves a lot of cattle!" The courtiers were apparently annoyed by looking at a commoner making a suggestion to the mighty king! They tried to boo him, but he did not relent. Sensing...

If someone asks me to do 30 squats every day, I'll most probably skip it. But then, the Moscow government came up with a very innovative way to get this done! Collectively, the world spends about 10% of its GDP on health expenditures . One way to reduce this is by keeping people healthy. Governments from all over the world have recognized the importance of keeping their population healthy so that they can be productive and contribute positively to development. While the Government of India proposes solutions through yoga and other measures , various other countries are also trying innovative ways to get this done. In Moscow, you will now get a free metro pass ride by only performing 30 squats .  Innovative solutions that help us to keep our youth healthy is a welcome move. If the idea gives us some perks, it will surely attract more and more people towards staying healthy. Recently I got an app invite from wife to join StepSetGo , India's first app that rewards you fo...