Zip Explorer – Open Source Tool

Often we end up in hunting for few  files from Zip files. As the the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, that’s how this tool came into it’s existence.

Interested people may find my Open Source Tool Zip Explorer on code.google.com or alternatively by visiting the below link

Zip Explorer

Needles to say , there are many existing tools which provides similar features, but after some research I decided to come up with few fundamental features which makes it unique and different from any of the existing tools. I have listed the feature listing as below

The tool serves the needs of people who are in search of few files from a pool of Zip files.This tool doesn’t demand you to know the fully qualified name of the  file either. The tool is smart enough to support regular expression search and helps you copy and export your search to an excel files for future reference

Feature List

1. Regular Expression Search: You needn’t even know the fully qualified name of the file. This tool supports regular expression search to find you file

2.File name display matching the search along with the Zip file name  and full path of the Zip file in your machine

3. Right click & Copy: You can right click and copy your desired fields such as class name ,zip file name or path of zip file

4. Export Your search result can be exported to an excel sheet or copy to a word pad

Support

For any kind of assistance/support/feedback you can mail to

vinodjayachandran@gmail.com

Case Sensitivity issues in PostGreSQL

Working on PostGreSQL and have ever encountered the  error

(0A000/0) ERROR: cross-database references are not implemented: ?

Then your search ends here and I hope this blog would answer your queries

PostGreSQL Database/Catalog/Schema/Table names are case sensitive. If the name contains any upper case letter, they have to be encapsulated between double quotes. If not, the  Database/Catalog/Schema/Table names in query is internally converted to small case during execution and throws following error

(0A000/0) ERROR: cross-database references are not implemented:

And this behavior is in non-compliance/incompatible with SQL standards

Actually the error could be because of 2 reasons

a) If you are trying to connect to a remote DB

Solution : Use DBLink (The link to DBLink would explain it all)

b) If Database/Catalog/Schema/Table name contains alphabets in upper case and they are not encapsulated within double quotes

Solution : In your query , specify the Database/Catalog/Schema/Table names as “Database”.”Schema”.”Table”

Reference :

From the official website of  PostGreSQL on their syntax

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/static/sql-syntax.html

Snippet from the above link which explains it

Dynamically Create/Insert/Update Tables using MYBATIS/IBATIS From Java POJO/Bean input

 

I had a scenario where in I had to Create a table if doesn’t exists and execute various SQL queries on the table. But the catch was, table name changes dynamically and was provided as I/P from Java POJO.

I had resolved to do it using one of the leading frameworks of java MYBATIS (Previously known as IBATIS). Here below I have described an example from which one can scale up to his/her requirement.

I have provided implied comments for better understanding

Assume that the following is my Bean/POJO

 

StockDataBean.java

public class StockDataBean {

    private Double marketPrice;

    private Double dayHigh;

    private Double dayLow;

    private Double open;

    private String volume;

    private String Stock; // This attribute is the table name

    private BigInteger time;

// Getters and setters follow 

}

StockDataBean.xml corresponding to a java bean/POJO and associated queries using them

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE mapper

  PUBLIC "-//mybatis.org//DTD Mapper 3.0//EN"

    "http://mybatis.org/dtd/mybatis-3-mapper.dtd">

<!-- namespace just refers to the Bean Class -->

<mapper namespace="StockDataBean">

 <!-- ResultMap gives a mapping of the attributes of the bean to the columns of the table -->

    <resultMap id="result" type="StockDataBean">

        <result property="marketPrice" column="MARKET_PRICE"/>

        <result property="dayHigh" column="DAY_HIGH"/>

        <result property="dayLow" column="DAY_LOW"/>

        <result property="open" column="OPEN_PRICE"/>

        <result property="volume" column="VOLUME"/>

        <result property="time" column="TIME"/>

        <result property="Stock" column="STOCK"/>

    </resultMap>

<!--

    ${Stock} reads table name dynamically from the Bean StockDataBean 

    #{variableName} reads values from the bean for the columns  

    Note: For Table Name we use ${..} and for column values we use #{..} 

 --> 

    <insert id="insert" parameterType="StockDataBean">

          INSERT INTO EXAMPLE (MARKET_PRICE, DAY_HIGH, DAY_LOW, OPEN_PRICE, VOLUME, TIME)

            VALUES (#{marketPrice}, #{dayHigh}, #{dayLow},#{open},#{volume},#{time});

          <selectKey keyProperty="id" resultType="int" order="AFTER">

            select last_insert_id() as id

          </selectKey>

    </insert>

    <update id="createNewTable" parameterType="StockDataBean" >

      if not exists (select * from dbo.sysobjects where name = #{Stock})

      CREATE TABLE ${Stock}(

     [MARKET_PRICE] [decimal](18, 0) NULL,

     [DAY_LOW] [decimal](18, 0) NULL,

     [DAY_HIGH] [decimal](18, 0) NULL,

     [OPEN_PRICE] [decimal](18, 0) NULL,

     [TIME] [bigint] NULL,

     [VOLUME] [nvarchar](50) NULL

     ) ON [PRIMARY]

    </update > 

</mapper>

Mybatis/IBATIS has a config xml which contains DB details to which connection needs to be established and reference to XML files which contains your SQL queries

SqlMapConfig.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE configuration

    PUBLIC "-//mybatis.org//DTD Config 3.0//EN"

    "http://mybatis.org/dtd/mybatis-3-config.dtd">

<configuration>

    <typeAliases>

        <typeAlias alias="StockDataBean" type="com.timepass.DataProcess.StockDataBean"/>

    </typeAliases>

 <!-- DB details 

    Under one Envronments tag, you can have multiple environment tags

    to connect to various environments such Dev, test, Prod etc

 -->

    <environments default="development">

        <environment id="development">

          <transactionManager type="JDBC"/>

            <dataSource type="POOLED">

                <property name="driver" value="com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver"/>

                <property name="url" value="jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:1433;DatabaseName=sag;;Trusted_Connection=True;"/>

                <property name="username" value="sa"/>

                <property name="password" value="Passw0rd@1234"/>

            </dataSource>

       </environment>

    </environments>

 <!-- Reference to XML file which contains the SQL queries-->

    <mappers>

       <mapper resource="StockDataBean.xml"/>

    </mappers>

</configuration>

 

Add the all required MyBatis/IBATIS jars to your class path.

And finally once all configurations are done, we just invoke the methods to do our DML(Create/Insert/Update) operations

StockDataBeanDAO.java

package com.timepass.mybatis;

import org.apache.ibatis.session.SqlSession;

import org.apache.ibatis.session.SqlSessionFactory;

import com.timepass.DataProcess.StockDataBean;

public class StockDataBeanDAO {

    private SqlSessionFactory sqlSessionFactory;

    public StockDataBeanDAO(){

        sqlSessionFactory = MyBatisConnectionFactory.getSqlSessionFactory();

    }

    /**

     * Updates an instance of Contact in the database.

     * @param contact the instance to be updated.

     */

    public void update(StockDataBean oStockDataBean){

        SqlSession session = sqlSessionFactory.openSession();

        try {

            session.update("StockDataBean.createNewTable", oStockDataBean);

            session.commit();

        } finally {

            session.close();

        }

    }

    /**

     * Insert an instance of Contact into the database.

     * @param contact the instance to be persisted.

     */

    public void insert(StockDataBean oStockDataBean){

        SqlSession session = sqlSessionFactory.openSession();

        try {

            session.insert("StockDataBean.insert", oStockDataBean);

            session.commit();

        } finally {

            session.close();

        }

    }

}

Well I believe the above would give you an idea to just get kick started with MyBatis/IBATIS. In case of any queries feel free to drop an e-mail to  vinodjayachandran@gmail.com

With Windows 7 many eclipse shortcut don’t work

Recently I moved to Windows 7 OS and it religiously gets updated with all latest updates. To my surprise I realized that windows 7 has many applications (whose use I really don’t understand ) which has it’s launch shortcut conflicting with many of the fundamental eclipse shortcuts.

One of the fundamental shortcut that I often use to open a resource/file is ctrl+shift+r. Windows 7 opens an application which looks something as below

 

 

I really don’t find any use of this application for which I don’t even know its name(which looks like a ruler) , also I don’t find any way to either change it’s launch shortcut nor uninstall the application/program itself. There many such applications as this

I hope MS wakes up and does something about such applications (either give an option to uninstall or change it’s launch shortcut)

Chennai auto rickshaw drivers always raise a ruckus

Once during my trip to Chennai, I had to take a Auto Rickshaw from the railway station to my destination and needless to say it was a terrible experience. Although generally I don’t intend to recollect any of my negative experiences, yet  if it could help few I don’t mind doing it.

Needless to say as many of us already know auto rickshaw drivers (majority of them) always quote a higher price than the correct one and it would be a dream come true if you could really find at least one auto driver in whole of Chennai who agrees to come by meter.

At any bus stand or railway station you are bound to be surrounded by crooks trying to lure you. I was no exception @ Chennai Central Railway Station. More than the money, I get annoyed with the argument with the drivers, hence decided to opt for the Pre paid Autos. To my surprise the prepaid auto fair was less than half the fare quoted by other auto drivers. I was impressed by the facility instilled by TN state government to comfort the passengers for hassle free travel. We had to get a token for Rs 3 and get a Receipt quoting the amount and destination. Unfortunately I didn’t have exact change and the guy at the counter refused to give the token unless exact change tendered. To my rescue an old lady who stood before me in the queue donated and helped me with two 2 rupee coins. So I managed to get the token and returned Rs 1 balance to the lady with humility

I got into an auto which came as per sequence. The initial behavior of the driver itself was very hostile but as I didn’t expect anything great from these crooks, I decided to board the auto. I got vibes that he was not satisfied by the price quoted by the pre paid taxi booth.

 

 

My journey from Railway station to my destination was hardly 15 minutes @ 20:30 in the night. But the entire drive gave me a feeling of riding in a roller coaster. There was a clear mark of arrogance from the driver by breaking all traffic signals, driving in all wrong directions and abusing everyone who came on his way. I was wondering if he was drunk. Finally we managed to reach my destination safe. I amount stated in the Pre-paid auto receipt was Rs 75, as again unfortunately I didn’t have exact change. I ended up in giving him a 100 rupee note and was waiting for him to return me the balance. To my dismay , this is what happened further

 Driver :What am I supposed to do with this ?

me :return me the balance 25. 

Driver : You are actually supposed to pay me more, as it’s night time

me : Night ? it’s hardly 9:00 p.m , and if so Why has the prepaid counter billed me for Rs 75

Driver : Prepaid counter is incorrect and they would quote even 250 for the same distance if it’s raining

me : Well if you are not compliant with this rate, you should have told me before start  and I would pay whatever the Prepaid counter gives me bill for

Driver : Everyone gives extra, Y are u thinking so much for Rs 25

Within this the driver drove his auto without even waiting or letting me a chance to try for change in any near by shops.

The following day me and my wife were back to Central railway station Prepaid Auto booth. There was a poster displayed, for complaints call. We tried calling that number and the number was switched off. I wondered why do they even advertise such number if they are not really open to listen to any complaints.

My wife was in fact more furious than me and wanted to complain at any cost. We enquired a near by police constable and explained him the situation, he re-directed us to crime branch and insisted that we lodge a complain as they are not able to address such problem only because people don’t come forward and complain. We marched ahead to the crime branch police station and explained the police officer over there. The police officer demanded the receipt issued by the Prepaid Auto booth.

To our surprise the receipt didn’t mention the vehicle registration number. The police said , ideally there should be a police officer till 21:00 and only they should issue the receipt along with the vehicle number and may be the police officer left little earlier that day. Hence some local auto union guy would have issued receipts without the vehicle number.  I felt like questioning back the police officer, “if the issuing authority has left earlier that day, who is responsible and Police is supposed to provide security 24/7 , so don’t you take responsibility for trains coming after 21:00 ? Such negligence only causes all breach and terrorists could happily kill many @ Mumbai railway station too.”

The police officer was asking information about the physical appearance of the driver.  We furnished the details to the best of our knowledge. But it was very clear there is much we could do without the vehicle registration number.

Overall, more than the money the behavior of the driver was more annoying. I would have happily paid him Rs 100 had requested politely or at least demanded upfront before starting the journey. Only bitter lesson I could learn this horrifying experience is , when ever next time you deal with a auto driver,

• Have exact change before you get into the auto and don’t expect the driver to return you back the change (Even if he has the balance, he would pretend as if he doesn’t have balance and he doesn’t have any intentions to be honest)
• If in case of any misbehavior , do make not of the vehicle registration number.

Above all, don’t expect the authorities to be of any help and this how life and society is. Better not to take to much to heart and mind

Logo Design

Logo design for Interior designing and Space management firm named Intrend

Want to make any logo design, letter head or web design for your firm ?

Contact :
vinodjayachandran@gmail.com
vinodjayachandran@hotmail.com

My Struggle to get LMV Driving License

Dad was insisting me on getting a 4 wheeler license for past few years , it really never struck me primarily because i was lazy and also because i didn’t own a car. Well nothing really changed till now. (i.e) I continue to remain lazy and still don’t own a car. Although driving a car excited me but owning a car never excited me primarily because of traffic/road conditions in India and also because of ever shooting up fuel prices. After long i decided to make an attempt to get driving license, and what really struck me to go ahead and try for driving license was because I was getting married. Well that’s one of the greatest excitement one can get in life and my fiancee was relocating to Bangalore in a month. So i wanted to learn driving before she arrives. I promised her before she reaches Bangalore, I will make sure that I will have my driving license ready.

So that’s when it all got started. I surveyed couple of driving schools beside my home. I decided to join one of the driving school which was closest to my home which was coincidentally most economical too. The thought of driving a 4 wheeler excited me and hence i got started with the driving classed before getting Learner’s License and figuring various documents required for the same.

Driving classes were for 10 hours. Although the drivers of the driving school were well behaved the driving classes were very poorly organized which lead to classes getting cancelled and delayed often. I used to get irritated but still managed live with it as it was hardly just 10 classes. Almost 8 classes were over and then the driving school suggested me to have the last 2 hours as reserve and utilize it before a day or two before driving test. I found the suggestion to be sensible and decided to go with the next step of applying for Learner’s license. The driving school had mentioned a set of documents and few photographs of mine. Driving school insisted me to come only on Tuesday or Thursday. This was the first problem. I had to take a leave on a weekday. I requested my manager for half a day’s leave for learner’s license but it was rejected because of all the silly reasons of ever critical projects. After having waited for few weeks, I decided to take an uninformed sick leave.

I had all the documents ready and went to Indira Nagar RTO at Indira Nagar BDA complex. Every driving school has an office adjacent to RTO office. When i approached the inspector, he insisted on a document proof for permanent address, which i didn’t have. I questioned him which documents do you accept as a permanent address proof. He showed me list which had the following

1. Passport
2. LIC Policy
3. State/Central Govt Payslip
4. Ration card

Unfortunately my only choice was passport. I immediately presented my passport. I got my passport during my college and hence it had my college hostel address, apparently seeing that inspector rejected me for 2nd time. I couldn’t understand what’s the need for proof of permanent address while i have a proof for present address and valid proof that I am Indian citizen. More over what is the relevance of permanent address if i don’t live there any more. I had no choice but to abide by the rules however meaningless they might be. I tried to figure out how could i arrange for the documents insisted by the inspector. The straight forward options were either get a LIC policy or apply for change of address in my passport. I thought going through a driving school, things would be pretty smooth and straight forward, but it all happened just the opposite. May be the inspector wasn’t bribed well by my driving school. So one day sick went in vain.

I decided to apply for a change of address to my passport as i thought it would be useful in the long run for other needs too. Applied online and after taking an appointment at passport office 3 weeks later (that’s the earliest I could get) i reached the passport office and submitted all the necessary documents for address change. After submitting the documents 3 weeks later a police inspector came to my home for address verification. He openly demanded for INR 300 as bribe. I had no option than to abide to his demands as my passport was stuck with him. After the police verification it took 2 more weeks for my passport to arrive by post. It took close to 2 months for me for changing my passport address, which was all just to arrange one document(Permanent address proof) for learner’s license.

After getting my passport, it my 3rd visit to RTO hoping that at least this time my documents at least won’t be rejected. But this time i decided to go on Saturday. Finally all document verification passed, now they sent me to another room where there was a long queue for written test for LLR. I was baffled. People were standing in a queue and reading seriously referring to various study material. I have never studied so even for my school/graduation exams). People waiting in queue were saying that they have failed multiple times in the test and it’s really hard to pass. I had no clue what kind off environment i was around, while i had absolutely no preparation. I never believed in last minute preparation and there is hardly anything that i could , so decided to relax and just give it a shot. A guy who was before me left the queue saying he will give the test later as he needs more preparation as he had already failed once before. I just walked in and gave the test a blind shot. To my surprise i just cleared it and got my learner’s license. Finally i managed to get learner’s license after 4 months. I had to wait for a month at least to appear for driving license test. Phew that was a sigh of relief for at least a month.

A month just passed by and by then my marriage preparations was in full pace and I just couldn’t find time at all to go for driving license test, as this time i had to go on a weekday only for the test. I was saving on the leaves for my marriage. Since learner’s license has 6 months validity i decided to postpone it and take DL test after marriage. Weeks after marriage i followed up the driving school for DL test, that’s when i realized the Driving school (Infant Driving School, Malleshpalya, Bangalore) didn’t have any influence at all at RTO. The driving school couldn’t really fix a date for my driving test ever. They ever had some excuses as the car is not available or inspector is on leave etc. Many weeks
passed by and just my phone bills were hitting the roof following up the driving school and my learner’s license was approaching it’s expiry. I got infuriated and when i went to the driving school, i realized i wasn’t the only one left out so. There were cheated as me, whose learner’s license was nearing expiry but never even got a chance to appear for the driving test.

Last 2 weeks were left out before my Learner’s License expiry, I realized there is no more point in waiting relying on the driving school, decided to approach another driving school (Dhanush Driving School, Vignan Nagar). The frustrating part was after undergoing all the physical stress, i neither got any refund from previous driving school and I had to pay the whole fee again to Second Driving school. I had no other option than to go for it. I never realized that getting a driving license would be such a painful process. Somehow just a day before my learner’s license expiry i managed to attend the driving test from the second driving school. During the driving test, the inspector realized that i had come from another driving school and failed me in the test (May be they had different bribe agreements). Initially I didn’t realized that i have been failed. The driving school too didn’t tell me and said me that you would get your license 3 weeks from now by post. I waited for 3 weeks and nothing really turned up. I called back driving school to check what was the issue and that’s when i realized I failed the driving test. By now my learner’s license had expired and I was back to square one. It was almost 4 months after my marriage and I realized i am back to square one and got to start all over again to apply for license. I had lost all the motivation and spirits in the last 10 months struggling to get a LMV driving license. My only consolation was my wife who boosted me not to loose heart and just give it another shot.

I gave the whole process a month break to rejuvenate myself. Now i knew all the nuances of the documents required and went to the driving school for Learner’s license again. I felt it as though it was all a replay. This time the driving school charged me again. I questioned them , what happened to the bribe money i paid last time , the driving school guys said me bluntly this is the procedure, if you want license pay else vacate the place. Well that was too rude and insulting in front of everybody. I didn’t understand even how to react. If i got to another 3rd driving school, again i will end up in paying, so i decided to pay the money (bribe) again. Before appearing for the written test for Learner’s license , the driving school demanded another Rs 200 saying that you don’t have to write the written test, we will pass you if you pay another 200. I didn’t understand what the hell was even going on , only thing i understood was they were tossing me around. I didn’t know whom to rely & there was no receipt for anything. Finally that day I managed to get Learner’s license again. Now I had another month’s time for the DL test.

After a month , I approached the driving the school again for DL test. Now the Driving school demanded another Rs 500. I literally felt WTF. Everyone in and around the RTO are mere man eaters. I just had 300 in my wallet at that time and i just paid whatever i had and the driving school accepted. I really had no clue who was playing around for more money, either the Govt Inspector or the Driving school for money with each visit. Finally I gave the driving test again and the inspector marked it pass. Again I was said wait for 3 weeks, You driving license would be posted to you. I had no other option than to believe and leave the place.

It was just 3 days for 3 weeks to get completed and there was no sign of driving license yet. I got anxious hoping to hear the same that i failed in the test again. Only consolation was, i still have my learner’s license to expire. Finally just a day before I got my license by post. Phew that was a sigh of relief and had a great sense of achievement. It was a greater feeling than getting my first job.

Amidst the lokpal bill when people are propagating not to support corruption by paying bribes. I don’t voluntarily offer bribes, but there are circumstances when you would not be allowed to survive in such a corrupted system. You need some fundamental things like passport and driving license as part of being a citizen, but if the police doesn’t give them without bribe, do we have a choice ?

Is Real estate a wise investment ?

Every individual excepting very few have a wish to own their dream home. For one home every individual sheds all his time, money and energy in building that one single home for all his life and many even don’t end up building one and chase that dream in vain.

It used to be a dream to own a land and build a house on that, rather than living in a flat. Now it has become a thing of past atleast in metro politan cities of india. Even if you wish for, the city is super saturated that you can’t get a vacant land.

House

Considering within the limited resources, an individual tries to purchase a house, let’s chart down the various hardships he/she needs to undergo.

First and foremost to get a house of your liking is great challenge. Everyone has different likes/dislikes for a home apart from the technical requirements for the house. Getting house as per your preference involves many factors such as Vaastu compliance, proper surroundings , ventillation and location of your choice etc. Often this in itself takes a lot of effort and time considering we all have time only in the weekend for along with all other work.

Secondly, suppose if you find a house of your liking, next comes the bitter part of getting legal opinion on the property. You would not be surprised to note that 9/10 builders do some violation deliberately with profit motive. The credibility of the advocate from whom you get legal opinion of the property is also a big “?” Often you end up in a fix where in you can’t find even a single builder/property 100% fool proof and legally clear. Some of the very common ones are FSI(Floor Space Index) violation or construction of property on Agriculture land. In a fool’s city, a fool is the king, same way in a corrupted society, you need to live with corruption to survive in the society

Third, financnig your dream project. Banks give loan for 80% of the cost and 20% you need to arrange on your own from your past saving. Builder on request from the buyers even over quotes the cost of the property by 20% , so the one can avail loan of almost close to 100%. Although today there are many banks available to offer you home loan, there are many hidden riders (example: Pre-closure penalty), charges and clauses which really makes the customer go haywire. Subject to one’s knowledge , each individual finalizes on a bank for home loan. In india still lots of work goes on paper only and is not digitalized. To furnish all the documents demanded by a bank from builder is no easy task. Even after provinding all the documents, banks take months to approve after all the verification. After approval of bank loan, it’s a great hassle to deal with various stage payments from bank. You would be really tossed like a football between the builder and bank for each stage payments.

Fourth, The D day; The day of registration. Hours of wait in the completely corrupted Registration Govt Office. You would be really treated like shit inspite of paying heavy bribe. There is some respite, if the builder is influential enough to get it done fast.

Finally, don’t think it’s all over if registration is over. The pain continues till your life time ! If it’s a flat, you need to wait for all the flats to get sold and form a Flat owner’s association and make sure that the maintainence of flat goes on fine. Pay every year property taxes on time. Make sure that Bifurcation of your property is done appropriately and all the associated documents are obtained accordingly. Convert electricity bill on your name. After all these hassles, when we look for some ROI from the property, we need to be really careful and cautious in renting out to safe/reliable hands. If you end up in renting your flat to a tenant who doesn’t maintain the house well or doesn’t pay rent on time, then it’s another issue to vacate the tenant and lot of trouble comes associated with it.

The fundamental question is, Is all the pain really worth ?. Do we really get so high returns from this investment (compared to other forms of investment)considering the pains that follows for your entire life.

Yahoo interview/hiring experience

Recently I went through Yahoo interview/selection process and managed to successfully get an offer from Yahoo Bangalore.

Unlike the usual interview posts, this blog isn’t focussed towards the questions that were asked in yahoo or to discuss algorithm or problem solving tactics. For people interested in those can refer to

From the day i had exposure to internet , the first name i ever heard was yahoo and it’s always a pride to be associated with such dream companies such as Yahoo, Google , Microsoft etc.

Though I didn’t get a chance to get into them during my initial days of career, after 5 years of Software development experience , I managed to clears all 8 rounds of technical interviews(including Algos, problem solving, Java , HR etc) Towards the end of the screening process , they intimated me that I am hired and we would release the offer within 2 days. That was the moment when my face was literally like the smiley on yahoo messenger. You may refer to the below pic too for reference

Smile

I was eagerly anticipating the offer from yahoo and it continued to last for few weeks. I was wondering what is taking so much of time and after 3 weeks , got a call from HR and said me that it will take another week time as it needs to go to all higher levels of approval. I agreed and continued to wait. After 2 more weeks , I got a whole set of forms to be filled from yahoo. It was a tiring data entry job, but to my surprise before even i could send the filled in application forms, I got the offer from the HR along with my salary details. I was wondering why was even made to do this stupid data entry job then !! To my surprise the offer just matched my cuurent salary, though I was still fine for the brand name and environment yahoo would offer

Yahoo

The following day another HR(Y) from Yahoo calls me for openings @ Yahoo for some other team. I intimated that I just receieved an offer day before from Yahoo. They asked me the HR(X) details who sent me the offer. I gave the details and HR(Y) verifies and intimates me saying that I confirmed with HR(X), your offer is not final and that was just a proposal and so if you need you can try again. I was baffled and got an impression that my offer was cancelled. 2 days later HR(Y) calls me again to intimate that , Sorry there was a confusion and your offer is valid.

A week later HR(X) (who sent the initial offer letter) calls me and says after a team survey, we have revised your salary and it was reduced by over a lakh. I was shocked. I have never heard/seen a company reducing the salary after releasing the offer, that too based on the team survey. I clarified with the HR saying that , your revised salary would be less than my current salary . The HR(X) justifies it by saying it’s Yahoo norms.

Even though before even getting the offer, I heard lots of -ve news about yahoo’s performance , firing history, loosing market share to google and lack of innovation, my personal experience was at it’s peak and lost all my respect and trust towards the organization

Tax filing exemption for 5 lakh income comes with several riders

Salaried individuals with a taxable income of less than Rs 5 lakh will not have to file income-tax returns in the current assessment year. However this comes with some riders that could make you ineligible for the benefit despite fitting into this income bracket.

The riders are as follows

1) The entire income must accrue from a single employer. That is, if an individual has a taxable salary income of less than Rs 5 lakh, but had switched jobs in the middle of 2010-11, then he/she would have to file tax returns

2) Income must only be from salary and savings bank interest. Income from mutual funds, house rent or even NSCs to save tax, automatically fall outside the purview of this exemption. Even those who have invested in infrastructure bonds to claim deduction under Section 80CCF is not eligible for the scheme.

3) The interest income from a savings bank account should not exceed Rs 10,000

4) For the exemption to apply. More importantly, the above (2 & 3) has to be reported to the employer through Form 16 and the employer has to withhold taxes on it while paying the salary. The interest on bank account is credited on a half-yearly basis. Thus you will need to correctly estimate the tax due on this income.

There are certain deductions that aren’t mentioned in Form 16. For instance, any donation to charitable organizations is not mentioned. Thus any individual who wants to earn a tax refund on such donations would have to necessarily file a tax return.
There are also disadvantages in not filing your returns. For instance, you forego your right to modify your return to include any deduction you may have missed. Only taxpayers who file their return by the due date can file a revised return.

In effect the govt’s option to exempt people with income less than 5 Lakhs from filing tax and projecting it as a positive move is a mere eye wash and practically useless.